I cannot remember ever having to write a message like this on a forum anywhere while trying to get a game to work, but this time I'm seriously stuck.

Got 565 hours played in Skyrim on Steam. So the game has worked, always, never any issues.

Whenever I click Play in Steam, the Skyrim launcher opens up and I instantly get the message "Skyrim Launcher has stopped working".

I've also tried launching the game from the TESV.exe without success, doing so still opens the launcher.

Running Steam offline doesn't do it either. Nor will shutting down Steam completely, as running one of the exe files just opens up Steam anyway.

I always run everything as Admin.

I removed all the mods and addons I had, figured it was something there causing it. Nope.

Even uninstalled the game, removed everything related to Skyrim. Files, mods, saves, everything. Reinstalled, doesn't work.

I've browsed loads of websites looking for a solution, or at least someone with a similar issue. Nothing I've found will solve it for me.

- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

- Dawnguard

- Hearthfire

- High Resolution Texture Pack

- Dragonborn

Win 8.1 64-bit

Intel Core i5 3570K @ 3.40GHz

16GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 686MHz

2048MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series

Everyhing on low temperatures, nothing overheating.

OS on SSD

Main Steam folder on 600GB disk, secondary Steam folder (this is where I put Skyrim) on 1TB disk. Both WD SATA.

I am currently reinstalling my game yet another time, cause I somehow got it to work yesterday. No problems. But when starting it again today, same old issue.

Hopefully someone can figure it out.

Thank you.

I too am having this problem since I tried to play Skyrim after a long hiatus from the game. I wonder if it has anything to do with my rig still running XP? Or maybe with the IE browser? I haven't been able to solve this problem either or even connect to Steam for the matter.

Look here: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7710-tdlc-0426

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Actually your ram is 1333MHz and not 686MHz. (Dual Data Rate -> 686 x 2)

Can you think of anything you added to your system?

Can you launch the game via SKSE loader?

Do you have any mods via Steam Workshop? You may have to unsubscribe to certain mods on Steam Workshop. It doesn't matter if there aren't installed, if they are listed as subscribed on your Steam account then it could be causing the issue. Always unsubscribe to mod at are abandoned/out-of-date or that you no longer use.

Running Steam is offline mode may also fix the problem. It could be, because it doesn't load the Steam Workshop subroutine or something like that.