Help with "Failed to start game (app already running)"

[MetalSoull345]

I used to play this game just fine for 24 hours of gameplay until I couldn't. I tried to restart Steam, my PC, redownload the game, verify game cache but nothing seems to work.

[MysticNinjaSoul]

I am having the same problem

[Luukシ]

Well closing steam and starting it up again works for me... Maybe keep pushing, it will work after a few time.

[Rubberduck]

i have had this problem for about 1 month now also....

[wdailey]

I had a set-up that included 2 monitors.When I would launch the game it would ask me which video card to use. Now that i only have one, I can't seem to find that window that would ask me which card to use, and so it seems that the game will no longer open for me

[borisnico]

i bought this game yesteday but today its not working. "failed to start game, app already running.

[MetalSoull345]

Alright everyone! I came up with a solution a few months ago. Sorry I didn't post anything.
What I did was to go to the game folder and make a copy of the gta-sa.exe(or whatever the name of the main exe is), and name it something like "gta-sa2.exe". This new copy of the exe is what you should try to run.
This is clearly a problem of compatibility with Steam, and doing what I did will make the game run outside Steam. Of course there would be no Steam overlay, nor will your gameplay time be tracked, but at least the damn game runs.