Fix: The Finals Stuck on Searching in Infinite Loop

“The Finals” is a first-person shooter game that is both developed and published by Nexon subsidiary Embark Studios. The game revolves around team-based matches on maps featuring a destructible environment. Players are encouraged to use the dynamic environment to their advantage. This game, known for its intense combat and team-based battles in virtual arenas, has quickly garnered a significant player base eager to experience its dynamic gameplay. Despite its popularity, several players have reported issues with the game being stuck in an infinite search loop during matchmaking.

If you’re facing this challenge, where the matchmaking screen seems to halt indefinitely, you’re not alone. Many players find themselves stuck in this loop, often leading to frustration and needing to exit and re-enter the game. This issue is typically linked to server-side complications, possibly stemming from technical glitches or scalability constraints.

With an increasing number of players joining ‘The Finals’ through Steam for the PC version, the frequency of encountering such matchmaking difficulties is rising. These server-related issues, while common during periods of high player influx, are often addressed by the developers. As the game continues to evolve post-beta, there’s an expectation for enhanced server capacity and stability improvements to minimize such matchmaking problems in the future.

How to Fix The Finals Stuck on Searching in Infinite Loop

For some players, it can temporarily be a server downtime or an internet connectivity issue. Multiple players can also face the stuck-on searching screen issue due to an outdated game patch version, corrupted or missing game files, conflicts with the VPN services, DNS address-related issues, networking driver issues, antivirus or firewall blocking issues, unnecessary background running conflicts, and more.

Fortunately, we’ve mentioned a couple of workarounds that can come in handy. Ensure that you follow all troubleshooting methods until the problem is fixed. So, without further ado, let’s jump into it.

1. Restart the PC

First, you should restart your PC to check if the game is running fine or not. Sometimes, temporary system glitches or cache issues with the game application may trigger conflicts with the server connectivity. Thus, navigate to the Start menu > Click on the Power icon > Click on Restart, then check for the stuck-on searching issue again.

2. Run The Finals as an Administrator

Always run the game application as an administrator on Windows to avoid game launching or server connectivity issues to some extent. By allowing the system admin permission, your application will run much smoother without any conflicts regarding the user account control access. This is a one-time process. So, check out the following steps to set the admin access for the game executable.

• Go to the installed game directory on your computer.
• Now, right-click on the TheFinals.exe to open the context menu.
• Go to Properties > Click on the Compatibility tab.

• Click on the Run this program as an administrator checkbox to enable it.
• Then click on Apply > Select OK to save changes.

3. Check Your Network Status

You can try checking the internet connection at your end by performing speed tests online, such as the Ookla speed test or fast.com websites. If there is an issue with the poor internet connection or stability, contact your service provider for further technical assistance. If you’re using a Wi-Fi network, try another one. We recommend always using an ethernet (wired) connection for better performance.

4. Check the Server Status

It might also be possible that The Finals game servers are either down or having a maintenance process. So, in both cases, you may experience server connectivity issues or matchmaking issues for a specific period. That’s why you should follow @reachthefinals Twitter handle to get to know all the latest updates, server issues, patch notes, player reports, etc. If there is a server issue, wait a couple of hours & try again later. Otherwise, skip to the next method.

5. Update The Finals

Sometimes an outdated game patch version can cause stability issues, bugs, crashes, server connectivity errors, graphical glitches, and more. You should always check for the game updates manually as follows:

• Open Steam > Go to Library.
• Click on The Finals.
• If the Update option is available, click on it.
• Wait for the game to install the update.
• Once done, close the client, and reboot the system.

6. Verify and Repair the Game Files

Several affected players have found this method useful to reinstall the corrupted or missing game files on the directory again. With this trick, you’ll be able to resolve multiple issues of the game application that might not popup on the screen.

• Open Steam > Go to Library.
• Right-click on The Finals.
• Go to Settings > Select Properties.
• Click on Local Files > Select Verify integrity of game files.
• It may take a couple of seconds to verify.
• Once done, close the client, and restart the PC.

7. Update the Network Driver

It may also be possible that somehow your networking driver becomes outdated for a while and that’s why you’re encountering issues with the server connectivity. To do this:

• Press the Win+X keys and open Device Manager.
• Double-click on Network Adapters.
• Right-click on the active network adapter that you’re using.

• Select Update driver > Choose Search automatically for drivers.
• If an update is available, it’ll automatically download and install it.
• Once done, you can restart your computer to apply changes.

8. Disable Windows Firewall

Another thing you can do is to disable Windows Firewall manually on your PC to ensure the security features aren’t blocking ongoing connections to the game servers. Several users have already found this trick helpful. So, it would be best if you also tried it once.

• Open the Start Menu > Search and open Windows Firewall.
• Click on Turn Windows Defender Firewall on or off from the left side.
• Click on the Turn off Windows Defender Firewall (not recommended) toggle.
  • Turn off for both Public and Private Domains.
• Next, click on OK to save changes.
• Reboot your PC to apply changes.

9. Turn Off Antivirus Protection

You can also try disabling the antivirus protection on your Windows computer manually to prevent game application blocking by the aggressive real-time protection scanning in the background. If you’re using the default Windows antivirus that comes pre-installed, then follow the following steps to turn it off.

• Press the Win+I keys to open Windows Settings.
• Click on Update & Security > Go to Windows Security.
• Now, click on Open Windows Security > Select Virus & Threat Protection.
• Select Manage Settings > Go to Real-time protection and Turn it Off.
• If prompted, click on Yes to continue.
• Now, you can run The Finals again to check for the issue.

Please Note: If you’re using any other third-party antivirus program on your PC, turn off the real-time protection feature via the program settings menu.

10. Close Background Processes

Background running tasks are useful for the system and the respective user to open applications and other tasks seamlessly. However, sometimes, some unnecessary third-party applications can run in the background without your knowledge. Those not-so-necessary tasks can consume system resources like CPU, RAM, GPU, and data bandwidth. You should manually close those unnecessary tasks individually to free up some system resources.

Please Note: Do not close system tasks or applications without knowledge. Otherwise, your system may get corrupted or face some issues.

• Open Task Manager (press the Ctrl+Shift+Esc keys).
• Go to Processes > Choose the specific task that you want to close.
• Click on End Task.
• Now, do the same steps for each task individually.
• Once done, restart your PC.

11. Avoid using VPNs

We mostly recommend our readers not to use VPNs or proxy servers at their end unless they’re trying to access any geo-restricted content for a short period. VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a better choice to access geo-restricted content or games from a different server region. But VPN users will also encounter high ping delay or latency issues in the fast-paced multiplayer titles. So, it’s suggested to turn off the VPN access for a while and then check for the game stuck on searching again.

12. Change the DNS Address

Last, try changing the custom DNS address to a public DNS address like Google DNS to get faster and more reliable global connectivity. Google DNS is considered one of the best-in-class DNS addresses to connect to game servers or streaming content, irrespective of your internet services. So, it would be best if you also tried it once. There is no issue with Google DNS usage even though you use any high-end network service.

• Press the Win+R keys to open the Run dialogue box.
• Now, search & open the Control Panel.
• Click on Network and Internet.
• Select Network and Sharing Center.
• Go to your Connections to select Ethernet, Wi-Fi, etc.
• Head over to Properties.
• Double-click on Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) to open a new window.

• Click on Use the following DNS server addresses.
• Now, enter 8.8.8.8 for the Preferred DNS server.
• Enter 8.8.4.4 for the Alternate DNS server.
• Then click on the Validate settings upon the exit checkbox.
• Click on OK to confirm the changes.
• Finally, reboot the PC to apply changes.

That’s it, guys. We assume this guide was helpful to you. For further queries, you can comment below.