Deus Ex: Human Revolution freezes on launch

[Eldritch]

I just reinstalled DE: Human Revolution after a break of couple of years. I'm using Steam Director's cut version.

When I start the game, the game freezes in the starting credits screen. Before locking up the screen flickers between the starting credits and Steam/desktop as if it has hard time switching between the two. Also the new Win10 Game Mode notification flashes on and off. Eventually the opening credits show up, but after that the computer does nothing.

System doesn't lock up completely (I can access task manager), but I can't force close the DE or Steam process. I can, however, access the Win10 Game Mode console. Only way out of the freeze is rebooting the computer from task manager. Same problem persist both in normal and big picture mode.

I use the Steam Controller if that might matter. I was able to run the game without a glitch two years ago with the same rig and OS.

My specs are:

* Win10 with latest updates and DX12
* Intel Xeon E3-1231 v3, 3,4 Ghz
* GTX 970
* 8 gb RAM
* Gigabyte GA-H97N-WIFI Motherboard

I installed latest Nvidia drivers, but there was no change. I didn't uninstall the old drivers before installing the latest ones, however.

Any help would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.

[xarvn]

Have you checked the integrity of local game files?

[Eldritch]

Originally posted by xarvn:

Have you checked the integrity of local game files?

No, but thanks for the tip. I'll try that when I get home.

I just reinstalled Steam and DEHR and it didn't occur to me that there might be a problem with the game files after a new install.

[Eldritch]

Verifying the integrity didn't seem to do anything. I managed to get the game launch _once_ without altering anything. After this the game locks up after start.

To be more precise the game seems to begin launching and the screen flashes between Steam and the game. After trying this for a few seconds the game window minimizes itself to the top left corner of the screen and locks up. My computer is hooked up to my 32" TV with HDMI if that matters any.

[xarvn]

Just to rule out the video card driver, I would unistall it throughly with DDU in safe mode and reinstall. Then perhaps disable the In-Game Steam Overlay and Big picture Overlay in the Steam Settings. You could also try running the game in Win 7 compatibility mode.

[xarvn]

The following thread is old but perhaps it might help if you have not tried the solution suggested therein:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/238010/discussions/0/350544272214044803/

[Eldritch]

Thanks for these!

I was able to get the game running, but it needed some fiddling. I used launch options -config, -ws and -windowed, which (I think) launched a config utility for the game before actually running it. There I unchecked "Use DirectX 11" and the game started in a small window. Then I used Alt-Enter to go to fullscreen mode.

I don't know what was the main thing that helped but at least I'm able to run the game.

[xarvn]

Glad to hear you got things running. Good Luck.