# "Can't exit because players are joining" **URL:** \ **Category:** Gameplay Feedback\ **Created:** [May 9, 2025, 3:41am UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/cant-exit-because-players-are-joining/107725 "2025-05-09T03:41:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BtheLee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ab992/32.png) [@BtheLee](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/BtheLee)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 3:41am UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/cant-exit-because-players-are-joining/107725/1 "2025-05-09T03:41:21Z")
but… but everyone’s already dead. Players shouldn’t be able to join into games that are just essentially over. Especially since it seems like joining lobbies takes a long long time now. A few months ago i used to be able to insta-load into lobbies and games. Now it takes an inordinate amount of time for anyone to load into my lobbies and vice versa. Thus, skipping the “defeat” screen isn’t really a thing anymore because people are just endlessly loading into the game. On top of that, trying to start a game while people are loading will have you waiting an extra 5-10 minutes because of how long it takes to load. Even if their ping is sub-50 it’s still taking a long amount of time. TL;DR Can we finally just do away with the hard lock on starting the game/ending the game when people are endlessly loading? It’s just unnecessary at this point ---
**Author:** ![Ensrick](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forums.fatsharkgames.com/ensrick/32/31433_2.png) [@Ensrick](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/Ensrick)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 2:00pm UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/cant-exit-because-players-are-joining/107725/2 "2025-05-09T14:00:59Z")
Alt-F4 ---
**Author:** ![Flinlock](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forums.fatsharkgames.com/flinlock/32/16019_2.png) [@Flinlock](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/Flinlock)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 3:19pm UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/cant-exit-because-players-are-joining/107725/3 "2025-05-09T15:19:26Z")
> [@BtheLee](#): > > trying to start a game while people are loading will have you waiting an extra 5-10 minutes Are you exaggerating? Because for me it’s 30 seconds to a minute tops for loading, whether I’m the host or waiting for someone else to join. If someone has a truly potato computer it can take longer but I’ve never once seen it close to what you say. > [@BtheLee](#): > > Can we finally just do away with the hard lock on starting the game/ending the game when people are endlessly loading? It’s just unnecessary at this point It’s probably quite necessary from a technical standpoint. I’m just speculating here, but probably the software needs to finish loading one “environment” before it can begin loading a different one, because switching loading targets mid-load causes a crash. ---
**Author:** ![Ensrick](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forums.fatsharkgames.com/ensrick/32/31433_2.png) [@Ensrick](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/Ensrick)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2025, 4:00pm UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/cant-exit-because-players-are-joining/107725/4 "2025-05-09T16:00:42Z")
If you haven’t noticed, everyone has been taking around 2 to 4 minutes to connect, sometimes more. The latest EAC update seems to have majorly slowed down loading into games. Although EAC runs on the client-side, it’s been very slow to connect to the service lately. > [@Flinlock](#): > > It’s probably quite necessary from a technical standpoint. No, it’s more likely a limitation of the dated Autodesk Stingray engine, and networking architecture. This engine was discontinued and is not widely used. They might not be able to patch networking or level-loading behavior. If they are able to do it, the cost-to-benefit ratio might be too high for a game well into its lifecycle. ---
**Author:** ![Zoli](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/91b2a8/32.png) [@Zoli](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/Zoli)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 6:06am UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/cant-exit-because-players-are-joining/107725/5 "2025-05-31T06:06:48Z")
> [@Ensrick](#): > > No, it’s more likely a limitation of the dated Autodesk Stingray engine, and networking architecture. This engine was discontinued and is not widely used. They might not be able to patch networking or level-loading behavior. If they are able to do it, the cost-to-benefit ratio might be too high for a game well into its lifecycle. Darktide also runs on stingray without problems. ---
**Author:** ![Ensrick](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forums.fatsharkgames.com/ensrick/32/31433_2.png) [@Ensrick](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/Ensrick)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2025, 4:40pm UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/cant-exit-because-players-are-joining/107725/6 "2025-05-31T16:40:27Z")
There’s nothing different about how it works in Darktide, you still have to wait for all players to join, but: > [@Ensrick](#): > > If they are able to do it, the cost-to-benefit ratio might be too high for a game well into its lifecycle. Darktide is a recent game not so far into it’s life cycle built with a more recent version of EAC. It doesn’t seem to have the same issue with long loading times. Many of the limitations present in Vermintide still exist in Darktide. ---
**Author:** ![Riku](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forums.fatsharkgames.com/riku/32/118330_2.png) [@Riku](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/Riku)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2025, 1:22am UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/cant-exit-because-players-are-joining/107725/7 "2025-06-01T01:22:32Z")
EAC got disabled it doesnt do anything ---
**Author:** ![Ensrick](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forums.fatsharkgames.com/ensrick/32/31433_2.png) [@Ensrick](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/Ensrick)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2025, 3:09pm UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/cant-exit-because-players-are-joining/107725/8 "2025-06-01T15:09:40Z")
Well, there you have it. EAC is in VT2