.DLL failures + Launch/Repair loop

[Stiganovski]

Hi all,

I currently have the following symptoms:

On launching DCS.exe I receive the following errors;

GraphicsVista.DLL is not designed to run on Windows etc

Weather.DLL same message

DTC_manager.DLL same message

Launcher does not open.

 

I tried to manually run DCS_Updater and perform a 'slow check'.

This runs until approx halfway through the process and the repairer closes without messaging and then the launcher opens.

On trying to open the the game, repair or update it fails halfway through and opens the launcher.

 

So I am a little unsure how to progress. I can't run the game, I can't repair the game and I can't update the game.

 

Apart from redownloading the whole game again (Oh god I hope not. It's almost 1TB on disk!) does anyone have some things to explore first that I'm missing?

 

Thanks folks

[rob10]

1st thing to check/do is an exclusion from your anti-virus for DCS folders, then try a SLOW repair because your AV has probably quarantined some files.  If you can't get it to run a repair try restoring the files from in your AV.

[Stiganovski]

Thanks Rob, good point.

Yeah I have it excluded, I also checked quarantine logs and nothing from DCS was captured in there.

I have a horrible feeling I'll be DLing the whole game again

[rob10]

If you're using the launcher, there is a sqlite file I think that's been causing people issues.  Do a search and you can likely find out what one it is and deleting it has solved some problems. I disabled the launcher as soon as it came out so I haven't paid enough attention to remember what the file is.

[Stiganovski]

OK, just deleted it now in the savegame\DCS folder and still getting the DLL errors, so I don't think it's even getting to the launcher step

For some more context:

The failure point is during the "Verifying Installed Files" phase.

I've done the sqlite file - No change

I've deleted (.OLD'd) the DCS folder in saved games too - No change

[MAXsenna]

23 minutes ago, Stiganovski said:

I have a horrible feeling I'll be DLing the whole game again

I see you already tried repairs. Try to open the options.lua and set the launcher to 0 to prevent it from opening. If DCS then starts, try another repair.

EDIT: One more thing, try to delete the _download folder, and try a repair again. 

Can you show us the exclusions in your AV? 

Edited October 2 by MAXsenna

[Stiganovski]

Thanks Max.

Launcher set to 0 - DCS.exe crashes/closes with no messaging

The repairer close at the verify phase with no message

Deleted the _download folder and tried launching the game - No change

 

The odd thing is there was no change between one day working and the next not. I checked my Win11 updates and it has no updates in the time period, so I'm at a loss

[MAXsenna]

Thanks Max.
Launcher set to 0 - DCS.exe crashes/closes with no messaging
The repairer close at the verify phase with no message
Deleted the _download folder and tried launching the game - No change
 
The odd thing is there was no change between one day working and the next not. I checked my Win11 updates and it has no updates in the time period, so I'm at a loss

Hmmm... That's a hard nut for sure! Tried to test your RAM?

Sent from my SM-A536B using Tapatalk

[sleighzy]

Can you drop your DCS log file in here in case there's anything in there. In case of a Windows issue open a command prompt as administrator, run the below two commands separately and then restart your PC.

dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

sfc /scannow

 

[Stiganovski]

Hey,

Apols, been away for work.

Performed the above.

Ran dcs_update, file verify check phase stopped halfway though and closes without message.

The launcher then opens, so I tried to start the game and momentarily after it logged in gave me a message about AI units being not authorized and then it crashes to desktop without message.

The attached log is after the above process

dcs.log

Edited October 7 by Stiganovski

[sleighzy]

1 hour ago, Stiganovski said:

Hey,

Apols, been away for work.

Performed the above.

Ran dcs_update, file verify check phase stopped halfway though and closes without message.

The launcher then opens, so I tried to start the game and momentarily after it logged in gave me a message about AI units being not authorized and then it crashes to desktop without message.

The attached log is after the above process

dcs.log 58.91 kB · 0 downloads

I've had a look at your log and two things jump out. Start with #2 re: the mission editor.

1. You have a bunch of mods in there and some of them have errors. Remove them and try again.

Error
'=' expected near '|'
Line
1
Script
./MissionEditor/modules/me_map_window.lua
Error
attempt to call global 'BrowningM2' (a nil value)
Line
289
Script
./CoreMods/WWII Units/A-20G/A-20G.lua
Error
attempt to call global 'BrowningM2' (a nil value)
Line
239
Script
./CoreMods/WWII Units/P-51D/P-51D.lua

2.  You have the below error in a MissionEditor file. Can you try renaming Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\MissionEditor to MissionEditor.old and trying again.

2025-10-07 03:45:32.999 ALERT   Dispatcher (Main): Error starting Game GUI: error loading module 'me_map_window' from file './MissionEditor/modules/me_map_window.lua':
	[string "./MissionEditor/modules/me_map_window.lua"]:1: '=' expected near '|'

I went and ran your log through the log analyzer which has also highlighted the corrupted mission editor file.

Config File Corruption
Delete or rename Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\MissionEditor and try again.

 

Failing that completely rename Saved Games\DCS.openbeta to DCS.openbeta_old (rename not delete so you can copy back your keybindings from Config\Input and stuff from Missions)

Running a repair of the game does not touch your Saved Games\DCS.openbeta folder, this is why you may be seeing issues due to corrupted files in there even after running a repar.

 

[Stiganovski]

Thankyou for the steps.

 

I have tried the above and no change unfortunately.

The issue arou8nd the repair is that is does not function, it just quiet crashes.

 

I have recently upgraded my net to 500mbps so I think I'll just suck it up and redownload the game. Hopefully if it actually DLs at that speed it should only take a few hours overnight

[Stiganovski]

UPDATE - I have redownloaded the game and have made some progress!

The issue now is that when I open the MT version I repeatedly get the following error popup
"Launcher error. Message: TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'clientWidth')"

However, I dont get it in the non MT launcher.

 

EDIT - I started to download my modules in the launcher. Then after I launched the game and reopened the launcher the "Available" button is greyed out...
 

Edited October 10 by Stiganovski

[sleighzy]

32 minutes ago, Stiganovski said:

UPDATE - I have redownloaded the game and have made some progress!

The issue now is that when I open the MT version I repeatedly get the following error popup
"Launcher error. Message: TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'clientWidth')"

However, I dont get it in the non MT launcher.

 

EDIT - I started to download my modules in the launcher. Then after I launched the game and reopened the launcher the "Available" button is greyed out...
 

The client width error is a known issue. Delete your Saved Games\DCS\launcher.sqlite3 file and start DCS again. Can’t confirm if it solves your latest one since then. If the above does not work then try renaming Saved Games\DCS to DCS.old and try again.

Always start DCS from the one on the bin directory, ie not the MT one (they’re both multithreaded). 

Edited October 10 by sleighzy

[sleighzy]

Alternatively if completely blocked in the launcher you have the following options to disable it and bypass it so that DCS will startup without it.

Add "--no-launcher" as an argument to your DCS shortcut.

or

Edit the Saved Games\DCS\Config\options.lua file and set the ["launcher"] option to false, e.g. ["launcher"] = false.

If you edit the file make sure to do it with Notepad++ and not Nodepad. You can reenable the launcher again later on under the Misc. tab in the DCS settings.

[Stiganovski]

Thankyou! Very much appreciated!

 

Notating the overall solution for anyone else with the issue in the future:

The ultimate solution was to completely remove DCS from the PC.

Backup your inputs etc first.

Reinstalled on a DIFFERENT drive to the OG installation location and it works fine.

 

Unfortunately I think in my case it was a hardware failure caused by a hardware situation, ie: the SATA cable was loose and not pushed all the way home so the SSD was not getting a great connection. Potential for bit flip was very high. I didn't catch it in time and I suspect that drive is cooked.

 

Hope this helps guys