Launcher stuck verifying files

Adding my findings in case they help someone. Half the advice online is a year out of date, which is why I wanted a current thread.

Any pointers appreciated, even partial ones.

This is the bit people miss — nine times out of ten it is a driver or a background process, not the thing you suspect.

Agreed on most of this, except do the cheap diagnostic first — it costs nothing and rules out half the causes.

Adding to the above: you get most of the benefit from the first adjustment; everything after that is marginal.

For what it is worth, temperature is the usual culprit when performance degrades over a session.

That fixed it for me, at least.

The usual fix here is region and server load matter more than most guides acknowledge.

Agreed on most of this, except temperature is the usual culprit when performance degrades over a session.

Worth a shot before anything drastic.

This is the bit people miss — nine times out of ten it is a driver or a background process, not the thing you suspect.

From experience, the difference is real but small enough that you may not notice it while playing.

Adding to the above: ignore the loudest advice; the boring answer is usually the correct one here.

In my testing, verify the files before anything else; it catches more problems than people expect.

Report back once you have tried it.