civ 5 won't start, says unknown error, steam support as helpful as a sack of bricks

[Moai_Spammer]

hello everyone, so when i double clicked civ 5, it said it wa supdating, but 2 seconds later it said preparing to launch civ 5, i waited a minute, and then it said unknown error.
i tryed steam support, no help.

civ 5 has always run fine, well, as fine on having to play the game on directx 9 with everything lowest quality, fully zoomed in, with strategic view on, but i digress...

my question is does anybody have any idea what the heck to day, i REALLY want to finish playing my first immortal difficulty game (i'm 5 turns from diplomatic victory as indonesia, why you have to not let me play civ 5 )

 

[Heerlo]

You could try validating the game cache. If you want to do that, go to your Steam games library, right click on Civ5, then click properties. On the window that appears click the local files tab, and then click the button that says "Verify Integrity Of Game Cache".

Sorry I don't know anything else to tell you to do.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

The problem with "unknown errors" alongside no history of what is different or might be different now vs when the game worked is that the potential cause is too difficult to guess.

Also, a stack of bricks can be very useful in some situations. How is that comparable to steam support?

 

[Moai_Spammer]

it was working fine until it tried to update, that's about all i know.

 

[SarahEspresso]

So it failed to update? Not quite sure what you mean here.

I would first, like someone else said, verify the game cache. If that fails, try reinstalling with these steps: http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Civilization_V#Complete_reinstallation

 

[Moai_Spammer]

hello comrades! so upon a google search of my problem i found a similar thread on the 2k game forums, it appears my dlc is trying to update, but is making the game indefinitely trying, the solution is to uninstall and then reinstall the game.(check game cache would never work, it would never get past 0% complete)

if this does not work, then i suppose i will post for more help on this thread

anyhoo, wish me luck and may the immortal civilization of morocco reign supreme once again!

~Moai_Spammer

 

[Heerlo]

K, hope it works for ya.

 

[Moai_Spammer]

alas,the problem persists, whenever i try to install the game, an unknown error occurs while creating local game cache folders

i literally have no idea what is happening

 

[Makavcio]

While I'm waiting for someone to look into my own thread, I may as well suggest some general solutions for such problems:

1. Uninstall the game, uninstall Steam, delete all files manually (both from the installation folder and from 'my documents/my games') and reinstall everything. If you can, install steam on a non-system drive. Same with the game itself. This way all your Steam and Civ settings should be set to default and no changes to it whatsoever should be in effect. Try running the game.
2. If problem persists, try to undo any system-related updates/modifications you had between your last game and the initial failure to launch the game.
3. If it still doesn't help, try playing around with compatibility modes of Steam.exe . Steam will apply all changes to steam.exe directly to all steam games.
4. Manually update directx and ms virtual c++. Make sure to manually uninstall the latter before updating.
5. Trivial things: update your drivers and reset each and every driver setting, disable background programs such as antiviruses and firewalls, don't use any tablet input devices while trying to launch the game.

If you know a little more about computers, you can check system event log. Launching of a game is always logged there and if a system-related problem occurs, something may be logged about the issue.

All the above are merely last-resort solutions. They do not fix anything specific but rather aim towards fixing things usually cause no problems at all but once every baktun an invasion of parasprites makes them go insane.

 

[Moai_Spammer]

Thank you SOOO much for all the help *hugs*

but once every baktun an invasion of parasprites makes them go insane.

that is the most epic wording i've ever read

 

[timtofly]

Or if it changed immediately after a patch, wait for the next patch, to get the bugs out of the previous patch.

If you are playing really long games, it would be wise to turn off auto update and even stay in offline mode until the game is finished. Unless you are going for achievements, there are no guarantees.