wont launch

[MarFols]

hello is here anybody who had the same issue? when i launch the game it launches the launcher and when i click on play, it just quit and the game wont launch

[nianjvr2008]

i have the same problem, i have tried uninstalling it and reinstalling even deleting steam and reinstalling it but nothing works

[cheshirm]

windows, IF you are running windows, comes with default security settings ON. neither steam nor the game installer nor the game make any changes nor bypass whatever antivirus, security settings, folder permissions, running programs you have on your system. up to YOU to manage all that for this game and any other game/app you install.

game needs to create folder
Documents\The Witcher 3
to store your graphics preferences in .settings files and save files in the gamesaves folder

is the folder there? if not check windows security/controlled folder access. if on add exceptions for the game launcher and game
also check your antivirus log. might be blocking game launcher/game

running windows one drive? one drive moves your graphics settings files into one drive so the game has nothing to read. turn off/disable one drive OR add an exception for the game folder OR tell one drive to leave a local copy of the folder.

if after trying all the above and the game still fails, go to the steam game folder then the bin folder.

run x64/witcher3.exe for the dx11 version
run x64_dx12/witcher3.exe for the dx12 version
maybe the game works but just the launcher has issues.
and hopefully an error msg appears.

game requires DirectX jun 2010, vc redist 2012, vcredist 2013, vcredist 2019
which "should" be installed by the game. you can manually download from MS and install/repair with admin permission.

check windows event viewer and also windows reliability history. might be a game crash event. an error msg would help

OP - you played over 100 hours. so what changed? new mod, windows update, graphics card driver update, new app/service running?

try delete all the .settings files in folder Documents\The Witcher 3, steam verify game files then try the game again.

[MarFols]

the folder in the documents is there, i tried everythig, the result is still the same, one change is only, when i launch it as administrator the CDK launcher gives me Error 0xc000007b, otherwise it says nothing, the 100 hours was played in the year 2020, and one change only is graphic drivers and that the game was launching through steam, not their launcher.

[cheshirm]

"CDK launcher gives me Error 0xc000007b" = you can do a web search on that. generic windows error and lots of possible fixes. some users even reload windows.

if the launcher does not appear try looking in folder
c:\users\yourWindowsLogin\appdata\local\programs\cdprojekt\log
try REDlauncher.log but may be a more useful error msg in the others

might have been 1 or two windows updates since 2020. perhaps check windows system:
open a command prompt with admin permission and run these commands to check windows system files

sfc /scannow
dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
sfc scans and repairs Windows system files
dism fixes corrupt files in the Windows system image, use it when SFC can't repair files

what happens when you run the game itself without the launcher:
go to the steam game folder then the bin folder and
run x64/witcher3.exe for the dx11 version
run x64_dx12/witcher3.exe for the dx12 version

[MarFols]

run x64/witcher3.exe for the dx11 version
run x64_dx12/witcher3.exe for the dx12 version i dont have this in the w3 folder, only ten launcher itself

[cheshirm]

go to the steam game folder then the bin folder
which means
...\steam\steamapps\common\the witcher 3\bin
(...\ is short for wherever you have the steam games installed. some users have it in C:\program files (x86) and some do not)

in my copy of the game on windows 11 there are folders
...\steam\steamapps\common\the witcher 3\bin\x64
...\steam\steamapps\common\the witcher 3\bin\x64_dx12

run witcher3.exe in the x64 folder for the dx11 version
run witcher3.exe in the x64_dx12 folder for the dx12 version