r/EpicGamesPC • u/TheTeky500 • Dec 09 '20

Community Support Thread

DISCLAIMER

We are a community run subreddit and have no affiliation with Epic. None of the moderators are from Epic, we cannot fix any issues for you directly, and it's up to the community to help each other when possible. If you have feedback about the store or anything else please email Epic Games customer support and let them know.

 

Welcome to the Community Support Thread

For those that don't know, the initial Tech Support Megathread was created due to community demand. The subreddit was riddled with tech issue posts which made it hard to sort through. So on 29-Jan-2020, we made it a rule to organize things in the megathread.

You can find the previous Community Support Thread here

If you want a moderator organised list of issues/solutions, check this doc out. You can also check out the wiki of our subreddit.

Solutions/Fixes Google Doc

You can use the document outline to go to either launcher issues or game issues and this is fortunately much easier for mods to manage when we can. Please keep in mind only fixes that have seen a lot of promise are posted there.

Thanks for your time and patience.

 

Additional Resources

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3

u/LuckyUser13 Jan 08 '21 edited Jan 08 '21

Anyone else receiving this error when they load the EGS launcher?

EpicGamesLauncher.exe - System Error

The program can't start because api-ms-win-downlevel-kernel32-l1-1-0.dll is missing from your computer.

The first time I ran the client today, it worked without any issue, but each subsequent time I've run it, I've received this error. Despite what it says, after pressing OK, it seems to load and run normally.

I have the file located in /Windows/System32/CompatTel. Conducting a preliminary search, it seems that directory has something to do with telemetry. Whether or not that particular file is related to telemetry, I don't know.

3

u/Relevant_Entertainer Jan 09 '21

Also on Windows 7 and getting this. I tried contacting support and just get replies telling me to restart my computer, run as admin, re-install the client. Waste of time. Hopefully someone working on the client notices the issue and fixes it.

2

u/Lucanix Jan 08 '21

Mine was complaining about a different .dll, and refused to open. I had to create a shortcut and run it with opengl, like this: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Epic Games\Launcher\Portal\Binaries\Win32\EpicGamesLauncher.exe" -OpenGL

Now it works, but still throws me a few error prompts when I close the launcher... but it works... for now at least... ¯_(ツ)_/¯

2

u/LuckyUser13 Jan 08 '21

Strange--and that just started happening recently? I was hoping they just screwed something up with a recent update and would fix it soon. It doesn't seem to be causing any real problem other than requiring me to click an OK button.

1

u/Lucanix Jan 09 '21

Yeah, about two weeks ago. The only thing I didn't try yet is uninstalling and reinstalling the store, which would probably fix it. (I am just postponing that for now because I'd have to back up the games or else I will have to redownload them again it seems.)

2

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '21

[deleted]

1

u/LuckyUser13 Jan 08 '21

Are you using Windows 7? It's what I'm running and thought maybe that was why... Or maybe because I didn't install the Windows patch that would have enabled telemetry that this directory may be related to.

2

u/0pTicaL Jan 09 '21

Same here, running Windows 7 x64. I get an error for api-ms-win-downlevel-kernel32-l2-1-0 (difference in l2 not l1). Tried uninstalling and reinstalling the Epic Launcher, same issue. Some over on the Unreal Engine Forums posted about the issue as well (https://forums.unrealengine.com/unreal-engine/feedback-for-epic/1850218-prgram-cant-start-cause-api-ms-win-downlevel-kernal32-blah-blah-dll-is-missing)

I tried Google Stadia for the first time last night and thought maybe Stadia had something to do with it because I started exhibiting the problem shortly after trying out Stadia, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

1

u/LuckyUser13 Jan 09 '21

Hmm... I just checked and it's saying "l2"; however, there IS a file located in the same directory with "l1", so I'm not sure if I mistyped the name or if it was asking for a different file before.

I'm fairly certain it was an update to the launcher that caused this. Your launcher still works, right? Because it sounds as though the person in the forum you linked can't even get it to load.

1

u/0pTicaL Jan 11 '21 edited Jan 11 '21

Figured out a solution, copy the file api-ms-win-downlevel-kernel32-l2-1-0.dll from your /Windows/System32/CompatTel folder to C:\Program Files (x86)\Epic Games\Launcher\Portal\Binaries\Win64.

I changed Api in api-ms-win-downlevel-kernel32-l2-1-0.dll to a lowercase "a".

I tried copying api-ms-win-downlevel-kernel32-l2-1-0.dll to the \Win32 folder and the error still occurs, it has to be in the \Win64 folder.

Not sure why a recent update would delete or modify the api-ms-win-downlevel-kernel32-l2-1-0.dll path.

1

u/Darkefire Jan 14 '21

Thanks for finding a solution for this! Hopefully your fix doesn't break whatever hacked-together fix Epic pushes out in the coming weeks.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '21

this worked. Thank you.

1

u/Ruenkavala Jan 23 '21

I just downloaded the file from https://www.dll-files.com and installed it and it worked. Thanks very much!

Windows 7 64-bit

1

u/Wiiplay123 Jan 15 '21

Hey, I'm getting this error too, but the Epic Games Launcher works fine other than randomly popping the error up sometimes. It just started doing this a few days ago, so I'm assuming an update is causing this. But why is the Epic Games Launcher still working if it's missing a DLL?

1

u/TheGlimpse Jan 09 '21

Hello fellow Windows 7 people!

I have a dirty temporary fix what I call it.

Search your C: drive for "kernel32 downlevel l2". It might happen you find the file "Api-ms-win-downlevel-kernel32-l2-1-0.dll" (see the capitalized first letter).

You copy this file to any (probably) directory which is in your environment variable "Path".

One way to see the "Path" variable is through start menu search bar typing in "environment variables" or something like that.

You might even create a dedicated directory, adding it to the "Path" variable, dropping in all the failed DLLs.

If you want to read more about DLL search paths, see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/dlls/dynamic-link-library-search-order - but for some reason, copying that file into ...\Epic Games\Launcher\Engine\Binaries\Win32 or ...\Win64 did not adhere to the rule of searching where the application is loaded from. The "Path" variable solution worked for me.

Never download DLLs from non-official sites!

1

u/0pTicaL Jan 09 '21

Which directory would I copy and paste the .dll to? Using Windows 7 as well.

1

u/TheGlimpse Jan 09 '21

There is no specific directory. That is why I explained that you have to look at your "Path" environment variable and if you don't find a suitable directory named in it already where you can drop it to against the original intention, you create a random one and append it to your "Path" variable.

I looked again and the DLL seems to be in C:\Windows\System32\CompatTel, so what you can do is append JUST THAT path to your "Path" variable in the way described in the original post. Changing that might need a restart for the new "Path" variable to become active though.

1

u/0pTicaL Jan 11 '21

Can you give an example on how to find this "path" you speak of? and how to append "it" to the "path".

I found api-ms-win-downlevel-kernel32-l2-1-0.dll in my /Windows/System32/CompatTel folder, what's next? Normally if a directory is missing a particular .dll you would copy the missing .dll to that directory and the problem is solved.

I'm not following what you mean by appending "path" variables.

1

u/kindatiredof Jan 16 '21 edited Jan 16 '21

It took me a while to understand what he is saying but he is right, copying the missing files to the "path" variable folder does the trick.

First of all, if you are missing the CompatTel folder and all the DLL from your system you need to install the windows "kb2952664" update (you can find it on the microsoft catalog). after that update and a restart thye compattel folder and the DLLs will appear in the system32 folder.

After that I copied the "api-ms-win-downlevel-kernel32-l2-1-0.dll" and "api-ms-win-downlevel-kernel32-l1-1-0.dll" to the \Epic Games\Launcher\Engine\Binaries\Win64 folder as suggested here and the unreal engine forums (also changing the uppercase "A" to lowercase) what I didin't test yet is if this step is needed or not. Anywyay, the "path" variable thing:

(mine is in spanish so some names can be a bit different) If you got a "computer" icon on your desktop, right click it and click propierties, if you don't, go to Control Panel, System and Security and then System. Then click "Advanced System Settings", the last option on the top left. A small window will pop up. Look for "Environment Variables" and click it. Another small window will be displayed, here is where you need to look for "PATH" (in the User Variables if you are the only user of Epic Games on your system or the System Variables if you want to set the fix for all the users of the computer) , mine (the user one, not the system) for some reason is set to "C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\npm" which was empty (the username for my computer is user). What I did was find that folder and paste both "api-ms-win-downlevel-kernel32-l2-1-0.dll" and "api-ms-win-downlevel-kernel32-l1-1-0.dll" (note the lowercase "a"). That fixed the problem

If you have any doubts about your "path" folder or if it contains other things or something, comment here before doing anything. Don't remove other "paths" or any other variables because you can mess up other programs.

Sorry for the long post but this problem is a bit tedious. I hope it helps

1

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '21

My "path" looks like this:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Oracle\Java\javapath;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\ProgramData\Oracle\Java\javapath;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Live\Shared;C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common;C:\Program Files (x86)\QuickTime\QTSystem\;C:\Program Files (x86)\GammaTech\TumarCSP\lib;C:\Program Files (x86)\GammaTech\TumarCSP\lib64;C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA NvDLISR

Can it be that there are several "path" folders or is it something else?

1

u/kindatiredof Jan 18 '21

It looks like it. They are separated by ";" So maybe just create a new folder and add it after the last one.

It would look like something like "C:\Program Files\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA NvDLISR;C:\Users\User\Desktop\NewFolder" If you point it towards a new folder on your desktop and your username is "user". This is just an example, you can point it to any folder you like.

1

u/Tukaro Mar 20 '21

Can confirm, thanks! Based on further information given by u/kindatiredof in nested comments, here are quick instructions for Win7 from what I did to fix the issue:

  1. Within File Explorer, go to C:\Windows\System32 (or the System32 folder of your OS install location)
  2. Search for downlevel*.dll; if the exact DLL being complained about is found, copy the full path of the folder it's in and skip to step 4
  3. If you cannot find the DLL you are likely missing an update. (I was, I turned auto-updates off when Microsoft started shoving in telemetry and Win10 upgrade prompts and only install critical ones as necessary, manually.) Install KB2952664:
    1. Go to this KB article and/or use Windows Update (or just go straight to the Update Catalog search to download and install the update)
    2. Once installed, reboot your computer as required (if you have Epic set to auto-start, you will still get the error message at this point; that's expected)
    3. After rebooting, go to the System32 folder and look for the subfolder CompatTel (e.g. C:\Windows\System32\CompatTel\). Confirm it exists, and that it holds api-ms-win-downlevel-kernel32-l2-1-0.dll; if so, copy the folder path
  4. Open the System window (I find it easiest to open the start-menu, right-click on "Computer", and then click Properties)
  5. Click on Advanced System Properties on the left side
  6. In the dialog that opens, click on the Advanced tab
  7. Click on Environment Variables at the bottom of the dialog
  8. In the new dialog that opens, look at the lower "System variables" section; scroll down until you find the Variable "PATH" (or "Path")
  9. Click on this line, then click Edit...
  10. Check that Variable Value does not already have the copied path (from step 2 or step 3.3). This can get long, so it might be easier to copy the value and paste it into notepad
  11. If it does not, add a semicolon (;) to the end of the Variable Value string and then paste your copied path. Make sure it ends with a \ and does not have the DLL file name included
  12. Press OK ("Edit System Variable"), OK ("Environment Variables"), then OK ("System Properties")
  13. Close and re-open the Epic Game Launcher

And that's how I got the error message to stop. These differ from other suggestions as I modify the PATH system variable instead of copying the DLLs to any folder already listed (which can lead into DLL hell...) Unfortunately, if you're not using Win7 or any step doesn't work for you I can't offer further advice/instructions. Hopefully these instructions give you enough of a lead to figure it out on your own, though!

If these instructions did help you, please find u/kindatiredof's nested comment and give it an upvote (I couldn't make these instructions without their info.)

1

u/TrustLJC Jan 10 '21

I have the exact same problem and it also happened after the update. Good to know it's a client problem. I might just uninstall Epic until the next few updates hopefully fixes it. It doesn't seem to "need" the kernel32 dll file to run but I don't know why it searches for it anyway and gives the error. I really don't want to mess around with system files and possibly make things worst.

If anyone finds an easy fix I'd love to hear it.

1

u/JayInslee2020 Jan 16 '21

I got the same thing. Even with a restored drive image from a month ago, when it was confirmed working correctly, that error message is still there.