How to bypass the stupid launcher

[Aristos]

1. In your Steam library list, right-click on Civilization 6
2. From the pull down menu, select Properties
3. About the middle of the opened properties window, click on Set Launch Options...
4. Insert the following line as is, with the quotes and the %command%, but using your custom path (*):
"C:\Games\Steam\SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization VI\Base\Binaries\Win64Steam\CivilizationVI.exe" %command%
4.1. For DX12, replace CivilizationVI.exe with CivilizationVI_DX12.exe

5. Enjoy ad-free civ start.

EDIT:-
(*) On a standard install the command will be:-
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization VI\Base\Binaries\Win64Steam\CivilizationVI.exe" %command%
--NZ

 

[criZp]

good trick

 

[Mr Jon of Cheam]

What's wrong with the launcher?

 

[criZp]

What's wrong with the launcher?

just takes extra time for the game to get started

 

[DWilson]

I probably won't make use of this, but I appreciate that you made it available for those who will.

 

[comatosedragon]

What's wrong with the launcher?

Nothing is "wrong" technically, it just takes some pointless extra clicks and extra time to start the game.
Aristos was kind enough to show us how to bypass this pointless tedium.

 

[Cerilis]

Wow, one extra click. The horror.

 

[Siptah]

Wow, one extra click. The horror.

Compare that to a possibility to continue your current game from the launcher. That would save two clicks!

 

[Cerilis]

Compare that to a possibility to continue your current game from the launcher. That would save two clicks!

That would be nice indeed. Mostly because of the combined loading times though, not the clicks.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

That would be nice indeed. Mostly because of the combined loading times though, not the clicks.

Yeah, I've been booting and walking away for a bit, only to come back to the launcher with two ads for the videos I've already seen eight times.

 

[Infixo]

It's more about principles (if you care about those). I have paid for the game and I see no reason of why I should watch those ads. Didn't get any discount, didn't agree to them. Even so, it could be ok to see them once in a while, thus making them a nice distraction from a routine. But they make me sick, seeing them again and again for 100th time. The. Worst. Type. Of. Marketing. BS.

 

[Siptah]

It's more about principles (if you care about those). I have paid for the game and I see no reason of why I should watch those ads. Didn't get any discount, didn't agree to them. Even so, it could be ok to see them once in a while, thus making them a nice distraction from a routine. But they make me sick, seeing them again and again for 100th time. The. Worst. Type. Of. Marketing. BS.

Hm, maybe it's different for OS X - what type of ads do you get in the launcher? For me, it's for registering the game and buying civ VI DLC (that I all own already). I don't think there was ever anything there that wasn't directly related to civ VI.

 

[thecrazyscot]

What an odd, tiny thing for people to get upset about.

 

[SammyKhalifa]

What an odd, tiny thing for people to get upset about.

Well I do think people are going a little overboard here, but all things being equal I'd rather just launch right into the game.

 

[Tech Osen]

What an odd, tiny thing for people to get upset about.

I loath adds probably more than the average person but you only see this add once or twice a day.
Now I also play Elder Scrolls Online who recently had the luminous idea to put a screen wide add window on screen every time you log on or switch character. You should have seen that uproar. Luckily people quickly made mods to get rid of that.

 

[Greasy Dave]

What an odd, tiny thing for people to get upset about.

I don't see it as odd - though I understand why you might think it is. Throughout my day to day life I am bombarded by advertising and marketing which neither interests or attracts me. Often it is ugly. It is rarely entertaining. Outside of my home I have very little control over it - it is everywhere I look. Personally (and I admit this is a personal thing) it is a symptom of one of the very worst aspects of late twentieth / early twenty first century Western society. In my own home, I can choose not to encounter it. I can use adblocks on my browser. I can avoid TV. And I used to be able to play games which launched without any surplus marketing bull. Unfortunately that is no longer the case. I encounter marketing launchers on most games I play (including ESO) and it annoys me. Sure, there are plenty of other far more horrific things happening in the world right now, ranging from multiple wars, to Brexit to global warming. But in a way, this all-pervasive marketing stream is for me just a symptom of the dysfunctions that create the larger issues. I don't like them doing it.
Bottom line, like someone up the thread mentioned -I've paid for the game. I didn't give them permission to market to me. I don't want to see their marketing. End of story. So I'm very happy the OP made this post and I will get to launch the game without it.

 

[Elhoim]

Plus when I start the game the launcher crashes every now and then. In any case, it's an option, and those are always good.

 

[Trav'ling Canuck]

Wow, one extra click. The horror.

What an odd, tiny thing for people to get upset about.

Someone shares a hint about how they've improved the quality of the game experience for them, so that others who are interested can also make use of the hint. And you weigh in with sarcastic remarks because it's not something you're interested in?

Not cool.

 

[Gedemon]

What's wrong with the launcher?

Beside the ads (and whatever else come with them), it take longer to launch the game as you have to double-click - wait for the launcher to start, then click again.

It may look like nothing when you play for a few hours-length sessions, but when you mod and have to restart the game multiple times in a short interval... well, I almost stopped modding and uninstalled the game because of that thing as the legacy-branch workaround was skipping the launcher but forced to launch the game from steam...

I mean usually I double-click, go back and check my code while the game is loading in the background, and alt-tab to the game once I see it has loaded (playing in windows mode)

With that thing, I double-clicked, go back and checked my code while the launcher was starting in the background then 2-3 minutes again was wondering why I still hadn't heard the main menu display sound and had to switch to the launcher to click the start button then wait for the game to load again.

At least redshell was doing its thing silently...

Good lesson for me, now that I'm in the other side of the argument, I understand why something I see as a very minor issue could be a cause of un-installation for others.

Just for information, I had tried what's in OP when it was posted on Steam, but as I had also installed the legacy beta (see "ineedlegacyaccess" https://steamcommunity.com/app/8930/discussions/0/3374780959399986368/ it exists for civ6 too, looks like at least one person at Firaxis has some compassion for us), it wasn't working at first. If you hade done like me, remember to opt-out of that branch, the shortcut don't work with "legacy".

 

[thecrazyscot]

Someone shares a hint about how they've improved the quality of the game experience for them, so that others who are interested can also make use of the hint. And you weigh in with sarcastic remarks because it's not something you're interested in?

Not cool.

I might be having a residual reaction to the review bombing of Civ 6 that occurred after the launcher update, which was "not cool". The overreaction to having a few ads for civ products in a civ launcher was ridiculous (mostly on Steam and Reddit, not as much so here), but I shouldn't lump those with a reasonable reaction (like those who responded to my comment above) with those nincompoops, and I certainly apologize for that.

As the launcher really bothers some people, I'm glad there's a way for them to avoid it, and props to @Aristos for sharing it.