Game starts. Will not load

[KurtBuschFan41]

It worked just fine before but one day i ran the game. It loaded and i get an error saying: Steam must be running to play game Steam()API)( failed. Before you say "did you run steam first?" it was running when i launched it. Please help before i throw my laptop out the window!

[TrackpadUser]

Have you tried turning steam off and on again?

[KurtBuschFan41]

Yes. Still will not work.

[07CobaltGirl]

Definitely do not throw the laptop out of the window. That won't fix the game.

Here are some ideas which may help? You may or may not have already found it. Seems cracked games are a common cause for this error. (I'm not trying to say you have a cracked game in your steam inventory) I'm also not sure if it is the same error, as there were several found and none of them matched [exactly] the text in your error post. "Steam must be running to play game Steam()API)( failed." The one below seems the most sensible, based on symptoms reported in the threads.

Error - Steam must be running to play this game (SteamAPI_Init() failed)

I can determine it is most likely an issue with Steam, as the solutions listed were to delete the steam cache (ClientRegistry.blob?), restart Steam, reinstall Steam, and then of course the common disable antivirus, etc. I always recommend AGAINST disabling antivirus software. If a game cannot run with antivirus running, then I can live without the game, personally, as I am a network security engineer. I'm actually incredibly annoyed I have to run so many games as an administrator, but I manipulate it with a limited admin account to avoid issues. I'm not on my laptop, so I cannot verify the regstry file listed above, as it could be specific to that one game (unlikely). Reinstalling software is always a good choice (unless it is the full OS), because when one thing goes wrong and a "workaround" is introduced, they often cause other problems later on.

I'm new to Steam, so I'm hardly an expert in how to fix problems there. Perhaps one of the devs (or a long time Steam user) will come up with better solutions?

[KurtBuschFan41]

That's the error i'm talking about. Even running as admin it still won't work but i am NOT disabling my antivirus. Last thing i need is some idiot hacking my laptop. Uninstalling steam might help.

[KurtBuschFan41]

Reinstalled steam. Game started. Crashed. Restarted game. Error again 3:<

[07CobaltGirl]

I'm on my phone right now so I can't really search for much. Is there a thread to help uninstalling Steam to make sure you get a "clean install"? I know there is one on here for completely getting Automation out for a clean install. When you uninstalled/reinstalled Steam did you also remove Automation as well? The threads I found yesterday all seemed to suggest a file corruption issue in the install. It could have also corrupted an Automation file, so I would probably clean all of it. I know it's a PITA, but sometimes it's the best way to resolve stubborn issues. I ran the game last night on my laptop and did not have issues, so it doesn't seem like it's a general patching issue.

[KurtBuschFan41]

Im not deleting a game i spent my last 20 dollars on. I need to fix my game, not delete it. Uninstalling steam did not work. I tried to delete the launcher and the game and reinstall but get the same error. I need a patch maybe. Throw out a link to a patch that wont make me empty my bank account to download.

[07CobaltGirl]

Im not deleting a game i spent my last 20 dollars on. I need to fix my game, not delete it. Uninstalling steam did not work. I tried to delete the launcher and the game and reinstall but get the same error. I need a patch maybe. Throw out a link to a patch that wont make me empty my bank account to download.

Umm, you can RE-download it for free, if you paid for it already. Its just uninstall/reinstall, same as you did with Steam.

Start here to get more immediate help with an issue. IRC is an excellent way to find answers. The client runs in your browser, so no need to download/configure anything to chat on IRC. You can access the browser-based client by clicking here.

You might be directed to follow this method. Pay close attention to the cleaner tool at the end of the post. It is the best way to uninstall/reinstall Automation.

This should help you get the information needed to resolve the issue. They might want dxdiag information, kee engine logs, and a couple of other things I cannot recall at just this moment. Providing them will help things resolve more quickly. Those who cannot help themselves, cannot be helped.