Mass Effect will not launch - I seem to have tried EVERYTHING [ Edited ]

[rickkityt]

Hello all,

I'm starting to near my wit's end as I try to fix my problem. It appears that every time I launch Mass Effect 1 (whether through the launcher or via the executable itself), it pops up in the Task Manager for a few seconds, and then dissapears, with the actual program never appearing on my screen. It seems loads of people are having the same issue as I, with varying solutions offered. I've tried most all of these, and none have seemed to work.

First, to be clear, I did not buy this game on Steam or Origin (although I do have both installed and running); I bought it as a download via Amazon, and it does not appear to be tied to either download service. Secondly, I am running Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit, which appears to be a running theme throughout these issues. Months before (when I was running Windows 8), the game ran fine with no issue. Unfortunatly, this problem has been cropping up, and I haven't been able to solve it.

I have tried setting the game (and subsequent utilities like the launcher and config) to run as administrator, and in compatibility mode for Windows XP (Service Pack 3). I have patched the game to 1.02 without issue; The installer found my launcher and had no problem patching my game. The configuration utility reads v1.02 for both the game and the config utility, v1.01 for the launcher, and v1.03 for the uninstaller. I have not touched the Bring Down the Sky expansion or any config files (the ones found in My Documents), as I think the game needs to be run at least once before I do any of those. Regardless, I doubt touching them would fix my issue. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the game, only to come across the same exact issue. I have tried placing the PhysX DLL in the appropriate folder, I have downloaded and installed the legacy drivers, and I even tried editing the registry to add my MAC address (although this has since been reset; I'm not quite sure if I did it correctly, but it didn't appear to fix anything). I have added a firewall exception through the utility configuration, and tried deleting the local shader cache files (although this appeared to do nothing).

My system specs are as follows:
Intel i5-2500k quad-core at 3.291 Ghz
8 GB of RAM, dual channeled
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 with 1.25 GB of RAM; Driver version 331.82
On-Board audio card via Realtek with Driver version 6.0.1.6662
Windows 8.1 Pro, 64-bit
Direct X 11.2

I am willing to try ANYTHING; I very much enjoy tinkering with games and settings, but I appear to have tried everything listed. If I need to provide any more information, I'm more than willing to cooporate; I'd love to just get this game running again! Thanks much for all your help!

[rickkityt · Accepted solution]

Success! After uninstalling Bitdefender, Mass Effect ran without issue. It appears that Bitdefender was the root of the problem. I suppose I will have to find replacement antivirus software for now. Thanks again for all the help, Maxexter!

[max_exter]

Admittedly I'm tired at the moment so maybe I'm missing something, but you appear to have tried all of the usual things.  In case you missed it, here's a link with a few things to try:

http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Mass_Effect#Game_simply_doesn.27t_start

I sidegraded to Windows 8.1 earlier today (I refuse to call this travesty an upgrade) but Mass Effect 1 still runs correctly for me.  

[rickkityt]

Yes, I've tried all four of the settings. I reverted the registry back to its original standing since I was afraid I hadn't edited it correctly, but it appeared to have no effect. Regardless, I did change all of the other settings, to no avail.

[max_exter]

Perhaps looking at the Windows Event Viewer at one of the times you've tried to run the game?  Disable security software?  Disable UAC?

[kira665]

i'm in the same conundrum as you. i just bought it on steam & same issue keeps happening. i've tried everything & i'm extremely frustrated at this. however, upon further investigation of the game's folders, i found something interesting. i clicked on the "Launcher" folder... "file can not be found." i don't know if this is common or something, & unfortunately there is no tech support or anything available until after new years........................... 

[rickkityt]

Thanks for the tips, maxexter! It looks like I'm getting closer to the problem.

While disabling my antivirus software, Bitdefender, and the UAC didn't appear to do anything, reading the Windows Event Log on the crash seems to point to a Bitdefender DLL as the source of the crash. I'll paste the full text here:

Faulting application name: MassEffect.exe, version: 1.2.20608.0, time stamp: 0x00000000
Faulting module name: avcuf32.dll, version: 3.10.8557.4456, time stamp: 0x5298cb6a
Exception code: 0xc00000fd
Fault offset: 0x00008f39
Faulting process id: 0x1818
Faulting application start time: 0x01cf06707ab98d0c
Faulting application path: C:\Games\Mass Effect\Binaries\MassEffect.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\Bitdefender\Antivirus Free Edition\avc3\avc3_sig_219\avcuf32.dll
Report Id: ba5a682a-7263-11e3-bed1-000272da2ff1
Faulting package full name: 
Faulting package-relative application ID: 

Is this the case? I'm not particularly experienced with the Windows Event Viewer, but, if so, I'm going to try uninstalling Bitdefender and see if that releaves the issue.

[rickkityt · Accepted solution]

Success! After uninstalling Bitdefender, Mass Effect ran without issue. It appears that Bitdefender was the root of the problem. I suppose I will have to find replacement antivirus software for now. Thanks again for all the help, Maxexter!

[max_exter]

Awesome!  Glad to hear it!

Microsoft Security Essentials works reasonably well and is free.  Avira and Avast! are also decent choices (granted, they tend to advertise their paid versions a bit more than I like).  If you don't mind keeping Windows set to Automatically download and apply updates, MSE is a good choice.  

[vivekkodira]

Another solution which worked for me was to download the same configuration utility for Mass Effect 2, replace (and rename) the original and run. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5pvlyCgvy0

[Tophiate]

good work bud. it is ALWAYS best to make registry edits a last resort. The compatibility and admin change does fix the problem for a lot of people, and then disabling spyware defenders and malware, ad block software can also make it goofy.