How To Fix CS:GO Not Launching Issues

The first and most common troubleshooting technique on Steam is to verify the integrity of your game files. There is a slight chance your Counter-Strike game might have corrupted files that are preventing you from launching the game properly. Though this might sound a little intimidating, the solution is very simple, and is always worth a shot. 

You can verify your game files by following these simple steps below:

1. Open your Steam client and navigate to your Steam Library.
2. Look for Counter-Strike and right-click the game.
3. A handful of options will show up, where you will click on Properties.
4. On the left-hand side of the new menu, select Installed Files.
5. Finally, click on the Verify Integrity of Game Files button.

After confirming your actions, Steam will quickly do a thorough check of your game files and check if any of them are corrupted. This process should take anywhere from three to ten minutes, and is automatic. All you have to do is wait until the procedure is over, and then try launching your game to see if the issue is resolved.

Valve has provided players with numerous CSGO launch options that will customize how the game is booted up. Since we’re having issues launching the game in the first place, these commands might prove to be helpful.

There are two very useful launch commands to fix CS:GO can’t load into game issues, which are:

• “-novid”: Disables the intro video for Counter-Strike, making it less taxing to launch.
• “-nojoy”: Disables joystick support, which is not required when you’re playing on a computer, increasing performance and launching. 
• “-high”: Sets Counter-Strike to a high-priority program on Steam, which can help the game run smoother.

To input these three commands into your launch options, follow the steps below:

1. Open your Steam client and navigate to your Steam Library.
2. Look for Counter-Strike and right-click the game.
3. A handful of options will show up, where you will click on Properties.
4. Under the General section, search for Launch Options.
5. In the text box, type in the three launch options in this format “-novid, -nojoy, -high”.

After you have typed in the commands, you can immediately exit out of the menu since it automatically saves your changes. 

We all know that having cached files can affect how various processes run, and the same applies for Counter-Strike. The launching issues could be caused by a storage full of cached files preventing the game from running properly.

It never hurts to quickly clear your Steam’s cache files by following these steps:

1. Open your Steam Client.
2. Then, click on the Steam button on the top-left corner and hit Settings.
3. In the Steam Settings page, look for the Downloads section.
4. Finally, look for Clear Download Cache and hit Clear Cache.

Clearing your download cache will force you to restart Steam and log back into your account. Other than that, the process is relatively quick and won’t take longer than two minutes.

Overclocking is a common technical issue that has caused many computer-related issues. There is a decent chance that your CS:GO client is not running properly due to overclocking.

You do not want your computer to exceed the clock rate set by the manufacturer. Here’s how to ensure not to overclock:

1. Open your Windows Control Panel. Then, go to the Hardware and Sound section.
2. Under Power Options, select Edit Power Plan and go to Change Advanced Power Settings.
3. In the Power Options menu that pops up, look for Processor Power Management.
4. Expand the drop-down menu, where you will see the minimum and maximum processor state.
5. Change both percentages to 99%, then click Apply to save your changes.

Adjusting these settings will ensure that your computer runs on 99% at all times, which will prevent overclocking and keep your device running at nearly maximum capacity. 

Setting a program to Compatibility Mode is a Windows setting that helps run programs better. We can apply this to CS:GO and see if it works. 

Here is a step-by-step guide of how to adjust CS:GO to Compatibility Mode:

1. Look for your Counter-Strike’s desktop shortcut, right-click it, and go to its Properties.
2. In the Properties menu, select the Compatibility section.
3. Under Compatibility Mode, expand the drop-down menu and select Windows 8. 
4. Finally, save your changes by hitting Apply. 

Even though you’re likely not on Windows 8, it is the most recent version available, so we’ll choose that. This solution has not worked for everyone, so you can always revert your changes by following the exact same procedure. 

The next method is another common Windows fix, which is running an application as an administrator. Keep in mind that, to perform this step, your user must have administrative permissions on your computer. 

Normally, you can right-click Counter-Strike’s desktop shortcut and run the game as an administrator manually. Though this gets the job done, we’ll show you how you can automatically run CS:GO as an administrator all the time.

Follow these steps below:

1. Look for your Counter-Strike’s desktop shortcut, right-click it, and go to its Properties.
2. In the Properties menu, select the Compatibility section.
3. Under Compatibility Mode, check Run This Program As An Administrator.
4. Finally, save your changes by pressing the Apply button.

This isn’t the most effective solution in the world, but you’d be surprised to hear how many players have resolved their launching issues with it. 

Using our Windows settings, we can change Counter-Strike’s performance mode to high performance. Doing so will not only fix launching issues, but will also help your game run smoother overall. 

The procedure to turning on high performance mode isn’t too lengthy:

1. Open your Windows Settings and go to the System section.
2. Then, select Display and go to Graphics.
3. In your Graphics Settings, you will see a list of all your applications. Look for Counter-Strike.
4. Click on the Counter-Strike client and go to the game’s Options.
5. Next, under Graphics Preference, select High Performance mode. You should see the name of a graphics card under it. Make sure it aligns with what you are using!

Now, your GPU will pool in more focus into Counter-Strike when the game is running. This has really solved the launching issues for many players, and it also boosts performance and FPS in the game. 

If you’ve tried everything up to this point, and are still facing launching issues, then we have to use a more general approach, which is to update your graphics card drivers. 

The graphics card is obviously a key component for running games such as Counter-Strike, so we need to ensure that yours is running at maximum capacity. Outdated graphics card drivers can affect performance, especially when launching games.

There are multiple ways to update your graphics card drivers, but we’ll cover the easiest one:

1. Go to your computer’s Device Manager.
2. Then, select Display Adapters.
3. Here, you should see the name of your graphics card. Right-click it and hit Update Driver.
4. In the new menu that pops up, select Search Automatically For Drivers.
5. Now, your computer will begin searching for the latest version. If there is an update available, follow the on-screen instructions.

You can double check by visiting your manufacturer’s website and searching for your graphics card there. Once you have found the correct one, download the most recent driver version.

This solution might sound like a stretch, but it is truly surprising how many players resolved their launching issues by updating Windows. At the end of the day, everything on your computer runs on Windows as it is your operating system. 

It really never hurts to ensure that your Windows version is up to date, as updating it can help you improve day-to-day functions on top of potentially fixing Counter-Strike.

To check if you have a pending Windows update, follow the steps below:

1. Open your Windows Settings and head over to the Windows Update section on the left-hand side of the menu.
2. At the top of your Windows Update section, Windows will show you the version you’re on and if there is an update pending. 
3. If an update is available, follow the on-screen instructions and install it.
4. If there is no update available, click Check For Updates just in case. 

Updating Windows might take a while depending on the update. Some will only take a few minutes, while others might exceed ten.

If none of the nine methods have solved your case, we must go to the last resort solution, which is to perform a complete reinstallation of Counter-Strike. Reinstalling the game will delete all corrupted files and clean up any internal issues affecting your launch problems.

If you’re willing to go with it, follow the steps below:

1. Open your Steam client and navigate to your Steam Library.
2. Look for Counter-Strike and right-click the game.
3. Hit the Uninstall button and confirm your actions.
4. CS:GO will begin uninstalling. Wait until the process is done.
5. Then, go to the Steam Store and look for Counter-Strike. 
6. Finally, re-download the game like you normally would. 

That’s all the solutions we have to help you fix CS:GO not launching issues. Hopefully one of these fixes have at least improved your situation. If none of them have worked, the problem might stem from your computer.