Some weird stuff is happening - TFC Won't start on my PC

[Venomous Fangs]

Hey Guys wondering if I can get some advice here, as TFC will not start on my PC for reasons unknown. 

What happens is I run TFC, then nothing. Try running it again and a Steam message pops up "An error occurred while updating Team Fortress Classic (app running)."

Ctr+Alt+Del Task Manager doesn't see TFC running, yet Steam thinks it is running. No other Steam games I have seem affected.

Tried the following remediation, to no avail:

Ensured TFC is allowable to communicate through Windows firewall, both private and public check boxes crossed.
Turned Windows Firewall OFF.
Did a virus scan with malwarebytes, detected nothing and;
Deleted TFC and reloaded on to PC.

Same thing was happened to Google and GOG Galaxy, but reloading those programs fixed the issue. The only commonality with TFC those have I can see is they all interact directly with the internet on startup.

Smacks of a firewall issue, yet even when the firewall is turned off the problem still exists, also the other two affected programs worked on deletion and reload.

At a loss here, anyone got any ideas to fixing this? (Dxdiag of my PC attached)

[schuffler]

Mines been doing the same thing . I have to go in to task mgr. find HL.exe *32 and shut it down then it loads with no problem. Still have not found anyway to correct this.

[Venomous Fangs]

Thanks for the tip Schuffler, didn't see any HL.exe in Task Manager when I tried. One thing I did do before the troubles arose was downloaded latest windows patch, thinking maybe this could be it, but did system restore back a week and no luck. Virus perhaps??

[schuffler]

This started last weekend for me. I did a restore also from a month ago when everything was working fine and that didn't help. I'll keep working on it something has to fix it.

[Master]

This problem is being reported across multiple 'HL Games' with very limited information, nobody really knows the root cause.. I believe there is an issue with the VAC module not loading properly on startup.

Here are some options to try, please try them in the order I listed and PLEASE REPORT BACK WHICH OPTION WORKS FOR YOU!!!
This problem is affecting many people across many games, I would like to know which method is fixing it to better track down the problem.

Troubleshooting Steps:

Before attempting any of the following, please ensure that you have your custom files (configs, sprites, models, etc) backed up in a safe location. you may attempt to launch TFC after each step, however look in taskmanager for the process (hl.exe) and also check for crashdumps in the game folder (Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life)

• Verify game cache (TFC)
• Verify base game (HL)
• Launch base game before desired game (HL, and TFC)
• add command line parameter '-nofbo' (TFC)

Please try running the game after each step listed above, and report back on which options allows the game to start for you (if any).

[schuffler]

Checked 1 and 2  all good but only way to start game is to go to task mgr.   I do have crash dumps in the game folder.
Will check more after work.

[Venomous Fangs]

Tried 1,to 3, no avail, then did -nofbo IT WORKED! 

Master your name says it all, absolute genius! 

[Bishop]

Doesn't -nofbo send all your banking and credit card information to Master?

[Guts]

Shh...

[schuffler]

Fang where did you add number 4?

[cloroxwipes]

None of the fixes work for me.  It'll load fine once, five times or 20 times then stop loading.  I have to log off windows, log back in and it'll work once i close hl.exe in task manager the first time. 

[Venomous Fangs]

Fang where did you add number 4?

Desktop Icon
Properties
Add to end of line in URL

[Venomous Fangs]

OK, the problem has reemerged .

Restarting the PC doesn't work, and the -nofbo command is still in the icon URL.....

Any other ideas?   

Master now has to give me back my bank accounts, feel free to keep the house mortgage! 

[pizzahut]

schuffler, cloroxwipes - may I ask which OS you're using?

[Master]

schuffler, cloroxwipes - may I ask which OS you're using?

If it's windows, can you provide the version string from the first line of 'command prompt' (search for cmd, only result)