Games crashing on startup

[Sigmuz]

I did a operating system refresh the other day to try and breathe new life into my pc 6 months after putting it together.. unfortunatly a problem that only seems to effect games i run from steam is that... upon startup all my games unexpectedly crash, with no error report, which makes it seem like they have been closed down by me, despite the fact that i had no background programs running nor doing anything else...

the remedys i have already tried are as follows
-making sure my graphics drivers are up to date
-making sure all windows updates are up to date
-doing another operating system refresh
-reinstalling my games
reverting back to old graphics drivers
-updating from windows 8.1/and then reverting again
-validating my game files through steam
-running my games in safe/compatability modes
-removing the .exe launchers and re-downloading them
-disabling and re-enabling my gpu mid launch
-doing a full factory reset
re-installing directX, punkbustr, physX etc..
-checked everything is allowed through my firewall/antivirus

i have tried various other suggestions for start up conditions, but so far nothing has worked but the closest i got was after my factory reset where the first thing i downloaded was csgo, and that worked.. upon downlading the new nvidia driver (in order to get good performence and shadowplay) it appears to not work again... i reverted my graphics driver to that point but to no avail

i have been working on fixing this for about 5 days and im losing my patience, im sure its just some petty issue or box that i forgot to tick, that causes these shutdowns, but im not exactly the most experienced person when it comes to pc gaming and i would really appreciate some help/ potential solutions

[Alfon]

Well, I really don't know what could be your problem, but I can tell you what I would do in your place.

First, I'd try to reinstall the steam aplication.
If ALL the steam games have the same problem, and no other game has it, I'd clean all steam components from my computer. Then, not before, I'd reinstall my drivers and check the so permissions. Which is your operative system? Steam automatically install some drivers into your computer, I think, when trying tu run any game the first time. They are usually harmless, but maybe in your case that is different.

Another important thing is the games you are trying to run. Hitman, age of empires 3, mortal kombat, a LOT of games are giving me problems with windows 8. Crashes, slow downs, etc... I play them in windows xp or 7 compatibility mode, as administrator. Then I have less problems.

If nothing works, I'd format my pc, completely. Partitions, everything, and I would be very cautious about the files and aplications I install. After every installation, I'd try steam.

Maybe someone can give you a better and safer solution.

[Alfon]

Another idea. Steam needs to be connected to work correctly. It has a mode to play disconnected. Have you tried it? Maybe your problem is with your internet connection, or with the way steam remain connected to the internet.

[Pcnuttie]

There is one thing you didn't do on steam. Verify your cache. Go to your game library and click the game and click game properites and then local files and verify cache and run game as adminstrator and see if that solved anything.

[Sigmuz]

Forgot to mention that i have already tried the above.

im really stumped here, every game in my steam library worked prior to the refresh, and none of my hardware was changed since then. i will try to reinstall steam but im not sure thats where my problem may lie. It feels as if these games are not being allowed through a firewall or antivirus, since its concurrent with my steam games, but not ones on origin/uplay

[Alfon]

I guess you have already seen this, but whatever...

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7169-TIAV-5361

I don't think the next suggestion could help to fix anithing, but it's easy to try.

"If you are still experiencing random crashes, please try to turn off the Steam Overlay as this can cause random crashes. This is how:

1) Click on Steam and click on the "Settings" button. Click on the "In-Game Settings" tab.

2) Uncheck the box next to "Enable Steam Community In-Game" and click OK.

3) Disable the Steam Overlay on specific games only by right-clicking on the game title, click on "Properties" and uncheck "Enable Steam Community In-Game" in the "General" tab."

And another possible solution, what do you think about your security system? Is it possible that you have some virus or spyware? Maybe your system is infected. I'd try with some additional security programs. When I had the "strange crash problem" I found a trojan. Avast is a very poor defense system. If you use it, I'd recommend to use malwarebytes too. They are a good team XD

[Alfon]

Also, you can get a complete DxDiag log by doing this:

1. Press and hold the Windows key and the letter R on your keyboard
2. You will see a Run box in the lower-left corner of your screen
3. Type dxdiag in the text field
4. Click OK
5. If your computer has a 64-bit version of Windows, click the button Run 64-bit DXDIAG
6. If your computer has a 32-bit version of Windows, that button will not be available
7. Click the Save All Information button, found on the bottom of the DXDIAG report
8. Save this text file to your Desktop if possible

I did a copy-paste for the above information from someone with a problem like yours. He/she uploaded it by doing this:

"9. Open the text file from your Desktop in a text editor of your choice.
10. Open the website http://pastebin.com/ in your browser.
11. Copy the complete content of the DxDiag Text file and paste it into the Pastebin website.
12. Click Submit.
13. Copy the link from your address bar and post it into this thread. "

But, I am not an expert and I don't know how to read this sort of things. But it's an starting point. With this, you can see if your drivers are really updated among other things.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3208331&page=2

ANOTHER user solved a problem like yours by using steam as administrator:
"I run Windows 7 64-bit and used to have Steam crash but I read somewhere to run Steam as an administrator, it resolved the problem for me so might for you. It's also quad-core. " (xX_Renegade_Xx)

ANOTHER user solved a problem like yours by doing this:
"I fixed mine, wen to my cousins house got his files. Brought them here and over-wrote mine and it has been working 100% now no issue at all. " (PLAY_MAKER)