ALL steam games take forever to launch, some of them open in windowed mode and crash

[PS_STI]

Hello Everyone,

As in the subject line. For some time I have had a problem with launching Steam games. They sometimes take up to 5-8 minutes to start. Some of them start in windowed mode and then crash (Dirt Rally for example).

I do not think it is a hardware, OS or virus problem for the following reasons:
- up-to-date hardware: intel core i7-4790k with Corsair water cooling, GTX 980 x 2 SLI (temperatures normal, alway below 75 Celsius during heavy gaming), 16GB fast RAM, 500 GB SSD with plenty of free space
- no garbage on the computer: I use it ONLY for gaming, do not use it for e-mail, facebook, chat, browsing the internet, office software, media server or anything else. There is just a vanilla Win10 installation and games on that machine, no other software
- I did check the integrity of the steam game files
- I did update all the drivers including graphics and optimized games through nVidia Gefore Experience
- my Steam client is up to date; all game ptaches/updates applied

What happens is that when I launch a game, they usually start in windowed mode, even though they are set up to start in fullscreen mode (both through the nVidia Geforce Experience and by using the -fullscreen operator in the launch script for each game in the Steam client). They take 5-8 minutes to load. Some finally start, some - such as Dirt Rally - crash (a graphics driver error pops up, which freezes the game while loading; I found out on the net, that it is due to the graphics driver timeout mechanism).

I did an extensive search on the net and found that the culprit may be the Xbox controller that I use for gaming and/or a Microsoft wireless keyboard+touchpad combo (MS All-in-one Media Keyboard) or both of them. I started playing around with disconneting these, disabling/uninstalling the drivers, but I cannot get consistent results: sometimes the games do launch in one-two seconds as they should considering my hardware and the fact that the computer is free of garbage, but on reboot they return to the strange behavior, being the long luanch times (this may be due to Windows restoring the Xbox controller / MS keyboard drivers on reboot, even though it does not show them, as they are disconnected).

What am I missing? How can I make my steam games consistently launch in fullscreen mode, in properly short time and without crashing?

[PS_STI]

Bump

[Rickety Frigate]

Bump

[The Giving One]

What is the antivirus program ?

Are you sure the computer hardware is supported for Windows 10 ? Where did you get the drivers when you updated them ? (not just the GPU drivers but system drivers also)

Other than antivirus, do you have any programs that are listed on this page below ?

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=9828-SFLZ-9289

[Tev]

Don't know if it's of help, but should there be many startup programs, try this:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8043-EUJN-5239

Should the issues not persist while in Selective Startup, you can start enabling programs slowly and see where the issue re-surfaces.

Also, as a note. Should I have understood that script part right, launch arguments (launch options) aren't exactly universal. While something like -fullscreen might work in some games; it definitely won't in others.

While I personally don't have issues with GFE; I don't use its [Game Optimization] option either. Would it make any difference to anything if you didn't use that?

As for the controller drivers part, you're saying it basically stops being an issue until you reboot (and thus the system re-fetches the drivers) ?

[The Disturbed Marauder]

i found a solution that works for me but i only had the long launch time problem

i went into local files and started the application manually then exited and it worked from then on and if it happens again it should work again

[j.brungard]

Doesn't work for me.

[exxelll]

it's usually because of, how should i say it ? bad machine i suppose ? i think its because your computer or console cant process it fast enough. otherwise i have no idea

[Sol]

I had the exact same problem today and it was because of my wireless controller drivers on windows device manager.

All you gotta do is plug in your controller, open device manager, drop down the view tab and select 'devices by container', expand the wireless controller section which should be near the bottom, then uninstall any devices that are in there. Restarting your computer after this should fix it and you can plug in you controller and the drivers will install again with no problems this time.

Hope this helps anyone having this issue.

[Stefan R.]

same problem

[Fusion]

You'd think they would have fixed this in 2021, but no

[Iceira]

Could be one of them convert to win10, and later ppl learn the diffrence in fresh install is much better then migration to win10.

ps.
it was learn that old software from win7 actual could give win10 other issue.
if you seek help here try safe boot mode.

Rest is seen as user pc build or security or own pc might not be as fast as some think this is 2022 and most will agree here in 2016 that past gen tech now.

example ( 2 sec build up info ) diffrent location on subject )
so many get it wrong here

Fallout 4 - High Resolution Texture Pack
MINIMUM:
OS: Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit OS required)
Processor: Intel Core i7-5820K or better


fallout 4 and other dlc has lesser requiremente
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
MINIMUM:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit OS required)
Processor: Intel Core i5-2300 2.8 GHz/AMD Phenom II X4 945 3.0 GHz or equivalent
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 550 Ti 2GB/AMD Radeon HD 7870 2GB or equivalent
Storage: 30 GB available space

RECOMMENDED:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Windows 7/8/10 (64-bit OS required)
Processor: Intel Core i7 4790 3.6 GHz/AMD FX-9590 4.7 GHz or equivalent
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 780 3GB/AMD Radeon R9 290X 4GB or equivalent
Storage: 30 GB available space

so point is he actual once had it but not with high resolution pack ( but i bet he can play with lesser, and yet not acording to minimum requrirements. )

Do note game devs can make mistake but it dont look like it.
point is game devs can can change and update so old things stats dont fit or they forgot to correct it.

and yes i have GOTY. detail matter here. so do system and timeline. and all the updates they did. system do get heavier over time, this is nothing new.

you need to be a experience user over decads to know such.

[EETTEER]

Mhm

[adrian_d]

did anyone ever resolve this? I'm having the same issue. I was working fine up until about a week ago and now for some reason all of my steam games are taking forever to load. All other apps are working fine, this issue is purely relating to steam games.

[Iceira]

Originally posted by adrian_d:

did anyone ever resolve this? I'm having the same issue. I was working fine up until about a week ago and now for some reason all of my steam games are taking forever to load. All other apps are working fine, this issue is purely relating to steam games.

no because a steam moderaoter will soon close this post or should.
there is no way a 2016 can be compared with win10, so this post is already dead in so many ways,thats the problem with OS change and steam do not mass lock old post as read only.

not because i said so, but because win10 cant even be compare to win7 or win8 and there is so many core update, i can turn this aroud if you dont match OP build then you lost all arguement
a Ford-T car compare with fumula one car, it here most will say byebye today. and kiss all past post byebye, nothing wrong in read them, and thats a diffrent matter.

and if you sit on win11, that just proof my point even more.

or how about this , if you cant get game to work on win10, many user has no issue with win10 at all, many can start alot of game up in many years build for win7+

feel free to test with other pc and get busted, thats the way i prefere to nail my own butt, if somehow i need to figure out something, this explan alot about system issue and its driver.

not sure it can help you, but plenty of post with how to fix and game over last 2years, alot of steam helpers has explan it over and over in so many post, if i was you look there.

ps.
GTX 980 x 2 SLI
old new recheck thats its enable again after GPU driver update, or it will crash for ½ output.
so if you dont have sli you just got busted for lack of info about own build dont match OP.

im not after you, but you need to graps the issue with old post. ( almost useless )
even seen old post that harmfull today, and yet its user own problem.