BATTLETECH - BattletechLauncher.exe has made game unplayable

[GrumpyDaDwarf]

One line summary of your issue
BattletechLauncher.exe has made game unplayable

What platform are you running the game on?

Steam

What operating system do you use?
Win10

Please explain your issue is in as much detail as possible.
Ran the BattletechLancher.exe program that comes bundled with the game. All I saw that I wanted to change was to run in windowed mode. That is the only change that I thought I had made. Turns out there is a always ticked "option" called video rendering API that has two things showing. One is Direct Show (Default) and one is Media Foundation (Alternate). Note that this is not an option, there is no way to un-tick either of these, you have to apply one or the other, no choice is given to you.

Now, when I try to run the game, either from Steam or from the desktop shortcut or the program file itself, the game starts, and immediately crashes and a pop-up appears asking if I really want to use the Direct video setting that they gave me no choice but to use. If I hit ok, the game launches, quits and another pop-up appears asking the same thing. Hitting cancel on the pop-up does not disable this setting, it just quits the game and prevents it from launching.

I have literally counted 18 freakin' pop-ups all asking me if I want to apply these Direct video settings that the program MADE ME apply to my game before finally giving up in disgust.

I then un-installed the game, even used the video from this websight on how to do a complete un-installation of the game, Re-downloaded the game and tried to launch it. And got the same never-ending series of pop-ups asking me if I wanted to apply Direct Video.

So basically, the program packaged with the game has completely borked my game preventing it from running. Re-installing the game does nothing, these Direct Video settings that the program MADE ME apply, are apparently hard baked into my system for all time and the game won't launch.

I have searched and have found no posts or information about this bug, guess I'm just the only poor schmuck to run this program that was included in the game and screws it up totally.

Anyone have any idea at all how to fix this? Because at this point, I am out of ideas.

Steps to reproduce the issue


Attach DxDiag (PC) or System Info (Mac)

Attach Output Log

Attach Crash Log

Attach save file

Attach screenshot / video

 

[HBS_Null]

Do you have any custom launch options in Steam? Try clearing those first. BATTLETECH -> Properties -> Set Launch Options

You can reset all of the launcher's options (including DirectShow) by removing the saved settings here (PC):
C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\HarebrainedSchemes

The launcher can be bypassed entirely by running BattleTech.exe directly from your installation folder (this will ignore all launcher options).

An alternative to the launcher's borderless window mode is to add "-popupwindow" (no quotes) to Steam's custom launch options (BATTLETECH -> Properties -> Set Launch Options).

 

[GrumpyDaDwarf]

No custom launch options set and I already tried deleting the harebrained schemes file when I did the un-install as suggested in the complete de-installation of Battletech video.

I have tried to launch the game using the Steam "play" button, the desktop shortcut, and the Battletech.Exe in the program files. I still get a cascading series of pop-ups the first of which says this

Battletech is attempting to launch with the optional parameters shown below

" -useCurrentSettings --Video_api=DirectShow"

If you did not request this launch or do not understand these options, select Cancel.

There are two options OK, which attempts to launch the game again, and then triggers another pop-up, or cancel, which cancels launching the game.

If I hit the ok button, the game starts for a second, closes and another pop-up appears that says almost the same thing except it adds another -use CurrentSettings line in front of the previous line, and add infinitum. Every time I hit the OK button it adds another -useCurrentSettings line to the start of the previous menu over and over and over again until all I can see on the pop-up is a series of use CurrentSettings lines over and over.

I have checked in Steam and I have no custom launch options set either there or in the Battletech.EXE file.

Hope this helps in tracking down what the problem might be

 

[Thormgrim]

Bump, I'm experiencing the same Issue.

I'm attaching my dxdiag and output log in hopes that those help in tracking down the issue.

 

[GrumpyDaDwarf]

Got it to work finally. I had to un-install it and then run CCleaner's registry cleaner multiple times before it finally stopped giving me errors and then re-installed the game and it launched. Anyway, for anyone else having this problem give it a try and see if it works for you.

 

[Batninja]

I was having the same issue, solved it by setting BattleTechLauncher.exe to run as administrator.

Steps to do so;

Right click battletech in the Steam client
Select properties
Click local files tab
Click browse local files

Right click BattleTechLauncher.exe
Select properties
Click compatibility tab
Under settings tick 'run this programme as an administrator'

Hopefully this helps.

 

[Hjalfnar]

I was having the same issue, solved it by setting BattleTechLauncher.exe to run as administrator.

Steps to do so;

Right click battletech in the Steam client
Select properties
Click local files tab
Click browse local files

Right click BattleTechLauncher.exe
Select properties
Click compatibility tab
Under settings tick 'run this programme as an administrator'

Hopefully this helps.

THISSS! Thank you sir, this worked! Finally! Ok, now let's see if the game still crashes as soon as I enter a mission, that was my other problem...

 

[Morgenstern72]

Thank you, even in 2025 I had to find this old post from 2018 to make the game run.

I was having the same issue, solved it by setting BattleTechLauncher.exe to run as administrator.

Steps to do so;

Right click battletech in the Steam client
Select properties
Click local files tab
Click browse local files

Right click BattleTechLauncher.exe
Select properties
Click compatibility tab
Under settings tick 'run this programme as an administrator'

Hopefully this helps.

Thank you, even in 2025 I had to find this old post from 2018 to make the game run on Windows 10.