Escape from Tarkov crashing at 99% on loading map? Here's a workaround

If you’ve recently braved the hostile world of Escape from Tarkov, you might have found yourself stuck in a different kind of battle: the infamous 99% map-loading crash. This bug is leaving players locked out of raids, crashing not just the game but, in some cases, their entire PCs. The community has been buzzing with frustration and frantic troubleshooting, and while the culprit seems elusive, a workaround has emerged from the chaos.

Players report their systems freezing or crashing completely when the loading screen hits 99% – a moment of cruel irony where you’re just on the cusp of entering the map. This isn’t picky about your gaming setup; whether you’re running an AMD Ryzen 5800X3D, an Intel i7-13700K, or even the RTX 4090, the bug doesn’t discriminate gaming hardware.

The situation is so dire that some players describe having to hard-reset their PCs, with browsers, Discord, and other applications grinding to a halt. And while the map-specific rumors have flown around (Ground Zero, anyone?), the bug appears to strike indiscriminately across configurations and maps.

From verifying game files to rolling back drivers, players have tried it all. Some even experimented with disabling turbo mode on their CPUs – spoiler alert, it didn’t help. But out of the chaos of Reddit threads and Discord discussions, one fix has risen to the top: increasing virtual memory (a.k.a. the page file).

Like others have already mentioned, increasing your page file fixes this problem. To do so go to advanced system settings, performance – settings and set the custom file value to 16gb initial and 64gb max (in megabytes). Set it on your fastest drive.

Here’s the magic trick that has saved the day for several players:

1. Open virtual memory settings
• In the Windows search bar, type ‘Advanced system settings’ and hit Enter.
• Navigate to the ‘Advanced’ tab and click on ‘Settings’ under ‘Performance’.

2. Adjust the page file size

• Go to the ‘Advanced’ tab in the ‘Performance Options’ window.
• Click ‘Change’ under ‘Virtual memory’.

3. Set custom size

• Select the drive where your game is installed.
• Make sure the checkbox for “Automatically managing paging file size for all drives” is not checked
• Choose ‘Custom size’ and set the initial size to 16GB (16,384 MB) and the maximum size to 64GB (65,536 MB).
• Click ‘Set’ and then ‘OK’ to save changes.
• You can now exit from the Virtual memory, Performance Options, and Systems properties dialog.

4. Restart your PC and give it another go.

Several players report success after implementing this fix. While results may vary depending on your specific setup, it’s worth a shot before you resign yourself to waiting for a patch.

This crash has cast a shadow over Tarkov’s latest wipe, with players lamenting the disruption to their scav and PMC runs. And while the workaround has brought some relief, it’s clear the issue requires an official fix. Battlestate Games hasn’t yet issued a formal statement, but the community continues to hold out hope for a hotfix.