This is a generic error, meaning something happened that caused the launcher process to fail whatever it was trying to do. To help identify the cause of the error, it's best to gather information and submit a bug report on the Issue Council. It's still helpful to post about this error on the Issue Council even if you've already solved it yourself, as a working solution can help other players and point developers to the root of the problem.
It can also help to look at your game logs and info files to see if anything was recorded as the cause of the error.
Troubleshooting Quick Links:
- Restart the Launcher
- Verify Game Files
- Delete and Reinstall the Launcher and Game
- Use the Log.Log File to Identify Issues
Restart the Launcher
A pretty basic troubleshooting step to ensure that nothing strange or a one-off issue is going on with the launcher. Fully exit both Star Citizen and the RSI Launcher and then restart, login, and check if the error returns.
When doing this, after exiting the launcher, make certain that multiple instances of the launcher are not showing in the system tray. If multiple instances of the launcher are showing, right click on the extra and select to end the program.
Alternately, right click a blank area of the Windows task bar and select to open the Task Manager, then locate all instances of the RSI Launcher and end the relevant tasks.
Verify Game Files
Bad or corrupted game files can cause all sorts of problems, which include throwing errors like this one when attempting to download, update, or even play the game. Files can sometimes get corrupted during the patching process and does not usually point to any other specific problem with your computer or the game itself. Most often it can be due to brief connection interruptions during download, old hardware, or a short interruption in the installation process from other programs (like anti-virus or anti-malware programs), but this is not an exhaustive list.
To make certain that the problem is not rooted in bad or corrupted files, the best troubleshooting step is to verify the game files are correct.
- Open and login to the RSI Launcher.
- Go to the Settings menu option.
- Select the channel (LIVE, PTU, etc.) of the version of the game giving the errors.
- Ensure the game install location matches where you installed the game.
- Click the VERIFY button.
- Allow the process to finish and re-download/install any needed files.
To avoid any further complications, it's best to allow the file verification process to finish before running any other resource intensive programs or apps on your computer.
Delete and Reinstall the Launcher and Game
This would be the final step, which is to basically remove everything and start over. Given the size of the game, this will take considerable time and thus trying other troubleshooting steps should be completed first.
We have instructions on how to fully remove all related launcher and game files at this article:
How to Delete the RSI Launcher and Star Citizen
Use the Log.Log File to Identify Issues
If the above steps haven't solved the error, then it's best to dig a little deeper to see what is happening. To do that, we'll need to examine the log.log file and identify any errors and issues that are being reported to this file. This is a text file that will track any setting changes, updates, installs, authentication, and any errors that occur which is all important to identify and work out problems on both the player and the developer end.
To try some troubleshooting yourself, this log.log file can be opened in any text editor, like Notepad or Word. The log file consists of timestamps for each entry followed by actions and other things. Once the log file is open, look for the timestamps around the time the 2000 error was encountered and see if any of the following messages are included in the output. Typically these will be the most recent entries at the bottom.
Press the Windows key + R to bring up a Run dialog.
Type and run %appdata%\rsilauncher\logs in the dialog box.
Wait for the folder view to open.
Open log.log in any text editor.
Scroll to the bottom for the most recent messages.
Including this file in any communication with RSI Tech Support Agents can help us quickly narrow down the issue to try some troubleshooting.
InvalidMDFileError
Another error message that indicates files are bad or corrupted. If verifying the files does not work, you will need to uninstall and delete the launcher and game files to start over from a clean slate. Should that not solve it, follow the steps on our RSI Launcher Troubleshooting article.
We are tracking this issue on the Issue Council here: LCH-244
Error 5007
This typically means that something regarding your Internet connection has caused a problem with the download, of which there could be a number of issues causing this. In some instances, the normal approaches to fixing this, like re-downloading or clearing the launcher cache, do not help remedy the problem.
In these cases, we have seen players report success with using a VPN to complete the game download and install process. Once the game has fully installed and updated, the VPN is no longer needed and can be disabled.
Error 5008
Usually this means there was some sort of connection issue while downloading and/or installing the game. Check the troubleshooting steps for error 3005 and in addition, follow these steps if the data.p4k file is hanging around:
- Go to your game install location.
- By default, this location will be C:\Program Files\Roberts Space Industries\StarCitizen\LIVE
- Find and rename the file data.p4k to data.p4k.part.
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Right click the RSI Launcher app or icon and select the option to run as administrator.
- If the launcher was already running, fully exit the program and ensure the process has ended in the Windows task manager.
- Click the Install button.
This should restart the install process or show that the launcher is verifying game files. Allow the process to finish without interruption.
Error 5009 - IO ERROR
This error indicates an issue with Windows access rights and the launcher is not able to create or write to game folders to complete whatever process it was trying to do. To solve this:
- Exit Star Citizen and the RSI Launcher.
- Ensure both programs are completely closed.
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Manually create the folder for the instance of the game you are trying to download.
- In your StarCitizen folder where the game is installed, right click and select New > Folder.
- Name the folder for the instance of the game. (e.g. StarCitzen\LIVE, \PTU, \EPTU )
The new folder should match the location of the game install listed in the launcher settings for the instance of the game you are trying to install or update. Try the installation process again once this is done. If that doesn't work, follow these steps.
- Exit Star Citizen and the RSI Launcher.
- Ensure both programs are completely closed.
- Right click on the RSI Launcher icon.
- Select the option from the menu to run the RSI Launcher as an administrator.
- Login and try to install, update, or launch the game again.
We are tracking this issue on the Issue Council here: LCH-244
Error 5010 - P4K ERROR
This is error means that your game files are corrupted. If verifying the files does not work, you will need to uninstall and delete the launcher and game files to start over from a clean slate.
We are tracking this issue on the Issue Council here: LCH-244
Error 5012 - Verification header not found
Network issues can cause a great many problems, and this message indicates a problem somewhere on the network that generally points to extended delays or lag in the download process. There's not a clear solution for this as problems arise at the home or Internet Service Provider level or anywhere in between, but some typical troubleshooting steps are
- Try turning on/off a VPN connection.
- Reset/power cycle your router.
- Change your network access type (from ethernet to wifi, or vice versa).
- Reduce the download speed of the launcher in download settings.
- Follow the steps on this article.
We are tracking this issue on the Issue Council here: LCH-244
Error 5013 - Installer Exception - u002
Appears as "Worker threw: Installer exception: @ - \u001b\u002" or "\u0014 / \u002" in the log.log file. Unfortunately the cause of this error is not clear, and thus there is not a clear work around for this at the moment. Best troubleshooting steps to try can be found at our RSI Launcher Troubleshooting article.
We are tracking this issue on the Issue Council here: LCH-244
Error 5015-5018 - NETWORK FATAL ERROR
As the error indicates, this points to a network problem, which can in turn lead to bad or corrupted files. Try verifying the game files first, and then follow the steps listed above for "verification header not found".
We are tracking this issue on the Issue Council here: LCH-244
Error 5021 - Installer Error
We're still trying to track down exact causes of this error, but we've seen some success in resolving this by doing a registry edit. What is likely happening here is that Windows 11 is not behaving properly with how it emulates drive sector sizes.
Follow these steps carefully, as doing registry edits can cause some serious problems if they are not followed:
- In the Windows Start menu, search for the Command Prompt app.
- Right-click on the Command Prompt and then select Run as Administrator.
- Enter the following string into the command line:
REG ADD "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\stornvme\Parameters\Device" /v "ForcedPhysicalSectorSizeInBytes" /t REG_MULTI_SZ /d "* 4095" /f- Restart your computer.
Before attempting the installation process again, you might consider deleting any previous installation files first.