Can't start the game.

[lynodie]

Whenever i try to start the game i get the error message "An error occurred while updating Sid Meier's Civilization VI (missing executable)". All other games in my library work just fine, only with Civ VI i get this error. Of course i checked the installation folder to see if the executable was really missing and for sure its still there (so this error message is pure BS, nothing is missing). I also tried the things that are written on the support page that should solve this issue, alone all these things had no effect.
What can i do now?

[SLG]

Verify your game's files.

[lynodie]

That was the first thing that i tried. Everything is perfectly fine.

[grognardgary]

Did you by chance try to start it from the file?

[Corcaigh35]

i uninstalled and reinstalled after verifying game files, clearing download cache and running from the exe as admin. in the end i launched a non civ game and then tried it and it worked.

[Groo the one]

Confusing error report on your end. Any chance you did "play around" with Civilization 6 launch options in Steam? I.e. to bypass the 2K launcher?

[lynodie]

Indeed, i did. I played this game last time 2 years ago and back then you could start it without the useless launcher. Seems they patched the game in the last two years so that you can't run the game without the launcher (if anyone knows a trick how i could start the game without the launcher i would be happy to learn that trick xD).
So have to start a launcher (Steam) that starts another launcher (the useless 2K launcher) that starts the game and then the game runs just fine.

[SlasH]

Originally posted by lynodie:

Seems they patched the game in the last two years so that you can't run the game without the launcher (if anyone knows a trick how i could start the game without the launcher i would be happy to learn that trick xD).

Start the game bypassing the launcher with the following game launch options

"\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization VI\Base\Binaries\Win64Steam\CivilizationVI_DX12.exe" %command%

Use CivilizationVI.exe instead if you want DX11.

[lynodie]

NO, exactly THAT trick does not work, because i used exactly that line to start the game. I had to start the launcher and then i could play. Whenever i used that line to bypass the launcher i got the error again.

[Groo the one]

I asked, because your error report says it doesn't find the civ 6 exe file no more. I could imagine, your path to the Civ 6.exe file has changed, for whatever reason. So in your case, I'd recheck, what place it's located at the moment and to adapt the launch option.
Edit:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2457289493&searchtext=2k+launcher

[lynodie]

I got this error even if i started the game directly with a double click on Civ 6.exe (which makes the error message even more hilarious if the message tells you that the exe that you just clicked on is missing xD). Only with starting the launcher i can play the game.
And there is another problem: according to Steam my Civ was the most recent version, but as soon as i started the launcher the game got 18 (!!!) Updates and some of these updates were really big (i just have no clue what was updated since there are no patch notes).

[Groo the one]

Any chance you have installed Civ 6 in two different places? What is the current path you refer to? Same with Steam. Just asking, as long as anybody else seems to have the same error reported, yet.

[lynodie]

Ok, now this is a bit embarrassing. Two years ago i uninstalled the game and back then i had only a HDD in my PC. Now i have a rather small SSD as drive C: with Windows and some basic programs on it and the former drive C: (the HDD) is now drive E:. When i installed the game again two days ago i installed it on drive E: because there is not enough room on drive C: and Steam still "remembered" the command line that i used two years ago to bypass the launcher and i have read this line like 10 times to find a error and i didn't see any error.
Now i checked the line again and then i saw it and thought "WTF? How is it possible that i didn't see THAT?".
I bet you guessed already what went wrong. The command line was "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization VI\Base\Binaries\Win64Steam\CivilizationVI.exe" %command% but it should have been "E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization VI\Base\Binaries\Win64Steam\CivilizationVI.exe" %command%