Rage - doesn't even start on Steam?

Jimbo Mahoney · 7 Sep 2013 at 17:33

I've searched all over the place to find out why Rage won't even start on my machine, and I've just posted this to Bethesda:

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Hi there,

I'm trying to run RAGE on Steam, but it doesn't even start. No errors are given, and I can see the Rage32.exe appear momentarily in my Task Manager, but it disappears in seconds and the game never appears.

Here is what I've tried (nothing helps or changes anything):

1) Deleting all content and re-downloading.
2) Verifying integrity of cache.
3) Running the DXSETUP.EXE
4) Running vcredist_x86.exe - this gives an error saying that a newer version of C++ 2010 on my machine.
5) Updating my video drivers - Nvidia 320.49 with Nvidia 630m - including a clean install
6) Running Rage in safe mode
7) Running the exe as administrator
8) Running the exe in XP compatibility mode

The weird thing is that Rage did once work on this machine (Dell XPS 14, Windows 8 64-bit), but I have since reinstalled Windows and now it doesn't work and I can't see what has actually changed.

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Does anyone have any other things I can try?

neoglow · 7 Sep 2013 at 19:29

Check to see if Steam is running in compatibility mode (this is not the same as right click steam exe and checking compatibility mode!)

See here - http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1876684

It has been a common problem, I found it when I tried to launch Steam Big Picture and it came up with an error about compatibility mode. I had no idea up until that point. It also fixed an issue when trying to play Ghost Recon Future Soldier in DX11 mode, until I followed the guide above, I was stuck in DX9 even after trying everything I could think of to fix it.

So, it may work, it may not, give it a try. Its pretty easy, just got to use regedit to delete some entries.

Rozzy85 · 7 Sep 2013 at 19:31

Rage got updated some time ago and if you're running a 64-bit OS you must run the 64-bit executable as the 32-bit one will not run and will just do as you described. I never found a way to get the 32-bit to work myself. If you have any 32-bit saves they won't work either. The update pretty much screwed the game for me (blurry textures problem again).

drvvij · 7 Sep 2013 at 20:30

i had the same problem with steam recently. other games i had also would not start or would crash to the desktop.
in the end i deleted my partition and reinstalled windows from scratch and this solved my problems. I think my problem also originally started after I reinstalled windows on an existing partition with steam on it.

Jimbo Mahoney · 8 Sep 2013 at 05:53

Thanks for the tips, but neither 64-bit mode (I'd already tried this) or the regedit (none of the entries were present) helped.

dreigns · 8 Sep 2013 at 07:15

Why not post in Bethesdas RAGE Hardware and Software Issues Subforums and make sure to include the dxdiag [just put dxdiag in run] if you dont know what that is it is info on your system and installed drivers this will help find the problem just save all information then open with notepad and paste in there fourm.

Diplexbullet19 · 8 Sep 2013 at 08:10

I used to have a problem running steam games, turned out it was my antivirus. I was using Comodo.

Jimbo Mahoney · 8 Sep 2013 at 09:30

dreigns said:
Why not post in Bethesdas RAGE Hardware and Software Issues Subforums and make sure to include the dxdiag [just put dxdiag in run] if you dont know what that is it is info on your system and installed drivers this will help find the problem just save all information then open with notepad and paste in there fourm.

Thanks - have just done so and someone else is having the same problem, but no solutions as yet.

window · 8 Sep 2013 at 13:42

Have you tried unplugging peripherals.

Rozzy85 · 8 Sep 2013 at 15:45

Jimbo Mahoney said:
Thanks for the tips, but neither 64-bit mode (I'd already tried this) or the regedit (none of the entries were present) helped.

Did you try it going to Library > Right-click on RAGE > Play RAGE 64-bit with Mods (unsupported). The game won't run for me unless I do it this way.

neoglow · 8 Sep 2013 at 16:23

Rozzy85 said:
Did you try it going to Library > Right-click on RAGE > Play RAGE 64-bit with Mods (unsupported). The game won't run for me unless I do it this way.

Just tried this myself, didnt know this option existed. Game still ran (sorry Jimbo). What does this unsupported 64bit mode do different to the normal game?

Jimbo Mahoney · 8 Sep 2013 at 18:37

Possibly narrowing it down to an OpenGL /video driver issue:

------- Initializing renderSystem --------
Initializing OpenGL subsystem
...registered window class
...registered fake window class
Couldn't find proc address for: wglGetExtensionsStringARB
X..WGL_EXT_swap_control not found
Couldn't find proc address for: wglSwapIntervalEXT
X..WGL_EXT_swap_control_tear not found
Couldn't find proc address for: wglGetPixelFormatAttribivARB
Couldn't find proc address for: wglGetPixelFormatAttribfvARB
Couldn't find proc address for: wglChoosePixelFormatARB
----- GL_Init -----
Couldn't find proc address for: glGetStringi

Could be a red herring though because according to OpenGL Extensions Viewer, everything is working from OpenGL 3.0 through 4.3.