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After installing translation using "dfint-installer-win-0.6.5" (already uninstalled and clean installed game and dfhack) the game completely freezes (Not Responding) whenever I click "Quit" to exit. I have to force close it using the Windows Task Manager. #6003
Description
Hello DFHack team,
First of all, I want to say that Dwarf Fortress is my absolute favorite game, and I truly love what you guys have created with DFHack. Your tool is amazing and essential for the community! A big thanks!
However, I am experiencing a very frustrating and persistent issue after I installed a PT-BR translation using "dfint-installer-win-0.6.5" (already uninstalled and clean installed game and dfhack), since then the game completely freezes (Not Responding) whenever I click "Quit" to exit. I have to force close it using the Windows Task Manager.
Crucial details about the bug:
- This issue started happening right after I installed a PT-BR translation using "dfint-installer-win-0.6.5".
- I then used the installer tool to switch the language back to English and ran it again. The language changed back, but the game graphics/fonts looked completely broken and weird. After noticing this, I deleted everything and did a clean reinstall.
- The vanilla game (without DFHack) opens and closes perfectly fine. The freeze ONLY happens when DFHack is active/installed.
- The exact same behavior is now happening on both my PC and my laptop simultaneously under the same Steam account.
Steps I have already tried to fix it (none worked):
- Completely deleted the
common/Dwarf Fortressfolder and performed a clean reinstall via Steam. - Cleared the
%appdata%/Bay 12 Gamespreferences and cache folders. - Cleared the Steam Shader Pre-Caching.
- Performed a clean uninstallation of Steam, including clearing the Windows Registry (
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Valve\Steam) and deleting user manifest files (like975370.jsonand975370_subscriptions.vdf). - Used the
--safety-modelaunch option.
The only thing that successfully closes the game without freezing is executing the die command through the DFHack terminal or keybindings. It seems like DFHack is getting stuck in an infinite loop while trying to unload assets or verify missing translation strings/fonts that were corrupted when the dfint-installer tried to revert back to English.
Could you please help me identify what registry key, system runtime DLL, or hidden cache file could be causing DFHack to freeze on exit even after full clean reinstalls?
Thank you so much for your hard work and help!
Activity
robrasa commentedon Oct 15, 2026
Closing this issue because the problem has been solved!
The true culprit was a recent Windows Update that corrupted system runtimes/DLLs, which directly impacted DFHack's termination process. After addressing the Windows OS update issue and repairing the corrupted system files, the game closes perfectly fine without any freezing.
Thank you so much to the team for the support and for this amazing tool!
SilasD commentedon Oct 15, 2026
For posterity: snippets of the discussion on the Kitfox Discord:
robrasa — 8:03 AM Hello everyone, Dwarf Fortress is my absolute favorite game, and I truly love it. However, I am experiencing a persistent issue where the game completely freezes (Not Responding) whenever I click "Quit" to exit. I have to force close it via Task Manager.
Crucial details:
Steps tried (none worked):
common/Dwarf Fortressand did a clean reinstall via Steam.%appdata%/Bay 12 Gamespreferences and cache.HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Valve\Steam) and deleted user manifest files (975370.json,975370_subscriptions.vdf).--safety-mode.The only thing that closes the game without freezing is executing the
diecommand through the DFHack terminal. It seems something is stuck in an infinite loop while trying to unload assets or verify missing translation strings/fonts that were corrupted when the installer tried to revert back to English.Has anyone faced this? Could anyone help me find what hidden cache file or setting causes this freeze? Thank you so much!
[...]
robrasa — 8:21 AM
already did it
Here is a quick summary of everything I have already completely deleted and reinstalled (on both devices):
...\steamapps\common\Dwarf Fortressand...\common\DFHackfolders.%appdata%/Bay 12 Games(wiped the persistent screen resolution/prefs)....\steamapps\shadercache\975370).HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Valve\Steam).975370.acf&2346600.acf) to force clean indexation.975370.json,975370_subscriptions.vdf, and cleared the...\userdata\[ID]\ugcfolder.--safety-modeto bypass third-party scripts.Even after all this, a clean Steam install of DF + DFHack still completely freezes on "Quit". Only the DFHack terminal
diecommand bypasses the freeze.TruePikachu — 8:23 AM
did you run the game between deleting the game files and deleting the user data?
robrasa — 8:23 AM
nope
The translation tool (dfint-installer) works by injecting code and hooking directly into the game's executable memory and binary. It seems it altered or corrupted a system runtime DLL, font registry, or a shared hook that DFHack relies on when unloading assets during the shutdown sequence. Since the vanilla game closes fine but DFHack freezes, something about how dfint hooked the executable deeply broke DFHack's termination process.
TruePikachu — 8:24 AM
thing is, everything theoretically should be vanilla game and vanilla dfhack, assuming that installer didn't corrupt a system DLL (which it really shouldn't have)
robrasa — 8:25 AM
Exactly, everything should be 100% vanilla now, which is why this freeze is so bizarre. Since it's happening on both my PC and laptop under the same Steam account, could it be a corrupted file synced somewhere else, or a damaged Windows runtime DLL (like Visual C++) that dfint touched?
Is there a debug mode or a log command I can run in DFHack to see exactly which hook or thread is getting stuck when I click "Quit"?
[...]
TruePikachu — 9:36 AM
wondering if a windows update broke things, coupled with your computer being set to a different language
unfortunately I don't have the latest updates installed on my laptop and can't update then right now, and I can't test anything on my updated desktop right now because it's far away and turned off
robrasa — 9:38 AM
No problem at all! You've already helped me a ton by locating the exact crash point in the dump file. Since I'm going to test my third laptop tonight (which hasn't been updated recently), I'll see if it runs fine there or if it has the same issue. I'll post the updates here as soon as I test it. Thank you so much for your time!
TruePikachu — 9:39 AM
you can uninstall the most recent updates (KB5127648 is the most likely culprit) and see if that resolves the issue
robrasa — 9:40 AM
Awesome, thank you! I'm going to uninstall KB5127648 on my machine right now and restart to see if that fixes the console freeze. I'll report back with the results shortly.
TruePikachu — 9:40 AM
but there's nothing that should automatically be syncing between the two computers (aside from Steam Workshop subscriptions), so I think the translation tool ultimately was unrelated
this is the first thread in the process, so if it still freezes, you can just ask process explorer for the stack on that thread
robrasa — 9:41 AM
That makes total sense. Maybe it was just a crazy coincidence that I used the translator right when that Windows update rolled out and broke the console cleanup. I'm going to try uninstalling that KB update now to see if it fixes everything. Thanks again for digging into this!
[...]
robrasa — 10:23 AM
Hey! I just wanted to update you and say THANK YOU SO MUCH! It finally worked perfectly!
I managed to fix it, and when I click "Quit", the game now closes instantly with absolutely no freezing.
It turns out the true culprit was a recent Windows Update that corrupted system runtimes/DLLs on my machine, which directly impacted DFHack's termination process. I deeply apologize for sending you on a wild goose chase with wrong clues earlier; it was a bizarre coincidence that both my PC and laptop got hit by the same OS update issue at the same time, making it look like a Steam or game mod problem.
You were absolutely brilliant to suspect that everything in the game directory should already be vanilla and that the issue was hidden somewhere deeper in the system. Thank you for your patience and for your amazing work with DFHack! You rock! 🙏⚒️
ab9rf commentedon Oct 15, 2026
This is actually a real bug in our Windows console handling. A fix is being staged.
ab9rf commentedon Oct 15, 2026
This is not correct - our code has a bug and there is nothing wrong with the Windows update. The problem was that we were misusing a Windows API in a way that malfunctioned invisibly before that update and now malfunctions in a visible way after that update.
fix hang on dfhack exit on windows
fix hang on dfhack exit on windows
fix hang on dfhack exit on windows
TruePikachu commentedon Oct 15, 2026
For the record, I've confirmed the bug on my desktop (Win11 w/ KB5127648 installed), and I'm in the process of getting a minimal DFHack built to test the PR fix.
TruePikachu commentedon Oct 15, 2026
If it is needed for the meantime, a workaround for this bug is to
showthe DFHack console window before attempting to quit the game, and providing any input (including a simple mouse click) to the DFHack console window after attempting to quit DF; this should result in a relatively-graceful exit of the process.