How to Fix Counter Strike 2 Stuck at Infinite Loading Screen?

The infinite loading screen in Counter-Strike 2 can be a sign of obsolete graphics drivers on the system, missing or potential damage to game files, and even insufficient permissions for the game to run in the environment. While these may not always be the culprits behind the issue, they are more often the cause than not.

There are scenarios where the intervention of third-party program files with the game can also lead to the infinite loading screen issue. In such a scenario, you can identify the problematic program by performing a clean boot. We will take you through a number of methods in this article that can help you in resolving the issue mentioned. 

1. Run Counter-Strike 2 as Admin

The first thing you should do when starting to troubleshoot the infinite loading screen problem is to ensure the game process has sufficient permissions to run in your Windows environment. More often than not, the game process can stop responding which results in the game being stuck due to the lack of permissions to run in your current environment.

If this is applicable, you can overcome the problem by simply running the game with administrative privileges. To do this, you will have to run Steam with admin permissions as well as change the game properties to force it to run as an admin. 

Follow the instructions below to do this:

1. First, close the Steam client on your computer.
2. Then, open the Start Menu and search for Steam. Click on the Run as administrator option.

   

3. With the Steam client open, navigate to Library and right-click on the game. Select the Manage > Browse local files option.

   

4. This will open a File Explorer window inside the installation directory of the game.
5. Locate the cs2.exe executable file and right-click on it. Choose Properties.
6. On the Properties window, switch to the Compatibility tab. 
7. There, tick the Run as an administrator checkbox.

   

8. Finally, click Apply and hit OK. 
9. Once you do that, open the game via Steam and see if the problem is still there.

2. Disable in-game Overlays

Another potential cause of the infinite loading screen in Counter-Strike 2 can be the third-party in-game overlays. These overlays provide an instant method of accessing specific third-party programs that you might be using. Discord and GeForce Experience are prime examples of in-game overlays.

While this may seem harmless, the third-party programs have to interact with the game at some level to display the in-game overlay. This can lead to the game crashing or even not responding, in some scenarios. Therefore, to resolve the issue, you will have to disable any in-game overlays that you are using.

We will show you how to do this for Discord and GeForce Experience since they are the most common overlays found. However, if you have any overlays enabled, make sure to disable them too. 

Discord

1. First, open the Discord client on your PC.
2. Click on the Settings icon next to your username.

   

3. On the left-hand side, switch to the Game Overlay option.
4. There, use the Enable in-game overlay slider to turn it off.

   

GeForce Experience

1. Start by opening the GeForce Experience app. 
2. Then, click on the Settings icon in the top-right corner.

   

3. On the General tab, click on the In-game Overlay slider to disable it.

   

3. Use Windowed Mode

In some scenarios, you can mitigate the infinite loading screen issue by changing your display mode in Counter-Strike 2. The game offers several display mode options that you can choose from.

We would recommend switching to windowed mode to see if that resolves the issue. To do this, you can navigate to the settings menu and change the Display Mode on the Video tab. If changing the Display Mode does not fix the problem for you, move on to the next method below. 

4. Verify Game Files

You can also come across the infinite loading screen problem when the game files on your computer are not complete. In some scenarios, the game files may even be damaged or corrupted which prevents them from being loaded causing the game to get stuck in an infinite loading screen.

In such a scenario, you can try to resolve the problem by verifying the integrity of game files on Steam. This allows the game files to be scanned for any discrepancies or damage. Any missing or damaged are downloaded again from the Steam servers. 

To verify the integrity of Counter-Strike 2 game files, follow the instructions below:

1. First, open the Steam client on your PC.
2. Then, navigate to your Library. 
3. There, right-click on the game and choose Properties from the drop-down menu.

   

4. On the Properties window, switch to the Local Files tab.
5. Finally, click on the Verify integrity of game files option to repair your game.

   

6. Wait for the scan to complete.
7. After that, launch the game to see if the problem persists. 

5. Update Graphics Drivers

Graphics drivers are essential to every computer and they especially play a vital role when it comes to gaming. This is because the graphics drivers are used to communicate with the graphics card on your motherboard. 

In some instances, the issue can occur when the map is not being rendered properly by your graphics card. This can happen when the graphic drivers are either obsolete or damaged due to a recent update. If this case is applicable, you will have to update the graphics drivers on your computer.

To do this, you can use the Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) utility which completely removes every trace of your graphics drivers. Follow the instructions below to update your graphics drivers:

1. First, download the latest version of DDU from the official website here.
2. Extract the downloaded file to any location on your PC.
3. Navigate to the extracted folder and open the Display Driver Uninstaller.exe file.
4. Once DDU opens, you will be shown the General Options window. Here, click on the Continue button.

   

5. After that, choose GPU from the Select device type drop-down menu.

   

6. Follow this up by selecting your graphics card manufacturer from the Select device drop-down menu.

   

7. Finally, click the Clean and restart option to uninstall your graphics drivers.

   

8. After your PC boots up, navigate to your manufacturer’s website and download the latest drivers available for your card. 
9. Install the newest drivers and see if that resolves the issue.

6. Perform Clean Boot

Finally, if none of the above methods has isolated the issue for you, the problem is likely to be caused by a third-party program. This can happen due to the interference of third-party apps running in the background on your computer with the game files or process. 

A typical example of this would be a third-party security program running in the background. However, there can be other background services causing the issue too. As such, you will have to perform a clean boot. This allows you to start your computer with only the required Windows services running in the background.

If the problem goes away in clean boot, it will be evident that a third-party application causes the issue. In such a scenario, you can enable the services one by one to find out the culprit. Follow the instructions below to perform a clean boot:

1. First, open the Run dialog box by pressing the Windows key + R on your keyboard.
2. In the Run dialog box, type in msconfig and hit the Enter key.

   

3. This will open up the System Configuration window.
4. Switch to the Services tab on the System Configuration window.
5. There, tick the Hide all Microsoft services checkbox.

   

6. After that, click on the Disable all button and hit Apply.

   

7. Then, switch to the Startup tab and click on the Open Task Manager option.

   

8. On the Task Manager window, select the apps one by one and choose Disable.

   

9. Finally, restart your computer. 
10. After your PC boots up, open the game to see if the issue persists. 
11. In case the problem goes away, start enabling the services one by one to find out the culprit and get rid of it.