Constant short freezes in certain areas

[shadowsworn]

I decided to reinstall and try this game again the other day.  It runs fine except for two areas so far where it freezes like every few seconds, for a second at a time.

In the Sanitarium by the warden's statue, and in the docks in the house where you go to get the schema for the forged knights.

The audio keeps playing, and once I leave the area, everything's fine again, but it's really annoying and makes the game really hard to play in those areas.

I took a peek into the output txt file after walking around in front of the warden a bunch of times trying to see if I could eyeball what might be going on.  This passage repeats hundreds of times in a row:

(Filename:  Line: -1)

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
  at AIController.IsWithinEngagementRange (UnityEngine.GameObject enemy, .AttackBase attack) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at AIController.CanEngageEnemy (UnityEngine.GameObject enemy, .AttackBase attack) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at AIController.UpdateEngagement (UnityEngine.GameObject owner, .AttackBase attack) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at AI.Achievement.PerformAction.Update () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at AIState.BaseUpdate () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at AIStateManager.Update () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at AIController.Update () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at AIPackageController.Update () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0 

I tried to attach the file, but it's too big.

edit: I did a bit more testing, and this only happens when you're in line of sight of the statue of the warden.  If you go into one of the two rooms at the top, the game runs perfectly again, even though you're still in the same area, until you go back to the main part and can actively see what's going on around the warden again.

Edited July 9, 2021 by shadowsworn