"Failed to start game (app already running)"

[prince_of_arfon]

I'm wondering if this is a general Uplay issue, because I've heard of it happening with other Ubisoft games, but I don't know for sure.

I just bought the game today and installed it. After pressing launch it took ages to get ready and "update" itself, preparing Uplay and whatnot. Whatever, fine. Then once Uplay launched, it didn't launch the game itself. There was no button to launch the game in Uplay. So I closed Uplay and clicked Play from Steam. I got the message in the subject line above. When I tried to exit Steam, it says that I have to close ACII first. I checked the Task Manager and confirmed that there was NO .exe running besides Steam. So I quit Steam from the Task Manager and restarted it. This time I was able to launch the game and play awhile.

But now, the next time I come back to play the game, I'm getting the same issue. I just signed in to Steam, clicked Play, and I get "failed to start game (app already running)." And again, the Task Manager shows nothing but Steam running, not even a Uplay .exe.

Anyone know a fix for this? A real, permanent fix? This is incredibly frustrating!

[tullaian]

I had the same problem. When hit play for the first time, same thing. took awhile downloading , then patched uplay launcher, the uplay launched to blank game list and got same error message. I already had a uplay account but AC2 didn't appear. Shut down Uplay launcher via task manager and restarted steam and tried again. This time when Uplay launched it popped up an AC2 registration tab and asked me to confirm if I wanted AC2 to be added to my account. It now works fine.

I'd guess there is some delay between Steam launching it, and Uplay recieving a receipt from Steam that you are activating the game. If you don't have a Uplay account figure you'd need to make one first as well.

[Rocky]

i have the same issue, will try quiting out of steam and rejoining

[RedBikeMaster™]

I have been having this issue also. The only way to get out of it for me is to open Task Manager, then ending the Steam.exe process. Surely there is a way to fix this permanently.

[Dave's Double]

I had the same problem when I first installed the game and the Uplay updates.
After you create your Uplay account press ctrl-shift-esc,
-look under processes for "Uplay game launcher (32bit)"
-right-click and select end task
-go back to steam and launch the game again (make sure to copy the serial key)
-log into your Uplay account then it should ask you for a serial key now.
-enter key and launch game from Uplay.

[RedBikeMaster™]

My problem is it has only just started doing this. I've had the game for over a year now.

[prince_of_arfon]

It seems to have gone away now -- maybe there was a Uplay update that changed it? At the time of the original post I did have to use the Task Manager to force quit Steam after closing Uplay, in order for the game to launch again, but now I don't even have to do that. Not sure what changed, but I hope it gets fixed for anyone else who had the same problem.

[RedBikeMaster™]

Good to know. Will check for updates. According to Ubisoft, I'm going to have to reinstall Uplay, ACII, and everything Steam to fix an unrelated problem anyhow.

[The Engineer]

bump. I've realized (and had) this problem for quite a while now, and there seems to be no solutions online. Any ideas?

[RedBikeMaster™]

I uninstalled and reinstalled. It hasn't happened again yet.