# \[investigating\] Treasure Hunt soft locks at start
**URL:** https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756
**Category:** Bug Reports
**Created:** [May 27, 2026, 11:42pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756 "2026-05-27T23:42:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Namour](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Namour)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2026, 11:42pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756/1 "2026-05-27T23:42:08Z")
**Platform, device version and operating system:**
Mobile
**Screenshot or image:**
**What you were expecting to happen, and what actually happened**
I was expecting to be able to move coins on the map. Every so often, about every 5th match, it soft locks at the start, forcing me to retreat or close the game.
**How often does this happen? When did it begin happening?**
About every 3 to 5 matches, when playing in a row.
Not sure when it began, but the recent changes in 9.2 (where there is now very little value in playing pvp or explore) led me to play Treasure Hunt again.
**Steps to make it happen again**
Complete a number of maps in a row.
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### Author:  [@Jeto](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Jeto)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2026, 11:45pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756/2 "2026-05-27T23:45:25Z")
- Can you grab a player.log **right** after the next time it soft locks up?
_There’s instructions in the help centre on how to locate it_
- Is it specifically when you match 3-5 rows or, just match anything and after 3-5 times it freezes up? _Cos currently I can’t repro this_
- Are you on PC or mobile/tablet?
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### Author:  [@Namour](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Namour)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2026, 11:55pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756/3 "2026-05-27T23:55:09Z")
Not sure there is a player log on iphone.
It occurs before moving any coins. Only responsive point on the screen is settings button.
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### Author:  [@Jeto](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Jeto)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2026, 11:57pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756/4 "2026-05-27T23:57:58Z")
Ah yeah, its only pc
If you can get a video that would be awesome, most ios/android devices have a screen recording feature now
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### Author:  [@Jeto](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Jeto)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2026, 12:06am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756/5 "2026-05-28T00:06:44Z")
There is an old way to get logging on ios for crashes, which could be an option as well!
> **[Finding crash reports for Gems of War on iOS](https://infinityplus2.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/150000208280-finding-crash-reports-for-gems-of-war-on-ios)**
>
> Technical Support may ask you to find a crash report for your issue if you are experiencing the game crashing or closing unexpectedly. To find a crash report on iOS 11+: Open Gems of War or attempt to make the game crash again Navigate t...
Also, when you say 3-5 matches, do you mean how many turns taken, literal MATCHES made in a single game, or do you mean after you play about 3-5 games of treasure hunt?
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### Author:  [@Namour](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Namour)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2026, 12:18am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756/6 "2026-05-28T00:18:50Z")
Video starts on locked screen. I show the chat and setting buttons work, but cannot move any coins. I then retreat, restart Treasure Hunt, and show that I can now move coins.
(I know on iphone you cannot see a cursor, but please trust that I am not making this up)
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### Author:  [@Jeto](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Jeto)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2026, 12:25am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756/7 "2026-05-28T00:25:45Z")
Ah I would need a video of what happens before, so ideally you would start recording at the start of the game or before you enter so it could capture what happens right before - if it’s happening consistently
If it isn’t then I wouldn’t want you to have to record every single Treasure Hunt in hopes it locks and you can capture it
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### Author:  [@Namour](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Namour)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2026, 12:40am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756/8 "2026-05-28T00:40:02Z")
The only thing I am doing before is completing a treasure hunt (usually 50-90 moves), skipping animation at end where rewards appear, and then pressing ‘Play Again’.
It is not consistent as in it is not happening every time. It is inconsistent as it sometimes happens on the 2nd or 3rd or 4th or 5th match in a row. It is consistent in that it doesn’t take too long to reproduce it.
Any video I take longer than about 16 seconds is above the 30MB limit and cannot be uploaded.
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### Author:  [@Jeto](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Jeto)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2026, 12:42am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756/9 "2026-05-28T00:42:07Z")
Okay no worries so it’s after a not insignificant amount of moves.
If you can find a crash report, after this happens that could be a clue
Cos it could be your device it meeting its memory capacity so it locks the game, which used to be an issue on iOS years ago now with I think, Explore or something.
_Which is how I found these crash logs, which led to discovering this crazy memory spike causing the crashing at the time_
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### Author:  [@Namour](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Namour)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2026, 12:53am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756/10 "2026-05-28T00:53:27Z")
Just to be clear….the soft lock is happening:
- before any moves are being made in a new treasure hunt
- In a previous hunt(s), I would have completed 50-90 moves each time.
I don’t think there would be a crash report as the game doesn’t crash, as I can still interact with the chat and settings buttons.
I don’t think memory would/should be an issue as it occurs when it is the only app running, and it’s an iphone 17 pro max.
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### Author:  [@AMT](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/AMT)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2026, 12:53am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756/11 "2026-05-28T00:53:33Z")
> [@Jeto](#):
>
> after you play about 3-5 games of treasure hunt
I think this is what Namour means: e.g. 6th game starts frozen and requires a restart/retreat.
🖖
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### Author:  [@Jeto](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Jeto)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2026, 12:58am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756/12 "2026-05-28T00:58:25Z")
> [@Namour](#):
>
> I don’t think memory would/should be an issue as it occurs when it is the only app running, and it’s an iphone 17 pro max.
Like, yes, it shouldn’t be an issue but there could be a memory leak in Gems of War somewhere within this Treasure Hunt data which causes it to spike so hard it locks.
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### Author:  [@Jeto](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Jeto)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2026, 3:12am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756/13 "2026-05-28T03:12:29Z")
How long is the game taking overall and are you leaving it open between making a move for an extended period of time? Or even leaving the game open in the background between making moves?
And do you have any Vaults by that point?
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### Author:  [@Namour](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Namour)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2026, 3:22am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756/14 "2026-05-28T03:22:07Z")
Game of 50-90 moves takes about 3-8 mins.
No long delay (and the softlock occurs immediately at the start of a new treasure hunt). And not ‘left open in the background’.
No vaults.
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### Author:  [@Jeto](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Jeto)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2026, 3:33am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756/15 "2026-05-28T03:33:32Z")
I have a couple of tickets on this, so trying to find anything familiar between the reports.. while also trying to reproduce this myself as I do now have some steam reports.
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### Author:  [@Zuul-Emo](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Zuul-Emo)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2026, 4:36pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756/16 "2026-05-28T16:36:54Z")
Not sure if it’s helpful, but I did a bunch of treasure hunts on PS5, to see if I could get the same issue and screen record it. But no soft lock happened. Might just be luck or something, but if it’s platform specific, thought that might be helpful.
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### Author:  [@Jeto](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Jeto)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2026, 10:20pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756/17 "2026-05-28T22:20:43Z")
It seems specific to Pc/mobile, and not console
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### Author:  [@Fourdottwoone](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Fourdottwoone)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2026, 4:06pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756/18 "2026-05-29T16:06:55Z")
> [@Namour](#):
>
> It is not consistent as in it is not happening every time. It is inconsistent as it sometimes happens on the 2nd or 3rd or 4th or 5th match in a row. It is consistent in that it doesn’t take too long to reproduce it.
Did you ever experience this on the very first run?
This feels like something not related to Treasure Hunt is interfering. Chat disconnecting, tribute ready, some notification waiting to get processed, with the startup phase of Treasure Hunt locking up when encountering it. That would explain why you only see it after playing a few runs.
If you start a run, let the game idle for an hour or two, then finish the run, does the next run lock up reliably?
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### Author:  [@Namour](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/Namour)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2026, 11:09pm UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756/19 "2026-05-29T23:09:29Z")
No, it has not happened on the initial runEdit….just happened on two first runs, in a row, and the second one after I closed and re-opened the app.
It is not related to tribute or chat connection.
Personally, I think it is related to the timing of pressing the ‘Play Again’ button, or perhaps pressing it multiple times (spamming) when it appears. However, I’ve not been able to reproduce it (or avoid it) in any reliable manner.
Because the chat and settings buttons still work, it is not a typical crash/soft-lock. Rather it feels like there is some invisible ‘glass’ over the board area which prevents the board or reward info (to the right) from being active.
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### Author:  [@awryan](https://community.gemsofwar.com/u/awryan)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2026, 8:25am UTC](https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/investigating-treasure-hunt-soft-locks-at-start/89756/20 "2026-05-30T08:25:47Z")
> [@Namour](#):
>
> Because the chat and settings buttons still work, it is not a typical crash/soft-lock. Rather it feels like there is some invisible ‘glass’ over the board area which prevents the board or reward info (to the right) from being active.
So happy I read this. During a normal PVP match I experienced the inability to move any gems or do any casts. It was a guardian battle so I didn’t restart the game. Instead on Android I put Gems of War in the background and then when I opened it again the issue was resolved.
My guess is I received a text or email during the match.
100% patch related issue and most likely a memory leak.
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