Unable to start Spore; load into black screen and out to windows in an infinite loop - Windows10

[Swordfish]

I have an issue starting Spore as well. I am on Windows10. When I click play, the game just loads into a black screen and out again into windows and back to a black screen. Its keeps repeating that sequence in an infinite loop, and I cant even stop it using Task Manager, and was forced to restart the PC to end it. Note that I only started having this issue after I changed resolution after playing it the first time right after install. Is it possible that the resolution changce I did during the 1st play caused this? If so please advise how to revert back to the old resolution, since I can no longer go into Spore settings menu. Otherwise please advise on a solution. Thanks in advance

[MinionJoe]

Uninstall, manually delete all residual files, reinstall.

But, yes, Spore is extremely dependent on synchronization between desktop and in-game resolutions.

[Swordfish]

Tried as you advised; manually deleted all reside from documents folder and steamapps folder. Didnt work after reinstall. I had a feeling steam cloud just resync my old settings. Anyway to wipe clean the setting saved in steam cloud as well? to be sure they dun jus resync the old settings? Thanks

[MinionJoe]

Spore does not access Steam Cloud.

[rainofthestorm]

Make sure you clear out the remaining data in %appdata%\SPORE too

[MinionJoe]

Originally posted by vexx32:

Make sure you clear out the remaining data in %appdata%\SPORE too

Spore also leaves traces in the registry, but I don't remember if that includes resolution settings or not.

I'm just not willing to walk anyone through using RegEdit again.

[Swordfish]

Its cool. Thanks for the help and advice nonetheless. i will wait and look around..

[rookspook]

So after having this problem myself and spending hours upon hours trying to find a fix, i finally got the game working again. I thought it was worth a reply, maybe it'll help someone.

I did the exact same thing you did, bought and installed the game, launched, everything worked just fine... then i changed the ingame resolution. I didn't notice anything during that first playthrough, but after that the game refused to launch.

What eventually seemed to work for me is deleting all the properties.txt files in the local files (just search for them in the steam spore folder), then letting steam verify the game files (right click game > properties > local files tab > verify integrity of game files)... it replaces the missing files and my game started running again.

I managed to launch the game from steam a couple of times, and it seems to hold up, i have no idea for how long (because we all know spore is buggy as hell) but for now it seems fine. Just don't touch the resolution! ;)

Hope it works for you too!

[Skrimp Boy]

Originally posted by rookspook:

What eventually seemed to work for me is deleting all the properties.txt files in the local files (just search for them in the steam spore folder)

i can't find them

[patpolar.sar]

Originally posted by Skrimp Boy:

Originally posted by rookspook:

What eventually seemed to work for me is deleting all the properties.txt files in the local files (just search for them in the steam spore folder)

i can't find them

Try this folder: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Spore\Data\Config
I removed the .txt files and Spore worked OK.

[DeadlyCaprinae]

I just tried doing what rookspook suggested and the game still does not work, any other methods?

[DeadlyCaprinae]

Originally posted by WolfenLynx:

I just tried doing what rookspook suggested and the game still does not work, any other methods?

nevermind, i had to go to %appdata%/spore > preferences
opened preferences.prop in a text program
select OptionFullScreen 1 and made it 0

i also did one method from another thread where you go to the C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Spore\Data\Config config manager and manually change the resolution twice

[DerGeileKalle]

I have found a way to start it in the safe mode: rightclick on game to open the property thing, after that you go to the general tab (should be open when you open properties) than you type in "-safe". close it and it should open a window with the code "8888" and you have to press okay, if u pressed okay Spore should start in a "safe" mode where you can play it properly. Hope I was able to help u out :) have a great day and enjoy the game.

[Heero Miiyamoto]

Well, I've tried everything:
I've tried the uninstall and reinstall.
I've tried uninstalling, deleting all local files, then reinstalling.
I've tried removing the configure .txt files and having Steam verify them.
I've tried manually changing the resolution --several times, just to be sure.
I even tried running it in safe mode.
The end result, each time, is that the game opens, black screens, goes 'transparent' (flashes to the desktop at the game's resolution setting), black screens, then goes back to the desktop (fully) but with the game still 'running' in the background (or so my taskbar seems to think).
Are there ANY other ideas?

[MinionJoe]

Originally posted by Heero Miiyamoto:

Are there ANY other ideas?

Did you mess with any mods at all? If so, wipe your hard drive and reinstall your OS.

Only other idea* I'd have is to refund if possible.

(*Because I'm assuming you also ran spore.exe in XP compatibility mode and with administrator rights.)

[Chair]

Minion Joe, im going to suck your ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ toes i love you