Steam says game is running when it's not.

[Mount C]

Whenever I close a game, Steam doesn't register that it closed and, as a result, can't run the game because it thinks it's already running. This happens for EVERY game I play. Even if I restart Steam, it still thinks I'm running every game I closed. The only way I can stop this is to restart the computer completely.
The easiest solution I found while searching onine was to close the game in task manager, but here's the thing; The games don't show up in task manager! How do I fix this so I can run games again without having to restart my computer?

[Rose]

Are you literally just unable to understand the phrase "This has nothing to do with Morrowind, this has happened before with many other games in my case alone and in many other cases I've stumbled upon on the internet while searching for a solution?"

This is not a Morrowind problem, which has, again, been indicated by me in "there's nothing from the D drive in the ram right now, which is where the game is located, not a single file, yet steam still reports the game as running"

So, again, please don't post with such confidence about things you do not understand.

------------------------------------

On the topic of the problem, clearing the steam app cache while the app is closed works. For one time. You are able to start the steam app and it doesn't report the game as running anymore, you can run it again and enjoy it. Until you restart steam again, after which it gets back to reporting the game as running.

[crunchyfrog]

Rose eredeti hozzászólása:

Are you literally just unable to understand the phrase "This has nothing to do with Morrowind, this has happened before with many other games in my case alone and in many other cases I've stumbled upon on the internet while searching for a solution?"

This is not a Morrowind problem, which has, again, been indicated by me in "there's nothing from the D drive in the ram right now, which is where the game is located, not a single file, yet steam still reports the game as running"

So, again, please don't post with such confidence about things you do not understand.

------------------------------------

On the topic of the problem, clearing the steam app cache while the app is closed works. For one time. You are able to start the steam app and it doesn't report the game as running anymore, you can run it again and enjoy it. Until you restart steam again, after which it gets back to reporting the game as running.

Sorry, then I don't understand why you brought it up. It was not clear.

in any case, the point stands.

You're supposed to make your own thread. Not only is it the rules, you're going to stand a FAR better chance of getting help.

[Bee🐝]

Rose eredeti hozzászólása:

I'm working on the same thing right now. Morrowind crashed, and steam is reporting it as running.
No amount of nuking the RAM sets has helped, there's nothing from the D drive in the ram right now, which is where the game is located, not a single file, yet steam still reports the game as running. This is ridiculous and it has everything to do with steam itself. Restarting the PC works, but that's a very poor quality solution.
Some experimentation has pointed that the things that keep running (not anymore, since I've disabled it) and may have caused this whole thing are the pieces of steam cloud sync files or something like that. This might indicate that steam is still trying to cloud sync the game and doesn't understand that the game has crashed an hour ago. Unfortunately, turning off the cloud sync doesn't help steam recognize that the game has stopped, at least not if cloud sync has been on at the time of the crash, but I would still suggest turning it off if you don't need it. It's ridiculous that steam cloud sync is on by default and is branded as smooth experience across your devices without steam first checking if you actually have multiple devices.
I'll report back if I find more info or a solution.

Uhmm...CrunchyFrog has a point...whether this has happened in other games or not, Steam Morrowind not closing the process when exiting is a known "issue", especially use to happen with older versions of MSE or if it crashed. It's happened to me in the past - it's a minor quirk and most of us just ignore it and manually close the process.

Anyway, to be safe and for confirmation and if your Morrowind is modded you need to see the good folks in the Morrowind discussion section so they can go over your load order and check for compatibility issues. You obviously don't have to but they can spot even minor issues from a mile away.

[Rose]

This would have been a good point if this hasn't happened to me previously with other games - Civilization III, for example.
If the issue could have been solved as easily as opening the task manager and killing the game process, I wouldn't have posted - this is an obvious thing any person with even basic understanding of computers would do. There is no process to kill in task manager.
This has nothing to do with morrowind, its mods, let alone the load order. Jesus Christ, the issue is not the game crashing. Why do you keep pushing this topic? The issue is that steam does not recognize that the game is not running anymore, any game, when there is no game process in task manager. Could you please at least try to read some more before making hasty comments?

[Rose]

TheJazztralAssassin eredeti hozzászólása:

Yes, this is a Steam issue. It's 2021 and is happening to me. The game isn't in task manager. Restarting Steam doesn't work. Like OP said, restarting the entire computer is the only solution.

Please, if anyone has a way to solve this without restarting your computer, please speak up. This is very annoying.

So yes, after a couple hours of banging my head on different walls, I've found a way, at least in my case. Or two ways, rather:
1) deleting steam app cache will work for one steam launch, if you close it again and start up afterwards, the issue will resume. Obviously, you should only delete the cache files when the app is not running.
2) get something like a process manager app (from microsoft website) and search for any mentions of your game there, then kill the processes that are tying the game files up. In my case it was a rundll32.exe, which I've killed and steam immediately recognized that the game is not, in fact, running. Just make sure not to kill anything critical for your OS. If you're not sure, resort to point one or restart the PC. If there are too many mentions, try the rammap app and use it to clear the standby (and, if needed, all) sets. This will free up all loose stuff and could potentially make the search cleaner. Just keep in mind that nuking your RAM will hang your PC as it's filling the RAM back up - depending on the state of your HDD/SSD, it might take up to 5 minutes.
Have fun.

[crunchyfrog]

Rose eredeti hozzászólása:

This would have been a good point if this hasn't happened to me previously with other games - Civilization III, for example.
If the issue could have been solved as easily as opening the task manager and killing the game process, I wouldn't have posted - this is an obvious thing any person with even basic understanding of computers would do. There is no process to kill in task manager.
This has nothing to do with morrowind, its mods, let alone the load order. Jesus Christ, the issue is not the game crashing. Why do you keep pushing this topic? The issue is that steam does not recognize that the game is not running anymore, any game, when there is no game process in task manager. Could you please at least try to read some more before making hasty comments?

The point is it DOES work for the vast majority of people who post this issue.

The problem that normally manifests is that people go to Task Manager and look at the FIRST screen ONLY. They either kill the Steam service or don't see it any think it's done.

THat's a mistake as there are often other legacy processes going on and you have to look a little deeper for them on the other screens to find them.

So have you done that too?

[toe ring that binds them]

crunchyfrog eredeti hozzászólása:

Rose eredeti hozzászólása:

Please mind your business, smart guy, this is not your thread, this is an open thread, I've commented in the appropriate thread about the same problem. This has nothing to do with Morrowind, this has happened before with many other games in my case alone and in many other cases I've stumbled upon on the internet while searching for a solution.

TL;DR: think before you post. Please.

I strongly suggest you read the rules of posting here that you agreed to.

As users we are perfectly allowed to remind you not to break the rules and hijack threads.

We are also obliged to tell you to post in the game's forums, as this IS a game related issue.

Now, if you have an issue with my response, by all means report me to a mod, and they'll advise you accordingly.

You have no idea what you're talking about. As I've explained above, it IS a Steam issue. Poor detection of running processes is not the fault of the games (especially since it can occur in ANY and EVERY game). His post WAS relevant to the thread.

[Rose]

crunchyfrog eredeti hozzászólása:

The point is it DOES work for the vast majority of people who post this issue.

The problem that normally manifests is that people go to Task Manager and look at the FIRST screen ONLY. They either kill the Steam service or don't see it any think it's done.

THat's a mistake as there are often other legacy processes going on and you have to look a little deeper for them on the other screens to find them.

So have you done that too?

Facepalm. Default win7 task manager has a single screen with running processes and I've explained a billion times that there was nothing, and no game files were referenced in the rammap either. I assume that you're not going to stop being extremely smart about things you don't know, but please understand that people grow tired of battling this kind of stuff.

P.S.: talk about hijacking threads...

[AustrAlien2010]

Generally happens a lot with older software, has been like this for years, and nobody ever fixes it, you don't have to wait for a fix, because then you can wait forever. Sometimes you need to end another process, and not only the game process. Try things. The Task Manager idea was solid.

You need to check for other processes as well, not just the game process. Just shut them down, one at the time, until you find the correct one.

[crunchyfrog]

Rose eredeti hozzászólása:

crunchyfrog eredeti hozzászólása:

The point is it DOES work for the vast majority of people who post this issue.

The problem that normally manifests is that people go to Task Manager and look at the FIRST screen ONLY. They either kill the Steam service or don't see it any think it's done.

THat's a mistake as there are often other legacy processes going on and you have to look a little deeper for them on the other screens to find them.

So have you done that too?

Facepalm. Default win7 task manager has a single screen with running processes and I've explained a billion times that there was nothing, and no game files were referenced in the rammap either. I assume that you're not going to stop being extremely smart about things you don't know, but please understand that people grow tired of battling this kind of stuff.

P.S.: talk about hijacking threads...

Then the others posting here that are regulars are also wrong.

The irony of your facepalm....

[crunchyfrog]

Rose eredeti hozzászólása:

crunchyfrog eredeti hozzászólása:

The point is it DOES work for the vast majority of people who post this issue.

The problem that normally manifests is that people go to Task Manager and look at the FIRST screen ONLY. They either kill the Steam service or don't see it any think it's done.

THat's a mistake as there are often other legacy processes going on and you have to look a little deeper for them on the other screens to find them.

So have you done that too?

Facepalm. Default win7 task manager has a single screen with running processes and I've explained a billion times that there was nothing, and no game files were referenced in the rammap either. I assume that you're not going to stop being extremely smart about things you don't know, but please understand that people grow tired of battling this kind of stuff.

P.S.: talk about hijacking threads...

Again, nothing changes the fact as to what I've said. There are often LEGACY processes running and you need to check deeper onto child processes.

Have you done that?

[toe ring that binds them]

crunchyfrog eredeti hozzászólása:

Rose eredeti hozzászólása:

Facepalm. Default win7 task manager has a single screen with running processes and I've explained a billion times that there was nothing, and no game files were referenced in the rammap either. I assume that you're not going to stop being extremely smart about things you don't know, but please understand that people grow tired of battling this kind of stuff.

P.S.: talk about hijacking threads...

Again, nothing changes the fact as to what I've said. There are often LEGACY processes running and you need to check deeper onto child processes.

Have you done that?

Bro complains about hijacking threads, then proceeds to hijack the thread himself while also crapping on real solutions and gaslighting the people with the issues. lol

[Rose]

AustrAlien2010 eredeti hozzászólása:

Generally happens a lot with older software, has been like this for years, and nobody ever fixes it, you don't have to wait for a fix, because then you can wait forever. Sometimes you need to end another process, and not only the game process. Try things. The Task Manager idea was solid.

You need to check for other processes as well, not just the game process. Just shut them down, one at the time, until you find the correct one.

I've already provided the solution. In case this thread is too large to read through.

[AustrAlien2010]

People have to manually shut down processes and whatnot. Regardless, people are still satisfied, and think they fixed it.
But its probably caused by a combination of factors, because some process gets stuck running in the background, and isn't automatically closed, after exiting some games, or under certain other conditions. For example, when a game crashes, or is not shut down as it normally would.

Here is some more information on it:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9764-IJVM-3291

[crunchyfrog]

Roomba 890 Wi-Fi Vacuum eredeti hozzászólása:

crunchyfrog eredeti hozzászólása:

Again, nothing changes the fact as to what I've said. There are often LEGACY processes running and you need to check deeper onto child processes.

Have you done that?

Bro complains about hijacking threads, then proceeds to hijack the thread himself while also crapping on real solutions and gaslighting the people with the issues. lol

And how is asking what troubleshooting you've done in ANY way hijacking? What utter nonsense.

But in any case, if you think that, report it to a mod instead of making up post hoc raltionalisations.