POE 1 crashing at 100% on multiple maps

Client: Steam
OS: Windows 10
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 1800x
Memory: 32GB DDR4
Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1080
DirectX: Version 11 (Tried Vulcan and DX12)
Triple Buffering: Enabled
Multithreading: Yes
Network: Fiber Internet connection
Storage: 1TB to spare

Blasted cache and verified files. Everything is in default

Game is crashing 100% on most maps such as Lava Lake (can't go beyond the load screen before crashing), Twilight Strand (so playing new characters is a no-go), and Overseer's Tower (which freezes upon load completion and crashes).

Can do with a bit of help. Upgrading to Windows 11 is not an option at the moment.

Anyone found a solution to this issue yet or is this now a game feature and not a bug?