Trying to play SS on the PC.
Just installed the game, and I can’t get it to run. I hit Play on Steam, it thinks for a second, pops up the usual black/grey Steam box saying "Preparing to run Sunless Skies", the Play button turns to Stop for a moment, then right back to Play.
No error message, no splash screen, no glitch, no crash, no nothing. Just doesn’t do a thing. Reinstalled and verified in game files without any luck. I’ve never seen a game on Steam do this before.
Uninstalled and reinstalled several times the past few days and the same behavior happens. Shame because I liked Sunless Seas, but this game simply won’t run. Hilariously it’s the only game in my entire steam library that behaves like this.
Again, no crash message, no alerts, no nothing. Nothing in the Event Viewer. I don’t even see a window pop up for a split second before it crashes. I can’t even tell if’ it’s actually crashing because that would indicate some sort of program that looks like it ran before exiting. Literally I push the Play button, it goes to Stop for about 3 seconds, then goes right back to Play.
Tried to refund the game but since I’ve been trying to get it to work for 2 weeks, Steam denied me. Shame because I played Fallen London for years and Sunless Seas and was looking forward to this game, but it just won’t run. In 16 years old owning Steam I’ve never seen a game behave like this.
Any ideas on what else to try?
We have a trouble shooting guide here: Steam Community :: Guide :: Sunless Skies: Troubleshooting
If that doesn’t work, send a support ticket in - but do try those things first as otherwise we’ll just run you through them.
Odd that Steam denied you, however - as I (as player, not dev in the know!) always thought that if you’d not put much time in, it was an almost automatic thing. Ugh.
Well, I can’t say I’ve done everything in that list of troubleshooting steps, because it’s very extensive. It seems extremely lengthy and detailed considering this game’s technical requirements aren’t exactly Death Stranding or RDR2.
I appreciate the guide, but really, if the troubleshooting guide is 2000+ words worth of try this and try that, and I can’t get it to run when every other game I own runs fine, it’s probably not my system. Like I don’t want to dig through my AppData and reset video drivers and screw around with Windows Services to get this game to run.
I’m just baffled that there’s absolutely no output or crash report or anything. Literally, click Play on Steam, that Play button turns into "Stop" like any other Steam game. Then 5 seconds later, the "Stop" turns back to "PLay" like I didn’t even try to play it.
No screen, no quick window that appears and vanishes, no crash report, no flash of my monitor going into full screen mode, no logo, no video, nothing. I’ve never seen a game on Steam behave like this.
I bought the game on sale so I’m only out $10, but I really want to play the game because I enjoyed Sunless Seas and Fallen London. I’m a fan and regardless of my money commitment, I can’t experience the story for reasons that I’ve never seen with any Steam game, ever.