Source Engine games crash on startup/launch (TF2, CS:GO).

[Trypan Blue]

I never thought I would be posting a request for help with Steam, but here I am! I have been working on this problem for 6 months, and yet still have not cracked the issue. Perhaps you folks can help me out.

Here is the problem:

I open Steam, click on the big green "Play" button on TF2. It boots up, it plays that launching noise, every open window on my screen gets resized and moved, then it closes. No error message. I soon realized the same thing happens to all of my other Source Engine games.

Before you dive into the wall of text that is my troubleshooting, here are my specs:

Laptop:
Legion Y730-15ICH Laptop - Type 81HD

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/legion-laptops/legion-y-series/Lenovo-Legion-Y730-15ICH/p/88GMY701058

Processor:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8750H CPU @ 2.20GHz 2.21 GHz

Installed Ram:
16.0 GB (15.9 usable)

System Type:
64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Edition:
Windows 10 Home

So I tried other games. As stated, Source Engine games such as TF2 and CS:GO crash on startup, however, my other games such as Starbound and Terraria work.

Thus, I began my arduous task of troubleshooting.

Potential Issues

I have dual monitors, in order to test this was not an issue I:
― Unplugged my display port, so that I only had one monitor and ran TF2, no success.

TF2 was installed on my HDD, this was not an issue as I:
― Reinstalled TF2 on my SSD.


Non-specific Troubleshooting

I have tried everything in this link:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6218-USFX-5568

― Turned the computer on and off.
― Verified Cached of ALL Source Engine games, no errors found.
― Added -autoconfig -window -windowed -nojoy -nosound -dxlevel ## and other launch tags on every Source Engine game.
― Ran Steam as an administrator, ran every Source Engine game as administrator.
― Opened Firewall to all of the Steam executables, added File Exclusions to every Steam file.
― I have no 3rd-party Anti-malware services.
― Ran every compatibility mode for Windows on each executable.
― Checked that I had the latest Visual C++, DirectX, PhysX, NVIDIA Drivers.
― Reinstalled TF2 and all Source Games, reinstalled ALL of my games (including deleting all game files in the directory)
― Reinstalled TF2 and Source Games in SSD and HDD
― Windows is up to date.
― Cleared space in SSD and HDD (50+ GB and 500+ GB free).
― Defragged HDD, SSD is OK.
― Disabled and enabled and disabled Steam Beta
― Updated Steam
― Does not work on another Steam account as well (same PC though).
― Windows Memory Diagnostic clear
― Overheating check clear
― Battery is on "High Performance Mode" not "Balanced"

Specific Troubleshooting
― Disabled & Enabled Experimental Features in NVIDIA GEFORCE
― I do not have Razer Synapse.
― Reverted to an old version of TF2, ran TF2 with no avail, and then changed back.
― Disabled Steam Overlay
― Disabled NVIDIA GEFORCE Overlay
― Disabled Discord Overlay
― Revoked NVIDIA GEFORCE TF2 Optimization
― HL2.exe closes after launching, no lingering in the Task Manager to kill.
― Switched to High Battery Performance Mode

Things I did not do:
― Cleared Steam in the Registry
― Reinstalled my OS

I am sure there are many more troubleshooting things I did, but those are the ones I can list off the top of my head. The issue is that I am not getting any error messages which makes solving this case pretty difficult.

At this point, I AM WILLING TO TRY ANYTHING (except reinstall my OS). I am sure it is some random thing like if I delete some random file somewhere.

Thank you so much for reading this, I really appreciate your time even if you can’t help!

[Braun]

Lol

[Iceira]

if you play 3D games in Balance mode, you need to "insert own word" so you never forget it again.

ps.
not our problem that most laptop owner forget reduce mode and run games that require more. if requirements is meet at the game.

and typical laptop own mistake not mention Brand type model nr.
i need to read every step to eliminate alot of issue.

try goto car dealer and say car unknown , something with something, he will laugh at you.
dont think you are the only laptop owner doing this. dont be ashame done is done and all other laptop user can learn from this. laptop can be even harder to help then it look like a desktop pc.
and they are not same, they was build for power saveing, desktop are not.

and you also help other steam helper with better ID and we can lookup the laptop and see spec.

try see own post, i cant see graphic card. ( so you can still be in trouble and not solve it )

with laptop Brand model name and nr. and even maybe link spec from web, or we google it
then all could have maybe help you even better.

i can see overlay nvidia you uninstall, so you might have a card with that.

but again it do say that in little a5 manual book , use full performance then its needed.
but many forget this.

again dont delete post, this post will help alot other laptop user's that read this and prevent them from make same mistakes. TIA

ps

if this actual did help, change topic to laptop also, and mark as solve. then many laptop owner will read this. and you help even more laptop owners.

alot of faulty finding could have been avoided. gl with it :)

[Iceira]

sure steam know alot.

I have tried everything in this link:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6218-USFX-5568

but that the diffrence with General help and think all pc is same.
but again they cant included every detail, and still not steam's problem, and without it,even more user's will complain over many things.

so you still did right thingy , ask for help. not sure that other steam user will have done ½ of what you did.

[Trypan Blue]

Originally posted by Iceira:

if you play 3D games in Balance mode, you need to "insert own word" so you never forget it again.

ps.
not our problem that most laptop owner forget reduce mode and run games that require more. if requirements is meet at the game.

and typical laptop own mistake not mention Brand type model nr.
i need to read every step to eliminate alot of issue.

try goto car dealer and say car unknown , something with something, he will laugh at you.
dont think you are the only laptop owner doing this. dont be ashame done is done and all other laptop user can learn from this. laptop can be even harder to help then it look like a desktop pc.
and they are not same, they was build for power saveing, desktop are not.

and you also help other steam helper with better ID and we can lookup the laptop and see spec.

try see own post, i cant see graphic card. ( so you can still be in trouble and not solve it )

with laptop Brand model name and nr. and even maybe link spec from web, or we google it
then all could have maybe help you even better.

i can see overlay nvidia you uninstall, so you might have a card with that.

but again it do say that in little a5 manual book , use full performance then its needed.
but many forget this.

again dont delete post, this post will help alot other laptop user's that read this and prevent them from make same mistakes. TIA

ps

if this actual did help, change topic to laptop also, and mark as solve. then many laptop owner will read this. and you help even more laptop owners.

alot of faulty finding could have been avoided. gl with it :)

Thank you so much for your reply, my bad--I put my Laptop build in the post and will remember to do so in the future. I have a Legion Y730-15ICH Laptop - Type 81HD.

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/legion-laptops/legion-y-series/Lenovo-Legion-Y730-15ICH/p/88GMY701058

I am not using "Balanced" mode for my battery, I have it set to run on "High Performance Battery Mode" and have always had it on that mode because I had an issue with "Balanced" mode in the past.

[Iceira]

see alot better comunication, and i best guess missing High Performance, and you put that idea down not good. ( that means other issue, and need time to examine the new info, and if i/other even can help you. )

I had an issue with "Balanced" mode in the past. ( exatly same issue i had with my games crash to desktop. )

okay is lenovo update they have app that do it.

and can you hear intel boost actual do work, i recall my laptop convert to win10 did not do it then win10 was new, this fix itself over time or did i dl it from intel, cant remember to long ago now, its more that you know its there and speed up.

[Iceira]

and you need windows event viewer log, why each game crash. if game dont tell you this then i can only hope windows log got it

google youtube video if needed in how to do.

[Iceira]

Terraria look like have highest requirement ( this is why intel boost most work if game use higher settings

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8750H CPU @ 2.20GHz 2.21 GHz ( this is the problem with that game if game need all the time 3.0 and intel boost dont work ( i doubt it )

RECOMMENDED
OS: Windows 7, 8/8.1, 10
Processor: Dual Core 3.0 Ghz
Memory: 4GB
Hard Disk Space: 200MB
Video Card: 256mb Video Memory, capable of Shader Model 2.0+
DirectX®: 9.0c or Greater


the other games should have worked, unless i made mistake doing checking.

and i need game crash log, and if i even can help you ID why.

[Trypan Blue]

Originally posted by Iceira:

see alot better comunication, and i best guess missing High Performance, and you put that idea down not good. ( that means other issue, and need time to examine the new info, and if i/other even can help you. )

I had an issue with "Balanced" mode in the past. ( exatly same issue i had with my games crash to desktop. )

okay is lenovo update they have app that do it.

and can you hear intel boost actual do work, i recall my laptop convert to win10 did not do it then win10 was new, this fix itself over time or did i dl it from intel, cant remember to long ago now, its more that you know its there and speed up.

Sorry for the late reply, I tried what you said. I couldn't get a crash report or find a way to do it, and also Intel Boost was enabled be default.

As of the new TF2 + Steam update (Janurary 22, 2020 I believe), suddenly everything started working. I HAVE NO IDEA WHY. It just does. I haven't done anything but update. Nonetheless, your recommendations have been extremely useful and I am sure this post will guide those in the future, especially those with Laptops. Thank you so much for spending all your time helping me out! I am going to mark your post as the answer, because while it didn't help me--it helped my other laptop users fix their issue.

[Iceira]

We can only hope someone at steam support notice this, atleast other steam user helper, have read this, and if we are lucky it will be pinned down with better guide and step by step, someday.

[Tax Cutz 4 Cute Girls]

steve "apple" jobs

[DNO]

I bought a new laptop and I have exactly the same problem as you do.

so, I need to wait for TF2 update??

[Sorux]

⭐possible solution⭐ if your source engine games keep crashing on startup, check if you have "Dolby Atmos® for Gaming" and see if you have sound radar on and turn it off. (along with the rest of the methods mentioned here)

[☢️ _to_suport_]

Originally posted by Trypan Blue:

I never thought I would be posting a request for help with Steam, but here I am! I have been working on this problem for 6 months, and yet still have not cracked the issue. Perhaps you folks can help me out.

Here is the problem:

I open Steam, click on the big green "Play" button on TF2. It boots up, it plays that launching noise, every open window on my screen gets resized and moved, then it closes. No error message. I soon realized the same thing happens to all of my other Source Engine games.

Before you dive into the wall of text that is my troubleshooting, here are my specs:

Laptop:
Legion Y730-15ICH Laptop - Type 81HD

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/legion-laptops/legion-y-series/Lenovo-Legion-Y730-15ICH/p/88GMY701058

Processor:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8750H CPU @ 2.20GHz 2.21 GHz

Installed Ram:
16.0 GB (15.9 usable)

System Type:
64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Edition:
Windows 10 Home

So I tried other games. As stated, Source Engine games such as TF2 and CS:GO crash on startup, however, my other games such as Starbound and Terraria work.

Thus, I began my arduous task of troubleshooting.

Potential Issues

I have dual monitors, in order to test this was not an issue I:
― Unplugged my display port, so that I only had one monitor and ran TF2, no success.

TF2 was installed on my HDD, this was not an issue as I:
― Reinstalled TF2 on my SSD.


Non-specific Troubleshooting

I have tried everything in this link:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6218-USFX-5568

― Turned the computer on and off.
― Verified Cached of ALL Source Engine games, no errors found.
― Added -autoconfig -window -windowed -nojoy -nosound -dxlevel ## and other launch tags on every Source Engine game.
― Ran Steam as an administrator, ran every Source Engine game as administrator.
― Opened Firewall to all of the Steam executables, added File Exclusions to every Steam file.
― I have no 3rd-party Anti-malware services.
― Ran every compatibility mode for Windows on each executable.
― Checked that I had the latest Visual C++, DirectX, PhysX, NVIDIA Drivers.
― Reinstalled TF2 and all Source Games, reinstalled ALL of my games (including deleting all game files in the directory)
― Reinstalled TF2 and Source Games in SSD and HDD
― Windows is up to date.
― Cleared space in SSD and HDD (50+ GB and 500+ GB free).
― Defragged HDD, SSD is OK.
― Disabled and enabled and disabled Steam Beta
― Updated Steam
― Does not work on another Steam account as well (same PC though).
― Windows Memory Diagnostic clear
― Overheating check clear
― Battery is on "High Performance Mode" not "Balanced"

Specific Troubleshooting
― Disabled & Enabled Experimental Features in NVIDIA GEFORCE
― I do not have Razer Synapse.
― Reverted to an old version of TF2, ran TF2 with no avail, and then changed back.
― Disabled Steam Overlay
― Disabled NVIDIA GEFORCE Overlay
― Disabled Discord Overlay
― Revoked NVIDIA GEFORCE TF2 Optimization
― HL2.exe closes after launching, no lingering in the Task Manager to kill.
― Switched to High Battery Performance Mode

Things I did not do:
― Cleared Steam in the Registry
― Reinstalled my OS

I am sure there are many more troubleshooting things I did, but those are the ones I can list off the top of my head. The issue is that I am not getting any error messages which makes solving this case pretty difficult.

At this point, I AM WILLING TO TRY ANYTHING (except reinstall my OS). I am sure it is some random thing like if I delete some random file somewhere.

Thank you so much for reading this, I really appreciate your time even if you can’t help!

Check Minimum System Requirements:
Ensure that your computer meets the minimum system requirements for the games you're trying to run. Outdated or incompatible hardware can cause crashes.

Update Graphics Drivers:
Make sure your graphics card drivers are up to date. Go to the website of your GPU manufacturer (NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel) and download the latest drivers for your specific graphics card model.

Verify Game Files:
In the Steam library, right-click on the game that's causing the issue (e.g., TF2 or CS:GO), select "Properties," go to the "Local Files" tab, and click "Verify Integrity of Game Files." This will check for and replace any corrupted or missing game files.

Disable Launch Options:
If you've set any custom launch options for the games, remove them to see if they might be causing conflicts. Right-click the game in your Steam library, select "Properties," and under the "General" tab, click "Set Launch Options" and delete any text in the box.

Check Antivirus/Firewall Settings:
Your antivirus or firewall might be blocking the game's access. Make sure that your antivirus software and Windows Firewall are not preventing the games from running. You can temporarily disable them for testing purposes.

Run as Administrator:
Right-click the game's shortcut or executable and select "Run as administrator." This can help resolve some compatibility issues.

Update Windows:
Ensure that your operating system is up to date. Windows updates often include important system and security fixes.

DirectX and Visual C++ Redistributables:
Sometimes, missing or corrupted DirectX files or Visual C++ Redistributables can cause crashes. You can try reinstalling or repairing these components. They can usually be found in the "_CommonRedist" folder in the game's installation directory.

Steam Overlay and Third-Party Software:
Disable Steam overlay and any third-party software or overlays (like Discord overlay or GeForce Experience) to see if they are causing conflicts.

Monitor Temperatures:
Overheating components can lead to crashes. Use monitoring software to check CPU and GPU temperatures while running the game. Ensure that your system is adequately cooled.

Driver Rollback:
If updating your graphics drivers doesn't help, you can try rolling back to an older driver version, as the latest driver might have compatibility issues with the games.

Reinstall Steam:
If none of the above solutions work, you can try reinstalling Steam. Be sure to back up your game data first, so you don't lose any progress.

(You need to write to Steam support!!!)

[Steve]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.