Greetings Adventurer!

We would like to assist with your concern. Please try the following to see if they help:
- Try switching to DirectX 9 or DirectX 11 (if possible) by selecting the ‘Config’ button on the launcher.
- Update and reinstall the drivers for your graphics card and sound drivers (if applicable).
- Perform a clean boot by opening the task manager and select the 'Start up' Tab. Disable everything.
- Please be sure that Final Fantasy XIV AND Steam are installed to the same drive. Having both installed on the C: Drive can help with this issue.
- Please be sure to disable or remove any overlays (Discord, Steam, NVIDIA etc.) as they may interfere with startup.
- Make sure that the Windows OS is fully updated.
- Reinstall game once more. (As you are playing steam version, try uninstalling and reinstalling both the game and steam)
- Verify installation files.

If you do not see an improvement, please feel free to respond to this thread for further troubleshooting.

Thank you for contacting the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.