6 Ways to Fix Once Human Not Launching on a Windows PC

Once Human is still a new game for which many players have reported startup issues on Reddit, the Steam forum, and elsewhere. A player’s Reddit post reported Once Human not starting like this: “I downloaded Once Human setup from the official website now after downloading when I click the ‘start game’ button nothing happens. The game doesn’t launch.” Players have also reported that OH gets stuck on its loading screen or shows a white screen when they try starting it. This is how to fix Once Human not launching on Windows 11/10 PCs.

Run Steam as an Administrator

Some OH players have confirmed running Steam with admin rights can fix Once Human not launching. Doing this gives the Steam client software full system permissions rather than the game itself. You can set your Steam software to run with administrative rights like this.

1. Click your Steam desktop shortcut with the right mouse button to select Properties.
2. Select Compatibility to access that setting’s tab.
3. Click the box for Run this program as an administrator to enable that setting.
   
   

   The Run this program as an administrator

4. Now select Apply and OK to set the compatibility options.

Verify the Integrity of Once Human’s Files

Steam includes a file repair troubleshooting option you can select for all games installed with that gaming client. Selecting that option could repair some corrupted files causing Once Human to crash at startup. This Steam verification page tells you how users can verify the integrity of game files for all titles installed with Valve’s gaming client.

The Verify integrity of game files option

Try deleting patch files as an additional extra for this potential resolution. You can do that by clicking Browse on the same Installed Files tab in Steam that includes the Verify integrity of game files button. Type patch in File Explorer’s search box with the Once Human folder open. Select all patch files found in the Once Human folder and click Delete to erase them.

Patch files for Once Human

Disable the Overlays in Steam and GeForce Experience

Although overlays have useful options and features for games, it’s not uncommon for them to cause gaming crashing issues. It has been confirmed by some OH players that disabling the overlays in Steam and GeForce Experience can fix Once Human not launching. This is how you can disable the GeForce Experience and Steam overlays.

GeForce Experience

1. Right-click the NVIDIA logo in your system tray and select the GeForce Experience option.
2. Click the Settings (cog) button.
3. Select General if that tab doesn’t automatically open.
4. Click the In-Game Overlay setting to turn it off.
   
   

   The In-Game Overlay option

Steam

1. Launch the Steam program.
2. Click Steam and Settings on the menu.
3. Select In Game on the Steam Settings window.
   
   

   The In Game tab in Steam

4. Toggle off the Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game option.

Set a DirectX 11 Launch Option

Setting a DirectX 11 launch option for OH has worked for some players who’ve needed to fix Once Human not launching. You can apply this potential fix by entering a DX11 launch parameter in the Launch Options box for Once Human like this.

1. Open Steam and click on Library inside that gaming client.
2. Right-click Once Human to select a Properties context menu option for the game.
3. Input -dx11 inside the Launch Options box.
   
   

   The Launch Options box

4. Try playing Once Human with the DX11 launch parameter. If that doesn’t work, try the -dx12 launch parameter setting for Once Human instead.

Unplug Unnecessary External Control Devices From Your PC

Do you have any external joystick, foot pedal, gamepad, or gearbox controls plugged into your PC when you try to play Once Human? If you do, unplugging those external devices from your PC could fix Once Human not launching. A passage on the Once Human FAQ page says this about external control devices:

Certain controllers, such as pedals and gearbox controls for driving games, or joysticks for flying games, may cause compatibility errors with Once Human. If you have any such controllers attached, try disconnecting them.

This quoted passage confirms some control devices can cause Once Human to crash. Furthermore, players have also confirmed they’ve fixed Once Human not starting by unplugging foot pedals and joysticks from their PCs. So, try starting Once Human with only keyboard and mouse peripherals connected.

Update Graphical Drivers

If you haven’t updated your PC’s graphics driver in a while, try installing the latest driver for your GPU. Outdated graphics drivers can crash games in many ways when starting or playing them. So, it’s often advisable to update graphics card drivers for troubleshooting a multitude of gaming issues. This is how you can update a GPU driver on Windows 11/10 PCs.

1. First, check what graphics card your PC has by pressing Windows logo + R, entering dxdiag, and clicking OK. Select Display in the DirectX Diagnostic Tool window to see what graphics card your PC has.
2. Open the NVIDIA or AMD pages for downloading graphics drivers in your web-browsing software.
3. Select your PC’s GPU and click Find or Submit.
   
   

   The NVIDIA driver download page

4. Click Download for the latest graphical driver compatible with your PC’s GPU.
   
   

   The Download option for a NVIDIA graphics driver

5. Go into Explorer to open the folder containing the downloaded NVIDIA or AMD graphics driver package.
6. Double-click the setup file for the driver to bring up an installer window for it.
7. Go through the setup window to select installation options for the graphics driver. If installing an NVIDIA driver, select the Custom > Perform a clean installation option.
8. Restart Windows 11/10 to finish.

Other Possible Ways to Fix Once Human Not Launching on a Windows PC

The troubleshooting methods above are more widely confirmed ways to fix Once Human not launching. However, these extra potential fixes might also work for some players.

• Set Once Human to run with a dedicated graphics card by selecting High performance for that game in the Windows Settings app.
• Reinstall the Once Human game.
• Add the Once Human game EXE file to your antivirus utility’s exclusion list.
• Select the Disable Steam Input option in Steam’s Controller tab for Once Human.
• Download the x64 and x86 Visual C++ Redistributable packs for Visual Studio 2015-2022 from this Microsoft page. Double-click the downloaded Visual C++ Redistributable package files to open their windows and select Install.

Many players have been able to fix Once Human not launching on Windows PCs by applying the potential resolutions above. However, there could still be more ways to fix that game when it doesn’t start. Players who’ve discovered other ways to fix Once Human not starting not covered above are most welcome to share their solutions in the comments below.