FO4 still won't launch through Steam after the update

[Joseph Milligan]

So I've read a ton of posts. Most of the issues aren't the same as mine and involve crashing during play. For me, the game simply won't launch. The Steam launcher pops up and does it's checks, but the game launcher with the Play button never comes up.

Tried several "fixes" and none helped.

I play mostly on a Lenovo P15s Thinkpad. I did install it after the update on my desktop and had zero issues. So I deleted it off of the laptop and reinstalled. Problem persists.

I need help with this. I have no clue at this point what the problem is. Not sure if the uninstall I did was clean enough, or if system changes or residual files are the issue. But when the DL is 6-7 hours, that's not an option I'm keen on doing over and over, hoping for the best that never comes.

I went through the reporting here, and it basically told me to seek out the game manufacturer, but it really seems like this is a Steam Launcher issue. The very reason I don't play many games through Steam. The more "working parts", the more areas where things can fail.

[Cor.]

Check Windows Defender to make sure it isnt blocking FO4.

Lots of posts of people saying that defender was being stupid

[Joseph Milligan]

Originally posted by Cor.:

Check Windows Defender to make sure it isnt blocking FO4.

Lots of posts of people saying that defender was being stupid

Looking in Defender, I don't see anything that's blocked, and most security settings are not even active.

[Vice]

even if you dont want or use mods...I'd recommend launching it through MO2 (google it if you dont know what it is) steam can sometimes get wonky like this.

[Death Approaches]

it's not Steam's Launcher, it's Bethesda's, Steam does practically nothing; it's not their code. The publisher sets what executable to run when they define their product; there's very little you can blame on Steam, in any game, ever.

what is a lenovo P15? isn't that a CAD/rendering laptop? it doesn't have a consumer GPU card it has a Quadro, right? Like a T1000 or RTX 5000? are these even good for gaming? Great for CUDA I'm sure... never seen people have good luck with them, but I assume you can install the legacy DirectX SDK packs for DX9,10,11 and at least get it to run, though...

https://www.microsoft.com/en-ie/download/details.aspx?id=8109

[Makeithappen]

Make sure your graphics card is up to date.

Check your resolution and make sure the game is running at a refresh rate that matches your monitor. This would be the first thing I would check. Test and see if windowed or full screen gives you the same issue.

Are your other games on steam launching successfully? You could try to launch the game from the .exe file which can be located by searching local files.

Run it as admin. Sometimes antivirus software can cause programs to be disabled. I would uninstall any anti-virus software you have. A lot of them have malware or fake reports to get you to buy or use. Windows Defender works just fine.

Verify file integrity takes time on larger games, but this might resolve your issue if there is a missing file.

I've never played this on a Thinkpad. What is your OS? Make sure your hardware matches the minimum or higher required recommendations. The game maybe failing to start because it was probably not made to run on that type of hardware. Laptops are the least performing when it comes to gaming.

I would check if the Hi Res texture pack is installed. It shows up as a DLC item that you can opted out of. In some cases this resolved the issue.

[Joseph Milligan]

Originally posted by Booker:

Make sure your graphics card is up to date.

Check your resolution and make sure the game is running at a refresh rate that matches your monitor. This would be the first thing I would check. Test and see if windowed or full screen gives you the same issue.

I've changed nothing, and it was running just fine before the update.

Are your other games on steam launching successfully? You could try to launch the game from the .exe file which can be located by searching local files.

I don't play much through Steam as I said. It works fine on my desktop.

Run it as admin. Sometimes antivirus software can cause programs to be disabled. I would uninstall any anti-virus software you have. A lot of them have malware or fake reports to get you to buy or use. Windows Defender works just fine.

I run everything as admin on this computer. Defender is the only thing installed and
detects no issues.

Verify file integrity takes time on larger games, but this might resolve your issue if there is a missing file.

I did this on the first install when it stopped loading. Haven't done it since uninstalling
and reinstalling last night.

I've never played this on a Thinkpad. What is your OS? Make sure your hardware matches the minimum or higher required recommendations. The game maybe failing to start because it was probably not made to run on that type of hardware. Laptops are the least performing when it comes to gaming.

Windows 10 is on this system. Never upgraded to 11. Again, was running without any
issues at all before the update. Immediately after, wouldn't get past the Steam
launcher.

I would check if the Hi Res texture pack is installed. It shows up as a DLC item that you can opted out of. In some cases this resolved the issue.

I will check this, but I doubt it's had time to even load that up, since the Bethesda
launch screen never comes up.

ugh, my formatting didn't work for this.

[Makeithappen]

Originally posted by Death Approaches:

it's not Steam's Launcher, it's Bethesda's, Steam does practically nothing; it's not their code. The publisher sets what executable to run when they define their product; there's very little you can blame on Steam, in any game, ever.

what is a lenovo P15? isn't that a CAD/rendering laptop? it doesn't have a consumer GPU card it has a Quadro, right? Like a T1000 or RTX 5000? are these even good for gaming? Great for CUDA I'm sure... never seen people have good luck with them, but I assume you can install the legacy DirectX SDK packs for DX9,10,11 and at least get it to run, though...

https://www.microsoft.com/en-ie/download/details.aspx?id=8109

Those packs work if their hardware can handle it in the first place. My old 2013 desktop ran elden ring with 30 to 45 fps when I jerry rigged my dx to show as a dx12. My graphics card was a gtx 770 which is made to support dx12 but lacked the technology on the card. It was like it was labeled to do so, but was never implemented.

This old boy doesn't even bother to launch games released past the year 2019 like Death Stranding because it lacked the graphic card requirements. I tried Detroit Becoming Human, which worked for about a minute or so before freezing and crashing.

I'd hate to say it, but you might be right. They lack the proper hardware to play.

[Makeithappen]

Originally posted by Joseph Milligan:

Originally posted by Booker:

Make sure your graphics card is up to date.

Check your resolution and make sure the game is running at a refresh rate that matches your monitor. This would be the first thing I would check. Test and see if windowed or full screen gives you the same issue.

I've changed nothing, and it was running just fine before the update.

Are your other games on steam launching successfully? You could try to launch the game from the .exe file which can be located by searching local files.

I don't play much through Steam as I said. It works fine on my desktop.

Run it as admin. Sometimes antivirus software can cause programs to be disabled. I would uninstall any anti-virus software you have. A lot of them have malware or fake reports to get you to buy or use. Windows Defender works just fine.

I run everything as admin on this computer. Defender is the only thing installed and
detects no issues.

Verify file integrity takes time on larger games, but this might resolve your issue if there is a missing file.

I did this on the first install when it stopped loading. Haven't done it since uninstalling
and reinstalling last night.

I've never played this on a Thinkpad. What is your OS? Make sure your hardware matches the minimum or higher required recommendations. The game maybe failing to start because it was probably not made to run on that type of hardware. Laptops are the least performing when it comes to gaming.

Windows 10 is on this system. Never upgraded to 11. Again, was running without any
issues at all before the update. Immediately after, wouldn't get past the Steam
launcher.

I would check if the Hi Res texture pack is installed. It shows up as a DLC item that you can opted out of. In some cases this resolved the issue.

I will check this, but I doubt it's had time to even load that up, since the Bethesda
launch screen never comes up.

Well a lot of the suggestions I posted don't require you to boot up the game beforehand.

[Joseph Milligan]

Originally posted by Death Approaches:

it's not Steam's Launcher, it's Bethesda's, Steam does practically nothing; it's not their code. The publisher sets what executable to run when they define their product; there's very little you can blame on Steam, in any game, ever.

what is a lenovo P15? isn't that a CAD/rendering laptop? it doesn't have a consumer GPU card it has a Quadro, right? Like a T1000 or RTX 5000? are these even good for gaming? Great for CUDA I'm sure... never seen people have good luck with them, but I assume you can install the legacy DirectX SDK packs for DX9,10,11 and at least get it to run, though...

https://www.microsoft.com/en-ie/download/details.aspx?id=8109

This computer was purchased by my employer. I didn't research it or pick it out. It will run Eve with no issues, so I have doubts it's a graphics card issue.

Device manager says Nvidia T500

Was running FO4 just fine before the update.

[Joseph Milligan]

Originally posted by Booker:

Originally posted by Death Approaches:

it's not Steam's Launcher, it's Bethesda's, Steam does practically nothing; it's not their code. The publisher sets what executable to run when they define their product; there's very little you can blame on Steam, in any game, ever.

what is a lenovo P15? isn't that a CAD/rendering laptop? it doesn't have a consumer GPU card it has a Quadro, right? Like a T1000 or RTX 5000? are these even good for gaming? Great for CUDA I'm sure... never seen people have good luck with them, but I assume you can install the legacy DirectX SDK packs for DX9,10,11 and at least get it to run, though...

https://www.microsoft.com/en-ie/download/details.aspx?id=8109

Those packs work if their hardware can handle it in the first place. My old 2013 desktop ran elden ring with 30 to 45 fps when I jerry rigged my dx to show as a dx12. My graphics card was a gtx 770 which is made to support dx12 but lacked the technology on the card. It was like it was labeled to do so, but was never implemented.

This old boy doesn't even bother to launch games released past the year 2019 like Death Stranding because it lacked the graphic card requirements. I tried Detroit Becoming Human, which worked for about a minute or so before freezing and crashing.

I'd hate to say it, but you might be right. They lack the proper hardware to play.

Was running it just fine before the update. Did the system requirements increase with the update?

[Makeithappen]

Originally posted by Joseph Milligan:

Originally posted by Booker:

Those packs work if their hardware can handle it in the first place. My old 2013 desktop ran elden ring with 30 to 45 fps when I jerry rigged my dx to show as a dx12. My graphics card was a gtx 770 which is made to support dx12 but lacked the technology on the card. It was like it was labeled to do so, but was never implemented.

This old boy doesn't even bother to launch games released past the year 2019 like Death Stranding because it lacked the graphic card requirements. I tried Detroit Becoming Human, which worked for about a minute or so before freezing and crashing.

I'd hate to say it, but you might be right. They lack the proper hardware to play.

Was running it just fine before the update. Did the system requirements increase with the update?

If it was running fine before the only thing I can say is wait for the update on the 19th. That may resolve some issues for you. Hotfixes after big patches usually have to do with major crashes. I believe that is the first thing they look at.

The most common ailment with the update is the fps locking the game in an unsupported refresh rate. Which might match up with the issue of the game not launching properly.

Nexus Mods have solutions like the hi physics fps fix, but this was a fix prior to the update. You need F4SE for it to work anyway, which still needs to be updated as well.

With a hotfix for fallout 4 on the horizon you might have to wait till after the 19th anyway.

Alternatively uncapping the refresh rate in the ini files might resolve this. Changing the iPresent Interval = 1 to = 0. But I can't guarantee anything. This is just from what I've been reading on the forums.

[Death Approaches]

nah the prerequisites are the same, but if it's crashing instantly and you don't even get the red rocket power armor video, it's as Xeno said, the old config is not as happy as the new one it'll make, or it's some failed prerequisite like VC runtime or full DX11 support, since you say it ran before I'm going with Xeno's suggestion as where you should start, too... wipe em or rename em, and let the game make fresh ones.

[Joseph Milligan]

Originally posted by Death Approaches:

nah the prerequisites are the same, but if it's crashing instantly and you don't even get the red rocket power armor video, it's as Xeno said, the old config is not as happy as the new one it'll make, or it's some failed prerequisite like VC runtime or full DX11 support, since you say it ran before I'm going with Xeno's suggestion as where you should start, too... wipe em or rename em, and let the game make fresh ones.

It's not even getting to the Bethesda launcher to press PLAY. The Steam launcher runs, appears to complete it's task, and goes away. The Bethesda launcher never appears. If you watch it attempting to start while actually inside steam you see that immediately after the steam launcher closes, it goes back to "Launch Game".

I'll look into those files, but this is the second install now. The first install was great until the update. Also, if I play it with the steam cloud off, then it won't update my saved games to use on other devices, which I do.

[Joseph Milligan]

Originally posted by Death Approaches:

nah the prerequisites are the same, but if it's crashing instantly and you don't even get the red rocket power armor video, it's as Xeno said, the old config is not as happy as the new one it'll make, or it's some failed prerequisite like VC runtime or full DX11 support, since you say it ran before I'm going with Xeno's suggestion as where you should start, too... wipe em or rename em, and let the game make fresh ones.

All of those videos are after the Bethesda Launcher, after you press PLAY. So no, not even that launcher loads. Surely the game doesn't ping all of that until after PLAY is pressed... but I can't be sure of that.

[Joseph Milligan]

Originally posted by Death Approaches:

nah the prerequisites are the same, but if it's crashing instantly and you don't even get the red rocket power armor video, it's as Xeno said, the old config is not as happy as the new one it'll make, or it's some failed prerequisite like VC runtime or full DX11 support, since you say it ran before I'm going with Xeno's suggestion as where you should start, too... wipe em or rename em, and let the game make fresh ones.

Also, since this is a fresh reinstall, those files are new already, correct?