Every CEG Protected steam game I have is failing to start (error code 2)

[Wildstar]

Every Steam Custom Executable Generation protected game I have says "Completing installation 1%" followed by another window that says "The Steam servers are too busy to handle your request for <insert CEG protected game name here>. Error Code (2)."

Its not network/firewall/AV software related (I removed all those parts of the equation), I used wireshark to capture the network traffic to verify that my PC is communicating to steam servers when I try to launch one of these games. So far, games I've had problems with are:
Borderlands: The Pre-sequel
Borderlands 2
Age of Mythology Extended Edition
Saints Row IV
Bioshock Infinate

I've had a ticket in with Steam Support since Tuesday 10/14 for error code 2, with no response.

[Wildstar]

Thanks for the suggestion.

I uninstalled Kaspersky, rebooted, and plugged the PC directly to the internet and tried it, and I still get the same exact error.

I tried everything in that one. (and every other suggestion I could find). Everytime I run one of these games, I get this sort of entry in custom_log.txt:

[2014-10-25 15:11:10] RequestCustomBinary: "H:\Games\SteamFast500\steamapps\common\Age of Mythology\aomx.exe" 266840 {FD1C45EF-0376-4524-B3A4-BBF65E7A1F1D} {3442347C-607B-4189-B100-63B645A8CD2C} {00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}
[2014-10-25 15:11:10] Job 0x02F03F40 Started !
[2014-10-25 15:11:11] IssueClientServiceCall: 206729 6c93e5c0 1 3
[2014-10-25 15:11:11] CompleteClientServiceCall: 206729 2 0
[2014-10-25 15:11:11] LoadClientServiceCall: 6c93e5c0
[2014-10-25 15:11:11] IssueClientServiceCall: 206731 6c93e5c0 1 3
[2014-10-25 15:11:11] CompleteClientServiceCall: 206731 1 22040
[2014-10-25 15:11:12] OnClientDRMBlobComplete: 266840 (Failure)

Apparently there is an issue with AMD motherboards and/or graphics cards that can cause this, but I'm using Intel/Nvidia.

[Wildstar]

I've been banging my head against this since 10/14. Here is the condensed version of everything I've tried:

Here is a list of things I've tried (none of which worked):
I verified that my edge firewall wasn't blocking traffic.
Verified that PC is plugged into the wall.
Verified cache files.
Uninstalled BL:TPS, re-installed.
First, tried executing steam://flushconfig, reboot, run steam from the steam folder.
Exited steam and deleted clientregistry.blob and restarted steam.
Manually installed the vcredist, dotnet, and DirectX installers from BL:TPS sub-directories.
(SteamApps\common\BorderlandsPreSequel\Binaries\Redist and SteamApps\common\BorderlandsPreSequel\_common_redist).
I've tried every setting I could in my security software (Kaspersky Internet Security 2015).
I even uninstalled KIS 2015 and tried everything listed here with out it installed.
Disabled windows firewall & windows defender.
Ran msconfig and rebooted in diagnostic startup and tried game.
Moved steam to C:\Program Files (x86)\, and other folders on other drives.
Installed latest geforce drivers
Installed all latest windows updates
ran both installers in vcredist folder
re-ran directx 11 install
Uninstalled game and restarted windows into safemode w/networking and tried re-installing it in safemode.
Completely uninstalled steam, along with every steam game.
Manually removing all valve/steam related registry entries.
Re-installed steam & re-installed BL:TPS.
Run steam with admin privileges with all the logging switches I could think that might be helpful:
(-debug_steamapi -fs_log -fs_logbins)

RunSteamApps\common\BorderlandsPreSequel\Binaries\Win32\BorderlandsPreSequel.exe directly with and without admin privileges. It generated a steamstart file each time. If you want I can attach it, if your attachment filter will allow it.

re-registered every DLL in my system directory,using this cli one-liner:
For %i in (%systemroot%\system32\*.dll) do ping 192.2.2.2 -n 1 -w 1000 > nul ; regsvr32 /s %i
(this was suggested by the Windows technical SME and fellow gamer at my work)

Uninstalled everything on my computer that was installed since Jan 01, 2014,

created custom_log.txt

Tried running steam forcing TCP connections.

I've tried running the launcher, and running the game from the launcher.

[Silicon Vampire]

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3134-TIAL-4638&l=english

better than uninstalling, re-installing. that will also remove your games while refreshing will not.

[Wildstar]

Originally posted by Silicon Vampire:

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3134-TIAL-4638&l=english

better than uninstalling, re-installing. that will also remove your games while refreshing will not.

That was line 5.

[Wildstar]

Originally posted by Spawk:

That's some pretty decent troubleshooting. All the things I would've suggested, you've already tried. I've been googling for a bit as well, but the vast majority of people who've managed to fix the issue claim it was because of their antivirus (mostly McAfee, of course) or a problem with their Steam installation that went away after reinstalling Steam.

Thanks, IT support was my day job for a dozen or so years before I got into infosec. I'm stuck until either this gets Valve's attention or I manage to score some detailed documentation on CEG.

[Wildstar]

I had my wife login to her steam account on my PC, and tried to run a CEG protected game we both have, and it still failed with error code 2. I also created another user account on the same PC and tried running from there. Same result.

This is extremely frustrating, since it is Valves anti-piracy thing (CEG) thats keeping me (a paying customer) from playing every CEG protected game I own on my PC. I've had a ticket in with steamsupport for this since 10/14. It'll will be two weeks of non-response from Valve tomorrow.

[Kitty von Meowinstein]

If you have yet to recieve any help, I might could help you, if we had similar issues. Every CEG game which I own sits at unplayable fps. My friend found a program which at least fixes the performance issues, my issues that is. I am unsure if it would be helpful in your situation, but it is called Orochi.

[Wildstar]

Thanks for the input. I looked into Orochi, but thats strictly a fix for radeon cards. I've got an nvidia. I actually just found the solution for my problem, and its strange. I created a junction (softlink/symlink) directory in my steam directory linking the backups folder to a backups folder on another drive. Somehow, this junction/softlink/symlink was moved from the steam directory into c:\windows\system32. No idea how this happened. I assure you I didn't do it. Anyways, once I deleted the junction, all my CEG protected games started working again.

[Raybo58]

Oh man, I'm having the exact same issues you were and here it is 2 years later. I tried everything you had on your list and more and got the same results. A ton of my games stopped working. Bioshock Infinite, Just Cause 2, all of the Borderlands, Saints Row IV, Deadpool, and more. In some cases, I tried replacing the files from the version I paid for with ones I got from less than reputable sources and it's worked every time. But I would much rather be able to rely on receiving full support and updates for things I've gone to the trouble of purchasing. I'm hoping against hope you're still around to let me/us know the details of this link you created. I have no idea which "backup folders" you're referring to in your solution.

[Wildstar]

I'm still here. Have you made any symlink/junctions in your steam directory?

[Wildstar]

I found my notes. PM me (or whatever the steam equivalent is) with an email I can contact you at.

[HLCinSC]

Originally posted by Wildstar:

I found my notes. PM me (or whatever the steam equivalent is) with an email I can contact you at.

If it is not too much trouble, could you maybe post your fix here. It might help people who have the problem in future find a solution quicker.

[Raybo58]

Originally posted by Wildstar:

I found my notes. PM me (or whatever the steam equivalent is) with an email I can contact you at.

Turns out I solved it since yesterday, with some inspiration from you. Here is a copy of the doc I created and plan to post in all of the forums where I've been chewing on this problem. I plagiarized some items from your list of failed fix attempts...

[SOLVED] Steam Servers Are Too Busy. Error Code: 2

Okay, I've been working on this full-time for nearly a week and finally had a breakthrough. The Problem:

Many of my Steam games began failing to load. I.E.:
Bioshock Infinite
Just Cause 2
Deadpool
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
Saints Row IV
and probably more I haven't tried yet.

Most of them were giving me the error in the title.

I tried all of the following to cure the problem...

I verified that my edge firewall wasn't blocking traffic.
Verified that PC is plugged into the wall.
Disabled windows firewall & windows defender and my Malwarebytes Premium virus protection.
Turned off Steam Overlay.
Disabled Steam Cloud Sync.
Killed any programs that may produce OSD stuff, like FPS counters in Afterburner or EVGA Precision XOC.
Verified cache files.
Uninstalled and re-installed problematic games
First, tried executing steam://flushconfig, reboot, run steam from the steam folder.
Exited steam and deleted clientregistry.blob and restarted steam.
Manually installed the vcredist, dotnet, and DirectX installers from game sub-directories.
Ran msconfig and rebooted in diagnostic startup and tried game.
Moved steam to C:\Program Files (x86)\, and other folders on other drives.
Installed latest geforce drivers
Installed all latest windows updates
re-ran directx 11 install
Uninstalled game and restarted windows into safemode w/networking and tried re-installing it in safemode.
Completely uninstalled steam, along with every steam game.
Manually removing all valve/steam related registry entries.
Re-installed steam & re-installed games
Run steam with admin privileges.
Create the proper steam_appid.txt files for each game.
Creating softlinks to the Steam folder in each game's executable folder.
And much, much more.

Nothing had any effect. Then I stumbled onto a page where a user named Wildstar had surmised that the error was being thrown because of some failures in the Steam CEG copy protection system that all of the failing games happen to use. It uses some algorithm to create encrypted executables that will only run under the user's account. So I played around with deleting all of the .exe and .dll files from a game and then letting a validation run to restore the missing files in the hopes that it would produce correctly encrypted binaries. Didn't work.

Finally, I decided to do everything I could to restore my Steam setup to as default a state as possible. Once I performed the following procedure, every single one of my problematic games returned to normal operation, and in some cases, I had missing saved games suddenly reappear.

In its most recent arrangement, I had my Steam folder on my E: drive because there's not enough room on my boot SSD for the 600GB of games I own. I also had an app directory on my C: drive that I tried moving some games into to see if running from the boot drive would help. So I had an E:\Steam installation dir and a C:\Steam Library dir, both paths being registered in my Steam Library Folders list.


These are the steps for fixing the CEG issues...

1. Exit Steam.
   
   
2. Move the SteamApps and UserData folders from your current installation to some safe directory on the same drive you currently have them stored on. Moving these folders will be WAY faster than copying them, because all it really does is update each file's directory chain info without touching the acutal contents of the files.
   
   
3. Uninstall steam using Geek Uninstaller. https://geekuninstaller.com/ It will yank out any extra reg entries or junk files after the standard uninstall script ends.
   
   
4. Reinstall Steam into your "C:\Program Files (x86)" and launch it. You will see all of your games greyed out and waiting to be installed.
   
   
5. Pick any game you like at random and begin the install process. It will ask you where you want to install it.
   
   
6. If you plan to have all of your Steam games on your C: Drive, then choose your default install D/L location. If you plan to install some or all of your Steam games on another drive, then choose that drive. In my case, I created a new folder on my E: drive named it SteamLibrary, within which the new SteamApps folder resides.
   
   
7. Once Steam is done allocating space and begins the actual download process, pause the download.
   
   
8. Right click on the game you just began downloading and choose Uninstall. The only reason we did this is to have Steam setup the default folder structure for our apps.
   
   
9. Exit Steam.
   
   
10. Go to the SteamApps/Common folder Steam just created for your download and delete any files or folders that the uninstall you just performed may have missed.
    
    
11. Move the UserData folder we preserved before into the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam" folder, overwriting any existing files.
    
    
12. Move the contents of the SteamApps folder we preserved before into the SteamApps folder Steam just created when we began that first game download.
    
    
13. Launch Steam.
    
    
14. Every one of your games now needs to be re-installed, but the way we've set it up Steam will skip downloading any files that already exist. With games that were working fine before, you should be able to click the Install button, let it verify the existing files, run all of it's pre-install scripts, and then run the game.

With the games that were throwing errors, I recommend finding the starting binaries in each game directory and then deleting them. Delete the main game .exe and any Launcher type .exe's as well, and then click Install. It will download the correctly customized/encrypted main executables you need to play the game, once it sees the old ones are missing.

Every game that was giving me problems came back from the dead after following these steps.

If you should happen to click install on a game that doesn't already have its files positioned in the place you specify, it will begin downloading them. After that point, it will do you no good to copy the game directory into your intended destination. Steam will not recognize the appearance of the new files. It will keep downloading into a temp folder until it's done and then copy over the files you just moved into place.

To correct this if it happens, you must pause the download and uninstall the game, copy the complete game directory into the desired SteamApps/Common folder, and then click Install again. If you see the "Discovering Existing Files" message, rather than the downloading progress bar, you have succeeded.

If this ends up working for anyone, let us know.