.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 Thursday at 03:43 AM 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 17 hours ago 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