Unable to launch NBA 2K15? Possible fixes inside.

[Nexus14]

EDIT (10/22/14): The latest PC patch fixed my issues and I can now launch the game. Seems like it was 100% audio card related.


Hello. I have been browsing these forums and posting a lot for the last couple days. Anyone who's been checking the threads is probably sick of my nick and Charlie Brown avatar by now. And why have I been posting so much? Because I can't launch my copy of NBA 2K15. At all.

I'm talking about not being able to start the game up for even a second. Everytime I hit the blue "Play" button it either hesitates for a couple seconds and does nothing, or it shows me the "preparing to launch" thing, gives me a splash black screen for one second and then goes back to desktop. The game simply won't launch.

Before going any further, I must say that my computer's specs are above the recommended requirements for this game. They are as follows:

i7 3770k processor.
GTX 770 2GB Nvidia GPU.
8 GB of RAM
Windows 7 Proffessional 64 bit.

My Nvidia drivers are all up to date. And so is DirectX and other software needed.
But still, the game hasn't launched for me at all.

I've been trying to get this thing to work ever since I first bought and downloaded it back on friday. Nothing has fixed my problems. Now, for everyone that has the same problem as me, I'm gonna list all the fixes I've attempted. I know some of these have worked for some people, even though they haven't for me, so maybe by listing them all I can make sure that someone else is able to repair the game:

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- Tried to run the game in Steam offline mode or with my internet unplugged (this seems to work for a lot of people that can't launch it while online, but it didn't fix anything for me).

- Made sure that my Nvidia drivers were the latest version (344.11, as of this writing). Also uninstalled my GPU altogether and reinstalled it along with the drivers with a clean setup.

- Tried setting the game's .exe to run as administrator.

- Tried reinstalling the latest versions of DirectX.

- Tried reinstalling the latest versions of VC++ redistributable.

- Tried uninstalling every single version of VC++ redistributable in my computer and then reinstalling just the version from the game folder.

- Tried reinstalling the latest versions of .NET Framework.

- Tried verifying the game's cache several times.

- Tried reinstalling Steam altogether.

- Tried disabling my Anti Virus software when executing or installing the game.

- Tried deleting the game from my library and redownloading it altogether, then installing it again.

- Tried forcing V-Sync and Triple Buffer from the Nvidia Control Pannel.

- Made sure that my graphics card was enabled for this game in the Nvidia Control Pannel.

- Tried creating a .cfg file with other people's settings in the required path.

- Tried different resolutions by editing my own VideoSettings.cfg file.

- Tried disabling my second monitor.

- Tried a cracked version of the game.

- Tried replacing my .dll files with those of somebody else that has been able to play.

- Tried deleting the Steam folder at C/ProgramData

- Restarted Steam and my computer about 50 times.

- Made sure my version of Windows is updated.

- Tried the Windows hotfix for outdated versions of the OS.

- Disabled my internal graphics processor in the BIOS before startup.

- Tried disabling all my sound drivers before attempting to launch the game.

- Tried the method explained in this thread:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/282350/discussions/0/619568708440851750/

- Tried deleting two pre-fetch files created of the game's .exe.

- Tried disabling all my Nvidia HDMI Output sound drivers.

- Tried lowering my desktop resolution before launching.

- Installed the latest patch for the game.
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As I said, nothing has worked for me. After spending the whole weekend trying every single thing I could come up with, the game still doesn't launch. All I've accomplished was actually seeing the Kevin Durant splashcreen for a second once, before going back to desktop.

Everytime I try to launch the game, Steam counts me as if I'm playing it for 2-3 seconds. I've tried this so many times that Steam states that I've played the game for 8 minutes now. Heh.

Some people said it got fixed for them after freeing up space in the hard drives where Steam and/or the game was installed for them. If you happen to have less than 10 GB of free space in your drives, you should try this. I haven't even bothered because I have over 600 GB of free space in my drive, so that can't be the problem.


All in all, I'm tired. I'm frustrated and tired of trying to fix this game. What was going to be an awesome weekend of getting to play the new NBA 2K in my computer has turned into three extremely annoying days of looking for answers. After spending one whole year without playing 2K because of their shameful last-gen port to PC with 2K14 which I refused to buy, I was really looking forward to this fully-featured version of the new game. I've been playing this series since 2K9.

I'm just making this post to raise awareness about the problem. I know there are a lot of threads right now talking about this particular thing and other bugs and glitches... But I wanted to gather all the fixes I've tried in the same place, so maybe other people with my same issue are able to fix it.

And I have to say that I think it's unacceptable how 2K has handled this. Through the whole weekend, not only didn't they deliver a fix of any kind... They haven't even confirmed that they KNOW about these problems. All they talk about is the minor bugs they are fixing for the consoles and they keep going on about the servers being OK when they clearly aren't.

I did send a ticket to 2K support, and I just got an automated response basically telling me to sit and wait. One that a lot of people have received as well. Oh, and it took them 24 HOURS to send me that AUTOMATED response to my report.

I really hope that 2K will finally realize what's going on and will deliver a patch to fix these problems. It's outrageous that they released a game in a state that keeps a lot of people from even LAUNCHING it. I'm ok with servers not working fine the first couple days after release... I don't even care about the online play that much. But not being able to launch the game at all, not being able to play even offline... Not even for a minute. That is unacceptable.

Even if 2K fix this during the next week, I sure as hell am gonna be very wary about buying anything from then again. And it goes without saying that, if they never fix it (or take longer than a week to do so), I will NEVER buy any of their products ever again.

I've spent 50 bucks and all of my free time this weekend just to try to get the game to work. And I have failed.

I hope somebody can fix this soon.

/Rant over.

[Haise]

still getting unknown error, not being able to even start the game..

[Givenchy]

Can't start the game either. Buying via Steamcode. After the KD screen follows a cryptic nba logo screen and then it crashes. I read there should be a patch? Where i can find it?
50€ for nothing is not a good deal tho.

[Rybeck630]

do you think my graphics card is too old even though it should be for the minimum ?

Gra Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 (1GB)

[Eiseps]

引用自 madmax630：

do you think my graphics card is too old even though it should be for the minimum ?

Gra Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 (1GB)

nOPE.. IM RUNNING THIS GAME ON GT220.. SO U SHOULD BE fine

[Rybeck630]

hmm, a friend of mine has the same processor just got a better graphics card (2GB) and it runs the game without problems! 'm really at a loss what it could still be

[davidefinnerty]

finally i got this ♥♥♥♥♥♥ game working

[orduluaslan]

nvidia release new driver. i hope good things happen.

[Rybeck630]

Unfortunately no, I've just now made ​​it and the game still crashes!

[Aries]

引用自 Nexus14：

- Tried creating a .cfg file with other people's settings in the required path.

- Tried different resolutions by editing my own VideoSettings.cfg file.

Wait how do you do this, becuase that may solve my problem

[HyP82 Solcamp]

My game still crash after it was patched. I just checked the videosettings. And I don't understand why the game is using my intel graphic card instead of my nvidia geforce. When I add the game to my nvidia panel control, all options are greyed and can't be modified.

[Leon_74RA]

i still cant even launch the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ game. Last ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ time i buy a 2k game LAST TIME.
El parche no me ha solucionado el problema y es que yo no paso del mensaje de error de steam.

[Daddy]

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

[Kyle]

still getting preparing to launch, is there no hope for me

[DEC1MUS]

Installed the latest Nvidia drivers released today and the latest NBA2k15 patch and still doesn't launch, this is beyond dissapointing. I honestly thought it would be fixed by now.

[Damonis]

Sometimes the game is launching but when i am trying to start my carreer i get always a CTD.
Worst nba 2k sportsgame release in a decade:(