Game not launching and stutter issue's - solution

[HerrNussbaum]

Okay, i bought this game today on Steam because it was on sale and i'm a big fan of the Splinter Cell franchise.

After downloading and installing it i ran into the much mentioned issue that it wouldn't startup. Uplay did detect my steam install, but after hitting "run" in Steam some windows flashed over my screen and then it went dead... nothing happend...

I spended almost 5hrs to figure out how to fix this, trying out all the workarounds and fixes i could find on the internetz, but finally i found a solution and now it's running like a charm... on superultra wide and with an insane fps. ^^

To spare my fellow gamers the time and frustration i went through, i'd like to share here how i finally got it up and running.

My specs:

- Windows 10 x64, 2004 version (latest update moment of writing this)
- AMD Ryzen 9 3950X 16-Core running @ 3.5Ghz on default
- MSI GAMING X TRIO GeFore RTX Nvidia 2080TI
- 32 GB Corsair Platinum RGB RAM 3200
- Samsung LC49RG90S super ultrawide monitor
- Seagate FireCuda 520, PCIe Gen 4, M2 slot, 500 GB SSD

..as you might agree more then needed hardware to run this 7yo game smooth as butter as one might assume...

And that's exactly the problem to my opinion. It's a 7yo game.
Much tnx to Ubi$oft for not taking the effort to tune up this great title compatible to nowadays hardware. grrrrrr :(

So..How to make Splinter Cell Blacklist lauch?
In the end it was a simple solution. The game only will run when it's installed on C:\
Since i had Uplay installed on my E:\ drive it wouldnt work appartently.
I found out after i uninstalled Uplay through the old school Windows Settings.

Go to your "Start" button in left down corner of your screen and type "config"
Click on the "Configuration app"
Select "Remove Program"
Find "Uplay", click on it and then choose "remove program" in the upper bar.

- BE AWARE!! Before you do, you might wanna move the games folder from your current "Ubisoft Game Launcher" folder to a temporaly safe place on your disk, so you can move them back where you like them and then add them back to Uplay later whithout having to download them all over again! -

After you removed Uplay from your system and putted the games folder in a safe place you re-install Uplay. Download it from https://uplay.ubisoft.com and have it installed on your C:\ drive. The default location is C:\ProgramFiles(x86)\UbiSoft\UbisoftGameLauncher.

Now go back to Steam and if you had the game stored on any onther drive as C:\, go to your libary, and remove the game. Then install and download it again and choose your C:\ drive as destination. I don't think it makes a difference how you name the new map. On my install it turned out to be "C:\SteamLibary\steamapps\common\Tom Clany's Splinter Cell Blacklist" while Steam itself was still installed on my E:\ drive fyi.
Now open Uplay and if your Uplay and Steam acounts are linked it will run!!! :D Yay!

So i was really happy i got the game running at last, until i got into the intro scene and had an terrible low fps and stuttering :( You most probable experience the same issue after you got the game running on a multi-core CPU configuration. It turns out the game doesn't understand multi-core CPU settings on default, so you have to tell it...


How to make the game run smooth on a mulit-core CPU?
In the end it turns out to be quite simple too.

After you have the game running, put in on pause and hit "ctrl-alt-del" to startup the windows taskmanager.
Go to the taskmanager and select the "details" tab and find the "Blacklist_DX11_game.exe" and give it a right-clicky with your mouse.
Now select the "Set Affinity" option and select all cores instead of one.
Close the task manager and return to the game.
If you did right it now will run supersmooth on ultra deluxe settings without any problems anymore :) I hitted inbetween 60 - 120 fps with all settings maxed out. You might wanna try out putting v-synch on and off for max fps. You might wanna check https://thegeekpage.com/set-affinity-for-an-application-on-windows-10/ to know where you gotta go to use this fix.

The annyoing part is that windows won't remember the affinity core settings. So you'll have to do this manualy every time you start the game.... as i said, thx again Ubi$oft for not optimizing this game to the latest hardware :(

I hope this might help you folks to counter the issue's i experienced!

Oh.. and if you're having a big ass screen as i do, like the 48" inch 5140x1440 monitor. Go to https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/1414-tom-clancys-splinter-cell-blacklist-ultrawide-and-multimon-hack/?do=download&r=5988&confirm=1&t=1&csrfKey=e61e50e533644c66060bf2559258658f
and download the files, replace them and have full screen experience on max ultra setttings on dx11!

[EffectsTV]

Weird.. Its been problem free for me and I'm running max settings (FXAA) 1440p 144hz with 120-140 fps at all times. No stutters at all and smooth frame times. Literally did nothing to get the game working.. Game is installed on the S Drive too

Ryzen 5 3600
32GB ram
RX 5700 xt