Help Fixing "Failed to start game (App already running)" bug.

[MouseMatt]

Hi, whenever i launch CS:GO it does't open correctly and prompts me with the message "Failed to start game (App already running)". As you have probably gathered the app is not already running :-(

I have done some googling and tried all the fixes i can find including deleting the exe and verifying game cache, nothing. Uninstalling and reinstalling CS:GO, nothing. Uninstalling and reinstalling steam (while saving steamapps folder so re-downloading of all games wasn't needed), nothing. Have also had a look around for new video driver updates to know avail.

I am damn near tearing my hair out looking for a solution to this, if anyone has any ideas that haven't been already tried I would greatly appreciated it.

Thanks,
Matt

[AzKat 🐔]

Originally posted by Matt:

Its more like this:
1. Start Steam
2. Click to start CS:GO (or any other game now).
3. Screen goes black for half a second then automatically minimises something. Game is not playing and icon does not appear on bottom task bar despite steam saying I am "in-game".
4. Click play again on steam, message window: "Failed to start game (App already running)".
5. Then to close steam or try again I force stop the process in task manager.

At no point can I get into the game despite steam reading "in-game"

then my fix won't do anything sadly, you should try starting up in safe mode, and if it works in safe mode it means something on your pc is fcked up.

[MouseMatt]

Just reinstalled steam after deleting data (saving steamapps and userdata) in safe boot mode. Made no difference games still don't open and when pressing play again same message appears: app already running.

[76561198218426745]

Just to be clear, the first time you boot your computer and launch a game, are you immediately told the app is already running? Or do you launch the game, it doesn't open, you force close it, and then on subsequent attempts are told the app is already running?

[MouseMatt]

The first time I press the play button the screen goes briefly black like it's about to launch then the black screen minimalizes and the steam screen reappears showing that I am apparently "in game". In the dock there is no icon and task manager application tab it's clear it's not running.

Any subquient press of the play button prompts the message "app is running ect". To close steam or to try the first attempt at running it again I go into the processes tab of task manager to end the task.

[76561198218426745]

Okay, that's "normal". It happens when the game doesn't launch properly. You should follow the advice in Games do not run after 'Preparing to Launch'.

[MouseMatt]

Just looking down the list on that page I don't see anything I haven't allready done mutiple times over :-/

[♠Jade♠]

What kind of firewall are you running? More comprehensive firewalls require rulesets for every application you run and sometimes they dont automatically set rules properly which results in a game or other app not being able to exectute properly.
Another symptom of this can be that the game/app process becomes stuck in task manager.
If you are running any firewall other than the basic windows one check its application rules menu.

[MouseMatt]

That's not something I have checked but I think all I have running is the windows one

[23mvp]

Did you fix it? Cause i have the same problem now

[Ark]

I just started having the same problem too

[evil witch from Tesco]

Found a fix! open up task manager by hitting ctrl alt delete then look in the processes for your game, if the game doesnt show up then hit more details and look in background processes. this is caused by the computer acting with the file wrong, so sometimes it can read it as a background process. (especially games with launchers) hope this helped!

[0.0]

boop

[҉R0ad1ngソ]

Originally posted by thelunarfox75:

Found a fix! open up task manager by hitting ctrl alt delete then look in the processes for your game, if the game doesnt show up then hit more details and look in background processes. this is caused by the computer acting with the file wrong, so sometimes it can read it as a background process. (especially games with launchers) hope this helped!

This worked for me thanks alot :P

[ｓｕｉｃｉｄｅ]

Originally posted by AzKat:

Easiest fix:

1. Shutdown your pc for 1 minute then start it up again (in case you don't shutdown daily)
2. Before starting steam delete the file called: gameoverlayrenderer.log (yes, the file with the text inside it)
3. Make sure your browser is closed when you start steam and the game.


Also, in case it gets stuck like that, you can always close your browser to fix this, for some reason, when you are stuck ingame, you CANNOT delete that file, it will say it is "in use", but if you close your browser, and delete that file, your problem should go away (at least until the next time it gets stuck)

Reason why this happens: sometimes, while being signed in on your browser, your browser will make changes to the file in the same time your steam client makes changes to that file, something can happen and it will give you that error.

I made a #FIX cannot exit game.txt file in my steam folder and put the "delete the file gameoverlayrenderer.log" text inside to know what do to in case this happens and I forget.

ty so much, it helped me <3 :D

[bongmeister]

Originally posted by AzKat:

Easiest fix:

1. Shutdown your pc for 1 minute then start it up again (in case you don't shutdown daily)
2. Before starting steam delete the file called: gameoverlayrenderer.log (yes, the file with the text inside it)
3. Make sure your browser is closed when you start steam and the game.


Also, in case it gets stuck like that, you can always close your browser to fix this, for some reason, when you are stuck ingame, you CANNOT delete that file, it will say it is "in use", but if you close your browser, and delete that file, your problem should go away (at least until the next time it gets stuck)

Reason why this happens: sometimes, while being signed in on your browser, your browser will make changes to the file in the same time your steam client makes changes to that file, something can happen and it will give you that error.

I made a #FIX cannot exit game.txt file in my steam folder and put the "delete the file gameoverlayrenderer.log" text inside to know what do to in case this happens and I forget.

I'm sorry but it didn't help me. I did exactly what you told.
My CS:GO was working just fine, there was this windows update i did. After that when i tried opening CS:GO it shows " running " but doesn't open. And yes it is open in task manager but not in the task bar. After closing from task manager, i tried again and again it shows me this error " An error occurred while updating Counter Strike : Global Offensive (app running) ". I suppose i tried every possible solution on the internet but it still is a problem that i cannot fix for my laptop. If somebody overcame this error then please do tell me. Thanks