Can't launch this game anymore.

[Sir Bodsworth Rugglesby III]

I've been playing this installation of HL2 and its Episodes on and off for years, but when I try to launch it now, I can't. After the "Preparing to launch..." prompt, Steam claims that the game is running, but it isn't and it doesn't even appear in the task manager.

This only happens to HL2 and the Episodes, any other game launches fine and I can even play another game while HL2 is "running". As I said, I had this installation for years and never encountered any problems until now. I tried verifying the files, it didn't work.

Any help? Thanks.

[Reginald CZ]

It should appear in your Task manager, but as process. In case of Windows 10, it appears as either background running process or just as process under "Steam Client Bootstrapper" (As Hl2.exe process was launched by this one).

Alternative is to reboot your computer.

[Sir Bodsworth Rugglesby III]

Hi, thank you for answering.

I checked processes in the task manager and I couldn't find it anywhere. One interesting thing - if I simply quit Steam and then turn it on again, HL2 is still "running". This is only fixed if I reboot the PC, however, the game still cannot be launched and the process repeats.

[Delofon]

Same.
Something interesting happens tho. When I launch HL2 the same problem happens, but I found out that my CPU loads to 100%. This is caused by rundll32.exe, which launches when I run "HL2". When I terminate it, Steam stops thinking that I am playing HL2.

[Delofon]

There is a solution. You can launch it. First, go to the HL2 (or any other Source based game) folder and then launch the hl2.exe. After that, launch the game from Steam. Then, terminate rundll32.exe (to prevent it from eating all that CPU). Woila! Game launched.

[Songbird]

Finally a solution is found for this annoying as hell issue.

[CaptainNoobles]

right fellas, im still having this issue. up until yesterday, this fix was working fine. Now, hl2.exe is not even showing up in task manager

[Carmac]

Had similar problem while back in totally different game, Commandos 2. Only solution for that game was to run it in default resolution, choosing the max possible caused the above mentioned problem to occur again. Until recently game had been running just fine at max resolution, Win 7.

[NewM@n]

Delofon's tip worked for me. Run hl2.exe from file manager or start/run, see in task manager rundll32 is eating CPU, start game from steam normally, then kill the rundll32 process.

[Delofon]

Today found out that the same problem occurs with GldSrc games. Again, these games can be launched like Source games.

[Delofon]

Now this also happens to Diablo 2. Seems this problem occurs with any old game.
And I think I know why this happens for me. I had a BSoD that said me "file nvlddmkm.drv is sh*t". I've replaced it with "nvlddmkm.drv" that is not sh*t. After that settings for some games were reset, but that's not a big deal. Seems because of that replacement I can't launch these games anymore.

[Foxen]

Had the same issue here...for about a wek now...I tried everything I could imaging could be done...nothing worked.
What makes me curouis to know why that problem accours because:
At the first time the problem happened, no Source-based game wanted to start exept 'Black Mesa', 'HL2 Update' and 'CS:Source'.
HL2, HL2 EP1, HL2 EP2, HL2 Lost Coast neither of them started.
But!
After trying around by starting one after another and killing the hl2.exe in the task manager before starting the next one, EP1 and EP2 started at some point.
HL2 wouldn't...at least not for about an hour or something in that range.
If I did that 'start one of them...go to the task manager and kill it...then start another one (that wouldn't start before!)' thing...eventually all of them started just fine.

I'd really like to know what's going wrong atm...and what changes if they then suddenly start all fine.

Originally posted by Delofon:

There is a solution. You can launch it. First, go to the HL2 (or any other Source based game) folder and then launch the hl2.exe. After that, launch the game from Steam. Then, terminate rundll32.exe (to prevent it from eating all that CPU). Woila! Game launched.

Thanks a lot for that...it works for me, too!
But it can't be a real 'fix' for that...someone at STEAM should have a look at what changes were made to the STEAM system that cause those problems.

[Delofon]

Originally posted by Foxen:

...But!
After trying around by starting one after another and killing the hl2.exe in the task manager before starting the next one, EP1 and EP2 started at some point.
HL2 wouldn't...at least not for about an hour or something in that range.
If I did that 'start one of them...go to the task manager and kill it...then start another one (that wouldn't start before!)' thing...eventually all of them started just fine...

You've done something similar to my "solution". You launched first game, it was rundll32.exe, then you launched another game, and because there already was a rundll32.exe process game started.
But I can't understand this then:

Originally posted by Foxen:

...go to the task manager and kill it...

Originally posted by Foxen:

But it can't be a real 'fix' for that...

I didn't even wanted it to be a fix. I just said it's a working "solution", just if you want to start these games.

[Foxen]

Oh no, don't get me wrong please!
I didn't mean you with that sentence about the 'fix'!
I'm really thankful for your solution, I just meant that it's nothing one would have to do every single time in the future...STEAM should look up what they change in their engine that causes HL2 to only start if there's already a game 'running'.

And yes, I did it similar but sadly not equal to your way...
That's what I meant with 'killing it'...I started HL2 and killed it in the task manager as soon as I was sure, it wouldn't start.
After that I started the next Source engine based game.
If that didn't start either, I killed it again in the task manager.
And so on and so forth....until eventually one of them decided to start...
Same procedure for every one of them.
HL2 was the only one that wouldn't start at all...no matter how many times I tried...

[Delofon]

Originally posted by Foxen:

...I just meant that it's nothing one would have to do every single time in the future...STEAM should look up what they change in their engine that causes HL2 to only start if there's already a game 'running'...

I think Steam isn't the thing... But to be sure, can you tell me do you have Nvidia graphics card and did you update your Game Ready Driver to the latest version? Because I think latest version of Game Ready Driver is the problem.

[Foxen]

Yes, it's a 1070 and the game behaved that way with
417.22
419.35
and the latest
431.36 Drivers (all clean installs)
So I don't think it's driver related.
How should that relate to the game's behaviour?
Same drivers are loaded...same .exe files are started...and either run, or not.
As said:
Every other Source engine based game wouldn't start when beginning that 'start-kill' procedure, but eventually it started...after several times of not starting.
Only HL2 in itself won't start at all...unless I use your 'workaround'.
STEAM released several really small 'Updates' over the last few weeks...all just a few MBytes...
For several Souce Engine based games and the STEAM Engine itself.
And I do really think, they messed something up there.
I don't think it's something about drivers.
I'll test it later that day if it's the same with the other four Systems I've got standing around here...all built with different Hardware.
If it won't work properly on those systems, too...it has to be something wrong with the STEAM Engine ;-)