Launcher is not launching the game
- Thread starter earth-traveller
- Start date
Now that is a bizzare fix
Clearing cache fix it for me too o7
Brilliant fix. Thanks for the suggestion.
Min ED launcher (github) will launch the game.
Holy moly. Good find. That fixed it for me as well.
I'm in - this time with one of my Steam accounts - without deleting any of my temp internet files... 
Go to elite dangerous\products\elite dangerous odyssey 64 \logs and delete the latest logs . close and run steam as usual. For me run fine.
I have it mapped to /dev/null, i.e. writing logs is automatically ignored (to save SSD). But I had the problem. So you got lucky timing, probably.
Server login issues | 02 May 2025
Greeting Commanders, If you are currently stuck not being able to launch, please clear your Temporary Internet Files via the following steps. Ensure your ED launcher is closed Navigate to Windows Control Panel Select Network and Internet Select Internet Options On the General tab, in the...
Some hints in how to change the launcher and fix it:
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHq8rcRctuM
oh boy , that was the silliest bug I EVER saw. worked like a charm for me.
back to business
Thanks, it worked
My launcher is now functional again.
Launcher is working again (without doing anything)
The fix was done at Frontier's end, Phil said they were working on it. Login server went down, people are saying.
In summary:
If you click on the launcher's "play" button, which goes gray for a few seconds and then gets re-enabled again, and the game itself is not starting (the "play" button re-enables itself when the launcher detects that the game proper has closed), try clicking on "manage" and "validate files". This often fixes the problem.
Note: When you do this, it may sometimes look like it's stuck at 0% (or sometimes at 100%), but this is usually normal, and just a design flaw in the launcher code. Just wait until it's finished. It may take some minutes, but usually will get there in the end, even if it looks like it's doing nothing. (The same is true when you click on the "update" button when it has replaced the "play" button.) Shouldn't usually take more than about 5 minutes, though. Maybe 10, depending on how many files it has downloaded.
If, however, you are getting the error "incorrect manifest checksum" when you do that, then try deleting the temporary downloaded files in the Windows internet cache, and then try the "validate files" button in the launcher again.
To do that, search for "internet options" in the search bar of the Windows taskbar, and in the dialog that opens up select "delete..." and then "delete":
Note: Some people are reporting the game still not launching even after meticulously having done all that. Unfortunately I don't have any further knowledge about this. (For me these have always helped in the past, when this has happened.)
If you click on the launcher's "play" button, which goes gray for a few seconds and then gets re-enabled again, and the game itself is not starting (the "play" button re-enables itself when the launcher detects that the game proper has closed), try clicking on "manage" and "validate files". This often fixes the problem.
Note: When you do this, it may sometimes look like it's stuck at 0% (or sometimes at 100%), but this is usually normal, and just a design flaw in the launcher code. Just wait until it's finished. It may take some minutes, but usually will get there in the end, even if it looks like it's doing nothing. (The same is true when you click on the "update" button when it has replaced the "play" button.) Shouldn't usually take more than about 5 minutes, though. Maybe 10, depending on how many files it has downloaded.
If, however, you are getting the error "incorrect manifest checksum" when you do that, then try deleting the temporary downloaded files in the Windows internet cache, and then try the "validate files" button in the launcher again.
To do that, search for "internet options" in the search bar of the Windows taskbar, and in the dialog that opens up select "delete..." and then "delete":
Note: Some people are reporting the game still not launching even after meticulously having done all that. Unfortunately I don't have any further knowledge about this. (For me these have always helped in the past, when this has happened.)