i will literally pay anyone who can figure out why this game wont start.

[TonyTonyLowLow]

Checked the specs, updated everything, other games run fine. When i try to run the full game, it says that Steam is not online and that I need to go online. Yet I'm already online so it makes absolutely no sense. Ive already asked for a refund and at this point am just trying to get the demo to work before i buy the full game again. Ive tried every youtube vid out there for a fix. I dont know what else to try at this point other than upgrading from windows 10 pro to win 11. Experimented with every setting possible. Losing hope. Not gonna buy a console. Lol

[Viper]

Sounds like your AV software is blocking the game to me. Cannot think of anything else that would block off the internet.

[Ih8myjob]

Originally posted by TonyTonyLowLow:

Checked the specs, updated everything, other games run fine. When i try to run the full game, it says that Steam is not online and that I need to go online. Yet I'm already online so it makes absolutely no sense. Ive already asked for a refund and at this point am just trying to get the demo to work before i buy the full game again. Ive tried every youtube vid out there for a fix. I dont know what else to try at this point other than upgrading from windows 10 pro to win 11. Experimented with every setting possible. Losing hope. Not gonna buy a console. Lol

Av or firewall. Try diasableing it all and running, if that works, make exemptions in whatever you're running. Run steam as admin. Run ffxvi as admin. That's all I can think of off the top of my head real fast.

[Viper]

Originally posted by Ih8myjob:

Originally posted by TonyTonyLowLow:

Checked the specs, updated everything, other games run fine. When i try to run the full game, it says that Steam is not online and that I need to go online. Yet I'm already online so it makes absolutely no sense. Ive already asked for a refund and at this point am just trying to get the demo to work before i buy the full game again. Ive tried every youtube vid out there for a fix. I dont know what else to try at this point other than upgrading from windows 10 pro to win 11. Experimented with every setting possible. Losing hope. Not gonna buy a console. Lol

Av or firewall. Try diasableing it all and running, if that works, make exemptions in whatever you're running. Run steam as admin. Run ffxvi as admin. That's all I can think of off the top of my head real fast.

sorry I gave you a hard time in that one thread. You seem like you are helping people.

[Ih8myjob]

Originally posted by Viper:

Originally posted by Ih8myjob:

Av or firewall. Try diasableing it all and running, if that works, make exemptions in whatever you're running. Run steam as admin. Run ffxvi as admin. That's all I can think of off the top of my head real fast.

sorry I gave you a hard time in that one thread. You seem like you are helping people.

all good, you should read the prior comments first. Dude was doing nothing but arguing against facts after proving he didn't know what he was talking talking about while begging for help. He was an idiot, then took to insults. Lots of it is still there, but a good bit has been removed. He's banned for a reason, I'm not, and, weird, I still managed to fix his problem.

At the end of the day idgaf what people think. Like me, don't, it literally doesn't matter to me.


Edit: appreciate the apology, most cant admit when they're wrong for some reason so thank you.

[*Mute]

I'll compile a few things!
You've almost certainly tried some of these already, or I'm assuming so.
Even so, plug it in where you find things that're new, that you might not have tried, etc.

Your description's a little vague, but I get the game's not really giving you much to work with here in the first place. Any sort of pictures, video, etc; all useful if you're up to providing. ^^ Even without though, let's see if we can poke a hole in this.

Removing the Game's Cache File

• Go to "C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Local\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XVI Demo"
  
• Delete all files inside here, there's typically just one .psol file.

Moreso doing this so we're starting from a cleaner basis.

Removing the Steam Cloud Factor

• Right click the game in your library, go to properties
  
• Uncheck Steam Cloud Synchronization.

We can focus on only our local version of saves and settings, and be sure we're using them now.

Ensuring Date and Time is Set Right

Denuvo can really give people issues if the clock calculations don't check out.

• Windows Settings App
  
• Time & Language > Date & Time
  
• Toggle (if already on then off, and then back on) "Set Time Zone Automatically"

Worth the try.

Going into Offline Mode, but Actually (for a moment)

My logic here is if you enter Offline Mode, encounter the error as intended, and then swap back into online mode we'll see the game re-assess its state.

• Steam (top left) > Go Offline
  
• Try Launching the Game (see what happens, should give you the same issue. No problem.)
  
• Steam (top left) > Go Online
  
• Cross those fingers, my friend

Trying (or un-trying) the Steam Beta Client

Not impossible switching client versions could clear the right value somewhere - it's really hard to tell exactly what's causing this off the description so far :s

• Steam (top left) > Settings > Interface > Client Beta Participation
  
• If already in a beta, exit it, and vice-versa - if not in a Beta enter it. Steam will restart.
  
• See if a difference was made.

Antivirus Whitelisting

I figure whitelisting your entire Steam directory/install directory is worthwhile.

• Start Menu > Windows Security > Virus & Threat Protection > Manage Settings
  
• Scroll down to the Exclusions section, click on "Add or Remove Exclusions", Click on "Add an Exclusion", and Select "Folder".
  
• Point it to your Steam Install Directory, which is typically "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam"
  
• Select that Folder.
  
• Do you have any other drives that the game is installed to and not your C drive? If so, add another exception, folder, and point it to "SteamApps" wherever it is on that drive.

On paper whitelisting your entire Steam directory and SteamApps isn't the best for security, but it at least, for now, eliminates one possibility.
(I'm also assuming you're only using Windows Defender and no third party AV like Norton, ClamAV, etc. They can be much more aggressive. Not to mention system resource consumption.)
It's less likely to be Antivirus and much more likely to be FIREWALL, though, and so;

Firewall Whitelisting, Allowing Connections

• Press Windows Key + R on your keyboard
  
• Type in "wf.msc" and press Enter; this'll open the Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security console (more ideal for what we're doing ^^)
  
• In the left pane, right-click on "Outbound Rules", select "New Rule" > "Program"
  
• Hit Next, and Select "This program path:" > "Browse..."
  
• Navigate to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\" and select "steam.exe"
  
• Click "Next" and follow the prompts, ensuring you select "Allow the connection" when asked
  
• Give the rule a name (I just use "Steam Outbound") and finish creating the rule
  
• Repeat steps 3-8 for Inbound Rules, creating a new rule for "steam.exe"
  
• Now, create both Inbound and Outbound rules for the FFXVI executable:
  - The path should be "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\FINAL FANTASY XVI\ffxvi.exe" (assuming that's on your C drive, if it was A: drive for example it might be A:\SteamApps\FINAL FANTASY XVI\ffxvi.exe")
  - Follow the same steps as before, creating separate Inbound and Outbound rules
  - Name these rules appropriately (e.g., "FFXVI Inbound" and "FFXVI Outbound")
  
• Ensure all rules are set to "Allow the connection" and are enabled

If things are still persisting.. man, feel free to send me an add - I can work with you, see what's going on. I've been tinkering with the game, optimization, and doing A-B tests for the last few days - think I could spare the time and maybe gleam something useful.

Sorry this is going on for you, hopefully it's on its way to being resolved.

[TonyTonyLowLow]

Originally posted by *Mute:

I'll compile a few things!
You've almost certainly tried some of these already, or I'm assuming so.
Even so, plug it in where you find things that're new, that you might not have tried, etc.

Your description's a little vague, but I get the game's not really giving you much to work with here in the first place. Any sort of pictures, video, etc; all useful if you're up to providing. ^^ Even without though, let's see if we can poke a hole in this.

Removing the Game's Cache File

• Go to "C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Local\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XVI Demo"
  
• Delete all files inside here, there's typically just one .psol file.

Moreso doing this so we're starting from a cleaner basis.

Removing the Steam Cloud Factor

• Right click the game in your library, go to properties
  
• Uncheck Steam Cloud Synchronization.

We can focus on only our local version of saves and settings, and be sure we're using them now.

Ensuring Date and Time is Set Right

Denuvo can really give people issues if the clock calculations don't check out.

• Windows Settings App
  
• Time & Language > Date & Time
  
• Toggle (if already on then off, and then back on) "Set Time Zone Automatically"

Worth the try.

Going into Offline Mode, but Actually (for a moment)

My logic here is if you enter Offline Mode, encounter the error as intended, and then swap back into online mode we'll see the game re-assess its state.

• Steam (top left) > Go Offline
  
• Try Launching the Game (see what happens, should give you the same issue. No problem.)
  
• Steam (top left) > Go Online
  
• Cross those fingers, my friend

Trying (or un-trying) the Steam Beta Client

Not impossible switching client versions could clear the right value somewhere - it's really hard to tell exactly what's causing this off the description so far :s

• Steam (top left) > Settings > Interface > Client Beta Participation
  
• If already in a beta, exit it, and vice-versa - if not in a Beta enter it. Steam will restart.
  
• See if a difference was made.

Antivirus Whitelisting

I figure whitelisting your entire Steam directory/install directory is worthwhile.

• Start Menu > Windows Security > Virus & Threat Protection > Manage Settings
  
• Scroll down to the Exclusions section, click on "Add or Remove Exclusions", Click on "Add an Exclusion", and Select "Folder".
  
• Point it to your Steam Install Directory, which is typically "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam"
  
• Select that Folder.
  
• Do you have any other drives that the game is installed to and not your C drive? If so, add another exception, folder, and point it to "SteamApps" wherever it is on that drive.

On paper whitelisting your entire Steam directory and SteamApps isn't the best for security, but it at least, for now, eliminates one possibility.
(I'm also assuming you're only using Windows Defender and no third party AV like Norton, ClamAV, etc. They can be much more aggressive. Not to mention system resource consumption.)
It's less likely to be Antivirus and much more likely to be FIREWALL, though, and so;

Firewall Whitelisting, Allowing Connections

• Press Windows Key + R on your keyboard
  
• Type in "wf.msc" and press Enter; this'll open the Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security console (more ideal for what we're doing ^^)
  
• In the left pane, right-click on "Outbound Rules", select "New Rule" > "Program"
  
• Hit Next, and Select "This program path:" > "Browse..."
  
• Navigate to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\" and select "steam.exe"
  
• Click "Next" and follow the prompts, ensuring you select "Allow the connection" when asked
  
• Give the rule a name (I just use "Steam Outbound") and finish creating the rule
  
• Repeat steps 3-8 for Inbound Rules, creating a new rule for "steam.exe"
  
• Now, create both Inbound and Outbound rules for the FFXVI executable:
  - The path should be "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\FINAL FANTASY XVI\ffxvi.exe" (assuming that's on your C drive, if it was A: drive for example it might be A:\SteamApps\FINAL FANTASY XVI\ffxvi.exe")
  - Follow the same steps as before, creating separate Inbound and Outbound rules
  - Name these rules appropriately (e.g., "FFXVI Inbound" and "FFXVI Outbound")
  
• Ensure all rules are set to "Allow the connection" and are enabled

If things are still persisting.. man, feel free to send me an add - I can work with you, see what's going on. I've been tinkering with the game, optimization, and doing A-B tests for the last few days - think I could spare the time and maybe gleam something useful.

Sorry this is going on for you, hopefully it's on its way to being resolved.

I appreciate the effort, truly. I tried EVERYTHING on this list, still nothing. But a few things ;

1. My game hasnt even created a cache file yet. So no .psol file to be found

2 . The offline/online thing/message i was encountering would show up on the FULL game ONLY, but never on the demo. Demo just starts, loads for 2 seconds, and then stops.

3. I have turned off all AV, firewall, made all exceptions, for both steam and FF16.exe . Turned off anything that could overclock. Disabled all overlays. Tried messing with resolution as i heard the game tried to use your monitors settings, nothing. Tried the -windowed trick and tried both -dx11 and -dx-12 launch commands in steam settings. nothing

4. Have already tried verify files, reinstalling, different harddrives, both SSDs. Also my stats are 32 GB Ram, 3.61 ghz 8 core AMD FX 8150. RTX 2080 TI. All drivers updated with clean install. Win 10 Pro, - OS build 19045.4894, updated. 64 bit OS, x64 processor .


I added you so i can bug you more :')

[The Time Traveler]

Originally posted by Ih8myjob:

Originally posted by Viper:

sorry I gave you a hard time in that one thread. You seem like you are helping people.

all good, you should read the prior comments first. Dude was doing nothing but arguing against facts after proving he didn't know what he was talking talking about while begging for help. He was an idiot, then took to insults. Lots of it is still there, but a good bit has been removed. He's banned for a reason, I'm not, and, weird, I still managed to fix his problem.

At the end of the day idgaf what people think. Like me, don't, it literally doesn't matter to me.


Edit: appreciate the apology, most cant admit when they're wrong for some reason so thank you.

I think the people it doesnt run for are a bit pissed. So some of them it is hard to talk to without aggrivating them further. The game costed 120$ in cdn... so if from there its even worse of a feeling of despair. However they did the same thing with ffvii remake where it wouldnt run on peoples specific pc builds. eventually it worked. but they take their sweet ass time fixing things down at SE.

[squaredn0]

Originally posted by TonyTonyLowLow:

3.61 ghz 8 core AMD FX 8150

That's probably the reason. The game seems to require CPUs that supports AVX2 instructions and the AMD FX series came out before AVX2 existed.

So either hope SquEnix updates the game to work on old CPUs without AVX2 (slim chance at that) or you'll have to upgrade your CPU.

[Stardust]

same issue.
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
16gb ram
gigabyte 2070 super
tried everything listed in thread.
get game launcher window, launcher window closes, game appears to be running in steam for about three more seconds, and then closes and is ready to launch again.
any help would be appreciated

[TonyTonyLowLow]

AYYYYYYYYY ... I have finally gotten SOMETHING to open of the DEMO, and am currently on a loading screen compiling shaders! Someone posted in another post to go to https://www.nexusmods.com/granbluefantasyrelink/mods/16?tab=description / or "gran blue fantasy avx2 workaround" (in case links arent allowed) and unzip the files and replace the .exe with the FF16 one. just a heads up though, it took what felt like 15 of loading mins to pop up, but i could see something opening in task manager. I was doing something else and the game window suddenly appeared! I'm assuming this will fix the full game for me too, and will consider buying the game now that I can actually open it lol. Hope this fixes it for you too!

[REBirthTheEdge]

I run the game with SpecialK, it works.

[The Time Traveler]

Originally posted by TonyTonyLowLow:

Originally posted by *Mute:

I'll compile a few things!
You've almost certainly tried some of these already, or I'm assuming so.
Even so, plug it in where you find things that're new, that you might not have tried, etc.

Your description's a little vague, but I get the game's not really giving you much to work with here in the first place. Any sort of pictures, video, etc; all useful if you're up to providing. ^^ Even without though, let's see if we can poke a hole in this.

Removing the Game's Cache File

• Go to "C:\Users\YourUsername\AppData\Local\SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XVI Demo"
  
• Delete all files inside here, there's typically just one .psol file.

Moreso doing this so we're starting from a cleaner basis.

Removing the Steam Cloud Factor

• Right click the game in your library, go to properties
  
• Uncheck Steam Cloud Synchronization.

We can focus on only our local version of saves and settings, and be sure we're using them now.

Ensuring Date and Time is Set Right

Denuvo can really give people issues if the clock calculations don't check out.

• Windows Settings App
  
• Time & Language > Date & Time
  
• Toggle (if already on then off, and then back on) "Set Time Zone Automatically"

Worth the try.

Going into Offline Mode, but Actually (for a moment)

My logic here is if you enter Offline Mode, encounter the error as intended, and then swap back into online mode we'll see the game re-assess its state.

• Steam (top left) > Go Offline
  
• Try Launching the Game (see what happens, should give you the same issue. No problem.)
  
• Steam (top left) > Go Online
  
• Cross those fingers, my friend

Trying (or un-trying) the Steam Beta Client

Not impossible switching client versions could clear the right value somewhere - it's really hard to tell exactly what's causing this off the description so far :s

• Steam (top left) > Settings > Interface > Client Beta Participation
  
• If already in a beta, exit it, and vice-versa - if not in a Beta enter it. Steam will restart.
  
• See if a difference was made.

Antivirus Whitelisting

I figure whitelisting your entire Steam directory/install directory is worthwhile.

• Start Menu > Windows Security > Virus & Threat Protection > Manage Settings
  
• Scroll down to the Exclusions section, click on "Add or Remove Exclusions", Click on "Add an Exclusion", and Select "Folder".
  
• Point it to your Steam Install Directory, which is typically "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam"
  
• Select that Folder.
  
• Do you have any other drives that the game is installed to and not your C drive? If so, add another exception, folder, and point it to "SteamApps" wherever it is on that drive.

On paper whitelisting your entire Steam directory and SteamApps isn't the best for security, but it at least, for now, eliminates one possibility.
(I'm also assuming you're only using Windows Defender and no third party AV like Norton, ClamAV, etc. They can be much more aggressive. Not to mention system resource consumption.)
It's less likely to be Antivirus and much more likely to be FIREWALL, though, and so;

Firewall Whitelisting, Allowing Connections

• Press Windows Key + R on your keyboard
  
• Type in "wf.msc" and press Enter; this'll open the Windows Defender Firewall with Advanced Security console (more ideal for what we're doing ^^)
  
• In the left pane, right-click on "Outbound Rules", select "New Rule" > "Program"
  
• Hit Next, and Select "This program path:" > "Browse..."
  
• Navigate to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\" and select "steam.exe"
  
• Click "Next" and follow the prompts, ensuring you select "Allow the connection" when asked
  
• Give the rule a name (I just use "Steam Outbound") and finish creating the rule
  
• Repeat steps 3-8 for Inbound Rules, creating a new rule for "steam.exe"
  
• Now, create both Inbound and Outbound rules for the FFXVI executable:
  - The path should be "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\FINAL FANTASY XVI\ffxvi.exe" (assuming that's on your C drive, if it was A: drive for example it might be A:\SteamApps\FINAL FANTASY XVI\ffxvi.exe")
  - Follow the same steps as before, creating separate Inbound and Outbound rules
  - Name these rules appropriately (e.g., "FFXVI Inbound" and "FFXVI Outbound")
  
• Ensure all rules are set to "Allow the connection" and are enabled

If things are still persisting.. man, feel free to send me an add - I can work with you, see what's going on. I've been tinkering with the game, optimization, and doing A-B tests for the last few days - think I could spare the time and maybe gleam something useful.

Sorry this is going on for you, hopefully it's on its way to being resolved.

I appreciate the effort, truly. I tried EVERYTHING on this list, still nothing. But a few things ;

1. My game hasnt even created a cache file yet. So no .psol file to be found

2 . The offline/online thing/message i was encountering would show up on the FULL game ONLY, but never on the demo. Demo just starts, loads for 2 seconds, and then stops.

3. I have turned off all AV, firewall, made all exceptions, for both steam and FF16.exe . Turned off anything that could overclock. Disabled all overlays. Tried messing with resolution as i heard the game tried to use your monitors settings, nothing. Tried the -windowed trick and tried both -dx11 and -dx-12 launch commands in steam settings. nothing

4. Have already tried verify files, reinstalling, different harddrives, both SSDs. Also my stats are 32 GB Ram, 3.61 ghz 8 core AMD FX 8150. RTX 2080 TI. All drivers updated with clean install. Win 10 Pro, - OS build 19045.4894, updated. 64 bit OS, x64 processor .


I added you so i can bug you more :')

The game has created a cache. its stored in an appdata file(basically hidden) and cannot be located by browse files from steam. You have to search in documents>This PC and now type appdata in the search bar, this part takes some time but you will eventually see a file called AppData there will be two one with your pc user name....another with default. click on the pc user name one>Local>SquareEnix>FFXVI there you will find the shader cache fils with ending ".psol"

Annoying? Yes. Very.

[TonyTonyLowLow]

Originally posted by The Time Traveler:

Originally posted by TonyTonyLowLow:

I appreciate the effort, truly. I tried EVERYTHING on this list, still nothing. But a few things ;

1. My game hasnt even created a cache file yet. So no .psol file to be found

2 . The offline/online thing/message i was encountering would show up on the FULL game ONLY, but never on the demo. Demo just starts, loads for 2 seconds, and then stops.

3. I have turned off all AV, firewall, made all exceptions, for both steam and FF16.exe . Turned off anything that could overclock. Disabled all overlays. Tried messing with resolution as i heard the game tried to use your monitors settings, nothing. Tried the -windowed trick and tried both -dx11 and -dx-12 launch commands in steam settings. nothing

4. Have already tried verify files, reinstalling, different harddrives, both SSDs. Also my stats are 32 GB Ram, 3.61 ghz 8 core AMD FX 8150. RTX 2080 TI. All drivers updated with clean install. Win 10 Pro, - OS build 19045.4894, updated. 64 bit OS, x64 processor .


I added you so i can bug you more :')

The game has created a cache. its stored in an appdata file(basically hidden) and cannot be located by browse files from steam. You have to search in documents>This PC and now type appdata in the search bar, this part takes some time but you will eventually see a file called AppData there will be two one with your pc user name....another with default. click on the pc user name one>Local>SquareEnix>FFXVI there you will find the shader cache fils with ending ".psol"

Annoying? Yes. Very.

Read previous post. Since i wasnt able to open the game at all, it never compiled shaders, so no file. I was eventually able to open game and compile shaders using the previously posted AVX2 fix.

[Sildur]

I had a few requests to port it to FFXVI in my discord and on the granblue fantasy modpage. So here you go: https://www.nexusmods.com/finalfantasy16/mods/76
This is using the latest version of SDE, the one from my granblue mod is outdated.

[Bliksem]

Switch the VRAM to Auto.