[Solved] Game will not load, used to work fine

[Khellendros]

I recently built a much more powerful machine, figured I would fire up Dawntrail and see how the new settings look. Game just loads to a black screen. Nothing. I tried repairing, uninstalling, reinstalling. Nothing works, Any ideas?

[Khellendros]

I know its not hardware related but for reference:

I9 12900K
64 gigs DDR5
4060TI
3 NVME SSD's

[AngryCoconuts]

I posted this on another thread with the same issue:

There is a problem with the "steam_api64.dll" and FFXIV. What I have been doing which may or may not be easier is I have a folder shortcut saved to my desktop that links to the FFXIV steam "boot" folder. AFTER you load the FFXIV launcher from Steam, rename the following file by adding an "_" at the end:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\FINAL FANTASY XIV Online\boot\steam_api64.dll <----- add the "_" on THIS file

Proceed to login to your FFXIV account and press PLAY. Problem solved.

The downside is you have to remove the "_" when you close FFXIV and relaunch from Steam. If the file is not renamed to it's original state, Steam will not load the FFXIV launcher (at least not for me, I am running Windows 11).

This was a fix I found from years old articles and apparently Steam and Square don't give a f' about fixing what should be a relatively easy fix. Since the issue actually got worse with 7.0 (prior to 7.0, you just had to rename the file once for a permanent fix), I will not be re-subbing anymore. Heard Dawntrail sucks anyway. Was a good run while it lasted. Just playing out my current sub and retiring.

[Khellendros]

This worked for me! Someone else said if you rename it to steam_api64-bak.dll it works even after restarting and that seems to be true.

[Geryx Valominel]

Originally posted by AngryCoconuts:

I posted this on another thread with the same issue:

There is a problem with the "steam_api64.dll" and FFXIV. What I have been doing which may or may not be easier is I have a folder shortcut saved to my desktop that links to the FFXIV steam "boot" folder. AFTER you load the FFXIV launcher from Steam, rename the following file by adding an "_" at the end:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\FINAL FANTASY XIV Online\boot\steam_api64.dll <----- add the "_" on THIS file

Proceed to login to your FFXIV account and press PLAY. Problem solved.

The downside is you have to remove the "_" when you close FFXIV and relaunch from Steam. If the file is not renamed to it's original state, Steam will not load the FFXIV launcher (at least not for me, I am running Windows 11).

This was a fix I found from years old articles and apparently Steam and Square don't give a f' about fixing what should be a relatively easy fix. Since the issue actually got worse with 7.0 (prior to 7.0, you just had to rename the file once for a permanent fix), I will not be re-subbing anymore. Heard Dawntrail sucks anyway. Was a good run while it lasted. Just playing out my current sub and retiring.

this is the solution i was looking for weeks. thanks, works perfectly.
sad that i'll have to do it every time, but at least IT WORKS, THANKS.