Won't start at all!

[Maysasa]

So... I've checked that everything is in order, I've done all the things that might help the problem, but nothing has worked so far..

The error message I get, when I try to open SOMA is "Couldn't start game (unknown error)".

I run Windows 10..

I contacted Steam support but they told me to come here, so I really hope that someone has the answer that I need


Maysasa

[plutomaniac]

Is that a steam message or game message? If it's a steam one then it's the clients/computers problem. Try executing the game directly from the installation directory, the nonsteam executable.

[Guest]

Is that a steam message or game message? If it's a steam one then it's the clients/computers problem. Try executing the game directly from the installation directory, the nonsteam executable.

It's a Steam message. I'm on my way to work, but I'll try to locate the game in it's installation directory when I come home!

I'll keep you updated!

[Guest]

Sooo... I found the games directory... It has a "Soma" and a "Soma_NoSteam", and I've tried them both.
My computer comes up with a message saying:
"This app can't run on your pc
If you want to search for a version for your pc, you'll have to ask the software publisher"

So what do I do now?! :-(

[plutomaniac]

Are you using a 32-bit (x86) operating system? The game requires x64.

[Guest]

Yes, I'm using a 32-bit operating system... Is that what is causing this error, and if so, is there any way around it?

[Romulator]

Yes, I'm using a 32-bit operating system... Is that what is causing this error, and if so, is there any way around it?

Unfortunately not. SOMA requires a x64 system in order to run, since an x86 (32-bit) system can only utilize 2GB of RAM at maximum. SOMA requires 4GB minimum to run, as stated in the System Requirements.

https://www.frictionalgames.com/forum/thread-30644.html

[Mudbill]

32-bit can support up to (I believe) 3.7 GB of RAM, and Windows uses (again, I believe) minimum of 512 MB. Still, it will leave you lacking required RAM. I know it is possible to run on a 32-bit OS, but the reason they put 64-bit as a requirement was because it needs 4GB of RAM. It might not always use that much at all times, but if you don't have enough, you will crash, which is why 32-bit is unsupported.

[plutomaniac]

As Rom said, x86 operating systems can assign a maximum of 2GB per application even if the whole OS can utilize more. There are some executable tricks to assign a little more but that's irrelevant to the issue here. The real issue here is that the SOMA executable is a native x64 application so it cannot run under x86 operating systems. Thus the "This app can't run on your pc" error message.

[Mudbill]

Ah, right. Perhaps they updated it to hard-require 64-bit because I don't think it was like this originally. I remember FG mentioning it was possible (not supported though) to run on x86. I guess it's not possible any longer.