@lunamoonraker, if you are still following this thread how about posting your system specs so we can see if there's anything in common. Maybe it will provide a clue. Mine are below:

MSI Z590-A Pro
I5-11400F
MSI 1660 TI
32Gb Corsair Vengeance
Seasonic Focus Gold 750
Samsung 970 EVO 500
Logitech G203 mouse
Saitek Eclipse II keyboard
Windows 11 Pro 

I keep Windows and all my drivers current.

Thanks!

@lunamoonraker @lunamoonraker I can confirm. I have the same issue. I had stopped playing and uninstalled Valhalla after finishing Druids, but just saw that Siege of Paris was out so I reinstalled it yesterday. Ever since, every time I hit the semicolon key the screen flashes dark for an instant, then the picture comes back but I have no input with keyboard or mouse. I have to alt-tab out and close the game. I have been using the semicolon key in my mappings for years and have over 200 hours in the base game and Druids with the semicolon mapped, and this problem never appeared until yesterday for me, so if it's some kind of restricted key, it happened recently. But seriously, if they were going to restrict a key they wouldn't let you map it. At least I'd hope not, so I don't think that's the issue. I just have no idea what the issue is.

I opened a ticket with support FWIW. Good luck, and if you find a solution PLEASE post it.

@ubi-froggard Thanks so much! I had about given up playing this game, but I booted it this morning and it downloaded the update. And it actually fixed my issue, so I'm looking forward to finally playing the expansion. Thanks again, you rock.

@ubi-borealis Thanks for checking, it's much appreciated!

@ubi-borealis, I appreciate you trying to help and I wish the folks in tech support were as diligent. I opened a ticket on this issue on Jan 8th. They ran me through all the usual stupid hoops like rebooting and playing in safe mode and stuff for a week or so then finally agreed it was a problem and referred it up the chain.
The last time I heard a word out of support on my ticket was Jan 15th. Since then my inquiries have been ignored. Do you have any news, or can you convince support to actually respond to my ticket? It's still open, but as far as I can tell it's in the Twilight Zone.

@ubi-borealis Thank you for taking some action to help us out! I have remapped the ";", but as agent7217 mentioned, I have all the keys around it mapped as well so it's still in danger of being pressed. I am just going to wait for it to get sorted out as my fingers really don't want to have to learn all new keys

As expected, "support" has me chasing my tail in circles for a bunch of useless crap. Looks like I won't be playing Siege after all, at least not until they patch whatever this is...so probably never.

@lunamoonraker, if you are still following this thread how about posting your system specs so we can see if there's anything in common. Maybe it will provide a clue. Mine are below:

MSI Z590-A Pro
I5-11400F
MSI 1660 TI
32Gb Corsair Vengeance
Seasonic Focus Gold 750
Samsung 970 EVO 500
Logitech G203 mouse
Saitek Eclipse II keyboard
Windows 11 Pro 

I keep Windows and all my drivers current.

Thanks!

@lunamoonraker @lunamoonraker I can confirm. I have the same issue. I had stopped playing and uninstalled Valhalla after finishing Druids, but just saw that Siege of Paris was out so I reinstalled it yesterday. Ever since, every time I hit the semicolon key the screen flashes dark for an instant, then the picture comes back but I have no input with keyboard or mouse. I have to alt-tab out and close the game. I have been using the semicolon key in my mappings for years and have over 200 hours in the base game and Druids with the semicolon mapped, and this problem never appeared until yesterday for me, so if it's some kind of restricted key, it happened recently. But seriously, if they were going to restrict a key they wouldn't let you map it. At least I'd hope not, so I don't think that's the issue. I just have no idea what the issue is.

I opened a ticket with support FWIW. Good luck, and if you find a solution PLEASE post it.

Well, freeze isn't exactly the right word. The game itself seems to work fine after I hit the semicolon key, but what happens is the keyboard and mouse seem to be locked out after that. Eivor just stands there and watches the action around him. NPC's walk by and talk and God forbid, if he was in battle the enemy keeps wailing on him, but nothing I do with mouse or keyboard after that point has any effect in the game. I end up having to alt-tab out to the desktop and close the game from there, and restart. As a workaround I remapped keys so I'm no longer using the semicolon, but it's still there and if I happen to miss my target and hit it - which I do sometimes - same thing.

I haven't played Valhalla for a few months, but I noticed that Siege of Paris was out, so I reinstalled the game yesterday and the problem has occurred ever since. I never had this or any similar issue before, and I have like 200 hours in the base game and Druids, all on this same PC. The problem is 100% reproducable - every time I hit the semicolon, the problem occurs. I don't have any other issues with the game and I don't have this issue with any other game or program. It's just some weird glitch as far as I can tell, but it sure makes it tough to play and enjoy.

I have opened a support ticket, but based on past experience I'm not really expecting any help so I thought maybe someone here has some wild idea I can try.

MSI Z590-A Pro
I5-11400
Corsair Vengeance 32Gb
Samsung 970 Pro 512Gb
Seasonic Focus Gold 750
MSI 1660 TI
Windows 11 Pro

Video and all other drivers are current versions, as is Windows. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!