Uplay Games not Launching

Question

I have 2 Ubisoft games on Steam, Assassin's Creed III and Valiant Hearts. I've bought them a while ago, and they seemed to work, I've played them a lot.

But now, when I try to run them, the mouse icon loads for a few seconds and nothing. Nothing happens. I checked my computer processes and there is no "Valiant Hearts" or "Assassin's Creed III" process running.

I can't launch the game from the shortcut, nor steam, nor the Uplay launcher.

What I have tried:

Reinstalling Uplay: This seemed to work in the first place (before I did that, the uplay launcher wouldn't launch as well). After reinstalling, the uplay launcher started to launch, and I was able to play the games once, and then the problem returned. Now, I can open the uplay launcher, but can't launch any games.
Going Offline: I've read in some internet forums that going offline could help me. I tried. Nothing.
Update: Tried running all as administrator, didn't work.

I don't have anymore ideas. I don't think that this is an installation problem because I was able to play the games, the problem appeared out of nowhere.

Here are my device's specifications:

Windows 10
AMD FX Quad-Core Processor
NVIDIA GForce GT680
8GB of RAM.

UPDATE

I don't know what happened. I didn't did anything, but today i just tried to start the games and they worked. It seems that uplay is pretty unstable. However, i'll leave the question (and bounty) open, if someone appears with a permanent solution (i don't know how long my games will be working).

Nils · Accepted Answer

I have similar problems with Uplay,

there are several posts of user around internet(reddit, Ubisoft forum and so on) complaining about those things.

There are two main and constant problems:

Can't download/update a Uplay Game
Can't open a Uplay Game

Every single forum, reddit post will tell you to:

Open as administrator
Reinstal the Game
Reinstal Uplay
Reinstal Dx
Port foward
Add Uplay+Game on trusted programs in Windows/Anti-Virus
Close background application.

None of them will work.

If you get luck and receive support they will tell you to do the same again, but for no reason don't follow their advice to disable all windows services from msconfig because that may mess your computer and you will be unable to start windows again.

The only way to find what is really happening is investigating your computer.

You can check the Uplay logs here

Program Files (x86)UbisoftUbisoft Game Launcherlogs

(

And search google for the exact problem.

You can use the windows Resource Monitor to check the applications. And Windows Event Viewer for some anomaly.

Sadly, most of the time it was a problem with Ubisoft

Can't download/update a Uplay Game:

It was caused, most of the time, for a Ubisoft Server refusing to send a package, just one package (network log)

I found 4 possible solutions:

Wait
Change your IP, if your ISP allows that.
Try another ISP if you have two or more at home, you can use your mobile internet to download that last package.
Download it on a friend, or find a fried with the game downloaded/updated and copy to yours.

Can't open a Uplay Game

It could be caused by needing some third party software, but mostly by Uplay failing to verify it as yours or its dependencies (preventing you to play it), it may vary from game.

In this case I found only two solutions:

Wait (Uplay updates sometimes fix that, but not always)
Format PC (try in another computer first)

Don't forget to check Uplay logs before trying any drastic measure.

npst · Answer

I had a similar problem some time ago. The Ubisoft support staff listed these options available for me. Maybe you could retry step 1 or make sure you tried 2 and 3.

Re-install Uplay Client - including backupping save games, uninstalling, downloading a current version and installing it "as Administrator"
Update Drivers for your graphics card - just in case you haven't done it already
Find the *.exe of the game - Make a shortcut of that file. Right click on that shortcut, select the "Run with graphics processor" menu, and select "High-performance NVIDIA processor."

If none of these work for you, I'd suggest contacting the Ubisoft support.

Wouter · Answer

To list the things can mess it up

Corrupted installation of uplay, which could also make installing games through uplay corrupted, reinstalling is the only option I can think of.
Some background process is messing up your uplay (maybe a process you accidentally installed), try to quit every background process which isn't necessary and try to launch uplay/the games then
Internet connection can make you client go haywire, going offline could fix this (but apparently that's not the problem)
One other problem is, and this is farfetched, it could be a virus which is blocking you from launching the games. This means that you could potentially solve it by cleaning up your entire pc.

If these problems persist and none of the fixes listed above work. I would suggest that you will contact Ubisoft support. They know more about their own product hopefully and probably can fix your problem.

Kiogara · Answer

Had a similar problem with uplay games.

What fixed the issue for me was setting everything(steam, uplay, game) to launch on administrator mode. To do so, you need to find the .exe right click it and open properties then go to compatibility tab and mark to launch as admin(you can mark to run in compatibility mode as well since you're using win10).

Also, if it still not working try disabling uplay and steam

EDIT: Sign out of steam BETA participation

RaptorX · Answer

I figured out the problem myself while testing and if anyone else is having the problem here is the solution,

Right click on the uPlay Icon
Look for a program called 'Ubisoft Game Launcher'
Right Click and Run as Administrator

This worked for me and if anyone else is having the problem here is a possible solution

blackmatterbroka · Answer

I had this same problem for the longest time, it seemed to occur after I changed the location of my games to my (E:) hard drive. I tried to reinstall both Uplay and the game but nothing worked. so what I did was move my Uplay app (which had been in my (C:) drive) to my (E:), then I reinstalled my game to my (C:). I am not sure if changing the location of my uplay app was the difference but I am confident that installing my Ubisoft games to my (C:) drive fixed the problems.

In short: INSTALL UBISOFT GAMES TO YOUR (C:) DRIVE.

Other solutions that may have led to this outcome:
1. moving all steam and Ubisoft folders to E:
2. deleting any duplicates on C:.

In short: INSTALL UBISOFT GAMES TO YOUR (C:) DRIVE.

Other solutions that may have led to this outcome:

moving all steam and Ubisoft folders to E:    
deleting any duplicates on C:.

Uplay Games not Launching

UPDATE

6 Answers

I have similar problems with Uplay,

The only way to find what is really happening is investigating your computer.

Sadly, most of the time it was a problem with Ubisoft

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