When joining a multiplayer LAN session with my friend, we are both able to join the game successfully. After being in the game for a brief moment, the Multiplayer help box appears briefly in the top left corner, the the game goes immediately to the black loading screen. The game does not crash at this point, but remains infinitely at the loading screen until you close the game. The strange thing is, by killing the other player who has encountered the loading screen issue, the player will return to the game. This solution only works occasionally.
I am not home right now to post the relevant logs, but I will do so ASAP.