Not booting up

[Milkman519]

I downloaded the game after it resuming and suspending repeatably for a couple days and finally finished today. But now when I try to play it, I get a message "Preparing to launch The Witcher", it hangs for a few seconds and then disappears and nothing happens. I tried restarting Steam and got nothing. Is it a problem with the Steam servers right now? Or is my game busted?

Also, all my other games are working. It's just The Witcher.

[hun_rowley]

I downloaded the game after it resuming and suspending repeatably for a couple days and finally finished today. But now when I try to play it, I get a message "Preparing to launch The Witcher", it hangs for a few seconds and then disappears and nothing happens. I tried restarting Steam and got nothing. Is it a problem with the Steam servers right now? Or is my game busted?

Also, all my other games are working. It's just The Witcher.

Mate I have the same issue as you.. finally Im not alone with this problem but this situation is sucks .

[Tattaglia]

Mate I have the same issue as you.. finally Im not alone with this problem but this situation is sucks .

Same problem here. Hopefully someone will find a solution.

EDIT: Try verifying the game files. I just verified and its found some corrupt files. Now it's downloading about a gig. I hope it works...

[hun_rowley]

Same problem here. Hopefully someone will find a solution.

EDIT: Try verifying the game files. I just verified and its found some corrupt files. Now it's downloading about a gig. I hope it works...

I did the verifying couple of times and its saved everything is OK.. so dont know what the matter. By the way guys you using Windows 7 too?

[Tattaglia]

I did the verifying couple of times and its saved everything is OK.. so dont know what the matter. By the way guys you using Windows 7 too?

Nope, I'm on Vista. Just a thought, have you tried the Steam Support method?

"Please exit Steam and go to the folder called C:\Program Files\Steam\ (this is the default location for a Steam installation - if you set a different installation directory, you will need to browse to it). Delete all of the files in this folder except: The Steamapps folder and Steam.exe (this file is listed as an application and features the black and white Steam logo) Restart your computer and test the issue. Note: This process will not affect your currently installed games. Let us know if you have any further questions or concerns."

[thinsoldier]

EDIT: Try verifying the game files. I just verified and its found some corrupt files. Now it's downloading about a gig. I hope it works...

How exactly do you "verify" the game files?

This game crashes when I hit shift+tab to get rid of the cd key message.

It once loaded the menu screen but the mouse wouldn't move.

It always crashes when I try to start my first game.

[Tattaglia]

How exactly do you "verify" the game files?

This game crashes when I hit shift+tab to get rid of the cd key message.

It once loaded the menu screen but the mouse wouldn't move.

It always crashes when I try to start my first game.

You actually got into the game? You lucky bastard!

To verify a game's files, go into your Steam game library and right-click on The Witcher. A list should come up - on the bottom of it is Properties. Click it. In the new window, go to the Local Files tab and click the "Verify integrity of game cache..." option. Steam should then begin verifying the game data.

[hun_rowley]

Nope, I'm on Vista. Just a thought, have you tried the Steam Support method?

"Please exit Steam and go to the folder called C:\Program Files\Steam\ (this is the default location for a Steam installation - if you set a different installation directory, you will need to browse to it). Delete all of the files in this folder except: The Steamapps folder and Steam.exe (this file is listed as an application and features the black and white Steam logo) Restart your computer and test the issue. Note: This process will not affect your currently installed games. Let us know if you have any further questions or concerns."

I tried to delete the clientregistry.blob file.. I thought is something similar to the steam method. Once upon a time I will try the Steam way.

[Tattaglia]

Alright, alright, I've got it working. Right click on The Witcher in your Game Library, go to Properties, and then click on the Language tab. Change the language, and The Witcher should start downloading another gig or so. Yeah, I know, more waiting. After that's done just change the language back to English and it should start up.

Hopefully this works for everyone.

[killab2oo5]

How exactly do you "verify" the game files?

This game crashes when I hit shift+tab to get rid of the cd key message.

It once loaded the menu screen but the mouse wouldn't move.

It always crashes when I try to start my first game. Try disabling Steam Community.

Right-Click Witcher>Properties>General tab>uncheck "Enable Steam Community in-game"

My game would crash randomly, but after doing this it's been running fine for 2 hours. -knocks on wood-

[hun_rowley]

Alright, alright, I've got it working. Right click on The Witcher in your Game Library, go to Properties, and then click on the Language tab. Change the language, and The Witcher should start downloading another gig or so. Yeah, I know, more waiting. After that's done just change the language back to English and it should start up.

Hopefully this works for everyone.

Good to know, I will try this out, but I could be more happier when the game could be start up with my native language (Hungarian) :D

[cinqpesetas]

Hi everyone,

Same issue for me : the game does'nt boot at all!
I'am under windows 7 64 bits updated, ati 3870 with drivers 10.6 (latest).

I tried to change the language, to find some corrupt files, to delete and reload all steam files (except steam.exe and the app folder), to disable steam community. Everything failed.

I also tried another thing. I can launch the adventure editor. In the menu i can launch the main game which is great. I can watch the fmv intro and select a new campaign with the level of difficulty. Then it crashes and come back to the main menu.

Sadly, I have no more idea.

[hun_rowley]

Hi everyone,

Same issue for me : the game does'nt boot at all!
I'am under windows 7 64 bits updated, ati 3870 with drivers 10.6 (latest).

I tried to change the language, to find some corrupt files, to delete and reload all steam files (except steam.exe and the app folder), to disable steam community. Everything failed.

I also tried another thing. I can launch the adventure editor. In the menu i can launch the main game which is great. I can watch the fmv intro and select a new campaign with the level of difficulty. Then it crashes and come back to the main menu.

Sadly, I have no more idea.

I tried the same with the editor thingy... same crashing after the campaign choosing screen..

[vColumn]

:confused: may have found a solution this specific problem of the exe launching for about 2 seconds and closing. I WAS NOT having the admin privileges problem.

i believe it to be one of 2 things,

i was running a custom image of 7x64 that had WMP and parental controls completely removed from the disk, there for no option to turn them back on. I also had steam installed to a !!!Steam folder on the root of my D: drive, tho i do not believe this was the problem.

Age of empires III refused to start on the setup, asking to enable parental controls, which i obviously couldn't because of the custom win 7 x64 image. (few months back, found single post on MS forum asking how to re install parental controls, whivh you cannot do, because it had been removed from the image and AoE III refused to start, my exact situation)

So today i reinstalled from an official windows disk, got everything setup installed steam to the default C: location, copied the witcher over, got it all verified and gave it a whirl. It did the prelaunch install of DX and a MS redistibutable and fired right up. I have yet to go beyond the the main menu, so i have no word on crashing.

so it was either

A: parental controls were removed from the image, i just tested with parental control service disabled, and it booted.

B: WMP was removed from the install image, making it not available (i have not tested with it removed now through the add remove windows features area)

or C: the fact that it was installed to my D:drive which is also the 2nd volume of a raid array.

hope this helps. the custom windows install i had was only 4 months old so it wasnt that beat up other than being from a slightly altered install disk. :o

[Ertol]

I have been having the same problems and struggling with the game for 2 days now, but I think I found a solution. Change the compatability for steam to an Windows XP, and then try running it. For some reason this fixed it for me, and I was even able to take Steam off the combatibility setting and still run the game. Hope it helps.

[hun_rowley]

I tried the UAC disabled, ... every compatibility mode for the witcher.exe etc..

[OriginalPimp]

I am running vista x64 and currently have the same problem of the game failing to launch the error report windows shows up says about the files below for some reason.
I have verified the cache and am currently trying the alternate language workaround in the hope it works.I'll let you guys know if it does.

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Users\Kieran\AppData\Local\Temp\WER5708.tmp.ver sion.txt
C:\Users\Kieran\AppData\Local\Temp\WER6DB4.tmp.app compat.txt
C:\Users\Kieran\AppData\Local\Temp\WER6DD4.tmp.mdm p

I cannot even find the above files so I don't even know if the error report showed up anything useful.

[ace14790]

I have been experiencing this problem as well, but as an XP user, not Vista or Windows 7. I have done the alternating language method as well as trying to start the game at different resolutions, all to no avail. Seeing as how this is a fairly common problem amongst many users, it must be a problem on the server's side that on our side. Hopefully, this is taken notice by the proper people, and something is done. If not, well, I'll have to put off playing an awesome RPG.

[ace14790]

Okay, I apologize for the double post, but I believe I have found an important detail to this problem.

You see, I bought FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage due to it being on sale. So, I installed it, and afterwards, ran it. When I did, Steam said, "Preparing to launch FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage", Steam stopped up, similar to what happens when launching The Witcher.
I got angered, thinking the same thing had happened to FlatOut. However, Steam unfroze, and started to run again. Then it proceeded to install DirectX and the VC redistributable Package.
This is the important detail. Based on this, I have a feeling that The Witcher does not proceed to start because it cannot run the necessary pre-start installation files.
Now, seeing as how others found success with changing the language of the game, I'm not completely certain that this is the cause of the problem. However, it might lead to a solution, so I hope that this detail may help with resolving the problem we have with this game.

[Blackbeard]

Im starting to get afraid to buy games from steam, half of them doesnt work properly or not at all.
Bought witcher and it doesnt even start, same with ghostbusters.


(edit)
Tried to change language, didnt work
Tried to remove files except for 'Steam.exe' and 'steam apps', didnt work
Tried to Validate files, didnt work
Tried to Defrag files, didnt work

(Edit2)
this game is broken, so far i have tried 5 "solutions" none of them have worked.

[cupidknewrap]

Does anyone have a real solution to this?

My DX and drivers are fully up to date.
The files have verified and are defragged.
I tried switching languages but that made no difference.


The game runs through the editor but I can only play the extra missions and mods not the main campaign that way. the fact it runs through the editor at but won't won't even boot the launcher makes me think it's a bad exe causing the problems. This sucks.

[OriginalPimp]

I am trying the language switch now(I bungled it first time round), I hope it works.
I had thought initially it could be a compatability issue but seeing as it runs to an extent through the editor that's ruled out.
Having bought a game only for it not to work I am truly annoyed. I may choose to get a hard copy of the game in the hope that it works but I hate the idea of buying the game twice just so I can play it(and that's no certainty either).

[Blackbeard]

i downloaded the 15GB for the 3rd time today to test if lowering the sound quality would work as it did for Ghostbusters, but it didnt, same error, not booting up.

[Blackbeard]

Think i got it to work now, somewhat.

1 Look for "witcher.exe"
2 Then right click and choose to start in 640x480 resolution
3 And then you can start the game

I havent gotten so far yet but at least you get to the menu, dont tab out cause the screen goes black and you only see the cursor, and the screen flickers like crazy.

[OriginalPimp]

Great news guys I contacted steam support and they ran me through a few potential issues.
None of the fixes mentioned here worked but they recommended I go to windows update(located just above accessories in start->all programs)
I simply installed the optional updates(one was for my graphics card) and now the game works.
It's a little choppy in cut scenes but otherwise seems to work fine.

[hun_rowley]

Guys good news :D the game finally started on my laptop :D the fixin was that: 1. third time is a charm downloading the game:D
2. Rename the folder that include Steam cause my folder had accent/dot in it name.
3. on the 3 install it required some directx and C something to install if it requested you on good path.
4. Set the default language English to the game

Now I only had 1 little problem the game, the cursor disappear in the game menu:D

[ace14790]

hun_rowley, the way you worded your message is very confusing and difficult to follow. Please reword it so that we may find out your solution and follow the steps it took to arrive at it.

[CapslockFury]

Hey Guys,

After downloading it all night, I launch The Witcher to get this:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: witcher.exe
Application Version: 1.5.0.1304
Application Timestamp: 4910475c
Fault Module Name: witcher.exe
Fault Module Version: 1.5.0.1304
Fault Module Timestamp: 4910475c
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 0034e632
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033
Additional Information 1: 7e99
Additional Information 2: 60dc1f5a80adcf1489ee5b4fca5a565d
Additional Information 3: 9bdb
Additional Information 4: 90b5ac3adf4c39a8ee202514b4d83e5c

Am Running:

AMD Phenom
Windows Vista Ultimate x86
Radeon 4800 with Catalyst

I have tried:

Setting it to 640x480, it just crashes after the black screen
Changing language, Same error
Updating Directx and Catalyst to latest versions
Verified the integrity of my cache files

2 Cents worth:

I am sick to death of this, Steam. I refuse to keep purchasing your games if this continues. Purchase game, game does not work.

I have a mainstream system, this should not be very hard.

[sh4deinc]

One of your anti spyware programs is causing the problem, unless it's only the witcher that isn't booting up. If it's all your games then you have to disable the process that's not letting steam run games.

PC Tools Spyware Doctor is notorious for not letting steam do it's thing. So, if you have spyware doctor do the following:

- Click Start
- In search programs and files type in msconfig, open it
- Go to services
- click on Hide all Microsoft services
- Uncheck the PC tools boxes, there should be two
- Apply and restart

That should fix general steam booting problems

If you don't have spyware doctor and the problem is still happening, follow the same method, uncheck various spyware programs you have and restart and use trial and error until you find the process that is causing your problem.

[cinqpesetas]

So I come back to this topic as I've solved the problem.
I couldn't launch the game like many others (see my other posts).

In fact, I had installed a "custom" version of windows 7 64bits. I guess that's why the game did'nt work (although the withcher is the only game in this case...). Whatever, I reinstalled a proper version of windows 7 64bits and everything works perfecly now.

Good luck.

[Billshere]

Just wondering but how did you guys manage to get pass the suspended/unavailable/pasued error? I've literally tried EVERY solution on the steam support page and nothing worked.
Sorry for bumping this old thread btw.