Game error on new PC, unable to play FAF

UrbanArtillery

I have been going in circles with Chat GPT trying to fix this but clearly, neither Chatgpt or I know what is going on. I bought a new laptop for gaming and wanted to be sure that FAF worked before installing other games. I cant get past "Play Offline", I keep getting this error

magge

Can you start SC via Steam/GOG?

UrbanArtillery

Yes, no problems starting and playing SC via steam

magge

What are the steps you have done so far?

Checked if security blocked anything?
...

Download FAF
Install
...

UrbanArtillery

Uninstalled & reinstalled the game roughly 5 times trying to trouble shoot it with Chat GPT, checked the FAF game location, maps and mods folder, and directory. I even reset the enitre PC to factory settings last night after mutiple failed attemps to fix

UrbanArtillery

Ill be back on around 8pm tonight, any help would be appreciated. FAF is one of the few RTS that I enjoy.

magge

Well, if you can access that option menu, then you could get past your login-screen succefully, which you claimed is the issue. Or do you encounter any other issue?

UrbanArtillery

now i get this...

Client Version: 2025.11.2
java.io.IOException: Cannot run program "C:\ProgramData\FAForever\bin\ForgedAlliance.exe" (in directory "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Supreme Commander Forged Alliance\bin"): CreateProcess error=2, The system cannot find the file specified
at java.base/java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(ProcessBuilder.java:1112)
at java.base/java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(ProcessBuilder.java:1046)
at com.faforever.client.fa.ForgedAllianceLaunchService.launch(ForgedAllianceLaunchService.java:161)
at com.faforever.client.fa.ForgedAllianceLaunchService.launchOfflineGame(ForgedAllianceLaunchService.java:49)
at com.faforever.client.game.GameRunner.lambda$startOffline$1(GameRunner.java:556)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$AsyncSupply.run(CompletableFuture.java:1789)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$AsyncSupply.exec(CompletableFuture.java:1781)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinTask.doExec(ForkJoinTask.java:511)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool$WorkQueue.topLevelExec(ForkJoinPool.java:1450)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool.runWorker(ForkJoinPool.java:2019)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinWorkerThread.run(ForkJoinWorkerThread.java:187)
Caused by: java.io.IOException: CreateProcess error=2, The system cannot find the file specified
at java.base/java.lang.ProcessImpl.create(Native Method)
at java.base/java.lang.ProcessImpl.<init>(ProcessImpl.java:485)
at java.base/java.lang.ProcessImpl.start(ProcessImpl.java:146)
at java.base/java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(ProcessBuilder.java:1078)
... 10 more

magge

Well, the error message tells you that the game location is missing/wrong? Where have you installed SC via Steam?

Sheikah

Most likely security software isn't letting you download the FAF patches or is removing the downloaded files in Program data/FAForever/bin

Zalbor

I have the same issue with v2026.1.0. Tried everything, clean install, different install paths, symlinks, edited the client config file with different paths, granted permissions to "C:\ProgramData\FAForever" for all users, installed .net and vcredist again. Nothing worked.
For some reason the "bin" folder just doesn't get created. "C:\ProgramData\FAForever" just has cache and themes.
Tried an older version from Git v2025.9.2, but the server rejected that and demanded 2026.1.0.
SC:FA paths in the settings of the client are correct, always have been.

Here's what the client log tells me.

2026-02-05T19:26:09.694+01:00 INFO 13488 --- [FAF Client] [ForkJoinPool.commonPool-worker-5] com.faforever.client.update.Version : fromVersion '2026.1' is not newer than toVersion '2026.1'. No update is required.
2026-02-05T19:26:09.694+01:00 ERROR 13488 --- [FAF Client] [reactor-http-nio-2] reactor.core.publisher.Operators : Operator called default onErrorDropped

reactor.core.Exceptions$ErrorCallbackNotImplemented: io.netty.handler.ssl.SslClosedEngineException: SSLEngine closed already
Caused by: io.netty.handler.ssl.SslClosedEngineException: SSLEngine closed already
at io.netty.handler.ssl.SslHandler.wrap(SslHandler.java:940)
at io.netty.handler.ssl.SslHandler.wrapAndFlush(SslHandler.java:844)
at io.netty.handler.ssl.SslHandler.flush(SslHandler.java:825)
at io.netty.handler.ssl.SslHandler.flush(SslHandler.java:2154)
at io.netty.handler.ssl.SslHandler.closeOutboundAndChannel(SslHandler.java:2123)
at io.netty.handler.ssl.SslHandler.close(SslHandler.java:776)
at io.netty.channel.AbstractChannelHandlerContext.invokeClose(AbstractChannelHandlerContext.java:653)
at io.netty.channel.AbstractChannelHandlerContext.close(AbstractChannelHandlerContext.java:625)
at io.netty.channel.AbstractChannelHandlerContext.close(AbstractChannelHandlerContext.java:452)
at io.netty.channel.DefaultChannelPipeline.close(DefaultChannelPipeline.java:978)
at io.netty.channel.Channel.close(Channel.java:312)
at reactor.netty.http.client.HttpClientOperations.onInboundCancel(HttpClientOperations.java:383)
at reactor.netty.channel.FluxReceive.disposeAndUnsubscribeReceiver(FluxReceive.java:496)
at io.netty.util.concurrent.AbstractEventExecutor.runTask(AbstractEventExecutor.java:148)
at io.netty.util.concurrent.AbstractEventExecutor.safeExecute(AbstractEventExecutor.java:141)
at io.netty.util.concurrent.SingleThreadEventExecutor.runAllTasks(SingleThreadEventExecutor.java:535)
at io.netty.channel.SingleThreadIoEventLoop.run(SingleThreadIoEventLoop.java:201)
at io.netty.util.concurrent.SingleThreadEventExecutor$5.run(SingleThreadEventExecutor.java:1195)
at io.netty.util.internal.ThreadExecutorMap$2.run(ThreadExecutorMap.java:74)
at io.netty.util.concurrent.FastThreadLocalRunnable.run(FastThreadLocalRunnable.java:30)
at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:1474)

2026-02-05T19:26:09.701+01:00 DEBUG 13488 --- [FAF Client] [reactor-http-nio-2] c.f.client.chat.KittehChatService : Connection state changed from CONNECTED to DISCONNECTED
2026-02-05T19:26:11.800+01:00 INFO 13488 --- [FAF Client] [JavaFX Application Thread] c.f.c.preferences.PreferencesService : Hash of Supreme Commander.exe in selected User directory: C6783580C0B7A408EC2AD3BFE5EB1FDBEF31A60D92C1007FF9B90C33BB960AA0
2026-02-05T19:26:11.802+01:00 INFO 13488 --- [FAF Client] [ForkJoinPool.commonPool-worker-5] c.f.c.fa.ForgedAllianceLaunchService : Starting Forged Alliance with command: [C:\ProgramData\FAForever\bin\ForgedAlliance.exe, /init, init.lua, /nobugreport, /log, %USER_PROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Forged Alliance Forever\logs\game_0.log] in directory: C:\ProgramData\FAForever\bin
2026-02-05T19:26:11.804+01:00 ERROR 13488 --- [FAF Client] [JavaFX Application Thread] com.faforever.client.game.GameRunner : Launching offline game failed

NotifiableException(i18nKey=game.start.couldNotStart, i18nArgs=[])
at com.faforever.client.fa.ForgedAllianceLaunchService.launch(ForgedAllianceLaunchService.java:163)
at com.faforever.client.fa.ForgedAllianceLaunchService.launchOfflineGame(ForgedAllianceLaunchService.java:49)
at com.faforever.client.game.GameRunner.lambda$startOffline$1(GameRunner.java:556)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$AsyncSupply.run(CompletableFuture.java:1789)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$AsyncSupply.exec(CompletableFuture.java:1781)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinTask.doExec(ForkJoinTask.java:511)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool$WorkQueue.topLevelExec(ForkJoinPool.java:1450)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool.runWorker(ForkJoinPool.java:2019)
at java.base/java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinWorkerThread.run(ForkJoinWorkerThread.java:187)
Caused by: java.io.IOException: Cannot run program "C:\ProgramData\FAForever\bin\ForgedAlliance.exe" (in directory "C:\ProgramData\FAForever\bin"): CreateProcess error=2, Het systeem kan het opgegeven bestand niet vinden
at java.base/java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(ProcessBuilder.java:1112)
at java.base/java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(ProcessBuilder.java:1046)
at com.faforever.client.fa.ForgedAllianceLaunchService.launch(ForgedAllianceLaunchService.java:161)
... 8 common frames omitted
Caused by: java.io.IOException: CreateProcess error=2, Het systeem kan het opgegeven bestand niet vinden
at java.base/java.lang.ProcessImpl.create(Native Method)
at java.base/java.lang.ProcessImpl.<init>(ProcessImpl.java:485)
at java.base/java.lang.ProcessImpl.start(ProcessImpl.java:146)
at java.base/java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(ProcessBuilder.java:1078)
... 10 common frames omitted

magge

@zalbor I believe the game fails because the executable path is wrong/does not exist, or software security is blocking access.

"Het systeem kan het opgegeven bestand niet vinden"

Your client tries to start:

C:\ProgramData\FAForever\bin\ForgedAlliance.exe

Zalbor

@magge Thats the weird thing, I did a clean install of both the game and the FAF client, and it tries to find a file that simply doesn't exist. The whole "bin" folder doesn't exist, no matter how many times I reïnstall the FAF client. I did disable all anti-virus during installation and even after when I ran the FAF client.

magge

Have you started SC once via Steam/GOG, and have you created a profile in SC?

Zalbor

@magge I did, both. I tried the craziest things. Not gonna lie, I was working on this issue for hours before coming here. I'm a system engineer, so I'm used to weird solutions to make things work, but this one's got me stumped.

Giebmasse

Folder permissions have stumped me and other before, even when you tried to manually fix them. Try to fiddle further with those.
e.g. some individual steps that can be tried:

Remove C:\ProgramData\FAForever, let it get created again
Create FAForever\bin yourself
Run client as administrator (normally one shouldn't, but eh)
Try the py client: https://github.com/FAForever/client

Zalbor

@Giebmasse Remove C:\ProgramData\FAForever, let it get created again > Did that, "bin" folder wasn't there.
Create FAForever\bin yourself > Did that, "bin" folder stayed empty
Run client as administrator (normally one shouldn't, but eh) > Did that, same result as unelevated
Try the py client: https://github.com/FAForever/client > This got interesting.

So I did a default py client install.
I noticed the py client doesn't have an offline mode.
So I started a cutom private game with just AI to test things out.
When I did that, it downloaded data, first time that happened.

That got me thinking, what if I replicate that with the regular client?
I did a default install of the regular client, didn't uninstall the py client.
I start the regular client, click offline and it gives me a lua error.
So I logged in, started a private custom game with just AI, just like I did with the py client.
Everything worked. I log out of the regular client, click the offline button... no error, it all worked.

Giebmasse

Oh wait, you've been trying to offline play this whole time. Perhaps the client doesn't even trigger the "check files for update needs" thing that way

Zalbor

@Giebmasse It must have been the trigger, because login is not enough, I did that many times. You need to start an actual FAF game to get the updates that resolve this "bin" folder problem, to get the gamedata.

Giebmasse

Isn't it fun to discover all the debugging done was basically needless, as the client wasn't even designed to get you the game files via offline mode.