5 Ways to Fix Rocket League Won’t Launch!

Problem – “Rocket League won’t launch on Steam (all other games launch) after the new PC is an issue that is bugging me for quite a while now. Is there a fix for it?”

Rocket League is one of the most popular games of all time! Users from across the globe are aware of it and love the idea of playing around soccer with cars. The idea of the game caught much attention when it was released. It was hyped by almost every gaming community, and there were several praises and discussions about it on forums to create the buzz. The game has again caught up in the forum discussion, but this time, it is about the issues and errors! Over the years, the game has become a bit rusty regarding Windows support, as thousands of users have complained about Rocket League not launching properly. 

Video Credit: Reddit

There are several reasons why Rocket League won’t launch on Windows. In this post, let us address all of them and identify a few ways you can use to fix the issues. 

Why Won’t Rocket League Launch? Causes!

There are several issues for any game not working on your PC, and Rocket League is no exception. After analyzing the situation and facing the issue firsthand, we have curated a list of issues that may be causing the Rocket League not launching error on Windows.

Issues that cause Rocket League crashing/not launching errors are as follows – 

• Your PC Does not meet the game’s minimum requirements to run seamlessly.
• Your PC has outdated graphics drivers.
• Rocket League is not getting the required permissions on your PC.
• The game user files have gone corrupt.
• There are issues with game local files on your PC.

One of these issues is stopping Rocket League from launching on your PC. If you are aware of your PC and know which one of these issues may be causing the impact on your system, you can try to fix that particular issue using the fixes we will discuss in the next section. 

However, if you have no clue about what is causing the error and all you want is to fix the issue, simply try all the fixes one after the other and check if the issue is resolved. 

Solution: Rocket League Won’t Launch on Windows

Before we begin with the issue-specific fixes, let us get the basic ones out of the way. The first one is meeting the system requirements. The following are the specifications required to run the game seamlessly. Kindly ensure that your PC has these or higher configurations to support it.

Recommended Requirements for Rocket League:- 

Supported OS	Windows 7 and higher versions
Processor	2.5+ GHz Quad-core
RAM	4 GB
Video Card	NVIDIA GTX 660 or better, ATI 7950 or better
Hard Drive	7 GB

Ensure your PC has these resources to play Rocket League without stuttering or launching issues. Compare your current PC specifications with the list; you may know if it is compatible. 

Let’s move to the core fixes with that out of the way.

Fix 1 – Change the Folder Name for Rocket League Game Files

Every software you use on your PC creates a user file in your system’s Documents folder to keep a log of your operations. Specifically in games where you save your progress. Several users have shared that changing the folder for these files in Rocket League fixes the launching issue. 

Here’s what you need to do – 

Step 1 – Go to the Documents folder on your PC. It can be found in the Library. 

Step 2 – In the folder, spot the Rocket League folder. 

Step 3 – Right-click on the folder and choose the Rename option from the context menu.

Step 4 – Name the folder as Rocket League Old.

Step 5 – No, when you launch the game, it will look for the game file, but since it will not find the file due to a change of path name, it will create another folder with a fresh game file. 

If it succeeds in launching the game, you can eliminate the old game file folder. However, if it did not work for you, you can rename the folder to its original name and move to the next fix. 

Fix 2 – Update the Drivers on Your PC

To run a game smoothly, you require multiple drivers to work in sync. Most popularly, it is the graphics driver that makes the difference. If, by chance, your driver is outdated or not working properly, you may face the Rocket League not launching situation. The easiest way to handle this is to keep a regular eye on the health of your existing drivers. 

But how? The best way to do so is by using the Advanced Driver Updater. It is a tool that can be used to schedule a scan regularly, identifying updates available for the drivers and updating them on your PC. 

It works in three easy steps – 

Step 1 – Use the Start Scan Now button in the tool to search for outdated drivers.

Step 2 – Examine the list of drivers shown in the results and reflect on the PC’s performance to identify if you are facing issues related to them.

Step 3 – Click on Update All to finish the update process.

Download and install the tool today to check if this is causing the game to crash before it launches. After updating the drivers, the tool automatically restarts the PC to eliminate any remaining errors. 

Read Also: Why Is It Important for Gamers to Keep Their PC Drivers Updated and How Do They Do So

Fix 3 – Allow Administrator Permissions to the Game

You must provide dedicated permissions to launch a game that overtakes all your screen and controls. Using the game as an admin will clear the issue for you. Here are the steps that will help you do so – 

Step 1 – Go to the game launcher on your PC screen and right-click. 

Step 2 – Open properties from the context menu.

Step 3 – In Properties, navigate to the compatibility tab and enable the Run as administrator option.

After making the change, click on Apply and try launching the game. It should work fine. 

Fix 4 – Verify Game Files (Steam Users)

Other than these fixes, you can always try to verify the integrity of your game (if you are using Steam to run the game on your PC). 

All you have to do is – 

Step 1 – Open the Game properties from the Steam Library.

Step 2 – Go to the Local Files section.

Step 3 – Click on Verify Integrity of game files. 

Steam will automatically check if the game files are corrupt or require changes. The client can also replace the file, so it should take care of the issue for you. 

Fix 5 – Delete the d3d9.dll File from Game Files

Last but not least, you can try deleting the d3d9.dll  from the game folder. It is a tried and tested method by several users. All you need to do is open the game files folder on your PC, spot the d3d9.dll file, and remove it from your files. 

Try these fixes out, and let us know which one helped you the best. If anything else gets the ball rolling for you and allows you to fix the Rocket League won’t launch issue, share it in the comments, as we would love to try them out and add them to this list. Thanks for reading, good luck!

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