For many players, other games on Steam end up launching in a few seconds, but not Lost Ark which takes at least a minute or even more. So, why does Lost Ark take so long (which feels like forever) to start/launch? These are the possible reasons.
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Why does Lost Ark take Forever to Start or Launch? (Long Load Time Explained)
Take a look at the points mentioned below if any of them are the reasons why Lost Ark takes too long to load for you.
Check if the Game is Installed on SSD or HDD
Players who have installed the game on SSD will have a much shorter loading time compared to those who have it on a hard disk. If it’s possible at this point, move the game to SDD and check if it changes your load time. But before making that decision, take a look at all the reasons mentioned below,
Disable Windows Defender or Exclude Lost Ark from it
If Windows Defender is going through the game files and checking them during every boot up, it will slow down the process of launching the game. Players can disable it before starting it up to see if it makes a difference.
How to Turn off Defender Antivirus Protection in Windows
- Click on the Start button and type Windows Security.
- Now open the app and click on Virus & Threat Protection.
- Under its settings, click on Manage settings.
- Turn Real-time protection Off.
- This means the scheduled scans will still happen but the files that you have downloaded and installed after turning it off will not be scanned. That is, until the scheduled scan occurs.
You can also choose to exclude a single file or folder from antivirus scanning, instead to turning it off entirely.
How to Add an Exclusion to Windows Security
- Click on Start and open up Settings.
- Click on Privacy & security > Windows Security.
- Select Virus & threat protection.
- Under Virus & threat protection settings, click on Manage settings.
- Next, under Exclusions, select Add or remove exclusions.
- Select Add an exclusion and choose the file, folder, file type or a process that you want to exclude.
- Note that a folder exclusion will apply to all subfolders within the folder too.
Check if your PC has the Recommended Requirements
While the minimum settings will let the game run, the specs mentioned below will allow you to play Lost Ark in the best possible way. If you have lower specs or slightly older PC/laptop, you may have to endure longer load times.
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows® 10 64-bit
- Processor: Intel® Core™ i5 / AMD Ryzen 5
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics:
- 1080P FHD
- NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660
- NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1050
- AMD® Radeon RX560 2G
- 1440P QHD
- NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2070
- AMD® Radeon RX5700XT
- Ultra Specs (4K, UHD)
- NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2080
- AMD® Radeon RX 6800
- 1080P FHD
- DirectX: 9.0c or higher (2010 June)
- Network: Broadband Internet connection
- Storage: 50 GB + available space
- Additional Notes: Internet connection required to play, offers in-game purchases
Issues with Unreal Engine 3
If your hardware or network isn’t the problem, it could boil down to this. Many are saying that the reason behind the slow boot up times for Lost Ark is Unreal Engine 3 engine that had issues related to this. UE3 takes time to load textures and it does not have dynamic texture streaming. With texture streaming, you can have shorter load times.
Now, due to the incompatibility between UE3 and UE4, it is not easy to upgrade engines at all. It will require a large amount of rework which may not be possible for this game at this point.
Easy Anti Cheat
Last but not the least, the reason why Lost Ark takes so long to launch could be due to Easy Anti Cheat. It checks the game files at launch to ensure that no modding has happened which could slow down the startup process.
Hopefully this helped you answer the question of why Lost Ark takes forever to load. While some reasons were fixable, some aren’t in your hands so you might just have to take a coffee break while the game loads in the background.
During this break, you can check out some of our Lost Ark guides to unlock some valuable information about the game.