Steam issue again

[lycante]

Steam issue again

Hey guys. I bought The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition on Steam a while ago. Played fine. Had to uninstall to free up some space.

Skip forward a few months, same computer, same OS aside for a few Windows 8.1 updates, I reinstalled the game. It doesn't launch at all. I hit "Play" on Steam and nothing happens. If I click again, it says app already running. In the contacts list, it says I'm currently playing it. In the Task Manager it says the Launcher is open. However the game doesn't start.

I have researched this problem and tried all the fixes I could find.

Verify cache validated all files.
Tried to start the game with compatibility options on and running as an administrator, both on the game executable(s) and Steam itself.
Tried installing the game while running Steam as an admin.
Downloaded the registry executable and ran it. (Browsed to the Witcher 2 folder in Steam/steamapps/common and ran it there)

I have no idea what I am doing wrong.

Laptop specs:

Lenovo Z500
3rd generation Intel® Core™ i7-3612QM processor @ 2.10 GHz
nVidia GeForce GT 740M 2GB
6GB RAM
Win 8.1

(Again, the game ran fine the last time I ran it with the same specs)

Please help. I'm running out of ideas.

 

[Lieste]

Try downloading the free GoG backup version? http://www.gog.com/witcher/backup

It is DRM free, so there is no STEAM application possibly causing an issue. It might still need a poke to make it go, but it is easier with one fewer items.

 

[lycante]

Thanks for the reply.

I'll give it a go to at least see if that one works. I really want the achievements on Steam though. :/

I'll come back with more info tomorrow.

---------- Post merged on 16-04-2015 at 06:47 AM ----------

Well... same issue with the GOG version.

Three days trying to get this to work and nothing.

---------- Updated at 07:17 AM ----------

Well after doing a clean install of my GPU driver, the launcher now... launches. When I click "launch game" though, the launcher closes, wolf head shows up for a few seconds, then disappears and launcher opens again. Slowly going insane here.

 

[sidspyker]

Hmmm, this reminds me of the dotnet issue that was once there, try this(ONLY ON GOG COPY).

Go to your TW2 install folder/bin and backup the witcher2.exe, rename it I guess. Then try using this, see if it works:
http://wpc.4d7d.edgecastcdn.net/004D7D/files/rk/open_beta/Patch_3_4_NODOTNET.exe

 

[lycante]

Nope, back to the initial problem where nothing launches just shows up in task manager.

---------- Updated at 07:51 AM ----------

UPDATE
After GPU drivers clean install and running Steam.exe as admin, I get a "Direct3D 9 device initialization error!"

Same error on GOG when running as admin. Launcher starts, I click Launch game, it tries to open the game and I get that error.

---------- Updated at 08:04 AM ----------

Probably the last update.

Manually installed directx from the redist folder in the install folder. I am now back to the initial problem. Nothing happens, the launcher just shows up in task manager without doing anything.

I give up.

If anyone has suggestions, please let me know. Thank you.

---------- Updated at 08:46 AM ----------

Well it looks like I broke something serious because nothing else seems to work now. Tried to launch another game and got a BSOD. I'm thinking DirectX died.

 

[dragonbird]

Nope, back to the initial problem where nothing launches just shows up in task manager.

---------- Updated at 07:51 AM ----------

UPDATE
After GPU drivers clean install and running Steam.exe as admin, I get a "Direct3D 9 device initialization error!"

Same error on GOG when running as admin. Launcher starts, I click Launch game, it tries to open the game and I get that error.

---------- Updated at 08:04 AM ----------

Probably the last update.

Manually installed directx from the redist folder in the install folder. I am now back to the initial problem. Nothing happens, the launcher just shows up in task manager without doing anything.

I give up.

If anyone has suggestions, please let me know. Thank you.

---------- Updated at 08:46 AM ----------

Well it looks like I broke something serious because nothing else seems to work now. Tried to launch another game and got a BSOD. I'm thinking DirectX died.

Check those GPU drivers. I'm not sure what you're using, but there's been a few recent reports of driver updates causing BSOD.

 

[lycante]

After reinstalling pretty much everything, the game now runs. Well, it crawls. I get 5-10 fps on lowest settings possible.

• OS: Windows XP/Vista/7 --------------------------------------Win 8.1
• Processor: Intel or AMD Quad-Core ---------------------- Intel® Core™ i7-3612QM
• Memory: 3 GB (Win XP), 4GB (Win Vista/Win 7)-------- 6 GB
• Graphics: GeForce 260 (1 GB) or Radeon HD 4850 - GeForce 740m (2 GB)
• DirectX®: DirectX 9.29 has to be installed. ------------- Yeah.
• Hard Drive: 25GB ----------------------------------------------- Like, 500GB free space.
• Sound: ------------------------------------------------------------- I haz sounds!

 

[dragonbird]

You should be getting acceptable fps on low-medium, as long as you're not using HD resolution.

Is there also integrated graphics on that laptop? If so, make sure it's actually running on the 740M and not on the Intel. (I'm not sure how you check, I'm not very techie, but it's come up a few times before where people have reported problems with the 740M)

 

[lycante]

Think I understand why it ran now. Before, I had nVidia control panel run everything on my GPU. When I reinstalled its drivers, it went back to Auto-Select.

So the bottom line is, it gives me the Direct 3D 9 error when running on my GPU. Works like crap when running on integrated.