I purchased Assassin's Creed thru STEAM .. the game downloaded appropriately and now says "100% - Ready" on the games tab.

I pressed Launch to start. I saw an Assassin's creed splash screen "loader bar." Then a window with a "minimum game requirements" appeared. I had green check-marks in all areas, and pressed Finish. The windows closed and nothing happened. I opened task manager to only see "AssassinsCreed_Dx9.exe *32" in the processes, yet nothing is happening.

The game will not start at all now.. I went to steamapps and tried loading directly thru the .exe files for DX9 and DX10...even the testapp program. Nothing happens for any of it.

I added the -DX9 modifier to the "launch options" in steam. Still nothing. I tried to run the "Verify integrity of game chache.." option thru STEAM.. yet it will not start either.

After reading through some of the forums responses I decided to hunt down my Assassin.ini and Dare.ini files.

I found the location where they are supposed to be:
C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Ubisoft\Assassin 's Creed

However the only file there is the Dare.ini file... The other is missing.

I updated my video card's latest drivers. (Nvidia 7950 GT)
185.85_desktop_winvista_64bit_english_whql.exe

Through STEAM .. I deleted the local files for Assassin's Creed. I then let the game "re-download" and reinstall into STEAM. The game still will not run at all.

I can manually run the Detection.exe program from the
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\assassins creed\Detection folder. It runs fine.

I made sure to use a driver sweeping program in safe mode to ensure a complete removal of the old video driver before installing the new one. I've taken administrative ownership of all the included .exe files listed in the Assassin's Creed folder within STEAM. I tried to resolve the missing Assassin.ini file by creating my own from a printout on the internet.

I have tried setting the .exe files to work with WinXP (SP1) Compatibility Mode. I have also tried starting Assassin's Creed in "offline" mode through STEAM. Still not working. I'm not even getting a loading screen, nor am I getting errors. Literally nothing happens after the STEAM Application says "Preparing to Launch Assassin's Creed."

System Specs:

Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
AMD Athalon 64 X2 4200+
3GB RAM
Nvidia 7950 GT
DX10 - (tho I fully expect Assassin's Creed to run in DX9 due to 7-series Nvidia card)

**I know this game will work on my PC .. as a friend installed it with discs and played it on my computer for a week while visiting.. He uninstalled it when he left**

I followed some online tweak guide regarding Dx9 & Dx10 issues... but that didn't help at all. I also purposefully moved some files from the assassin's creed folder and ran the "Verify Integrity..." option in STEAM. The process lasted about 1 second, and did NOT detect any missing files. I replaced the files I moved so as not to add to the problem later.

In the STEAM properties for Assassin's Creed, on the "Local Files" tab is says 'disk usage' = 9100 MB. Is this correct?

Just tried deleting local content thru STEAM again... It just sits there. I had to manually go in and delete the game files. Then I set STEAM to "re-download" the game AGAIN...

Still not working.

**2 Days & I'm close to giving up** Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You had a dvd version installed before, maybe it left some registry entries that conflicted with your steam version.. somehow.. i cant think of anything else.

I would try to unistall the game and delete all folders associated with it, including profile folders and files, saves, etc.
Then check for registry entries and wipe them out too (extreme caution in there!!).

Only then download and install your steam copy.

Thanks bro.. I actually did poke around in the registry a bit. I don't see any remnants of the former DVD install, and the STEAM version registry entries all look good.

It's almost as if the game and the PC are just not making the physical connections necessary. I noticed that changes made in STEAM were not reflected in the registry.

My PC is due for a good Format/Fresh OS install anyways.. so I will try that now and report back.

Also I have a Dell XPS M1730 Laptop on the way (ships on Tuesday).. hopefully soon all my issues on this PC will be insignificant next to the power of 4 cores of processing, 8GB ram, nvidia 9800 GT's SLI, etc.. etc...

I have open support tickets with STEAM and UBISOFT. Neither have yet to reply, probably due to it being the a common graduation weekend for alot of people.

Thanks,
-Jedi

Formatted Hard Drive - Fresh Install of Operating System. Installed STEAM and games.

Problem Solved. ...and I never did get any responses from STEAM or UBISOFT support.

I can only assume that the issue was due to a previous install of the game from discs, etc..

Thanks
-Jedi

i have pretty much the same issue, I reformatted, with no luck.

Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.090206-1233)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: BIOSTAR Group
System Model: N61PB-M2S
BIOS: )Phoenix - Award WorkstationBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 6000+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~3.1GHz
Memory: 2046MB RAM
Page File: 304MB used, 3634MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: Radeon X1900 Series
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: ATI Radeon Graphics Processor (0x7249)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_7249&SUBSYS_015E1043&REV_00
Display Memory: 512.0 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 960 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6925 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 4/27/2009 23:40:59, 325120 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
VDD: n/a
Mini VDD: ati2mtag.sys
Mini VDD Date: 4/28/2009 01:13:23, 3565568 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71EE2-3109-11CF-FE68-5421A1C2CB35}
Vendor ID: 0x1002
Device ID: 0x7249
SubSys ID: 0x015E1043
Revision ID: 0x0000
Revision ID: 0x0000
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_C ModeMPEG2_D ModeWMV8_B ModeWMV8_A ModeWMV9_B ModeWMV9_A
Deinterlace Caps: {6E8329FF-B642-418B-BCF0-BCB6591E255F}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,YUY2) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
{3C5323C1-6FB7-44F5-9081-056BF2EE449D}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,2) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{552C0DAD-CCBC-420B-83C8-74943CF9F1A6}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,2) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{6E8329FF-B642-418B-BCF0-BCB6591E255F}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_PixelAdaptive
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
Registry: OK
DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled
DDraw Test Result: Not run
D3D7 Test Result: Not run
D3D8 Test Result: Not run
D3D9 Test Result: Not run

I am having this problem too. In my case, I'm trying to run this game on the university-owned computer in my dorm (hey, I was able to do it with COD4).

I found a relevant page in steam support that you might want to check out
https://support.steampowered.c...p?ref=6218-USFX-5568
It says that security software is a potential cause.