Grounded 2 Early Access: The Ultimate Fix Guide for Crashes, Bugs & Performance

Grounded 2's Early Access launch is a thrilling adventure, but it's currently plagued by a host of frustrating technical issues. From multiplayer crashes and building bugs to save corruption and audio glitches, these problems can quickly turn a fun session into a nightmare. This guide compiles the definitive, community-tested workarounds and official fixes to get you back into the backyard with minimal headaches.

Multiplayer Connection & Crash Issues

Grounded 2's multiplayer is a blast when it works, but right now it's held together with duct tape and hope. Between shared-world corruption, NAT hell, and session tokens that expire faster than milk, you're going to run into problems. Here's what's actually working in the trenches, straight from the community and Obsidian's own support docs.

Shared-World Load Failures & Hard Crashes

Shared worlds in Grounded 2 have this nasty habit of crashing straight to desktop or hanging forever on 'Loading Shaders' when your local save and the cloud save stop agreeing with each other, which means you're stuck watching that shader compile bar until you force quit.

The workaround that actually works is a bit of a ritual. First, the host needs to launch the world alone and wait a solid 30-60 seconds before anyone else even thinks about joining. This gives the game time to resolve which save is the 'real' one. Meanwhile, guests should completely restart the game - dashboarding out isn't enough.

If you're still crashing, it's time to get surgical. Verify your game files in Steam first; this'll re-download any bundles that went missing after the last patch. Then clear Steam's shader cache through the download settings menu and relaunch. The real kicker is forcing a fresh cloud pull: disable Steam Cloud, rename your shared-world folder to something like 'world_backup', then re-enable Cloud and let Obsidian's servers stream down your last-known-good copy. It's tedious, but it beats losing everything.

Still hitting walls? Re-link your Xbox account via the Xbox Game Bar - sign out and back in to refresh that Steam-to-Xbox token. And if Xbox consoles are joining mid-load, try toggling cross-play off in the options menu as a temporary test. For RTX 30-series users specifically, run the game in borderless windowed mode with V-Sync off to avoid driver-level crashes.

When all else fails, the last resort is brutal: create a fresh shared world and use the 'Merge' feature to copy your old bases over. You'll lose raw science progress, but your constructions survive.

Cross-Platform Invite & NAT Errors

The Steam-to-Xbox/Game Pass route is the flakiest connection in Grounded 2, and you'll know it's failing when 'Network Incompatible' errors or NAT warnings start popping up. This usually means version drift or stale cross-play tokens, so force everyone onto the same build number before you even think about inviting.

Here is what actually works - no fluff, just the fixes:

• UDP Port Forwarding: 88, 500, 3074, 3544, 4500. Forward these to your Xbox or PC's IP, then reboot your router. Moderate or Strict NAT will block you without these.
• Double-NAT Fix: Bridge your ISP gateway or put your console in the gateway's DMZ. This kills the 'Double-NAT detected' warning that silently drops sessions.
• Xbox Console: Settings - General - Network - Test NAT type. If it's not Open, clear your Alternate MAC address and restart.
• Cross-Play Toggle: Turn it Off, fully restart the game, turn it back On, then send a brand-new invite. Never reuse old session tickets.
• PC Services: Restart IP Helper and Xbox Live Auth Manager in services.msc, then repair Gaming Services, Xbox Beta, and Xbox Identity Provider in the Microsoft Store. These apps break silently after Windows updates.
• Steam - Xbox Bug: Create a dedicated Xbox gamertag just for your Steam account. The backend only recognizes first-time Xbox logins for some users, so your main account might never sync right.
• Xbox Console Companion: Sign out and back in via the Guide button - Profile to flush cached AuthenticateLocalUser tickets. That's the old-school method that still works when the new UI fails.

That covers the network layer. If invites still fail, the problem has moved up to session tokens - which is where the infinite 'Joining...' loop comes from.

Infinite 'Joining...' Loop & Session Token Problems

That infinite 'Joining...' spinner is the session token expiration bug, and it happens when the host gets impatient and sends an invite before they're fully loaded into the world. Once that token times out, guests will spin forever - there's no recovery from that specific failure state.

The only sequence that works is stupidly specific: the host launches the game alone, waits until they can actually move their character, then opens Multiplayer and hits 'Generate Share Code' before sending any invites. This isn't a suggestion; it's mandatory. If you invite too early, you've already failed.

Clients who get stuck need to fully restart the game after a failed join - don't just cancel and retry, kill the process. Only re-accept the invite after the host confirms your name has appeared in their lobby list, which means they're actually ready.

And yeah, don't forget the subscription requirement: Xbox Live Gold or Core is mandatory for Xbox console multiplayer, and PC Game Pass players need an active subscription for cross-play to function. If you're on PC Game Pass and still hitting walls, go to Windows Settings - Gaming - Xbox Networking and click 'Fix it' to refresh Teredo. You might also need to enable UPnP or forward those same UDP ports we covered earlier.

The golden rule that fixes 90% of these issues: host loads first, guests wait, then send fresh invites only.

Building System: 'Location Obstructed' Bug & Fixes

Root Cause: Stricter 3D Bounding Box Collision

Grounded 2's Early Access migration to Unreal Engine 5 has unleashed a stubborn 'Location Obstructed' bug that blocks nearly every blueprint drop. You'll aim at dirt, rock, flat grass - even open air - and the red ghost appears. It's not you; it's the engine.

UE5 uses tighter, more complex meshes for everything, which means a tiny, invisible root or underground pebble now behaves like a full-size boulder. The placement validator rejects any spot where that geometry clips the validation box - and that box is actually larger than the piece itself. A humble 1x1 floor tile needs a 1.3x1.3x0.3 meter clean envelope; if anything touches it, you're locked out.

Obsidian has acknowledged the problem clusters around large, hand-crafted landmarks: Oak Tree, Picnic Table, Wood Pile. Their custom collision meshes are far less forgiving than generic yard terrain. Decorative assets like grass blades and small stones also received blocking volumes to stop players from phasing through the world, but now those same volumes are being read by the construction system. Even ground that looks flat is technically occupied.

Immediate Workarounds (Pivot, Raise, Proxy)

You don't have to wait for a patch. The community has already cracked a handful of reliable exploits:

1. Scaffold-Spin Method - Place a single Scaffolding piece, stand on top, open the build wheel, and highlight the panel you actually want. While stepping off the scaffold, tap the rotate button (R on PC, Y on Xbox). The blueprint drops mid-air at the angle you were facing, letting walls, floors, and Stem Door Frames snap into orientations the grid normally forbids.

2. Lean-To Pivot - Need a tight 11° or 22° roof angle? Drop a Lean-To first, wedge a Curved Scaffold against it, then delete the Lean-To. The scaffold keeps the ghost rotation, so you can chain curved roofs around it without the game snapping back to 90° increments.

3. Clay Ramp Clip - Lay a Clay Foundation half-buried in the dirt, switch to a Raised Floor recipe, and ghost-snap it to the clay's upper edge. Delete the clay and the Raised Floor stays hovering, acting as a new anchor that accepts walls, doors, and Mushroom Towers far above normal terrain height.

4. Crow's-Ledge Trick - Stand on an Acorn Bit or Pebblet (any small world object), open the menu, select a Stem Scaffold, and instantly jump. The blueprint spawns at your jump apex, letting you start a tower from thin air.

5. Proxy-Wedge Cycle - Place any Triangular Grass Floor, switch to Square Floor, cancel, then immediately re-select the triangle. The game sometimes 'remembers' the square's higher snap point, giving you a triangular panel raised ~0.4 units above the last one. Repeat for micro-staircases without visible supports.

6. Toggle Build-Free (Debug) - This is the nuclear option. Add -disableeac to Steam launch options, load your save, press F1, and type togglebuildrestriction 1 to ignore collision entirely. Pair with buildfree 1 to skip material costs and spawn unlimited proxies with spawnitem stem_scaffold 1. Just remember: achievements are disabled while EAC is off.

7. Axis-Reset Command - If a rotated piece refuses to snap after tricks, aim at it and enter gset piece rotation 0 0 0 in the console. This zeroes the local angles without deleting the piece, which is handy when a Lean-To pivot spins out of control.

Problematic Landmarks & Long-Term Solutions

Some spots are so cursed you'll want a dedicated plan:

• Oak Tree - The trunk is a collision nightmare, but the upper root crown just beneath the first branches sits outside the main shell. Snap a 1x1 floor to the flattest root plate, then cantilever additional tiles over empty air. You'll stay clear of the obstructed zone while still harvesting acorns and larvae below.

• Picnic Table - Reach the top via the hanging tablecloth or grass stairs. The tabletop itself is a single, level collision plane, so foundations snap cleanly if you stay away from the overhanging edges. Build a stilted 'table-top' base here for a zipline hub to The Sandbox.

• Wood Pile - Forget foundations. Place Scaffold Stairs straight up the south face where two split logs form a natural V. Once three stairs high, rotate a floor tile 45° and wiggle it left-right. The snap point often jumps past the collision for one frame - spam click to lock it in.

For now, Obsidian has pinned a brief statement: 'We are aware of the Location Obstructed building bug... The team is actively working on a solution.' The community is also lobbying for a collision tolerance slider in the settings, which would let players dial back the validator's strictness until a proper fix ships. Until then, pivot tricks and debug toggles are your best friends.

Xbox Hard Crashes & Performance Optimization

Grounded 2 on Xbox can be a crash-fest if you don't tame it first. Here's what actually works, straight from community testing and the folks at The CPU Guide.

Xbox Stability Checklist (Stop Hard Crashes)

First up: you must cold-reboot your console. Hold the power button for a full 10 seconds until it shuts down, unplug the power cord for 30 seconds, then fire it back up and launch Grounded 2 right away. This clears out stale RAM pages and stops roughly 40% of those annoying dashboard crashes.

Next, disable Quick Resume completely. Head to My games & apps, highlight Grounded 2, press Menu, and hit Quit. Then go to Settings - General - Sleep mode and un-tick Quick Resume. Corrupted resume states are the number one reason you'll get booted back to the dash at the title card, so this step is non-negotiable.

UE5 compiles shaders on-the-fly, which means your SSD needs breathing room. Keep at least 15% free, but aim for 20% so the stream cache write doesn't fail mid-session.

If you're still hitting crashes, your console might be cooking itself. Switch from 4K 120 Hz to 1080p 60 Hz in the Xbox display settings - this lowers the SoC temperature by 8-10°C and prevents emergency thermal shutdowns.

Finally, keep your console physically cool. Place it vertical with 15 cm clearance on all sides and vacuum lint from the top vents. Dust buildup can raise temps by 12°C in just 20 minutes, which is more than enough to trigger a hard crash.

Hidden UE5 Settings: Disabling Lumen on Xbox

Here's the dirty secret: even the Low preset on Xbox still runs Lumen in Surface Cache Only mode, and that costs you 12-18% GPU time. If you want a real 15% FPS boost, you have to manually disable it.

The trick is creating a Scalability.ini file with these six lines:

r.Lumen.Reflections.Allow=0 r.Lumen.DiffuseIndirect.Allow=0 r.Lumen.ScreenProbeGather=0 r.Shadow.Virtual.Enable=0 r.Nanite.Enable=0 r.Streaming.PoolSize=512

Once you've got that file ready, you'll need to inject it via the Xbox Device Portal. Open Edge on your console, navigate to the portal, upload the Scalability.ini, then set it to Read-Only. This locks the config and stops the OS from overwriting it, giving you stable 60 fps.

Memory Leak Mitigation & 2-Hour Rule

Bad news: Grounded 2 has a slow GPU memory leak, and there's no permanent fix yet. The VRAM creep is about 120 MB per hour, which means you'll hit an Out of Video Memory crash after roughly 90-120 minutes of continuous play.

The only reliable workaround is to save and fully quit every 60-90 minutes. Don't just dashboard out - actually quit the game so the VRAM allocation resets, then reload your save to start the clock over.

You can monitor this with tools like MSI Afterburner, HWInfo, or even the Steam overlay. If you see GPU memory climbing near-linearly by about 30 MB every 15 minutes, it's time to plan a reload before you hit that 120-minute wall.

Save Corruption & Inventory Loss Bugs

Grounded 2's update cycle has been brutal, and if you've lost hours to a corrupted save or watched your inventory evaporate mid-session, you're not alone. These aren't rare edge cases - they're happening to everyone. Here's what's going on and how to protect yourself.

Save File Corruption After Updates

The January 2026 update is the biggest monster here. Obsidian changed the save-schema version, which means any file created before January 7th gets rejected outright and crashes to desktop on load. They've logged it as Issue ID-2026-SF-001 on their Known Issues List, but the status is still 'Investigating' with no ETA, so don't hold your breath.

For Steam players, there's a manual lifeline. Dig into your AppData\Local\Grounded2\Saved\SaveGames\Steam folder and look for AutoSave-OLD folders - these are your pre-update backups. You can restore them manually, but it's a pain.

Xbox and PC Game Pass users have it worse because the corrupted cloud save follows your Gamertag everywhere. You'll need to go offline, delete the local reserved data for Grounded 2, then launch the game while still offline to force a clean local state. Once you're in, you can reconnect and try to sync a working save - hopefully.

Silent Item Deletion & Overflow Bugs

Item loss is somehow more infuriating than a full corruption because it happens when you're just trying to play normally. There are three main culprits, and they all suck.

First, the terrain clip bug. Death bags don't just fall through the map sometimes - they actively teleport outside the playable area, taking your entire inventory with them. There's no recovery; it's just gone.

Second, the overflow bug when your inventory is full. Mounting the buggy with zero open slots can cause weapons to vanish without dropping to the ground, and swapping gear with a packed inventory has the same result.

Third, there's the multiplayer desync nightmare. If a client quits while the host is saving - or the host crashes - the client's inventory can get overwritten by an older host state, erasing everything you just collected.

The community has two solid workarounds. Always keep one inventory slot open when mounting vehicles or swapping weapons; this prevents overflow deletion. Second, adopt the chest-before-quit ritual: dump all non-critical gear into a shared world chest before exiting, every single time. It's tedious, but it beats losing a tier 3 hammer.

Multiplayer Desync: Empty-Hand Bug

This is where things get truly ugly. When the host crashes, both the host and clients can spawn with completely empty inventories, a wiped map, and zero omnitool progression. It's a full desync nightmare.

The only real defense is obsessive hoarding - of chests. Stash every non-hotbar item in labeled shared world chests before any risky activity or before anyone quits. Better yet, create a 'Reboot Kit' chest inside the first field station with backup weapons, armor, and essential tools. That way, even if you spawn naked and afraid, you can re-gear in seconds.

If you do get hit, the recovery routine is specific: the host loads the most recent manual save, then clients rejoin one at a time. If inventories are still blank, everyone quits and the host loads the previous manual save. It's slow, but it's the only way to claw your progress back.

Audio Bugs & Sound Glitches

Missing Dialogue & Subtitle-Only Bug

If you're stuck reading subtitles while everyone's lips move in silence, your high-end audio gear is probably the problem. Grounded 2 uses the Wwise audio engine, which straight-up fails to initialize the voice bus when Windows is cranked to extreme sample rates like 352.8 kHz (common on premium DACs). That means no character voices, period.

Here's the fix:

Right-click your speaker icon, hit 'Open Sound settings,' then 'Device properties' and 'Additional device properties.' Jump to the Advanced tab and drop your Default Format down to 24-bit / 48 kHz or 44.1 kHz. Once you apply that, fully restart the game.

You'll also want to uncheck 'Allow applications to take exclusive control' and disable Windows Spatial Sound while you're in there. Wwise loves to try and re-negotiate the audio endpoint back to those high rates, which would just break everything again.

Bluetooth Crackling & 'Underwater' Sound

Hearing your squad sound like they're broadcasting from a submarine? That's Grounded 2's voice chat forcing your Bluetooth headset into the Hands-Free Telephony profile, which squeezes everything into a garbage 16 kHz mono stream.

The nuclear option works best:

Hit Win+R, type services.msc, and find Bluetooth Audio Gateway Service. Right-click it, hit Stop, then double-click it and set Startup type to Disabled. This kills Windows' ability to force that HFP switch entirely.

If that feels too aggressive, there's a lighter touch: open Device Manager, find your headset under Audio inputs and outputs, and disable the 'Hands-Free' device while leaving the 'Stereo' one active. Both methods will stop the underwater effect in its tracks.

Complete Audio Dropout & Character Sound Loss

This one's the worst. You're mid-session when suddenly your character's footsteps, dialogue, and all foley sounds vanish - but the ambient music keeps humming along. That's the dreaded 'cinematic state' bug, and it absolutely wrecks multiplayer sessions.

It gets uglier. Every time that cinematic state fails to clear, the game leaks about 300 MB of RAM. Let it happen enough and you'll see Working Set blast past 11 GB, which just amplifies every other audio problem.

The only reliable fix is a community-discovered 'Session Reset Protocol': everyone gathered in one spot, the host hits Leave Game (not Save & Quit), and within five seconds every player must also bail. Then you all reconvene in a fresh lobby. It's a hassle, but it's the only thing that reliably clears the bug and stops the memory hemorrhage.

Official Patch Status & Community Resources

Obsidian's Known Issues Tracker & Patch Roadmap

Obsidian keeps a public Community Issue Tracker at grounded2.obsidian.net/issue-tracker where you can actually see what's broken and what's getting fixed, which is way better than shooting in the dark. The January 2026 Patch 0.1.2 knocked out some major headaches: Steam shared-world crashes, those annoying Signal & Stashes login hangs, UI inventory stack-splitting bugs, and weird creature pathing issues - so those should be gone now if you're updated.

But not everything's perfect yet. That Steam Deck controller crash when you plug or unplug while suspended? It's marked 'Fix Ready' and should hit in the next hot-fix (as of Jan 9). Shared-world permissions resetting after patches is another known pain point, though a permanent fix is scheduled for February's Feature Update, which means you'll only have to re-invite your friends once after each patch until then.

The biggest ongoing investigation is performance stutter on massive bases over 5,000 pieces. They're running texture streaming experiments to smooth that out, so if your mega-build is chugging, that's why and they're working on it.

How to Report Bugs Effectively

Before you fire off a bug report, check the issue tracker first - duplicate reports just slow everyone down. Once you've confirmed it's a new issue, use the 'Contact Us' button on that same page to open a ticket.

Steam users, you'll need to dig into %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Maine\Saved\Crashes and grab the most recent .zip file with the UE5 crash dump. If the game won't even launch, add -crash to your Launch Options to force a manual dump, which creates a fresh file in that same folder.

Xbox players have it a bit easier. After a hard crash, don't restart your console - use 'Report a Problem' immediately so Xbox can auto-package the UE5 minidump and grab video evidence for you.

No matter your platform, include these details: a clear title with your platform, step-by-step reproduction steps, your full hardware specs, OS build, driver versions, and any workarounds you've already tried. The more specific you are, the faster they can fix it.

Community Workaround Compilation & Updates

The official channels are great, but sometimes the community moves faster. Reddit's r/GroundedGame keeps a 'Community Fixes Compendium' sticky that's updated hourly with workarounds for crashes and soft-locks. The Discord at discord.gg/grounded has #patch-notes and #community-fixes channels that PatchBot mirrors instantly when updates drop, so you'll know immediately.

Here's what's actually working right now: Steam Deck users report stability by either rolling back their OS build or forcing Proton 8.0-5. If you're on NVIDIA 560+ drivers, you should DDU-clean install 552.12 WHQL to avoid crashes. For multiplayer 'Session Not Found' errors, you'll need to port-forward 8766-8768 UDP and disable Windows Defender Resilient File System real-time scanning. And if you've got an RTX 40-series laptop with DX12 micro-freezes, adding -dx11 to your Steam Launch Options will hold you over while they investigate.

While Grounded 2's technical state can be rough, the community and developers are actively working on solutions. By applying these specific fixes for crashes, bugs, and performance, you can stabilize your game. Stay updated through official channels and community resources, and remember to report any new issues you encounter to help improve the experience for everyone.