[SOLVED} Unable to Start game - "Steam initialization failed: Please ensure Steam is running" error message displayed

[rt6rsst]

BACKGROUND

I have just purchased this game and tried to run it on an unsopported device (Windows 7, below minimum quality Graphics Card). I was able to open the game and create a new game, but was unable to proceed as the screen would not redraw after windows were closed.

I have since installed Foundation on a machine I believe is compatible - Windows 10, GTX1660Ti, 16gb Ram, 43gb free disk space.

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Attempting to open the game provides the following behaviour:

Foundation.exe is listed in Task Manager under Steam.
The game attempts to open. A black Steam rectangle is displayed, but has no content.
A Steam error message is displayed, with Ok and [x] buttons:
"Steam initialization failed". Please ensure Steam is running.
Foundation.exe is no longer listed in Task Manager under Steam.

Additionally after this, Steam is unresponsive for 5-10s after this box is first displayed.

I have verified the game cache successfully and that process found no issues.

Could this behaviour somehow be related to the corrupted game instances on my previous machine? Are there log files whose content I could point you to?

[Minotorious]

This sounds like a steam error and not directly a foundation one, did you try verifying the steam installation itself or uninstalling and reinstalling steam?

Did you try running steam in offline mode or without internet at all on your pc? (I.e. unplug the ethernet)

[Mr Ash]

It sounds like an issue with your Steam client and Steam trying to run the game. A few options that you could look at:

- Restart your PC (i would assume you have done this)
- Verify the integrity of the Foundation game files (sounds like you have done this)

- Go to your Steam folder and delete appcache
- Close steam, run it as admin again. (restart steam as admin)

If the above doesn't help then check your AV isn't blocking Steam or the game, you might need to add an exception for both.

[rt6rsst]

This issue is solved. As Ash suggested, this was a Steam issue and not a Foundation issue, although not all Steam games are affected by this.

SteamClientHelper.exe, or another program, was requiring elevated privileges in order to successfully bootstrap Foundation. Running Steam as admin allows it to launch child processes as admin, which solves the issue.