Cannot launch game

I am having the same issue.

I downloaded the game via Stream and it loads to the loading screen with the 2 faces on opposite sides, the screen goes to black and game cursor appears, then crash to desktop.

I reloaded the game and same results. Verified files via stream, nothing. Video driver is up to date. 

64.bit Windows 10
i7-2600 3.4 ghz 
8GM ram
AMD Radeon HD5700 4gb

Any suggestions?

no idea

have you done the things listen in support

https://forums.galciv3.com/452855

You should submit a ticket,  sometimes they are fast, sometimes slow but usually helpful

have same issue .. watch as loads and reaches 133800K and stops will then drop back to 18852K and hang there forever.  Did the steam cache operation and the game loads but when exit and try to go back in same thing happens.  Clean cache again and can play again.  1st time had 14 files 2nd time had 8 .. 2nd time was the next day and the files with the timestamp for being bad were the .bin ones.  will try later and see if run into it again .. all can say is something has it's sticky fingers in my games lately.

Running win10 64 bit and every update something gives hiccups.  So would recommend cleaning the cache at least twice just for luck.

OK tried again and still get the hang .. clean it in steam and can now play .. still showed 8 files as the problem .. oh well guess i'll just clean it every time.  Now not saying it is the game as use mods and the cause could be there.  Have one more test to do on this as d/l some ships from steam before tried will not do same and try to load tomorrow and see what happens.

I don't even get a loading bar. It just briefly shows a spinning circle instead of the mouse, and nothing else happens.

It's been two weeks since I sent a report ticket and I have heard nothing. I have had many positive experiences with Stardock with GalCiv2, which is the only reason why I still have any hope.

I and many others are unable to run your game with some of the most common operating systems and hardware used by gamers, Stardock; This product is unacceptable as-is.

I got a refund and will check back in a little while and give it a try again. I am patient but after a couple hours of trying to get a game to work and im annoyed as i would rather be doing something eles

I had this problem and posted about it here: https://forums.galciv3.com/471361/page/1/#3589185

I fixed it by downloading the Microsoft redistributable file linked in the support page here: https://esupport.stardock.com/index.php?/default_import/Knowledgebase/Article/View/496/161/general-galactic-civilizations-iii-troubleshooting

I ran the redist file, selected repair, and the game started running without any problem afterwards. Maybe give it a try?

Hey Ender and anyone else experiencing this issue,

This issue is often caused by an issue with your system, rather than an issue with GC3 itself. Often times, it can be a missing dependency (possibly the missing redist mentioned by Visue in the above post) or permissions issue that results in the inability to launch the game. That said, Ender, I actually sent a response to your ticket back on the 10th of Sept. and since we did not receive a response, our ticketing system automatically closed your ticket.

I've just re-opened your ticket and resent my last response. Please check your email and let me know if the recommendations help resolve the issue you're experiencing.

Thanks!

Some combination of the patch 1.31 and trying the Microsoft redistributable again seems to have fixed whatever the issue was. Thank you for your attention to this issue.