Game Does Not Launch While Steam Is Running

Date of issue: June 28th - present (similar issue before June 28th, but it was not as severe)
Time of issue: Any
Frequency: Only when Steam is running.

Steps:
1. Open Steam Library.
2. Right-click FFXIV and select Play.
3. Launcher window opens, log in.
4. Click "Play."
5. Black screen with Windows wait cursor. Square Enix logo never appears and the application exits as soon as any button is pressed. Otherwise, it will hang for hours at the black screen.

Workaround:
1. Open Steam Library.
2. Right-click FFXIV and select Play.
3. Launcher window opens, log in.
4. Right click Steam icon in system tray and select "Exit Steam." Steam displays a notification that says "Waiting for Final Fantasy Online to shut down..." with a greyed out "Exit Now" button and a functional cancel button.
5. Wait a few seconds, Steam exits and the FFXIV Launcher is still running with a popup notification that says "Exit Final Fantasy XIV?" Select "no."
6. Click "Play". The game then loads correctly.
7. Start Steam again while FFXIV is running. Game continues to run with no issues.

Platform: Steam on Windows 10

Additional Information:

• Similar issue occurred before the expansion dropped (blank screen and subsequent crash). However, before the patch, this would only happen the first 1-2 times; the game would reliably load on either the 2nd or 3rd attempt.
• The game boots normally on my Surface tablet, which is also running Windows 10. This leads me to believe the issue is related to the specific hardware configuration on the desktop (system info included below).
• I could find no relevant errors in Event Viewer. There is nothing in the Application log about FFXIV crashing and no error notifications about DirectX.
• I tried updating drivers, reinstalling FFXIV, reinstalling Steam, updating Windows, verifying Windows files, installing the DirectX end user runtime libraries and running the launcher/game as administrator.

-=-=-=-=- System Information -=-=-=-=-
MyDocument C:\Users\$USER\Documents
FINAL FANTASY XIV Online C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\FINAL FANTASY XIV Online
ProxyEnable 0
ProxyServer unspecified
ProxyOverride unspecified


-=-=-=-=-=-=- System Information -=-=-=-=-=-=-

SYSTEM_OS Windows 10 Home 64-bit (6.2, Build 9200) (19041.vb_release.191206-1406)
SYSTEM_CPU AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Six-Core Processor (12 CPUs), ~3.4GHz
SYSTEM_CORE_NUM SYSTEM_CORE_LOGIC 12 SYSTEM_CORE_PHYSICS 6
SYSTEM_BIOS 4403
SYSTEM_LANGUAGE English (Regional Setting: English)
SYSTEM_MEMORY 16296.730MB
SYSTEM_VIRTUAL_MEMORY 134217727.875MB
SYSTEM_PAGE_FILE 27560.730MB
SYSTEM_STORAGE C:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 930.883GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 118.913GB
SYSTEM_STORAGE E:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 1863.000GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 191.775GB
SYSTEM_STORAGE F:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 1863.000GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 716.096GB
SYSTEM_STORAGE L:\ SYSTEM_HARDDISK_DRIVE SYSTEM_TOTALDISC_SPACE 683.594GB SYSTEM_FREEDISC_SPACE 72.957GB
SYSTEM_DIRECTX_VERSION DirectX 12
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DEVICE \\.\DISPLAY1
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_CHIP NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_MAKER NVIDIA
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VRAM 5966.000 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_SHARED_VRAM 8148.365 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DAC Integrated RAMDAC
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DISPLAY_MODE 2560 x 1440 (32 bit) (59Hz)
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvmdi.inf_amd64_206887a3f4130317\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvmdi.inf_amd64_206887a3f4130317\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvmdi.inf_amd64_206887a3f4130317\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvmdi.inf_amd64_206887a3f4130317\nvldumdx.dll
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_VERSION 32.00.0015.5612
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_DATE 6/24/2024 20:00:00
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
3.0
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_PIXEL_SHADER 3.0
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VERTEX_TEXTURE SYSTEM_SUPPORT
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DEVICE \\.\DISPLAY2
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_CHIP NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_MAKER NVIDIA
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VRAM 5966.000 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_SHARED_VRAM 8148.365 MB
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DAC Integrated RAMDAC
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DISPLAY_MODE 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (60Hz)
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvmdi.inf_amd64_206887a3f4130317\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvmdi.inf_amd64_206887a3f4130317\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvmdi.inf_amd64_206887a3f4130317\nvldumdx.dll,C:\WINDOWS\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\nvmdi.inf_amd64_206887a3f4130317\nvldumdx.dll
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_VERSION 32.00.0015.5612
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_DATE 6/24/2024 20:00:00
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_DRIVER_LANGUAGE English
3.0
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_PIXEL_SHADER 3.0
SYSTEM_GRAPHICS_VERTEX_TEXTURE SYSTEM_SUPPORT
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

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