A Steam game launcher fix

TL;DR:

Navigate to the steam install folder (example. C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\FINAL FANTASY XIV Online), delete the 'etc' folder, restart the launcher through Steam. Unfortunately as a side effect this might make the entire game re-download

For some context, I had previously downloaded the game as a free trial user and had converted to using Steam. While Mogstation showed that I was paying through Steam as a service account, I had never seen a prompt on my launcher to actually link to Steam. After some looking around i saw that the etc folder in the install directory had an install.def file which just had the text freetrial in it. I deleted the etc directory with the file, restarted the launcher, went through the account linking process and was successfully able to start the patch. Unfortunately as a side effect this might make the entire game re-download.

This seems to be working for me, though as you said, I'm now re-downloading the whole game. I did finally get prompted to link my steam and SE accounts though, so that's progress... I'll update in 2 hours once the game is re-downloaded.

Note that I tried to replace the etc folder after linking my accounts to hopefully prevent the re-download, but it didn't work. Would be great to know if putting something besides "freetrial" in "install.def" would help here..

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Originally Posted by Brinkofdawn

TL;DR:

Navigate to the steam install folder (example. C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\FINAL FANTASY XIV Online), delete the 'etc' folder, restart the launcher through Steam. Unfortunately as a side effect this might make the entire game re-download

For some context, I had previously downloaded the game as a free trial user and had converted to using Steam. While Mogstation showed that I was paying through Steam as a service account, I had never seen a prompt on my launcher to actually link to Steam. After some looking around i saw that the etc folder in the install directory had an install.def file which just had the text freetrial in it. I deleted the etc directory with the file, restarted the launcher, went through the account linking process and was successfully able to start the patch. Unfortunately as a side effect this might make the entire game re-download.

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i dont have an ETC file so i cant delete it

Yeah, me neither. It´s supposed to be in the root folder of FFXIV but I don´t have one. There´s only the BOOT and GAME folder. An etc folder isn´t even found somewhere within them either.

Everything was alright for me after the update. The last time I played was last night. Now today I get an error message in all different languages in the Launcher.



And I don't have the 'etc' folder so I have nothing to delete. SQUARE ENIX PLEASE HELP

Everything was alright for me after the update. The last time I played was last night. Now today I get an error message in all different languages in the Launcher.



And I don't have the 'etc' folder so I have nothing to delete. SQUARE ENIX PLEASE HELP


P:S I have the Steam Version.



Update: I'm not sure if it's because I have been persistently relaunching the Launcher repeatedly but now I can Log in normally. But Please Square Enix, Please fix this issue from reoccurring, please and thank you.

If anyone has this issue just recently after new updates. Go to your steam, right click on the game from library, check properties, browse the game files - go to boot, change properties of the boot.exes (i honestly changed all even the updaters) to run application as admin, save, and run again from steam. Do not try to run without steam directly opening it from the folder (i tried that), it will not locate your subscription.