DCS Standalone refuses to launch until Repair is run - Issue recurring frequently

[asdfg1111]

Hello,

I've been having an annoying issue lately with DCS. 

The launcher opens fine (using MT launcher with VR).  However, at least once a week if not more, the game will refuse to launch and the DCS World pre-launch window just stays there as if it's trying to load.

I've found that if I run the full repair, it fixes it and I can then launch the game, but the full repair takes some time and the issue returns weekly it seems. Then needing another repair to launch.

 

Should I just try to re-install the entire game or has anyone run into this issue and solved it?

My PC has no issues running DCS, so I don't think it's related to hardware or hardware limitations.  It's a relatively newer issue that started within the last month or two.

 

Thanks

[MAXsenna]

Hello,
I've been having an annoying issue lately with DCS. 
The launcher opens fine (using MT launcher with VR).  However, at least once a week if not more, the game will refuse to launch and the DCS World pre-launch window just stays there as if it's trying to load.
I've found that if I run the full repair, it fixes it and I can then launch the game, but the full repair takes some time and the issue returns weekly it seems. Then needing another repair to launch.
 
Should I just try to re-install the entire game or has anyone run into this issue and solved it?
My PC has no issues running DCS, so I don't think it's related to hardware or hardware limitations.  It's a relatively newer issue that started within the last month or two.
 
Thanks

Have you excluded the DCS core folders in your Anti-Virus solution?

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[asdfg1111]

Thanks for the reply, I checked my antivirus firewall settings and I do see DCS is allowed access

[mkel2010]

Have you checked for any crash logs in the Saved Games/Logs folder? I've recently had issues with DCS failing to load and found that it was another program causing an Access Violation error. The Logs can be opened with Notepad++.

[asdfg1111]

I do see a dcs.txt file in the Logs folder which is dated 7/1/2025 (yesterday when the issue had occurred).  Is that the correct file?

I don't see any recent 'CRASH' filetype files.

[_Hoss]

No mods running?

[asdfg1111]

No mods currently

[mkel2010]

5 minutes ago, asdfg1111 said:

I do see a dcs.txt file in the Logs folder which is dated 7/1/2025 (yesterday when the issue had occurred).  Is that the correct file?

I don't see any recent 'CRASH' filetype files.

If DCS crashes, there should be files that end in .crash and .dmp. Otherwise. you should have a log file called DCS.log and dcs.log.old (the previous version of the last dcs.log file.) Both can also be opened by using Notepad++.

[asdfg1111]

I do see the file, but not seeing any access violation error.

Should I share the file here?

[asdfg1111]

Ok, I think I found the cause. 

I just tried launching it again and when it hung up in the usual spot I did open BitDefender and disabled some of the active protection options.  As soon as I did that the game launched.

I guess there was some other way it was blocking it besides the Firewall.  I think it's working fine now. Thanks for the help!

[rob10]

1 hour ago, asdfg1111 said:

I guess there was some other way it was blocking it besides the Firewall.  I think it's working fine now. Thanks for the help!

For the record, it's rarely the firewall that's the issue in this type of case.  It's almost always that the anti-virus that thinks some file(s) are suspicious.