XCOM Enemy withing wont launch

[Highwayman300]

As the tittle says, i recently bought XCOM the complete pack and the game will never launch, it will just make a 100% usage disk process for a few moments and then terminate itself. I have tried most fixes and recommendations and it still wont work.

I have the minimum requirements, and have downloaded, re-installed and verified files multiple times, i am also using windows 8.

 

I am pretty desperate at this point, and i am currently trying to get a refund, as the game is impossible to play at all, so any help would be greatly appreciated

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Edit: It is working in a LOWER specs computer, using windows 7, same installation process, the game runs around 10fps but it starts at least.

After looking at the resource manager, it appears that a lot of directx files are consuming my disk usage instead of running the game.

Edited May 19, 2014 by Highwayman300

[dubiousintent]

When you say "tried most fixes and recommendations and it still wont work", it really doesn't tell us anything. "Most" isn't "All" (and even then we have no idea how exhaustive that list is), and so we have to start from scratch. We need details to help.

 

Where (full path including drive letter) do you have Steam installed?

How are you launching the game: via shortcut (in which case, what path is IT using); or directly on the EXE (in which case which file and where is it located)?

Did you read and follow the "Installing Game on Vista+" wiki article?

Did you read and follow the "Steam and Mods" wiki article?

Do you get a Windows error message? (Either displayed on the screen or reported in the Event Log)? (See this article for how to open the Event Viewer. Check both the "Applications" and the "System" tabs.) The best way to report an Event Viewer entry is by a screenshot.

 

-Dubious-

[Highwayman300]

Little update, i am able to play xcom enemy unknown as long as i move/rename enemy within, it seems to be a problem affecting only enemy within.

And here is the info you requested:

 

C/ProgramFiles/steam/steamapps/common/Xcom

I have tried launching the game from a shortcut (created by steam and made personally) by pressing play on steam and by trying to run the executable directly.

Yes, it didn't really helped.

This is happening with a clean un-modded Xcom copy.

No logs, error or messages appear, it simply wont launch as long as enemy within is in the Xcom root folder.

[dubiousintent]

Little update, i am able to play xcom enemy unknown as long as i move/rename enemy within, it seems to be a problem affecting only enemy within.

And here is the info you requested:

 

C/ProgramFiles/steam/steamapps/common/Xcom

I have tried launching the game from a shortcut (created by steam and made personally) by pressing play on steam and by trying to run the executable directly.

Yes, it didn't really helped.

This is happening with a clean un-modded Xcom copy.

No logs, error or messages appear, it simply wont launch as long as enemy within is in the Xcom root folder.

First of all, move your Steam folder out of "C:\Program Files". Suggest something like "C:\Games". There is a link to Steam's instructions on how to do this in the "Installing Games" article. While you might not see an obvious fix for your current problem, this is still a necessary step. But given the path you cite, I think you need to completely re-install Steam and XCOM to get that correct.

 

Not familiar with an "XCOM the complete pack" as a separately sold package, but normally Steam installs EU to "\Steam\steamapps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\", and EW to "\Steam\steamapps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XEW". Note that EW is in a separate subfolder (XEW) under "\XCom-Enemy-Unknown". This is because it shares some files (primarily movies) with EU. Changing any of the expected path names (such as "\steam\steamapps\common\Xcom") is likely to cause problems. Moving EW out might clarify EU's confusion, but will definitely break EW. The path you gave is not what is expected (i.e. "Xcom" instead of "XCom-Enemy-Unknown") and most likely your problem for both games.

 

Also you need to be aware that EW introduced a "XComLauncher.exe" file, which is what you should now be running from your shortcut. The "launcher" then lets you select if you are playing EU or EW. Even if you try to launch either games EXE directly, they will in turn run the launcher and force you to choose from there again as long as the launcher file can be found.

 

(If you intend to run any "TexMod" texture replacements, see the wiki article "Modifying Textures". The role of the launcher is covered extensively there)

 

-Dubious-

Edited May 21, 2014 by dubiousintent

[Highwayman300]

 

Little update, i am able to play xcom enemy unknown as long as i move/rename enemy within, it seems to be a problem affecting only enemy within.

And here is the info you requested:

 

C/ProgramFiles/steam/steamapps/common/Xcom

I have tried launching the game from a shortcut (created by steam and made personally) by pressing play on steam and by trying to run the executable directly.

Yes, it didn't really helped.

This is happening with a clean un-modded Xcom copy.

No logs, error or messages appear, it simply wont launch as long as enemy within is in the Xcom root folder.

First of all, move your Steam folder out of "C:\Program Files". Suggest something like "C:\Games". There is a link to Steam's instructions on how to do this in the "Installing Games" article. While you might not see an obvious fix for your current problem, this is still a necessary step. But given the path you cite, I think you need to completely re-install Steam and XCOM to get that correct.

 

Not familiar with an "XCOM the complete pack" as a separately sold package, but normally Steam installs EU to "\Steam\steamapps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\", and EW to "\Steam\steamapps\common\XCom-Enemy-Unknown\XEW". Note that EW is in a separate subfolder (XEW) under "\XCom-Enemy-Unknown". This is because it shares some files (primarily movies) with EU. Changing any of the expected path names (such as "\steam\steamapps\common\Xcom") is likely to cause problems. Moving EW out might clarify EU's confusion, but will definitely break EW. The path you gave is not what is expected (i.e. "Xcom" instead of "XCom-Enemy-Unknown") and most likely your problem for both games.

 

Also you need to be aware that EW introduced a "XComLauncher.exe" file, which is what you should now be running from your shortcut. The "launcher" then lets you select if you are playing EU or EW. Even if you try to launch either games EXE directly, they will in turn run the launcher and force you to choose from there again as long as the launcher file can be found.

 

(If you intend to run any "TexMod" texture replacements, see the wiki article "Modifying Textures". The role of the launcher is covered extensively there)

 

-Dubious-

 

Well, gave changing the installation folder a try, enemy within still wont work, but did it just in case.

 

What i meant for Xcom the complete package, i meant Xcom and all its dlc, the package is called Xcom: Complete.

As for the directory, i was merely simplifying. The full directory was C:/Program files (86)/Steam/Steam Apps/Common/XCom-Enemy-Unknown/XEW=Xcom Game

 

And i am aware that there is a new launcher, but i think either that or the XEW executable is the reason of this issue, as moving them / renaming them allows me to play vanilla Xcom.

Using this launcher will result in just a huge amount of disk usage and a Xcom Launcher process that will do absolutely nothing. Using the direct executable of both XEW or Xcom will result in the same issue as long as the game detects XEW.

 

Edit: I have seen something particularly interesting, the launcher seems to be unable to be terminated by using the task manager, it will promp access is denied every time, all while it consumes all available disk usage and takes around 5 mins to kill itself.

Edited May 21, 2014 by Highwayman300

[dubiousintent]

When troubleshooting, you have to remember that others do not see what you see. They can only go on the basis of what you report. Details are important and need to be "exact". Trying to use your own version of "shorthand" just wastes time and costs you more effort than providing the detail in the first place.

 

As explained in the article on "Modifying Textures", if you try to launch EW by directly clicking on the EXE, it in turn launches the XComGame.EXE, which calls XCOMLauncher.EXE, which then launches the EW EXE (again). It is passing along a "FromLauncher" or "Language=" command line parameter documented in that article. So trying to skip using the launcher for EW is likely to cause problems such as you are seeing. Not to say it is impossible, but you would have to manually duplicate whatever it is doing.

 

Have you "verified files" from Steam? You might have a bad copy of the launcher. The inability to kill the process and having it "run away with resources" suggest it is corrupted. There is also a copy of the launcher in the EU "Binaries" folder. You might try using that to replace the EW copy.

 

This is the first report here that the launcher won't work. If verifying doesn't fix it, you should contact Steam support.

 

-Dubious-

[Highwayman300]

I have verified the files multiple times, also installing and re-installing from scratch, and i have tried using the XEW launcher, the exe application, and also the default Xcom launchers, no use.

I contacted steam support and 2k forums a week ago, still no reply like the insane number of users that have this issue.

 

Also, i tried updating to windows 8.1 (yes i know its "terrible" but i do not have access to another one) from 8.0 and now it wont even run vanilla Xcom.

[dubiousintent]

Sorry to hear that. If plenty of others are reporting the same problem with Win8, eventually Firaxis will provide a patch. Unfortunately, this won't be the first time an OS upgrade broke older games, or that a game patch didn't work well with some OS versions.

 

I'm afraid we don't know of any wonder cures other than the basics we just ran through at the moment. Do let us know when they provide a fix and we'll update the wiki with the information.

 

-Dubious-

[heyday123]

I have the same problem as I am on windows 8.1 (yes it does suck) but I fixed most of the "glitches" my self (including mouse delay) and yet I can launch every game except xcom. If I launch the vanilla. The .EXE starts, but never shows up. On the contrary if I launch EW it'll just relaunch. I've tried validating and that didn't work either. worse still I was on the last mission and now I cannot complete it.

 

 

Edit: Apparently it has something to do with updates past a certain point (no idea which) is there anything that needs to be done to update it?

 

As for system requirements. I am running quite a moderate setup (above minimum) and am using steam to run it (Not sure if there is another way).

Also I verified the game and it works now but with some missing/buggy texture and with some fps lag. I would say what I did but I literially only validated it and it worked (unlike highwayman's case)

Edited July 7, 2014 by heyday123

[dubiousintent]

It sounds like perhaps you are trying to run the game EXE directly, instead of running the new (with EW) "launcher"?

 

From what we've seen it appears since EW added the "launcher", that then fires off the correct game EXE once you choose to play either EU or EW (apparently with some command line parameter so it knows it was started from the launcher). If you attempt to run the game EXE directly, it simply loops back to run the "launcher" instead.

 

Now, you don't say if you have installed any mods like TexMod, but if you have that can change the situation as well. TexMod in particular complicates the picture because it requires renaming the game EXE. (In that case, see the wiki article "Modifying Textures". You have to reapply TexMod after all other mods once your game is "verified".)

 

Have you updated anything recently, such as video drivers? Those can sometimes cause problems.

 

No-one has come up with anything new here to get XCOM to work with Win8.1 in particular. Your best bet is to take it up with Firaxis support on the 2K forum. Provide as much detail as you can.

 

-Dubious-

Edited July 7, 2014 by dubiousintent