Can't launch - Solution

[Shizomaru]

When I try to start The Witcher 2, whether from Steam or directly from the folder, nothing happens. And I've read many people have had this issue since many years ago and I haven't found a solution that helps me. So I contacted CD Projekt RED explaining that I couldn't play, not even with administrator rights, and their soultion was:

1) Please check if you have the required Registry entries. In Windows press keys Win+R, type regedit, click ok. The Registry will open. There check:
1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\CD Projekt Red\The Witcher 2 - exists?
2. If the path exists, the value for InstallFolder must reflect The Witcher 2 installation path (by default c:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\the witcher 2). You can correct it by right-clicking and using Modify.

If 1. doesn't exist, download and use: http://wpc.4d7d.edgecastcdn.net/004D7D/files/Tools/Registry_Check_DD.exe

When Registry Checker asks you about the installation directory on Steam by default it's: c:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\the witcher 2\.

2) Maybe its redists. Open the game installation directory (c:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\the witcher 2\) and delete the redist folder. In your games library right-click The Witcher 2, click Properties and select the Local Files tab. There press "Verify integrity of game cache...". A few files should be downloaded. Afterwards try running The Witcher 2 on Steam again. Redists will be reinstalled. Make sure the reinstallation is not cancelled and that nothing interrupts it.

I haven't tried this yet, as I'm installing the game again, but hope this helps someone that hasn't found a solution yet.

My specs:
OS version: Windows 10 (64-bit)
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700 CPU @ 3.40GHz (8 CPUs), ~3.4GHz
Amount of RAM: 16342MB
Graphic card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080
Graphics driver version: 21.21.13.7619

[Nildar]

In case your game still won't run after you installed it again (for me that solution didn't work) you can check out the thread I started a while back which ultimately solved the problem for me.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/20920/discussions/0/142260718946645576/

Basically, what I had to do was turn off Intels hyperthreading in the BIOS. After that, the game runs fine for me. Maybe it will work for you too.

Good luck!

[arialbertos]

In my case, disable the hyperthreading didn't work. However, another easy solution is launch Steam with admin privileges. That worked for me.

[0ㅇ emix233 ㅇ0]

Allow the process witcher2.exe and launcher.exe and configurator.exe to write in protected folders with windows security

[Rudicuul]

Setting the affinity to 4 cores on the process fixed it for me. Some have been able to make it work with more cores. If you go into task manager right click the launcher process, click "Go To Details", then right click on the process and select "Set Affinity" then select the first four cores.

[R4v3n]

Tried all of this, nothing has worked for me so far
Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
AMD Ryzen 3950x
32gb RAM
2080ti GFX

[Lucifer17761945]

It worked fine in another build of windows 10. Its entirely possible like the witcher 3 its picky about graphics drivers. Maybe I can find a dirty workaround. See my channel at Yodas Raytraced Retro Studios, where I brute force find workarounds, and across more than just one windows 10 build for old games.

[Lucifer17761945]

The solution for me was running steam as admin. It still took a long time to actually boot the game.

[R4v3n]

Originally posted by Lucifer17761945:

The solution for me was running steam as admin. It still took a long time to actually boot the game.

that didnt work for me either. i gave up on it, here's hoping one day they remaster or rerelease it and i'll be able to play it again

[Jostermatrix]

Originally posted by Rudicuul:

Setting the affinity to 4 cores on the process fixed it for me. Some have been able to make it work with more cores. If you go into task manager right click the launcher process, click "Go To Details", then right click on the process and select "Set Affinity" then select the first four cores.

The "Set Affinity" worked for me. Ran the game, opened Task Manager, when to the Details tab, right-clicked on witcher2.exe, did the Set Affinity, chose cores CPU0 through CPU3, clicked OK. The EXE crashed. Go back to the launcher and click on "Launch Game" from the launcher. The game opened immediately.

Side note: I did all the other steps too before setting the affinity: Checking the registry key (it was there), running as Admin for Steam and for Witcher 2, and also removing the redist folder and validating the game files.

My specs:
OS version: Windows 10 (64-bit) version 20H2 (build 19042.985)
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-9980XE CPU @ 3.00GHz (36 logical processors), overclocked to ~4.3GHz
Amount of RAM: 32GB
Graphic card: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti
Graphics driver version: 466.47 (05/18/2021)

Edit: It appears the "Set Affiinity" is forgotten when you close the game and launcher so you have to set the affinity for witcher2.exe each time. I attempted to create a shortcut to launch witcher2.exe with the affinity already set, however that only opens the launcher instead of the game. Any suggestions on how to force the exe to open with a forced affinity would be a nice add to this discussion post.

Shortcut I tried:
cmd.exe /c start "Witcher 2" /normal /affinity 9 "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\the witcher 2\bin\witcher2.exe"

[mokhtari.amine1990]

Hi... So everyone has the same problem
The game launchers starts, the window of the game opens but nothing happens (even after 20 minutes of loading)
I watched all the YouTube videos, I tried everything:
- check firewall
- check authorizations
- verify integrity of files
- set compatibility to windows 7 or 8
- run the program as administrator
- I tried to turn off hyperthreading but I can't find that option in the BIOS (maybe my Intel core i7 8th gen doesn't have that feature?)

I'm at my wits ends.
I had these problems with Witcher 3 and 1 but I was able to fix them.
Does anybody have a solution?

[Shizomaru]

hey. I know I wrote this post years ago but I just wanted to share what helped me.

Originally posted by mokhtari.amine1990:

Hi... So everyone has the same problem
The game launchers starts, the window of the game opens but nothing happens (even after 20 minutes of loading)
I watched all the YouTube videos, I tried everything:
- check firewall
- check authorizations
- verify integrity of files
- set compatibility to windows 7 or 8
- run the program as administrator
- I tried to turn off hyperthreading but I can't find that option in the BIOS (maybe my Intel core i7 8th gen doesn't have that feature?)

I'm at my wits ends.
I had these problems with Witcher 3 and 1 but I was able to fix them.
Does anybody have a solution?

I made another user (i think it was with admin rights) and installed TW2 from there. I was able to play it, but only on that alt user. Never really solved in on my admin account...
But that helped me, and I hope it helps others too :)

[sentry]

I'm unable to launch the game on Win10 either with these solutions (registry entry for install location, CPU affinity, run Steam as admin). Without logs or even the most compact error message, it's pretty much impossible to debug what this game is doing when it either hangs or immediately CTDs on startup. The last thing I'll try is the post above which is to install the game into a new user.

EDIT:
The game is working for me now, although this kind of smells like an infrastructure failure where the game was trying to phone home as part of a DRM-lite routine but couldn't for whatever reason:

• Ran the registry update tool, pointed to the install directory on my E: drive; I assumed it auto-detected initially...
  
• Ran Steam as admin, to stop the launcher from hanging indefinitely
  
• Uninstalled Alienware Monitor software, which was causing the game to CTD on start-up based on the Event Log

Application: witcher2.exe
Framework Version: v4.0.30319
Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: System.NullReferenceException
   at AlienLabs.AlienFX.DeviceDiscovery.Classes.AlienFXDeviceDiscoveryService.changesFound(System.Collections.Generic.List`1<AlienLabs.AlienFX.DeviceDiscovery.AlienFXDeviceSetupInfo>)
   at AlienLabs.AlienFX.DeviceDiscovery.Classes.AlienFXDeviceDiscoveryService.processDevicesChangedEvent()
   at AlienLabs.AlienFX.DeviceDiscovery.Classes.AlienFXDeviceDiscoveryService.consumeQueue()
   at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart_Context(System.Object)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object, Boolean)
   at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(System.Threading.ExecutionContext, System.Threading.ContextCallback, System.Object)
   at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()

[Vyo ✪]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0hZrTbhCMg this video helped me a lot heh 2021

[brkerez]

For me, it was a problem with running the game on AMD Ryzen 5950X with 16 cores - after setting the affinity to only 4 CPU cores it works. I also set steam and game executables to run with administrator privileges but I'm sure it did anything.

And how to set it permanently? Well, the solution with creating a special shortcut is cumbersome and not very elegant and us running BigPicture maybe even completely unusable.

Thank god there is a Process Lasso (https://bitsum.com) - utility that even in its free version can create CPU affinity rules for specified processes. So when Process Lasso is running with proper rules created it can detect launcher/witcher2.exe and set the affinity for them automatically upon Witcher 2 start.

I created rules for both launcher.exe and Witcher2.exe and it works ;)

Process Lasso -> Options -> CPU -> CPU Affinities...

[doubblesixx]

Thx Brkerez.. Ryzen 9 5950x here too, but i think it should work on all Rysens that has more cores than 4
I had the same issue, ran the registryfix, did nothing, tested admin e.t.d on exe's, did nothing.

Here's the steps i used, ( Swedish translation )
1 Start the launcher frm Steam
2. Press Ctrl,Alt,Del to activate Windows activity manager ( Aktivitetshanteraren)
3. Select the "Information:" tab
4. Look up the Witcher 2 Launcher process
5. Rightclick on the process and change it to use Core 0 -> Core 3. ( Processtillhörighet)
6. Launch the game and it should run

Cheers