PLEASE HELP This game will never run. White screen on launcher, crash after animation from the exe.

[theroomy]

I'm having the same horrid startup problems as all those other people, and nobody has ever seemed to answer how this can actually be fixed in a real way. Just fyi, compatibility mode will not work, running it in windowed mode doesn't work, changing settings or running it in a different DirectX does nothing. This game will just NOT run, and it's so frustrating paying for a nothing.

When you use the launcher or through Steam, I get the white box error where the game launcher application doesn't run, and I have to exit. I can get the game to initially run by going directly to the folder and running the game application, and whether it's the DX11 version or the normal one, they both do the same thing. The game loads and shows me the developer/publisher animations, then when it tries to load the real game menu, it either hangs or crashes altogether.

I tried all the things people said to try about this, and none of it worked. I'm really disappointed that neither Steam nor the game developer has ever addressed this in any of the forum posts and requests that I have found through searches. It's only other players that don't have this issue giving advice, which is always appreciated, but it doesn't seem to help this time. And I JUST got done writing a big post on Reddit about how games actually run on Steam because they spend time and money on compatibility issues like this, while Origin only runs maybe 20% of the games you buy from them (which is true).

I would greatly appreciate any help anyone has to offer. Thanks >_<

[walt]

Hi bud, afraid I haven't had this issue myself however I found this and I hope it proves useful to you.

"

After scouring for more than 30 hours and trying everything under the sun, and seeing this issue STILL unresolved after a year and a half, I finally found the fix to this issue. Here's what you do:

Go to your Saints Row The Third folder in your Steam directory.
Open Display.ini
Set Preset to 2 instead of -1
Copy and Paste the following ABOVE Preset:


ResolutionWidth = 1440
ResolutionHeight = 900
RefreshRate = 60
MSAA_Level = 2
Fullscreen = False

Save and Close
Launch Saints Row The Third


WARNING: Do note that as of right now, we don't know if this will allow you to change the graphics settings in-game without a crash, but it WILL start the game and get you running flawlessly. In the event you do crash trying to change the graphic settings, you can manually edit the settings in Display.ini.

THE PROBLEM: For those interested, when Preset = -1, then it tells the game that it needs to go through the default configuration of your graphics settings based on your system specs. For whatever reason, this function is bugged and causes the crash. When the Preset = 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 (5 is custom), then it assumes that the settings have already been set up, and ignores this function. In theory, changing the graphics settings in-game should not cause a crash, but hitting "Recommended" or "Default" will. So do it manually if you're daring enough.

Please, please. Spread this around. There's a lot of communities who have had this issue (30 hours of research says so!), and I can't hit them all, but I've got a post on Reddit, the one here, I've contacted THQ with a bug report, and am getting help getting it posted to Steam. Get it out there, and let's get people playing this game!

It's worth mentioning that (again, in theory; haven't tested this extensively) the graphics settings you set above shouldn't necessarily matter. If you want 1920x1080 and fullscreen, that should be okay, so long as Preset is something other than -1.
"

[knocker]

I had that problem so I went to THQ's Saints Row site and had them look at my system. Turns out my video card wasn't good enough. I had to order a new one. Go over there and and submit an inquiry to customer service. They got back to me in one day.

Go here and folow the instructions to generate a DXDIAG report

http://www.saintsrow.com/community/go/thread/view/136781/28617459/How_to_create_a_DXDiag_Report

Then go here and copy and paste it into a product complaint along with a description of the ♥♥♥♥ you're going through.

http://support.thq.com/anonymous_requests/new

You may not like the answer they give you, I didn't, but they'll sort it out.

[theroomy]

I really appreciate the help with the fix, Rowen, but unfortunately it didn't seem to fix this white box loader problem or the crashing after the publisher and developer videos when you first load the game. I'm not sure what the heck is exactly wrong with this game then, but I know other people have been having the same issue for some time and they've never updated the game to fix it.

I have a brand new video card, Knocker, along with a new processor. It's not the very latest you can get, it's only a GTX 660, but it's more than enough to run games like Farcry 3 at high settings. I run modern games perfectly, so Saints Row 3 running according to the power of my video card is not a problem. And besides, having a video card not powerful enough shouldn't make the game simply not open. It should make the game drag framerate wise. I'll go to the web site, though.

I've never had a game just refuse to run like this, especially one from such a major publisher that knows how to update their games and fix issues. I mean it's not even as if I have crazy computer parts that would create compatibility issues. I've got a basic Asus motherboard, an Intel Core i5 3570K processor, and a GTX 660 video card running on Windows 7 Professional 64bit. All basic, standard stuff, all very common and used by thousands. Sigh...

[Abyss_Walker]

Did you ever find a solution? I'm having the same problem.

[Kubiac]

I have the same problem. The only thing I can see is the white launcher. :(

[Stan's Kitty]

I am also having the same issue. Do you guys also have GTX 660 or GTX660 TI?

[JudgeTiberius]

I had the crashing problem where it crashes after the intro movies, but I fixed it by updating my display driver. I suggest doing the same if you haven't already (don't trust windows updater, go and search manually on your graphics card manufacturer's website).
If your graphics driver is up to date, maybe try rolling it back to an earlier version. Google your graphics card and drivers that work with SR3.

First things first though, does your hardware meet the minimum system requirments?
http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri
Use that link to find out; enter Saints Row: The third and click "Can you run it", then run the java application and it will tell you :)

Please post your specs and try some of the following if updating your display driver didn't work:
1.) Lower all game settings in the display.ini file found in the directory listed in point 2.
2.) Rename the folder "video" in your C:\Windows\Program files\Steam\SteamApps\Common\SaintsRowTheThird folder, to see if it'll work without the intro movies (this gets rid of all movies, although you can easily recover them by changing the name back to video).
3.) Set all graphics and battery settings to performance.
4.) Adjust windows visual effects for "best performance". Control panel >>> Performance Tools and Information >>> Visual Effects >>> Adjust for best performance.
5.) Check out what your event viewer is saying - if anything and please post it on this thread (control panel >>> administrative tools >>> Event viewer)

[X(SpiralRider)X]

To solve this problem, follow these simple steps. 1. uninstall game. 2. play something else. 3. never buy THQ products again.

[Jade]

Originally posted by X(BangoSkank420)X:

To solve this problem, follow these simple steps. 1. uninstall game. 2. play something else. 3. never buy THQ products again.

What a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥-response, as if something like this could not have happened with any other publisher...

[Kubiac]

The Answer is even simpler. Install the game in the standard folder on drive C:. ;)

[gabatcho]

Hi, try to remove Asus Gamer OSD...

[X(SpiralRider)X]

Hey Jade, Hey assh0le, i'm having the same problem and THQ will not respond to emails so that was my solution, f$#k yourself!

[X(SpiralRider)X]

Originally posted by Jade:

Originally posted by X(BangoSkank420)X:

To solve this problem, follow these simple steps. 1. uninstall game. 2. play something else. 3. never buy THQ products again.

What a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥-response, as if something like this could not have happened with any other publisher...

I will refer you to my previous response lol.

[JudgeTiberius]

Originally posted by X(BangoSkank420)X:

Hey Jade, Hey assh0le, i'm having the same problem and THQ will not respond to emails so that was my solution, f$#k yourself!

THQ is no more - it went bankrupt in the December of 2012, so you won't be getting any responses there. Secondly this forum actually manages to fix quite a few issues and it's far too early to warrant giving up (or suggesting others give up) yet.

Please let me know how you got on with the previous suggestions in this thread.

[Psynbiotik]

I have found the solution!

My original issue was the launcher wouldn't startup at all or just start up blank, after locating the game_launcher.exe file and changing the compatibility mode to windows 95 (wtf!) it launches and I can select dx11 or dx9.

Choosing either dx9 or dx11 wouldn't even start, nothing at all would happen. So I located the files SaintsRowTheThird.exe and SaintsRowTheThird_DX11.exe and changed compatibility mode to windows 7.


It now launched and started the intro but crashed as soon as the amd logo finished.

Then I removed windows 7 compatibility mode ( you no longer need it but it shouldn't hurt either way ), but kept windows 95 compatibility mode on the launcher.

Then I moved all the files to the C drive, game only works on the C drive apparently! In my case I moved the entire steam library, Luckily I had created an additional steam library when installing with only saints row in it.

Game now launches and I can start and play a new game!