Once again PC gaming has failed me :(

[Sigmund Av Volsung]

OP, your problem is subjective, and you can't blame PC gaming as a whole just because one game CTD'd or failed to start; there's a rule within the community: if a game fails, consult PCGamingwiki.com,(or any other similar site) and if it can't provide a reasonable answer/solution, then your machine is to blame, or(hell of a lot less likely) you're just very unlucky.

I've had games fail on me, yet that didn't dishearten me at all; neither should you be.

 

[VanQ]

Is playing it on your laptop out of the question? I know you probably don't want to waste your time downloading it again, and I know you would rather play it on your desktop, but surely playing it on your laptop is better than not playing it at all?

If that isn't an option, you can always try getting a refund from Steam. They usually allow one refund per account, so you might as well use it on a game that doesn't work. I do want to add, though, steam's refund policy is easily the worst thing about the service, and is something that Valve needs to change.

If he has it downloaded to his PC he can simply use the backup function incorporated in Steam to backup the install file onto a hard drive or DVD and use that to install it on his laptop. So there's no reason he needs to waste time downloading a game twice.
In the main steam window simply click >Steam>Backup and Restore Games then choose which games you want to backup and it will do the rest for you.

 

[TehCookie]

I was going to mention how laughably deluded PC elitist are against anything negative about PC, but it seems they have already arrived.

See, there is a reason to it. We elitist jerks have some experience with PC gaming already and so, if some game doesn't work, we can make it. And this is natural for us. There were plenty of games that just didn't work when I was starting with gaming but I doesnt happen any more.

Sacred 2 doesn't doesnt work with patches and is too broken without them? Find one of dozen patches that works well enough and doesnt crash. Too crappy PC to run Oblivion? Get Oldblivion mod.

There is always a solution, you just have to be elitist jerk to be able to always find it.

You hit the core of the delusion. You don't even admit the pain in the ass is worth it for the benefits, you deny the annoyance.

 

[TehCookie]

thats not the point.

if you love your console more than a common pc, feel free to do so. its you opinion.
but please resist the urge to slander another system just so you can feel superior with your system of choosing.(even when your own console is prone to have the same hick ups-> framerate drops; freezes etc.)

this kind of things just leads to hate amongst gamers and helps no one.

plus it is kind of strange when he lists six games from which only one has failed and suddenly stigmatises the whole system of being shit instead of thinking that the developer might have accidently caused the problem by badly porting it.(which is a common thing. thats why we have guides and modders to fix most of the things the devs did)

5 out of 6 is still a good ratio.

My system isn't superior, it works better for me since I don't have the patience to screw with every game I get. You named some downsides, but I also get crappy ports and miss out on PC exclusive things like modding (and shiny graphics, but I don't care about that). Why can't people admit what's wrong with their systems? Comparatively 1 out of 6 consoles games not working is a major screw up, so someone who isn't familiar with PC BS would get annoyed, especially if they're not familiar with manual patching (or if it's recent game and a tiny bug maybe a patch doesn't exist yet).

 

[Kyr Knightbane]

I just bought a wired xbox 360 controller yesterday for my PC and I was surprised that it worked right away with no configuration necessary. Worked on Batman: AC, GTA 4, Just Cause 2, Saints Row: The Third (which actually gets me great FPS on my desktop on the highest settings, I guess it wasn't such a bad port after all), and Section 8: Prejudice.

Then I saw Sleeping Dogs was on sale. And I thought to myself "Hey! I played the demo of this on my laptop (which ran very well by the way just on medium settings) which is a HELL of a lot weaker than the desktop I just built! With my new controller I can not see why I shouldn't buy it now!"

So I did, and after 17 hours of downloading (can't afford better internet) I eagerly press the play button and am greeted by....

a black screen.

I checked my task manager to see if the game was working, and lo and behold it wasn't. It was not responding. So I end the process and try again after 5 minutes just to make sure my system just wasn't being slow (sometimes it does on the first time I run a game). I got the same result.

So I made sure my drivers were up to date, verified integrity of the game cache, and then tried again. Nope, still same result.

So I tried running it as administrator.

Nope.

Running it without Desktop Composition (I saw on a forum that that worked).

Nope.

Trying to put it in windowed mode so I could change the refresh rate (which is also apparently a problem).

Nope. Doesn't respond once that screen hits or even before.

So I went to the steam forums and Sleeping Dogs forums and saw only 2 other people having this problem. And NO ONE had a solution. I even went to an official wiki for Sleeping Dogs bugfixes and it says that the black screen on boot was an unresolved problem (unless you had an Nvidia GTX 570, which I don't have).

So once again. PC gaming has shown just how it makes people want to punch a baby seal. And as you can see from above, it can't be me at fault because I gave it hours of chances to find a solution. But the thing is I shouldn't HAVE to find a solution. The product I paid for should just WORK as intended.

And I know I can run it because I have:
Intel Pentium G860 3.0 ghz (dual core I know but exceeds minimum requirements).
Radeon HD 7750 1 gb GDDR5
8 gb Gskill 1066mhz Ram
Windows 7 64-bit

My vote is going with something in the download got corrupted. My PC specs are a few tiers below yours and i was able to run Sleeping Dogs without any issues. I say re-download the game or have steam force a file re-check.

Also, How has pc gaming failed you 'Again'? One game not working, granted while a pain, isn't cause to start ranting about how its failed you. Rather than bash the game or PC gaming as a whole, the smart thing to do would have been to say "Hey, Sleeping dogs isn't working, how about a fix guys?" I guarantee people would have responded much more amicably.

 

[DSK-]

The sad thing is that such problems are actually due to having poor ports of console games, rather than the fault of the PC architecture itself :/

Your best bet is to keep searching on the web and see if you can find any solutions to the problem, or try something yourself.

Welcome to PC gaming

 

[Vhite]

I was going to mention how laughably deluded PC elitist are against anything negative about PC, but it seems they have already arrived.

See, there is a reason to it. We elitist jerks have some experience with PC gaming already and so, if some game doesn't work, we can make it. And this is natural for us. There were plenty of games that just didn't work when I was starting with gaming but I doesnt happen any more.

Sacred 2 doesn't doesnt work with patches and is too broken without them? Find one of dozen patches that works well enough and doesnt crash. Too crappy PC to run Oblivion? Get Oldblivion mod.

There is always a solution, you just have to be elitist jerk to be able to always find it.

You hit the core of the delusion. You don't even admit the pain in the ass is worth it for the benefits, you deny the annoyance.

1. I dont deny anything.
2. Annoyance is subjective.

 

[Hawkeye21]

I dont get what you are arguing about... Aren't consoles just shitty outdated PCs with controllers? I've heard something about dem consoles holding gaming industry back or smth