You know what's worse than a game not starting up? Having it start up ONCE and then never again.

Had the game pre-loaded, got unlocked at 9pm, decrypted and installed, launched the game, crashed after intro movies.

Ok, no big deal, just run the repair tool. Not the first game that failed to pre-load properly for me. Downloads 1.4 GB of files, start game, it works! wooo! As per usual, I go in the options first and adjust everything. I notice phyx is grayed out for some reason even though I have a Nvidia 670.

"Hmmm, probably need to update the video drivers" I think to myself. Exit game, see new nvidia drivers are available (I was using fairly recent beta drivers, ~2 weeks old), install them. Try to run game again and I get the wonderful error you see in the image.

Try running repair tool, finds one missing/corrupt file, redownloads it, and try to launch again. Same error. Repeat x3 for kicks, same error every time.

Delete all local content, re-downloading and re-install from scratch. Same error. Run repair again, same error. Manually installed all the Redist installers. Rebooted, same error. Gave up, went to bed.

Tried again this morning: deleted all local content, deleted borderlands 2 folder in My Documents/My Games, re-downloaded, same error.

*sigh*

Guess tonight I'll try doing a clean install of my video drivers or revert to previous drivers, as at least i got the game to boot up before. Still... doesn't seem like a graphics driver issue as it's the launcher complaining about files, not a crash in the actual game. I also have *plenty* of available disk space (150GB free on my steam hard disk, 38GB free on primary OS ssd), so I don't think it's the installation error I've seen other people have. Will probably also try to install the game on my backup PC that has an AMD 5850 to see if it at least works on that one.

If any of you have seen the same error and found a way to fix it, please let me know. This is mildly frustrating, to say the least.

UPDATE: Manually removing video drivers and re-installing it solved my problem. Thanks for the advice FritzDude.

While I think PC gaming is great (for the likes of Steam and GOG.com), this is why my primary platform of choice are consoles. All you do is put in the game and play.

Did you uninstall the beta drivers before installing the newest WHQL drivers? Both Nvidia and AMD have an update tool that will skip the manual uninstall, but it's still advised to do it manually and properly since it's a driver. The 306.23 are also the best driver for any Nvidia user currently who's playing Borderlands 2 since it upgrades PhysX and configurations for it.

I'm crossing my fingers for this sorta shit not happening to me when it unlocks in Europe on Thursday. Having had such enormous problems getting Dark Souls to work properly, I'm hoping I'll get a pass on this one.

lol master-race.

@zyn said:

While I think PC gaming is great (for the likes of Steam and GOG.com), this is why my primary platform of choice are consoles. All you do is put in the game and play.

It's better to install on consoles too so I don't really see a difference. I never have issues like this installing games on PC. There are just as many issues that can happen on consoles.

@zyn: The funny thing is that I never had any problem with PC games until this year and always thought people with problems just had bad setups.

Even games that were notoriously capricious always ran perfectly for me. Hell, I've spent 120 hours in Skyrim version 1.0 without any bugs whatsoever.

Guess my good luck just decided to run out.

Ah well that's pretty bad.

Ok, so I don't have the game yet, (The UK gets it on Friday), and don't know if this will even do anything, but have you tried going into properties - local game files - verify integrity of game cache?

I know I had problems with Skyrim, where I was first able to load up and play the game and then at some point early on bad things happened and the next time I tried to play it, it could not load up and I would get an error message from steam which sounds somewhat similar to what you've been getting. I'm not sure if I had to do anything else as well.

So yeah not sure if doing this will help, but give it a go and whatever happens, I hope you get it running soon!

@wewantsthering said:

@zyn said:

While I think PC gaming is great (for the likes of Steam and GOG.com), this is why my primary platform of choice are consoles. All you do is put in the game and play.

It's better to install on consoles too so I don't really see a difference. I never have issues like this installing games on PC. There are just as many issues that can happen on consoles.

True, I also don't experience any problems installing and playing games on PC (from Steam or GOG.com). But generally, I hear more about people having issues playing PC games than console games.

EDIT: @eternalshades: Yeah, it all depends on the PC. It may not be the case for you, but I know some PC gamers who don't like to update drivers and software on their computers. They say it's a hassle.

@M1M1C: Yeah, by "repair" I meant "Verify integrity of game cache". Ran it at least a dozen time over the course of making this work.

@FritzDude: Manually removed drivers, reinstalled them from scratch, now it works! Guess I learned my lesson, always do clean driver installs.

The only problem now is having to go to work when I actually have a working game :)

Oh, okay. I have personally had zero issues with PC gaming in many years.

This is the primary reason I don't want to get a gaming PC anytime soon. If there's ever a problem, it's most likely on my end, and computers aren't really great at telling you exactly what the problem is.

Dude, stop watching porn and playing games at the same time.

@zyn: There are absolutely going to be more issues with PC games, simply because they have to support a huge array of hardware configurations, each with its own quirks. I've been on that platform for so long that it doesn't bother me to look up solutions and troubleshoot anymore. It comes with the territory. I think I've only been entirely stymied by a game breaking glitch or crash a couple of times, most notably Blur not loading the main menu for me.

So far the only issue I've had with Borderlands 2 is some connectivity stuff in multiplayer, but that may have to do with the lag from me trying to play with friends across the country from me. The game runs pretty darn smoothly for me at 1080p and full settings on a GTX 560 and a measly Core i3-540 though, so I'm still glad I went with the PC version. Sorry to hear you're having trouble, OP. I wish I could help.

I recently bought a PC after years console gaming and it's horror stories like this that scare the ever-living shit out of me. I've already had issues with hardware that I've managed (fingers crossed) to sort out. But just knowing that anything can screw up at any time just make me afraid to turn the damn thing on.

Stop futzing around with BETA drivers and stick to WHQL drivers. You can't have it both ways. There's always a risk no matter how small, when constantly updating drivers. Stick to ones that work.

@eternalshades Ah awesome, well it's good to see that it was a fairly simple problem in the end, i'm using a GTX 670 as well, so if i get any problems then i suppose i know what to try (though i did install the latest drivers a few days ago so it should all be fine).

Ah well i kind of like it when you've got work throughout the day and you know that there's gonna be this awesome game waiting for you at home, I find that that really builds my excitement for it.

Have fun!

No problems over here.

@zyn said:

@wewantsthering said:

@zyn said:

While I think PC gaming is great (for the likes of Steam and GOG.com), this is why my primary platform of choice are consoles. All you do is put in the game and play.

It's better to install on consoles too so I don't really see a difference. I never have issues like this installing games on PC. There are just as many issues that can happen on consoles.

True, I also don't experience any problems installing and playing games on PC (from Steam or GOG.com). But generally, I hear more about people having issues playing PC games than console games.

EDIT: @eternalshades: Yeah, it all depends on the PC. It may not be the case for you, but I know some PC gamers who don't like to update drivers and software on their computers. They say it's a hassle.

If you take into account RROD, Xbox has had way more problems. Haha. I have friends who've had their 360 replaced like 4-6 times.

In this thread: hyperbole.

@JoeyRavn: Yeah, I kinda invited it with the thread title. Was kinda frustrated this morning, could have chosen a less aggression-inviting sentence. My bad.

@wewantsthering said:

@zyn said:

@wewantsthering said:

@zyn said:

While I think PC gaming is great (for the likes of Steam and GOG.com), this is why my primary platform of choice are consoles. All you do is put in the game and play.

It's better to install on consoles too so I don't really see a difference. I never have issues like this installing games on PC. There are just as many issues that can happen on consoles.

True, I also don't experience any problems installing and playing games on PC (from Steam or GOG.com). But generally, I hear more about people having issues playing PC games than console games.

EDIT: @eternalshades: Yeah, it all depends on the PC. It may not be the case for you, but I know some PC gamers who don't like to update drivers and software on their computers. They say it's a hassle.

If you take into account RROD, Xbox has had way more problems. Haha. I have friends who've had their 360 replaced like 4-6 times.

Indeed. I've have to replace my Xbox THREE times! Crazy.

@eternalshades said:

@zyn: The funny thing is that I never had any problem with PC games until this year and always thought people with problems just had bad setups.

Even games that were notoriously capricious always ran perfectly for me. Hell, I've spent 120 hours in Skyrim version 1.0 without any bugs whatsoever.

Guess my good luck just decided to run out.

Wow talk about drama. You're on a computer, my friend, you're bound to have the occasional problem, just fix it whether it takes a minute or an hour and move on.

The fact that I can list 20 unmatched PC qualities and features that can't be found anywhere else is more than enough a reason to not let me blow some problems out of proportions and yell "The joys of PC gaming!!!" ....

@Lukeweizer said:

I recently bought a PC after years console gaming and it's horror stories like this that scare the ever-living shit out of me. I've already had issues with hardware that I've managed (fingers crossed) to sort out. But just knowing that anything can screw up at any time just make me afraid to turn the damn thing on.

99% of the time you can google those 'horror problems' and get them fixed.

@AhmadMetallic said:

@Lukeweizer said:

I recently bought a PC after years console gaming and it's horror stories like this that scare the ever-living shit out of me. I've already had issues with hardware that I've managed (fingers crossed) to sort out. But just knowing that anything can screw up at any time just make me afraid to turn the damn thing on.

99% of the time you can google those 'horror problems' and get them fixed.

QFT.

You could die in a fiery explosion any time you get into a car, but that doesn't stop you, does it?

You've also got a community of cool duders to reference for that 1% of the time Google can't find the answer, too.

@AhmadMetallic said:

@Lukeweizer said:

I recently bought a PC after years console gaming and it's horror stories like this that scare the ever-living shit out of me. I've already had issues with hardware that I've managed (fingers crossed) to sort out. But just knowing that anything can screw up at any time just make me afraid to turn the damn thing on.

99% of the time you can google those 'horror problems' and get them fixed.

QFT.

You could die in a fiery explosion any time you get into a car, but that doesn't stop you, does it?

You've also got a community of cool duders to reference for that 1% of the time Google can't find the answer, too.

@Lukeweizer said:

But if I die in a car crash, I won't have to troubleshoot hundreds of possible issues about what went wrong with the car. I'll just be dead and happy.

That's why I only play PC games while driving.

@Lukeweizer said:

But if I die in a car crash, I won't have to troubleshoot hundreds of possible issues about what went wrong with the car. I'll just be dead and happy.

That's why I only play PC games while driving.

@zyn said:

While I think PC gaming is great (for the likes of Steam and GOG.com), this is why my primary platform of choice are consoles. All you do is put in the game and play.

Amen to that brother. My sentiments exactly.

@FritzDude said:

Did you uninstall the beta drivers before installing the newest WHQL drivers? Both Nvidia and AMD have an update tool that will skip the manual uninstall, but it's still advised to do it manually and properly since it's a driver. The 306.23 are also the best driver for any Nvidia user currently who's playing Borderlands 2 since it upgrades PhysX and configurations for it.

I'm really debating on installing those drivers. Do you think there will be problems if I never installed a beta driver? As in, going from WHQL to this new WHQL?

@myketuna: It doesn't matter what drivers you have as long as you uninstall your current before applying the one you want to avoid issues. The 306.23 is the newest Windows certified driver from Nvidia, and as a new driver it will improve current & future popular games, aswell as fixes & configurations. You might want to check the full list over at Nvidia and see if the changes/fixes interests you. I myself went from 301.42 WHQL to current 306.23 WHQL.

@Lukeweizer said:

@Ravenlight

@Lukeweizer said:

But if I die in a car crash, I won't have to troubleshoot hundreds of possible issues about what went wrong with the car. I'll just be dead and happy.

That's why I only play PC games while driving.

That way, your game won't be the only thing that crashes when your PC fucks up.

Thread over.

Weird. I hit "play" and played. Cranked up everything, solid 60 FPS, 1080p... I tried playing with a controller on my TV at first, but it turns out I'm not very good with a sniper rifle with a controller... back to M&K for me. 
 
Man, I've only had this PC for a few months but god damn do I love it.

I didn't have this issue but I got the good old "disc I/O error" and had to delete and reinstall to launch the game. Then my premier club DLC didn't work until Steam finally fixed that earlier this morning. Meanwhile I still can't do co op with people on my steam friends list.

I just sold my 360 version .... I will be picking up the PC version in the morning. Hopefully I have some better luck

Preordered, preloaded and ready to rock the moment I started it up. Granted I'm running a 7970 but so far no issues what so ever. In fact I have had little to no issues with any pc game I have played since building this one in may.

reminds me of the first week or so of diablo , had constant issues with the patcher nto working and crazy shit , even the the very first time i got into the game everything was fine and it was just error 37 etc , i got in at some point and played for a tiny bit but i was so fucking tired so i decided that i would just chillax and play it in the mornign , from then on it took me like 2 days to get back in , then it happened on the next hotfix and patch etc , it now doesnt happen anymore but i dont play anymore lol

All I did was install the game and play. My only problem was mistyping the product key the first time.

Of course, I keep my PC running pretty much like a well oiled machine. Repairing people's busted ass shitty computers for a living will do that to you...although mine shows it's age every now and then. I'm well past due for an upgrade.

PC gaming is great if you really know what you're doing. If you can't quite handle the maintenance or at the very least Googling whatever issues come up and learning how to fix them yourself, sure, there are always consoles. No knock there. I own all three consoles as well. I (and the friends I play with online) just buy whatever version of any given release is the best...with Borderlands, that's PC.

@AhmadMetallic said:

99% of the time you can google those 'horror problems' and get them fixed.

Haha greatest thing I ever heard. Enjoy the slew of professional advice you will receive:

"have you tried updating your drivers?"

"hmm no problems here, guess ur pc sux dood"

@Robo said:

Of course, I keep my PC running pretty much like a well oiled machine. Repairing people's busted ass shitty computers for a living will do that to you...

PC gaming is great if you really know what you're doing.

Indeed.

@Humanity said:

@AhmadMetallic said:

99% of the time you can google those 'horror problems' and get them fixed.

Haha greatest thing I ever heard. Enjoy the slew of professional advice you will receive:

"have you tried updating your drivers?"

"hmm no problems here, guess ur pc sux dood"

Most of the time, the people who want help with a problem don't bother doing a basic maintenance before asking for help. And when they do, they usually don't list their PC specs, nor what they had done to try to fix the problem. It's true that every time anyone posts something there will be someone who claims it's not a problem for them, so it's the poster's fault... But that happens with everything. From PCs to consoles, from specific game mechanics to art design.

@JoeyRavn said:

@Humanity said:

@AhmadMetallic said:

99% of the time you can google those 'horror problems' and get them fixed.

Haha greatest thing I ever heard. Enjoy the slew of professional advice you will receive:

"have you tried updating your drivers?"

"hmm no problems here, guess ur pc sux dood"

Most of the time, the people who want help with a problem don't bother doing a basic maintenance before asking for help. And when they do, they usually don't list their PC specs, nor what they had done to try to fix the problem. It's true that every time anyone posts something there will be someone who claims it's not a problem for them, so it's the poster's fault... But that happens with everything. From PCs to consoles, from specific game mechanics to art design.

I'm simply pointing out that troubleshooting PC problems isn't as simple as just Googling it and all your problems are solved. As a retired PC gamer who was very active in PC mods and PC gaming overall from 1990-2005 I can with confidence say that trouble shooting PC issues in general is an awful experience. There were countless of issues I could never get resolved and some games I never got to even properly play because of it. I have a friend who recently purchased Sleeping Dogs on Steam and he has yet to play it because the game just crashes the moment he starts it. He looked online, on forums, nothing.

Sorry if I seem a bit hostile and heated about it, I know Ahmad is a proud PC gamer and everything, but as a knowledgeable PC user that has built countless setups and knows a thing or two about editing registries and whatnot, saying 99% of all issues are solvable with a simple google search is a load of shit.

@Humanity: I know, as I said, this topic is full of hyperbole. Most PC problems can be solved rather easily if they are particular to a unique, but when the game is shipped in an unplayable state and affect many players, things can get tough. On the other hand, you've got to admit that many, many times people with issues running a game do little to nothing to help other help them. Not the case here, but some people expect the Internet to magically solve their issues without a minimum of information about their PC.

PS: Yeah, the Sleeping Dogs crashing problem has plagued the game since it was released. I don't know if things have gotten better, but despite all the praise the port got for the PC-specific options it has, it's basically broken for a shitload of users. And the developer has done nothing about it.

@Humanity said:

As a retired PC gamer who was very active in PC mods and PC gaming overall from 1990-2005 I can with confidence say that trouble shooting PC issues in general is an awful experience.

Surely this is a 2012 thread, surely! Regardless of the past which also gave me major headaches when my PC had issues, since around 2009-2010 PC problems have been tied to a squeaky bed and ass-raped, my friend, I actually reminisce about being enraged by PC issues because they're just almost non-existent today.

There's a gadget and program for every hardware malfunction, there are youtube tutorials and how-to websites, the forums of the internet are literally infested with threads discussing almost any issues you could possibly have for almost every game on the platform, linking to official fixes or providing user-made/user-found ones, and the near-flawless platform that is Steam (today, not in 2004) makes you feel like you're flying first class in your game experience.

If you ever get the chance to obtain a gaming rig, give it a shot, you'll feel like your old bitch girlfriend called you up, said she's sorry and made it up for you with the best blowjob afterwards :P

@AhmadMetallic: I actually have currently a fully capable gaming pc with an 8 core processor and 16gb of ram etc etc (although the HD is something I need to upgrade to SSD) and while it was nice to get back to PC games and I agree Steam is top notch these days and eliminates all installation hassles, I am not torn on every purchase. I like my console, I like gaming on it but like Borderlands 2 - I know of several people that will play it on 360 only but at the same time I know that it will look and run a ton better on my PC, so what do I sacrifice? Playing by myself in lavish graphics and minimal load times, or playing with others and have game stutters and lower quality graphics. I'm not a huge graphics hog but after seeing how Dark Souls looked like on PC, even without user fixes, it was almost painful to play it on a console.

PC Gaming is awesome, and I loved it back in the days. I remember playing a server that rotated Battlefield 1942 mods once in a while and just having a complete blast in that game - for example playing the Total Retardation mod where jeeps where wheelbarrows with jet engines and everything was insane and stupid. I just remember that when everything works it's awesome, but when it doesn't it's a fucking nightmare. Console players feel enraged these days about DLC and on disc content, and I just shrug at that when I remember going to Comp USA and putting down $50 for a game only to spend sometimes up to a week troubleshooting issues and the developer basically just shrugging their shoulders and the retailer refusing to give you a refund. Glad to hear things have gotten better, but as evidenced by my friends issue with Sleeping Dogs or for instance an issue I had playing Space Marine on PC where the sound kept stuttering and I could not get it to stop no matter how much I researched into it - there are still problems that sometimes have no solutions and then you're fucked. In my case I just dealt with shitty sound, in my friends case it means spending $65 and having nothing to show for it until someone figures something out, and that wait time is real shitty.

@Humanity: I'm not comparing platforms or telling you why BL2 on PC is superior, I'm only talking about the whole myth about PC games being broken and busted and needing constant fixing and tweaking. Out of every 25 games I play, there are 2 maybe 3 'broken' games, two of which can usually be fixed with a quick google search and the third is actually busted and a pain in the ass.

While I appreciate your dissatisfaction with the occasional broken game, I gotta say that it's worth it and since you're such an experienced PC player, I'm sure you know that!

@zyn said:

While I think PC gaming is great (for the likes of Steam and GOG.com), this is why my primary platform of choice are consoles. All you do is put in the game and play.

Well, unless you're playing Skyrim on a PS3... ;D

This is why I don't play PC games anymore

@zels said:

@zyn said:

While I think PC gaming is great (for the likes of Steam and GOG.com), this is why my primary platform of choice are consoles. All you do is put in the game and play.

Well, unless you're playing Skyrim on a PS3... ;D

OH SNAP!