Running as Background Process. Please, help. Please.

[Crescent42]

So let me start by saying I am at my wits end.

 

Though this is only my..what...3rd? Time posting on this forum I'm not an amateur to modding, games, or troubleshooting in general. I need your help, anyone's help. I've been going at this problem for more than 4 days now and I've exhausted just about everything I can think of and I can't find an instance of this happening to anyone else to try and piggyback off of their fixes.

 

 

WHAT'S HAPPENING: As always the game was running fine one minute and then then this issue pops up when I restart the game, with 0 changes between play times.

 

(Currently using NMM)

• *Click launch fo4 from NMM*
• *Brings up fo4launcher.exe*
• *Click play*
• *Mouse Icon turns to blue loading circle for a few seconds*
• *Nothing*
• *Check to see if fo4.exe is running from task manager*
• *It is ONLY running as a background process*

 

*******Variations*********

Occasionally, maybe 1 in 20 tries, fo4 will start in a windowed mode and then freeze immediately. It doesn't even get to start the logo videos. This seems to be random as I have spent 5 hours trying to find a way to make this happen after I have changed certain things so I can at least establish what is going on. I can not get it to happen in any sort of predictable pattern.

 

 

 

WHAT I HAVE TRIED:

• *Restarting steam
• *Ending steam bootstraper and restarting steam
• *running from steam library (Results are the same from NMM or Steam)
• *changing H variable and W variable in fallout4prefs.ini to my screen resolution size
• *running NMM as administrator
• *Running fo4.exe as administrator (This causes the launcher loop error)
• *Running fo4launcher.exe as administrator (This also causes the launcher loop error)
• *turning on/off borderless from the launcher AND prefs.ini file
• *changing my audio freqs
• *enabling high priority on fo4.exe from task manager
• *updating graphics drivers
• *updating NMM
• *updating fo4 from steam
• *verifying integrity of game cache from steam
• *enabling windows 8 compatibility
• *restarting my pc
• resetting visuals to basics and letting fo4launcher.exe set to recommended
• *re-naming both fo4.exe and fo4launcher.exe from their correct names to variations of swear words, trying to launch via steam, then changing them back to correct names.
• *trying all above variations with steam both Online and Offline
• *resetting fo4prefs.ini H and W variables to 800 and 600 as those were stock when I changed them before
• *chaning fullscreen in fo4prefs.ini to 0 then 1 then 0 again
• *Disabling all mods
• *Turning off antivirus
• *Turning off firewall
• *Shouting
• *Shouting at my pc
• *shouting at f04
• *shouting at my reflection in the pc monitor
• *Inventing new and colorful ways of swearing at my problems
• *shouting at the old gods and the new for my tribulations
• *Praying to ceiling cat
• *making deals with basement cat
• *beating my head with my fists
• *facepalming
• *laying the fatted meat upon the stone alter for the all-father

 

I'm not kidding, I've done everything I know how to do and in just about every possible variation to get this to work.

 

 

ALTERNATE ISSUES -POSSIBLY CONNECTED

 

when I try to reset my graphics in the launcher it detects that I need very low settings. HOWEVER! I have a nvidia gtx 1080 in my rig. I do not need low settings. Yes, I know its not my gpu because I ran The Witcher 3 on ultra graphics just before writing this post and several times during the last 4 days to double check it wasn't my gpu.

 

WHAT I HAVE NOT DONE

• Uninstall NMM and re-install
• Uninstall fo4 and re-install

Why? I have satellite internet with a 30gb data cap. I can not afford to uninstall nmm and then re-download all the mods I have for 2 fo4 profiles. I can not afford to re-download fo4 from steam. I would max out my data in one night doing either of those things. It will not be for another week when I can get my pc to a hardline and jack it into high speed internet to do either of those things. Also.....my pc is mondo heavy and I have to climb a total of 6 flights of stairs to get it to that hardline.

 

I do not think it has anything to do with needing to uninstall/reinstall any part of all that. As I said, fo4.exe runs but ONLY as a background process. Some how it is being seen as something that doesn't need to run in the foreground OR/AND it is being blocked by something.

 

The ability to repeatedly put the launcher into the launcher loop error by enabling administration rights on either/both fo4.exe and fo4launcher.exe is clearly something. Not sure what it points to but as a scientist that is a repeatable behavior I can turn on or off which is evidence of unseen phenomena.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please, I need someone's help. Please.

 

[ma1025]

Have you moved your .ini files to another location and let Fallout 4 create new ones just to see if it would launch properly with fresh files?

 

Also, try using F4SE to launch the game. I made a backup of Fallout4Launcher.exe and renamed the F4SE_loader to Fallout4Launcher.exe and let it handle launching the game so I don't have the launcher overwriting my .ini settings.

 

There's also the Config Tool so you can change settings with a more user friendly interface.

 

Also, instead of redownloading the whole game you could try deleting only Fallout4.exe and Fallout4Launcher.exe and letting Steam redownload only those two files.

[Crescent42]

I will give all of those a try asap tomorrow.

 

Currently I don't have f4se installed (I had a scarring time with script extender on Skyrim and have been wary of it since). If that does fix my issue I'd be stumped as to why the launcher was fouling up the whole works. Does f4se extend load times at all?

 

Thank you so much for your reply. I can usually work through these things on my own but when I run out of ideas I start to get frustrated. It makes me feel like I'm looking for a metaphorical puzzle piece that I have in my hand. Now I've got a new place to start solving from again. Thanks, I will keep you apprised.

[HeavyArmour13]

Found this thread because I'm having the exact same problem. The game worked fine a week ago, and now it's starting up in the background processes. The only thing that changed between then and now is I've updated my video card driver. Rolling it back didn't help. I've tried launching the game from the config tool and deleting the Fallout4.exe and Fallout4Launcher.exe and having Steam reacquire them, but that didn't work either. This is very frustrating

[ma1025]

I've never personally noticed any extended load times using script extender for Fallout 3, New Vegas, Skyrim, or Fallout 4. I'm using a normal HDD instead of a SSD but I feel like my load times (with 100+ mods and several texture packs) are what I'd expect them to be. I've probably never waited longer than 10 or 15 seconds after the initial game load.

 

Also, make sure Steam itself is running in Admin mode.

 

I've been poking around more and someone on the Bethesda forums said Comodo firewall simply being installed was causing problems for them.

Edited October 30, 2016 by ma1025

[Crescent42]

Well I am tentatively going to stamp this Solved.

 

It took a combination of all your tips to get things working again I believe.

 

• Copy and move .ini files to a secondary folder to allow the creation of new ones
• Installing F4SE and using NMM to launch fo4 with that only
• Use the Config Tool you linked. (That is massively appreciated for so many reasons, btw)
• And force steam to re-create the .exe files of fo4 and fo4launcher

I did not do these in any particular order or check to see if the game would launch after each one. Looking back I wish I had so I could clarify at what stage it started working, I just wanted the damn game to work again so I hit it with all four at once. Given how the whole problem was behaving I'd have to say that the launcher was somehow involved in mucking things up with the graphical settings; but that isn't based on any one thing. It's more of a gut feeling.

Edit*: Before all this started I was getting a load time on my HDD of about 5 seconds. Now, after all the changes and fixes, i'm getting loads to the main menu screen of about 16-19 seconds. Just fyi, if it matters.

 

ma1025, thank you so very much for assisting and for linking that config tool. Being able to play this game again came at just the right time. Thanks again.

 

 

 

HeavyArmour13 - Yeah, it is really frustrating. I feel ya. If you're not using F4SE try installing and launching via that .exe file. Also, in the config tool there is an option to save and "lock" your .ini settings once you save your prefs in the config launcher. Go ahead and select that so the fo4 launcher can't change any work you do back to what it thinks it should be.

 

Once you do that open your normal fo4launcher.exe and under options try to open the game (via the config tool or f4se) with 'borderless' in the OPPOSITE checked option of what it is currently. I ran across so many cases where f04 wouldn't run with borderless checked and just as many that needed it unchecked.

 

Either way keep posting and updating here. I'll give what help I can.

Edited October 31, 2016 by Crescent42

[ma1025]

I'm glad you got it working again. Beth games can be so fickle sometimes. I didn't want to make you download a whole bunch of stuff with that data cap so I'm glad just a few small downloads got everything working again.

 

In regards to the load time to the main menu (I'm assuming right after launch the game) it usually takes me a few seconds to get there. Ever since the game released I've had a sort of freeze for a few seconds before the game loaded to the menu, then I usually have some sort of lag for about 10 seconds while the menu video plays. Everything works fine after that though.

[HeavyArmour13]

I tried everything except for starting the game with F4SE. I downloaded it, but I'm not sure how to use it. I didn't see a .exe that looked like it would launch the game. I'll have to look up how to use it. Once I figure it out it out I hope that's the key because the game is still launching in the background. Thanks for the tips. I'll let you know what happens.

[HeavyArmour13]

Okay, so I just installed F4SE and tried running the game through that and it's still not starting. What's strange is that when I use the F4SE.exe it's not running in the background every time. Sometimes it just doesn't run at all. I've even tried disabling ALL my mods and still nothing. I'm completely stumped & want to punch my computer. Are there any other ideas floating around? Please help

[Crescent42]

Okay, so I just installed F4SE and tried running the game through that and it's still not starting. What's strange is that when I use the F4SE.exe it's not running in the background every time. Sometimes it just doesn't run at all. I've even tried disabling ALL my mods and still nothing. I'm completely stumped & want to punch my computer. Are there any other ideas floating around? Please help

M'kay. So what's happening to you is-

 

start fo4launcher.exe

fo4.exe runs in background

start f4se.exe

fo4.exe runs in background/doesn't open

 

Correct?

 

Try right click on the f4se.exe and change properties to "Run as Administrator" under the second or third tab.

Have you tried validating your game via steam?

Keep your task manager open when you run f4se.exe and watch what happens to the fo4 program. Does it disappear, if not what happens?

 

Are you using a mod manager? If you are maybe try linking the f4se.exe to the launch options and letting your mod organizer handle it like Midwestern Courier suggested.

What kind of graphics card are you using and I would suggest trying to run the game on the latest drivers as you'll need those for more than just one game.