Windrose Application Hang Detected on loading screen (fix)

On the character screen, open settings and set the global video settings to Low. One player says this let them into the game and that they could change it back afterwards, and a second player confirmed that lowering global illumination let it load fully. Two more posters got back in by lowering global illumination from Epic to Low, or by setting all graphics to low and capping the frame rate at 30 first.

One player in a Steam thread says resetting to default settings fixed it, and a second player said it worked for them too. Another says deleting the saved config worked, but their post doesn't say which folder.

Two posters say updating the drivers and restarting the PC fixed it, and one of them used a clean install of the NVIDIA drivers. Another player in the same thread says their drivers were already updated and it made no difference.

One player suggested creating a new character on the same world and then logging back into the original. Another reported that the new character loaded but their main save still failed, so this may only help some saves. On r/crosswind a commenter described a longer version that included finishing the tutorial and fast travelling to Tortuga.

Several threads connect the hang to Steam Cloud or save problems. Before changing anything, copy the whole SaveProfiles folder from %localappdata%\R5\Saved\ to a safe place. The game's official FAQ explains how to restore a save from its backups, and says to choose LOCAL FILES if Steam detects a save conflict after you turn Steam Cloud back on.