For most of the last year or so I'd been having launcher issues. Which I managed to scrape by with most of the time and get online anyway.
But it got so bad with STO that I could only (BARELY) get on by going through the CO launcher.
Then THAT went belly up as well. "Black Screen of Death" and I couldn't even get as far as the trouble-shooting stage or options.
So I essentially gave up for about a month or two this spring.
I had been thinking about outright uninstalling both games, but hadn't gotten around to it. The other day, while contemplating the back-up folders for the stuff that would be lost if I just uninstalled and shredded the folders (the screenshots and costume designs mainly) I thought to give the situation a more thorough attempt at a fix.
And thus the "Nuke the Site from Orbit" protocol was initiated.
I uninstalled both games after backing up the screenshot folders elsewhere. Then I also uninstalled ALL my other Steam games. Then I uninstalled Steam itself. And then used some System care tools to "deep clean" the remaining folders, scramble and randomize the data and the registry bits. ("Carthago delenda est!" )
Then I did a full defrag on my drives and a systemcare sweep, then rebooted the computer an extra time on top of the standard reboot - just to be thorough.
Next I reinstalled Steam. But placed the game archive on my 1TB external USB drive. Then I re-installed Star Trek Online and Champions and let them fully update. in the process I followed the install process carefully and made sure my anti-virus "got to know" both games as they installed with new protocol and exceptions in place.
Then I rebooted the computer again. THEN I crossed my fingers and launched STO - if I got the black screen of death on the launcher, that would be the end for real and I'd have to walk away from both games permanently.
Well - no black screen of death. It launched just fine with no complaints and no hiccups.
Same with CO. After rebooting again and making sure, I can safely say that both games are working like a charm now.
I can't tell you what exact part of the above process was the actual "fix". I just took a shotgun approach and tried EVERYTHING all at once. But something obviously worked.
So - if all else fails - remember the final option - "Nuke the Site from Orbit. It's the only way to be sure!"
But it got so bad with STO that I could only (BARELY) get on by going through the CO launcher.
Then THAT went belly up as well. "Black Screen of Death" and I couldn't even get as far as the trouble-shooting stage or options.
So I essentially gave up for about a month or two this spring.
I had been thinking about outright uninstalling both games, but hadn't gotten around to it. The other day, while contemplating the back-up folders for the stuff that would be lost if I just uninstalled and shredded the folders (the screenshots and costume designs mainly) I thought to give the situation a more thorough attempt at a fix.
And thus the "Nuke the Site from Orbit" protocol was initiated.
I uninstalled both games after backing up the screenshot folders elsewhere. Then I also uninstalled ALL my other Steam games. Then I uninstalled Steam itself. And then used some System care tools to "deep clean" the remaining folders, scramble and randomize the data and the registry bits. ("Carthago delenda est!" )
Then I did a full defrag on my drives and a systemcare sweep, then rebooted the computer an extra time on top of the standard reboot - just to be thorough.
Next I reinstalled Steam. But placed the game archive on my 1TB external USB drive. Then I re-installed Star Trek Online and Champions and let them fully update. in the process I followed the install process carefully and made sure my anti-virus "got to know" both games as they installed with new protocol and exceptions in place.
Then I rebooted the computer again. THEN I crossed my fingers and launched STO - if I got the black screen of death on the launcher, that would be the end for real and I'd have to walk away from both games permanently.
Well - no black screen of death. It launched just fine with no complaints and no hiccups.
Same with CO. After rebooting again and making sure, I can safely say that both games are working like a charm now.
I can't tell you what exact part of the above process was the actual "fix". I just took a shotgun approach and tried EVERYTHING all at once. But something obviously worked.
So - if all else fails - remember the final option - "Nuke the Site from Orbit. It's the only way to be sure!"