Re: [PC] Dragon Age: Inquisition - Crash to desktop on startup, no loading symbol.

The fresh install didn't help, unfortunately. Honestly at this point I have no idea what is left to try short of factory resetting my computer, but with as much as I have on here I'd really rather not do that. Not giving up yet though!

Also, the idea that it was patch related has died as the date I had seen previously was only for a comment on the bigger page, while the patch itself has been around since october 2015, which is well before I bought the game.

@AWildFlygineer The fps command line is known to cause issues, so I'd get rid of that until you get the game running. I'm assuming you have no mods installed, either?

Factory resetting your computer would be a bit extreme, let's try to avoid that. 😛

So, other than the Nvidia drivers you installed after the problem started, what other changes have been made to your computer recently? Windows updates, driver updates, new hardware, new software? 
Origin updated immediately after reinstalling it? Did you install the latest version from the link in my earlier post? Would have thought that it wouldn't need updating after that... but I could be wrong. You could try reinstalling it again and not letting it update, though I'm not sure it will make any difference.

The game finished getting patches quite a while ago, before GotY version came out I think, so you don't need to worry about a game patch messing anything up for you now or in the future 😉 

Sometimes it can be stupid little things that you wouldn't think of that can cause these big game destroying issues... Like people's save folders somehow becoming read only, or too much dust in your case causing overheating, or the game not liking specific bits of hardware being (even slightly) overclocked (even factory overclocked). Sometimes I can think of such things... Now, unfortunately, is not such a time, my brain just isn't feeling that creative today. 😛 

How would I go about undoing the command prompt line? I've only used it once before to enable console in Dragon Age Origins, so I don't have much experience with it. Also, I haven't used any mods because I'm a simple guy who like his Nexus Mod Manager, and that isn't out for Inq.

I haven't had any updates for anything before this started - no Windows, no Origin, no driver updates.

That thing about saves being read only I havent checked, but I would've thought that would cause a crash when actually trying to load a game as opposed to before even the intro studio logos...but I am probably wrong, and I'll try anything at this point XD

I don't think it's overheating or dusty, as DA:I is literally the only game that refuses to work. I've applied so many different fixes now that all of my other games that had problems e.g. Remember Me/Ben and Ed (to name a few) all work beautifully now. -_- 

As for overclocking, I've never tried it before now, and if it's already overclocked I am not aware of it. Still worth checking IMO though. 

Add my name to those with this problem.  Worked fine on Wednesday (28th ish) night.  No updates to PC and Thursday, syncs with cloud, goes to black screen with cursor for a moment then dumps to desktop.  Done all the following with no result:

• Installed latest nvidia (680)
• Installed older NVidia
• Disabled Origin in game
• Run Windowed
• Uninstalled and reinstalled
• Repeated above with new install
• Re-installed DX from game installers folder
• Ran windows update
• Disables Razor software
• Ran as Administrator
• Ran from NVidia control panel
• Read and followed countless forum threads and suggestions.
• sigh... I give up!

Nada, game refuses to start.  What have you broken EA/Origin that overnight with no system changes suddenly my game wont play.  Having wasted hours troubleshooting I give up.  Time for a refund EA??

If EA's refunds are anything like Steam's then there's no chance for me.....still, I was quite enjoying it up until this trouble started. I bet the solution will be some bizarre tiny thing that should't change anything, but does. That and I've sunk so much time into this already that I might as well go all in..... The next step for me is finding how to undo origin control prompts, although thats a symptom of the problems as opposed to a fix.

Oh, and don't forget to press the "I have this problem" button on the first page if you haven't already.

I see that a few more people have the same problem, which while that sucks for us to be fair it means more potential fixes, which is a plus. Go team! XD

I want to bet on conflicting processes or priorities.

I know my game will alt tab out on it's own when I get a text message...or any message notification. Even Steam...my game is from Origin.

Or maybe a broken target.

Any idea what the target should be? I do remember tweaking it for some reason or other, although that might have been for a previous dragon age....probably 2.

Scratch that, just checked and it's just "C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Dragon Age Inquisition\DragonAgeInquisition.exe". That looks right to me, so it must be something else.

I also have this same issue. I press Play in Origin and after the "Syncing Cloud Information" window the game pops up as a black screen for half a second and then just closes with no error messages. I have been able to play the game succesfully previously (I have over a 100 hours of play-time on DA:I) but I bought the GotY edition yesterday, as it was cheaper to buy that than to buy all the DLC separately, and this crashing problem arose. I haven't played the game for several months. Also worth noting that it doesn't matter whether I start the regular version or GotY version of DA:I from Origin (since I bought the GotY version separately they are both in my library now) because the same instant crashing thing happens with both instances.

So far I have tried everything that I have found here and in other forums:

• Disabled Origin in game
• Went back to older versions of both Origin and Nvidia Drivers
• Uninstalled/reinstalled DA:I/Origin/Nvidia Drivers
• Ran Windows Update
• Used CCleaner to clean registry
• Reinstalled DX from game installer folder
• Ran Both Origin and DA:I as administrator

No dice with any of those.

Here's my dxdiag: http://hastebin.com/upanuzuqad.tex

Has anyone come closer to finding a solution to this?

I'm afraid I can't help at all, I've come no closer to fixing the problem that I was nearly a week ago. I've tried looking elsewhere but most of those problems end up being solved by turning off the origin overlay, which doesn't work for us. I've only found a few other posts with the same issue and it wasn't solved for them either.  That said, one post had this:

1. Click "Start", type "CMD" (without quotation marks) in the "Start Search" box. Right click on the "CMD.exe" file, choose "Run as Administrator"

2. Copy and paste "SFC /Scannow" (without quotation marks) in the "Open" box, and click "OK".

If it shows an error, you can search for that error on the Microsoft site and find the solution (usually downloading a new copy of the bad DLL.)

I'm doing that now, and I'll post the results. Hopefully it works, eh.

As might be expected, the scan turned up no errors whatsoever. Back to the drawing board....

Hopefully the more people say that they have the problem, the more likely some godsend will help us all out.

Oh, I totally forgot that I'm trying one more fix, which is deleting the contents of the Patch folder (just the contents, not the folder itself) and doing repair game in the hope that it replaces any corrupt bits, if there are any to begin with. Like before, I'll get back once its all done.

I ran the System File Checker scan aswell and had the same result. Still nothing ☹️

Hopefully we get a solution soon because I and probably many others would love to play this game again.

Also, I tried deleting the contents of the Patch folder and it made no difference for me. Since I had already done a full reinstall of the game just this morning I guess it wouldn't have made a difference anyway.

That one was also a dud. Still, by process of elimination I'm getting closer to a fix. At least, that's what keeps me sane doing this. :*D

Now that I think about it, same here lol, full install would've done that anyway. :I 

Oh well, chalk it up to experience XD

One way to eliminate pretty much everything except the game itself, since we know the specs on your computer are good and, you're up to date.

Do a clean boot:

1. Click the "Start" Button, type "msconfig" in the search bar and press Enter.
2. Click the "Services" tab, check the "Hide All Microsoft Services" box and click "Disable All" (if it is not gray).
3. Click the "Startup" tab, click "Disable All" and click "OK".

Then, restart the computer. When the "System Configuration Utility" window appears, please check the "Don't show this message or launch the System".

Now disconnect from the internet, Open Origin and log in locally in OFFLINE mode.

Be sure you have disabled Origin in game.

Mouse over the game, Click Play. See what happens.

If that works. Reboot and disconnect from the internet, put Origin in offline mode and try it again. If that works then it's Origin being online and if we tell them they might update Origin and fix that next update.. If it crashes now, it's a background process you have running and, you will have to eliminate those one by one to find the culprit, but the things you disabled on clean boot will provide a list of what you can disable.

I did the clean boot, went on without going online in origin, but still had the crash. It looks like it must be a background process, but I haven't changed any background processes for as long as I can remember. Any idea what might cause it? Nothing here is related to EA, Dragon Age etc, and beyond that I know very little. Would I go down the list deactivating programs? I would've thought that would royally * up how the computer runs. Not being standoffish, your help so far has been great, I just want to know. Thanks!

If you can bring up task manager and get a screenshot of the processes I can see if any stand out to me as possible problems. In general if it's a system process you don't want to end it but, the user processes are okay to end.

I've had updates to various things I have create new processes that run in the background and, they have never bothered DAI but, do affect other games. I just don't happen to have a program that runs a process DAI doesn't like.

There are a few tools out there that will turn background processes on and off for you so that you can turn them off to game, then back on with a mouse click. This one is a good one. I don't need to run it on this computer but, my partner does run it. His computer looks like a single microchip compared to my gaming rig but, he still plays a few games on it and, this does free up resources and shut off the processes you don't need running to play a game. http://www.iobit.com/en/gamebooster.php?__c=1

@TheOtt It looks like you have two monitors, which granted may not have anything to do with the issue, but wouldn't hurt to try disconnecting one, see if a standard setup makes any difference. Also looks like you have some Razer stuff, Razer software is known to cause issues with this game, so removing/disabling that might be worth a try, too.

@Zwackus23542 @Jackal_CB @mckrackin5324 It might be helpful if everyone experiencing this issue could post a dxdiag along with any other relevant information (see this sticky), could help pin down similarities and hopefully a cause/solution for this issue. So far it looks like most posters are mentioning NVidia, would be good to know if this is the case for everyone or if it is happening to people with ATI GPUs as well.

Will do, but to be clear:

NO NVidia update was done between it working and not working. In fact, no user initiated updates were conducted on this machine in the last month.  Windows Auto Update is disabled leaving AVG Antivirus as the only app that is knowingly updating every day (BTW, tried disabling this too).  The PC wasn't even used between games sessions when it worked and didn't work so the only visible system related function was Origin "Syncing with Cloud".  ALL other EA games (BF4, SIMS) working 100% as are all Steam etc games.

Only then did I:

Then updated to the latest NVidia driver

Then rolled back to the windows update recommended NVidia driver

Then rolled back further to a driver from 6 months ago.

Nada, still crashes.

currently on latest driver for GTX 680

Have re-installed DX also as mentioned plus all the other ideas listed.  Something external has happened and my finger is pointing squarely at Origin/EA...

@Jackal_CB Wasn't blaming NVidia, was just noting that thus far everyone who has mentioned their GPU and who has this problem (which I have seen in a few threads, as well as on another board) has had a NVidia GPU, so far it's probably only a coincidence, but more information never hurts and can help to rule things out. 😉 
Also, out of curiosity, it might help if people mention if they have the GotY edition or the standard/digital deluxe edition. Again, likely not relevant, but more information helps to rule things out. 

It's obvious that the game isn't getting along with something. The game hasn't updated in many, many months, and it isn't happening to everyone who plays the game, so it's a matter of finding something all your systems have in common, and to see if that is what's causing the issue. So noting things which you have in common could be useful, even if we think they're not relevant. 

No I get that, but there is a sudden influx of people reporting similar experiences so something has changed very recently and I suspect it is external so that leaves the cloud syncing op it does before playing.  When I re-installed the whole game plus all the DLCs (it is the GOTY edition I think) I removed all the save games so it had a clean start, so short of "formatting C" and reinstalling Windows etc to completely eliminate the machine as the culprit I think it is over to EA for some answers - so I'm not holding my breath!