Unable to start game after small update

[albiesmit]

When I wanted to start the game today, it downloaded a small update or something and now I get "Unable to launch game. Please verify game data. " I verified the data, but nothing happened.

[HoT]

I have same problem :(

[Jimbo]

Don't know if it is the same as what happened to me, but, after the update I could not launch from Steam. I tried a few times with the error of the launcher coming up. So I opened the Rockstar launcher first and launched the game from there. Played for a couple of hours and when I later launched the game from Steam, all was fine.

[isapicobella]

I can't launch any of my Rockstar games as of today. RDR2 on Steam brings up: ''The Rockstar Games Launcher failed to initialize!'' and GTA 5 on Epic brings up: ''Unable to launch game, please verify your game data.'' same as you.

Reinstalled the R* Launcher several times to no avail. Haven't tried anything else yet.

[Haarukkamies]

I was also playing just fine yesterday but today I get the "Unable to launch game. Please verify game data." error message. The problem is actually in the rockstar launcher which won't initialize. I've tried many solutions that I've seen online like deleting the folders and reinstalling the launcher, verifying the files and so on but nothing works.

Some people said that they also had trouble accessing the Rockstar website but resetting their router helped for that. I can access the social club website just fine but I can not access the rockstar launcher, which I assume is the main issue why the game won't launch. It seems this is a general problem at the moment.

[isapicobella]

Originally posted by Haarukkamies:

I was also playing just fine yesterday but today I get the "Unable to launch game. Please verify game data." error message. The problem is actually in the rockstar launcher which won't initialize. I've tried many solutions that I've seen online like deleting the folders and reinstalling the launcher, verifying the files and so on but nothing works.

Some people said that they also had trouble accessing the Rockstar website but resetting their router helped for that. I can access the social club website just fine but I can not access the rockstar launcher, which I assume is the main issue why the game won't launch. It seems this is a general problem at the moment.

I also saw that router thread. The SC website works fine for me as well, it's precisely the Launcher that refuses to open. I even get the error while uninstalling the Launcher. Upon reinstall everything works fine until the Launcher updates itself automatically after the installation process, after that the error returns. Launched Red Dead several times yesterday and had no problems. Deleting the associated folders and verifying files didn't work for me either.

[Haarukkamies]

Ironically the Rockstar website itself only offers a note on a patch they released in 2019 as a possible solution where it seems they fixed these very same issues back then.

[Haarukkamies]

Originally posted by isapicobella:

I also saw that router thread. The SC website works fine for me as well, it's precisely the Launcher that refuses to open. I even get the error while uninstalling the Launcher. Upon reinstall everything works fine until the Launcher updates itself automatically after the installation process, after that the error returns. Launched Red Dead several times yesterday and had no problems. Deleting the associated folders and verifying files didn't work for me either.

Yes, I already saw another thread that claimed solving a similar issue by downloading an older Rockstar launcher version from a third party website and letting it update. Personally I think I'll wait for an official fix since it seems to be a common issue right now.

[isapicobella]

Originally posted by Haarukkamies:

Yes, I already saw another thread that claimed solving a similar issue by downloading an older Rockstar launcher version from a third party website and letting it update. Personally I think I'll wait for an official fix since it seems to be a common issue right now.

Yeah the reason why I haven't spent the last hour trying a bunch of other potential fixes is because this does seem like a Rockstar issue so I'd rather wait for a potential official fix as well, at least for now.

[isapicobella]

I got the R* Launcher and my game working again, I'll list the steps I followed below. I don't know if just one of these did the trick or all of them, but they shouldn't hurt either.

Alright, so, reinstalling the Launcher didn't actually help me like I mentioned in an earlier comment. The Launcher and RDR2 started working again after I did the following:

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator and type: ''ipconfig /flushdns'' without the quotation marks, then click enter. You can exit afterwards.
2. Go to where your Steam installation is, mine is in Program Files (x86), then right click on steam.exe and select Properties > Compatibility. Then check the box that says ''Run this program as an administrator''. Click Apply, then click Ok.
3. Apply step 2 to the Rockstar Games Launcher as well. Go to where your Launcher installation is, mine is in Program Files > Rockstar Games > Launcher. Then find Launcher.exe and do the same thing. I also set up LauncherPatcher.exe to run as an admin, not sure if that did anything but you could try it. It's located in the same folder where you found Launcher.exe.

Edit: Forgot to mention but I also excluded Launcher.exe in my antivirus. Not sure if that did anything, but again, you could try it.

After this I rebooted my PC and opened the R* Launcher. It updated and then required me to log in. After that it opened, and RDR2 opens again as well.

[Haarukkamies]

Originally posted by isapicobella:

I got the R* Launcher and my game working again, I'll list the steps I followed below. I don't know if just one of these did the trick or all of them, but they shouldn't hurt either.

Alright, so, reinstalling the Launcher didn't actually help me like I mentioned in an earlier comment. The Launcher and RDR2 started working again after I did the following:

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator and type: ''ipconfig /flushdns'', then click enter. You can exit afterwards.
2. Go to where your Steam installation is, mine is in Program Files (x86), then right click on steam.exe and select Properties > Compatibility. Then check the box that says ''Run this program as an administrator''. Click Apply, then click Ok.
3. Apply step 2 to the Rockstar Games Launcher as well. Go to where your Launcher installation is, mine is in Program Files > Rockstar Games > Launcher. Then find Launcher.exe and do the same thing. I also set up LauncherPatcher.exe to run as an admin, not sure if that did anything but you could try it. It's located in the same folder where you found Launcher.exe.

Edit: Forgot to mention but I also excluded Launcher.exe in my antivirus. Not sure if that did anything, but again, you could try it.

After this I rebooted my PC and opened the R* Launcher. It updated and then required me to log in. After that it opened, and RDR2 opens again as well.

It's the antivirus that did it. I contacted rockstar support and they told me they're aware of the issue and that it's apparently system specific. Told me to try disabling virus protection and that allowed the Launcher to initialize like always. Hopefully they'll fix it so we don't always have to disable the protection when we want to open the game.

[isapicobella]

Originally posted by Haarukkamies:

It's the antivirus that did it. I contacted rockstar support and they told me they're aware of the issue and that it's apparently system specific. Told me to try disabling virus protection and that allowed the Launcher to initialize like always. Hopefully they'll fix it so we don't always have to disable the protection when we want to open the game.

Good to know it's specifically related to the antivirus! Thanks for that info. Hopefully this will help others as well. And hopefully they'll indeed release an official fix soon.

[Aggeloss_]

I open the game and when the bullets go in the shotgun(at the start) it just closes without any error or notification

[isapicobella]

Originally posted by mikek4943:

I open the game and when the bullets go in the shotgun(at the start) it just closes without any error or notification

Did you check Event Viewer? Chances are there's a more detailed description of what went wrong there, whether it's the game, R* Launcher or a mod etc.