Faster KF2 Startup: Task Manager Process Trick

This page paraphrases a very short Russian-language tip from the Steam community about the long loading time of Killing Floor 2. Many players run into a very slow first start, and the author shares a simple workaround that, in his experience, makes the game launch noticeably faster.

Cover of the original tip.

The trick

1. Start Killing Floor 2 normally.
2. Open Task Manager.
3. As soon as the kf2 process shows up in the process list, end it.
4. Launch the game a second time.
5. The game now starts much faster than the first time.

Why it might help

The author does not explain the mechanism and the tip comes from personal experience, so treat it as a cheap thing to try rather than a guaranteed fix. One plausible reading is that the first launch does the slow one-time work (the game process and its supporting launcher steps spinning up), and the repeated start skips some of it. That is a guess, not something the guide states.

If it does not help

• If the game freezes on a black screen at startup, try the launch option from the -nostartupmovies black screen fix.
• If the game stopped starting entirely, see installing the bundled redistributables.