If you face an issue where Steam games will not open or run and it is stuck on ‘Preparing to Launch‘ message on your Windows, this post will help you.
Steam game stuck on Preparing to Launch
If you’re a regular user of Steam, you may encounter a problem where games do not run after preparing to launch. Platform users will face this issue occasionally, but unfortunately, there are no clear fixes for it. You see, not all Steam users own the same type of computer with the same hardware, so diagnosing problems can be a chore. However, the folks at Valve have come up with a general guide on what to do if you cannot open your game.
Steam games won’t launch on Windows 11/10
In this article, we will explain what to do if your Steam games are not loading as intended. These tips should generally work, but if they do not, we suggest leaving a message in the comment section, and we will get right to you.
- Update your Windows operating system
- Update graphics driver for your computer
- How to check the model of your graphics card and driver version
- Verify the cache files
1] Update your Windows operating system
The first step to ensuring your games on Steam launch smoothly is to update Windows 11/10 to the latest version. In addition, Microsoft .NET Framework must also be updated to the latest version.
You see, AMD drivers tend to rely heavily on the .NET Framework, so in many cases, the last update to the framework could cause problems with video game opening.
To update Windows 11/10, press the Windows key + I to fire up the Settings menu. From there, select Update & Security > Windows Update > Check for updates.
2] Update graphics driver for your computer
You won’t have to look far when it comes to updating your graphics card driver with the latest version. As we all know, there are two major competitors in the graphics card gaming space: NVIDIA and AMD.
Simply visit nvidia.com, or amd.com and download the latest driver for your specific graphics card.
Some of you may want to use free Driver Update software or tools like AMD Driver Autodetect, Intel Driver Update Utility or Dell Update utility to update your device drivers. NV Updater will keep NVIDIA Graphic Card Driver updated.
3] How to check the model of your graphics card and driver version
If, for some reason, you are not too sure of the type of graphic card inside of your computer or the current driver version, then here is what you need to do.
Right-click on the Start button and select Run. Alternatively, you could press the Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box.
When the box is up, copy and paste dxdiag in the box and hit the Enter key on your keyboard.
Doing this should launch the DirectX Diagnostic Tool. From here, you can view the specifications of your computer’s graphic card and gain data on the latest driver version, among other things.
3] Verify the cache files
One of the reasons your Steam games have failed to launch could very well be due to file corruption.
To fix this problem, you can verify the cached game files from within the Steam client. To get this done, please read how to verify the integrity of game files and that should be enough.
All the best.
