General Troubleshooting for Issues Launching Games on PC

Last Updated: March 28, 2024

Question: What can I do if I’m having issues launching a game on PC?

Answer: There are a few things which can prevent a PC game from launching. 

Update the Game

As the game has been updated since release, it has also been further optimized to improve performance. Most games will update themselves as you launch them into an Online mode or on the initial launch.

Update to the latest Video Drivers from your manufacturer's website

For NVIDIA drivers - http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

For ATI/AMD drivers - http://support.amd.com/en-us/download

Free up System Resources

Games can be very memory intensive it is recommended that you free up as much memory as possible when running the game.

To do this press the Windows key and 'R' to show the Run box, once done type MSCONFIG and click Ok. Once the tool has opened click on the Startup tab and click disable all. If done correctly you'll be prompted to restart when applying the changes, do so and then try the game again. If you have disabled any critical applications such as your Anti-Virus software we would recommend re-enabling the program once you have tested the game.

Safe Mode

Most games come with the option to run in what is known as a “safe mode” version. This allows you to see if the game’s settings are to blame for your poor performance. If the game runs correctly in Safe mode this would indicate that you have one or more settings set too high for your system.

We would suggest checking the specific game’s command line list to see if this would be an option and how to make it run in safe mode.