While we really do hope everyone will be able to enjoy the game, there are always cases where the game may not launch or run correctly under certain software environments, hardware combinations, or otherwise.
Please follow these steps to resolve your issue:
1 ) Check the game’s system requirements
Please make sure you meet the minimum requirements for the game, outlined here; if you do not meet the minimum requirements for the game, this may result in poor framerate, or the game not running.
Please note that some high end integrated graphics chips and modern laptop integrated GPUs may work, but have not been tested, nor are they officially supported by Capcom. If you’re using a multi-GPU setup such as NVIDIA’s SLI or ATI’s Crossfire technologies, we recommend experimenting with disabling these settings, as they may cause compatibility issues with the game.
If you are using a laptop with a dedicated graphics card, we recommend disabling your integrated graphics via the BIOS settings prior to launching the game. For more information on accessing your BIOS, please see your laptop/motherboard manufacturer manual.
Capcom USA does not warrant nor officially provide technical support for PCs that do not meet the official, minimum system requirements.
2 ) Add the game’s files and folders to your anti-virus software’s exception list
Some launching issues may be attributed to certain Anti-Virus software preventing the game executable from launching due to a false-positive error. We recommend users add all of the following files and folders to the Anti-virus and Firewall exclusion list to prevent this issue. If these files and folders were already added previously, try removing them from the exclusion list and re-adding them.
To quickly access the following folders, press Windows Key + R then copy and paste the folder URL below.
re4.exe Location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Resident Evil 4
Steam.exe Location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam
Steam AppData Location: C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Steam
For a guide on adding exceptions to your anti-virus software, please visit one of the following links:
(Please note that for Bitdefender, you will need to also add the .exe file to the program’s Whitelist. To do this, do the following:)
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Open Bitdefender
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Go to the Protection tab
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Click “View Feature”
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Click the gear icon inside the “Advanced Thread Defense” box
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Select “Add applications to the whitelist”
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Browse and navigate to the game's .exe file
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Once the .exe file is added, close Bitdefender and relaunch the game
3 ) Give Administrator Privileges to Steam and the game
Some users can get the game running properly by running Steam.exe in administrator mode. This can be done by right-clicking on the .exe file and selecting “Run as administrator.” If that doesn’t work, try running the game’s .exe file in administrator mode as well.
4 ) Update your Video/Graphics Drivers and Windows Operating System
Try updating your video card drivers, as oftentimes outdated drivers can cause a variety of issues ranging anywhere from in-game graphical problems, to the game not starting, and more.
For the latest Nvidia drivers, click here.
For the latest AMD drivers, click here.
Additionally, please ensure that Windows Update has been run from the Control Panel and that all the latest updates have been installed on your system.
If you still experience issues, you may want to try performing a clean installation of the video driver set. This will remove any extraneous driver DLL files or game profiles that existed with the previous driver installation.
To do a clean video driver install, many enthusiasts use a third-party program called Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU), which completely removes components that were part of the original driver installation package.
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Run DDU and uninstall old video driver.
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Install the latest OEM video card driver and reboot your PC.
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Run the latest DirectX installer package and reboot your PC.
5 ) Check your monitor refresh rate
Due to its inherent design, Resident Evil 4 on PC is hard-coded to run at 30 or 60 frames per second. Most laptop screens and monitors run in 60Hz mode, but some of them may enforce a minimum of 75Hz or a maximum of 59Hz, and do not allow 60Hz operation via Windows / Nvidia Control Panel / AMD Catalyst.
To see if your screen allows operation in 60Hz, go to your Control Panel, go to "Display" and then "Screen Resolution." On this screen, select "Advanced Settings" and under the "Monitor" tab, select "60 Hertz" for your Screen refresh rate and click 'Apply' and 'OK'. Try running Resident Evil 4 after doing this.
While not officially supported by Capcom, some users with gaming laptops and/or monitors that force 75Hz or 59Hz were able to properly launch and run Resident Evil 4 on Steam by using a third-party program called GeDoSaTo.
Please note that since this is a third-party application, we are unable to offer support for it and have to caution that this is a “try at your own risk” option. After installing this program, users can launch Resident Evil 4 with the program running and the software will attempt to render the game at a higher resolution, while down-sampling it to your laptop screen’s native resolution.
While less than ideal, another solution would be to connect an external monitor that supports forced 60Hz to your computer. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
If your laptop has a G-sync compatible monitor. G-sync is an Nvidia technology that supports dynamic variable refresh rates. You should be able to lock your G-sync monitor’s refresh rate via the Nvidia Control Panel. There’s a dedicated section for G-Sync. Try locking it to 60hz and then run the game.
6 ) Disable touch-enabled devices
If you have any touch-enabled devices plugged into your computer, or if your computer has a touch screen, then please also stop the Windows Service "Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service" by performing the following steps:
- Open Task Manager.
- Go to Services.
- Identify Touch Keyboard and Handwriting Panel Service (TabletInputService).
- Stop the service.
- Launch RE4.
7 ) Verify the game’s cache in Steam
Try verifying the game's cache in Steam. You can do so by following the steps outlined in this Steam support article (re-posted below). This may find missing or damaged files that need to be repaired, even if you've just installed the game. You may also try temporarily disabling your anti-virus while verifying the cache or launching the game, as on occasion anti-virus programs may flag games or the files necessary to play them as a virus.
To verify the game’s cache, follow these steps:
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Restart your computer and launch Steam
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From the “Library” section, right-click on the game and select “Properties” from the menu.
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Select the “Local files” tab and click the “Verify integrity of game files...” button.
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Steam will verify the game's files - this process may take several minutes.
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Important: One or more files may fail to verify. This is normal for most Steam games. The files that fail to verify are local configuration files that should not be replaced as part of this process. You can safely ignore this message.
Still having trouble?
If you continue to run into issues with the game, please provide the following information and files:
DxDiag report:
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Open a "Run" dialog in Windows. This can either be done by typing "run" into Start Search, or by holding the Windows key and pressing "R." (Either method works in Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, and 10.)
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Type "dxdiag" (with or without quotes) into the box that comes up.
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From the DirectX Diagnostic Tool window, wait for the tool to gather the information it needs, then click "Save All Information..." which will ask you to save a text file, named "DxDiag.txt" by default. Save this file somewhere where it will be easy to find, then attach it in your response.
We apologize for any inconvenience. If you have any additional questions or feedback, please let us know.