What fixes exist for a crash entering the flooded archives in Eldritch Shore?

[Chloe_H]

I just started a new playthrough of *The Eldritch Shore* after the big “Tides of Madness” update, and I’m hitting a wall. Every single time I try to enter the flooded archives in the third district, the game just freezes on the loading screen. After about ten seconds, I get a direct-to-desktop crash without any error message. My drivers are up to date, and I even verified the game files through the client, but it hasn’t made a difference. I’m starting to wonder if it’s something with my save file or a specific setting. I’m a bit lost on where to go from here for proper game crash troubleshooting, as the usual steps didn’t help. Has anyone else encountered this since the patch?