Can not start the game

[MaximusMJ]

Hey, just as the title says - I am unable to start the game.
Already changed the resolution to 1920x1080, did compatibility mode (service pack 3) and run it as admin. Also I let Steam check for errors on the local files....
If I run Binaries/Masseffect.exe, the error message is "Application error 5:0000065434
I tried to install the game patch 1.02 ( read that somewhere that this could help), but then the game asks me for a CD-Key...
Which I am unable to get, because steam does not want to give me a CD-key
btw, same happens for mass effect 2.

[mirHL]

Did you try to rename the openal dlls, and did you remove any compatibility from the game exe?

[VladT3]

I had not done the OpenAL steps. I try to avoid installing random software off of forums, but I finally tried it. Nothing changed.

All compatibility settings have been cleared from the exe. The only remaining thing like that is the registry value to RUNASINVOKER.

My system setup is pretty standard and clean. I don't have much software installed and I haven't tweaked settings for other games or programs. A Surface Pro 5 is not a niche device where I'm running some unique setup. This game ran on Steam back in 2017 on my previous, identical machine.

When I run the exe directly, I can watch the process start in Task Manager. It runs for between 1 and 8 seconds with 0% CPU and disk, and only 0.1 MB of memory. It doesn't seem to do anything before it quits.

The big variance in how long it takes before quitting makes me think it might be trying to reach a network resource somewhere. My latency is terrible here in Rwanda lately. But I've tried running it with WiFi off, and it's the same.

[mirHL]

Mhh, well, with all standards fixes out of the way, I can only bring up the big guns.
Download procmon[docs.microsoft.com], filter out all your normal system programs that have nothing to do with the game, then launch it and see what it hits before dieing.

[VladT3]

Eureka! Process Monitor is amazing. I left the software dev world in 2008, so I wasn't familiar with it. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. But I found the needle!

I found the last few events from MassEffect.exe before it launched WerFault and died. They're not clear, but they all had to do with WindowsSecurity. That pointed me in the right direction.

Under Windows Security -> App & browser control -> Exploit protection settings, all system setting are ON by default except one. "Force randomization for images (Mandatory ASLR)" is off by default, but at some point I must have turned it on. I changed it to Use default (Off), restarted, and ME launched!!

Thank you mirHL!

[mirHL]

Thanks godness. This goes right into the wiki.

[gigadad]

Sorry to hijack, but as I was having a similar issue with launching Mass Effect I was following this thread closely.

Anyway, I just wanted to add that mirHL post #14, renaming the Mass Effect folder worked for me.

Just wanted to add my thanks as nothing else worked for me.

[mirHL]

Remove any compatibility and try the RUNASINVOKER fix instead.