ARMA 3 ALPHA Failed To Start Game (unknown error) Steam

[calebb 1]

Hi guys and gals,

I just bought ARMA 3 ALPHA off steam and downloaded it, however when I try to launch the game it comes up immediately with 'failed to start game (unknown error)'.

Things I have tried;

1/Reinstalling twice :mad:

2/Verify integrity of game cache (comes up with '1 FILES FAILED TO VALIDATE AND WILL BE REACQUIRED' but never downloads anything...) :confused:

I'm stuck and I have found no forums about this yet?

I really want to play it and only have 1 more day off then Im back at work for the week :(

[Alan 10]

Same here, have the EXACT same issue. :-( Very Upsetting

[ball0fire 10]

have a look at what else you have running

there are some anti viri systems that do this, also i know that FRAPS can do it as well

umm what else was there... i cant remember what it was but it was somthing else running inthe back ground

you can also try runningthe dxsetup in the arma 3 folder as well

and also if you dont have a nvidia video card you might wanna see aboot installing the latest physx driver too

hope that helps

[Alan 10]

I'm sorry, for me it didn't help :(, Thank you for trying though, I appreciate it. Anything else, please.!

[Terminal_Boy 10]

Are any of you running Zone Alarm?

That was killing A3 before it started on my PC. Binned it and replaced with Comodo.

[Eric72shooter 1]

Not needed. With ZA, enable Game mode with 'Allow all'.

Are any of you running Zone Alarm?

That was killing A3 before it started on my PC. Binned it and replaced with Comodo.

[vencejo 1]

Same issue here.

More ideas please?

[Alan 10]

I don't have Zone Alarm, never heard of it, that is definatly not the issue.

P.S> I would also like to point out that when you go to the Steam, main Arma 3 Alpha directory, and you try to launch the EXE from there, it pops up an Error window saying the following: "Windows cannot access the specified device, path or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item."

[calebb 1]

have a look at what else you have running

there are some anti viri systems that do this, also i know that FRAPS can do it as well

umm what else was there... i cant remember what it was but it was somthing else running inthe back ground

you can also try runningthe dxsetup in the arma 3 folder as well

and also if you dont have a nvidia video card you might wanna see aboot installing the latest physx driver too

hope that helps

Okay guys this is extremely weird...

I booted up my computer yesterday and started steam e.t.c. then clicked play on arma 3 alpha and it worked? I actually played the game for 1 hour or so and it crashed e.t.c. booted it back up and it worked again... i played for around 3 hours completely fine.

When i entered a game it would always come up with missing 'sound ....' something? i cant remember what it bloody said!! but it was something to do with some sound file missing?? does anyone else get this? I started to try and play today and im getting the exact same unknown error and it wont start!! ARMA was awesome to!

---------- Post added at 06:47 ---------- Previous post was at 04:49 ----------

Another update:

I cross checked my files with a friend and it seems that in the 'addons' folder in arma 3 steam folder are missing some files. By missing, i mean most of the files listed are less then my friends. For example; A3.pbo is 6333kb and my friends is say 8000kb. This has happened to MULTIPLE files totaling in a loss of 200 mb.

I copied my friends addons folder to my folder and steam validated the files and deleted them... it then said you are missing 25 files and they will be reacquired. Right now they are downloading... So heres hoping for a fix.

---------- Post added at 07:09 ---------- Previous post was at 06:47 ----------

Same problem still persists... checked files again and files are missing around a couple of megs or kbs. Missing around 200mb in total.

[vencejo 1]

Solved in my case.

Shut down "Zone Alarm toolbar Iswsvc" service.

Restart pc.

Launch A3. If dont launch no problem. Launch again.

Have Lucky.

[Alan 10]

No, Zone Alarm (as mentioned before) is not an option. Please help us.

[calebb 1]

No, Zone Alarm (as mentioned before) is not an option. Please help us.

Alan,

Check your steam. I just booted up and started it and there is a massive update it seems... 400mb. I will post again to see if it fixes! here hoping!

[Alan 10]

Sadly there is no update for me, by update you mean game update or steam update?

[calebb 1]

Sadly there is no update for me, by update you mean game update or steam update?

Updated it all... totaled around 700mb? im guessing missing files. Validated files again and it still says 1 missing and still hacking the unknown error.

Its unbelievable. I want a refund.

---------- Post added at 05:24 ---------- Previous post was at 05:22 ----------

Oh and my mate gave me a downloaded copy of the net (pirated) and im able to play that on my pc and it works online.

Steam is the problem here...

I legitimately buy the game with my money i earn and i cant even play the bloody thing on my days off. But someone who downloads it illegally can play it with no problems. BS.

[Alan 10]

Calebb here's what I'm going to do, I'm going to try to redownload Arma 3 to another place (Like to my C: drive instead of my D: drive) and tell you how it works out. Because this is the last resort at this point. nothing helps

[Alan 10]

Aaannd that didn't work.. I'm literally out of options

Caleb I want you to try to go and launch the game straight from the Steams Arma 3 directory and tell me what it tells you.

Edited March 17, 2013 by Alan

[calebb 1]

It comes up with windows cannot access blah blah because you dont have the permissions.

---------- Post added at 01:22 ---------- Previous post was at 00:37 ----------

Alan,

I have submitted feedback and the issue to the ALPHA HUB. You can find the issue here: http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=5378

I will update on this every day

[Alan 10]

HALLELUJAH!! FIXED IT! So here's what happened, when I went to disable services I saw that ESET Smart security wouldn't check off when I tried to like disable that service, so I'm likee... Hmm okay. So I went into the ESET Smart Security main Directory and I launched ESET, and then clicked temporarly disable Antivirus and antispyware protection, and BAM, IT WORKED!!! THANK GOD!!!

[VeteranHeroes 1]

I click "PLAY" and it shows me playing it on Steam for about three seconds and then my icon goes blue.

[calebb 1]

Trying now Alan! I have ESET aswell.

HOLY BALLS IT WORKS!!!!!

THANKYOU ALAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I thought it was eset because when i turned it on just before and it said that arma was a virus. But i turned off eset and it still wasnt working... but it was sneakly running in the background!

YEwwwwoowowowowowow

---------- Post added at 03:28 ---------- Previous post was at 03:06 ----------

Now im getting another error lol.

Just after the this is war and the logos just before it goes to the main menu it comes up with

Bad animation file format in file

'ca\air2\mi35\data\anim\kia_mi35_pilot.rtm'.

Edited March 18, 2013 by calebb

[Alan 10]

Just go and revalidate your game cache and let it update what it needs

[Kittler 10]

I click "PLAY" and it shows me playing it on Steam for about three seconds and then my icon goes blue.

I have the SAME issue but with the beta, did you fix it?

i have a fourm post http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?160908-Game-Doesn-t-Start-ARMA-3&p=2460551#post2460551

***~~~FIXED~~~***

http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=9654

Fix ^

Edited August 6, 2013 by Kittler