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How To Fix The Precinct Not Launching Issue

By / Tech, The Precinct / May 16, 2025

The Precinct game refuses to launch for a few users, which is causing a lot of frustration. However, there are a few fixes you can try.

Picture of The Precinct poster
The Precinct poster (Image via Kwalee)

The Precinct is an action-adventure title launched on May 13, 2025. The protagonist is a police officer who must prevent crime and protect the city. The gameplay mechanics are fantastic, and it is quite fun to play. However, The Precinct refuses to launch for a few users. Launching the game shows a busy cursor on the screen, but nothing actually happens. Without a crash or an error message, people are finding it hard to find out why the game is not launching.

In this article, we are providing a few solutions you can try to fix the game and help it launch without any issues.

Note: Some aspects of the article are subjective and reflect the writer’s opinions. Also, the fixes provided below are not guaranteed to work.

What Are Possible Fixes for the Precinct Not Launching Issue?

Picture of Police officers in The Precinct
Police officers in The Precinct (Image via Kwalee)

There are a myriad of issues that could prevent The Precinct from launching. You can restart your PC and see if that helps, but if it doesn’t, it’s time we look at some actual fixes that could possibly solve the issue. You will find these fixes below:

1) Run the Game As Administrator

Some games require administrator-level permission to save files in the Documents folder, like “Progression Save Data.” Running the game as an admin should resolve this or any other issues. To run the game as an administrator, right-click on The Precinct’s shortcut on the desktop and select “Run as Administrator.” The game should run just fine after that.

If you don’t have a shortcut to the game on the desktop, find the game’s executable file from where it was installed and right-click on that file to get the “Run as Administrator” option.

2) Check the Integrity of the Game Files on Steam

Corrupt game files could be the reason behind the launch issues of The Precinct, which could go away if the files were fixed. Here’s how to verify and fix the game files:

  • Launch Steam and find The Precinct entry in your game library.
  • Next, select the game from the library and click on the Gear icon on the right side of the screen.
  • Next, click Properties and select Installed Files.
  • Click the Verify integrity of game files button and let the process complete.
  • Once the process is done, launch the game again.

3) Update Your GPU Driver

PIcture of The Nvidia GPU driver download page
The Nvidia GPU driver download page (Image via Nvidia)

Installing the latest driver could fix the launch issues in The Precinct. The newer driver could have some potential fixes that could solve the launch issues. Use the links below to download and install the latest driver for your GPU:

4) Force the Game To Run on Vulkan

The Precinct runs on DirectX 11 by default, but we can force it to run using the Vulkan API. Follow these steps on how to do it:

  • Go to the DXVK GitHub page and download the latest release.
  • Extract everything and copy the files inside the 64-bit folder of the extracted DXVK folder.
  • Copy the d3d11.dll and dxgi.dll files and paste them into the game’s main folder, where the game’s exe file is located.
  • Relaunch the game, and it will start using the Vulkan API.

5) Restart the Graphics Driver if There Was a Crash

If there was a crash before the launch issue appeared for The Precinct, then the graphics drivers may have also crashed. You will need to restart the graphics driver before launching the game again. Press the CTRL + SHIFT + WIN + B key combo simultaneously, and the graphics driver should restart.

Final Thoughts

The above solutions should fix the game’s launch issues. Try each fix in the order provided above for the best result. However, if all of them fail, you will have to reinstall the game completely.

We provide the latest news and “How To’s” for Tech content. Meanwhile, you can check out the following articles related to PC GPUs, CPU and GPU comparisons, mobile phones, and more:

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