Exit Code 9
You have landed on this page because the game detected an error while attempting to start.
The issue occurs because the game failed to initialize the Steam client. Note that this is expected behaviour in certain conditions (see below for details).
To resolve this issue, please remove the SteamAppId environment variable, restart your computer, and then restart the game. Depending on how the variable was set up on your computer, there are different ways to remove it. If you added the environment variable through the Windows environment settings dialog, here's how you can remove it on Windows 10:
- Press the Windows key and enter "environment" in the search box (1). This should bring up the following "Edit the system environment variables" entry. Click that one (2).
- The Advanced System Properties dialog should have been opened for you. In there, click on "Environment Variables..." (1)
- Check both lists ("User variables for [Username]" and System variables") for the SteamAppId-entry (1) and delete it (by selecting the entry and clicking on the delete button (2)).
- Close the dialog by clicking on OK and close the system properties dialog the same way.
- Afterwards restart your computer to make sure that the changes apply and restart the game (you should no longer end up with this startup error).
If this doesn't solve the issue or if the SteamAppId environment variable is not present on your system, please send a mail to prioritysupport@egosoft.com (Subject: Exitcode 9). In the mail please describe whether the issue is persistent for you (i.e. occurs all the time) and provide a screenshot of the Environment Variables dialog confirming that the environment variable is not present.
As an intermediate measure we also provide a NoSteam executable which bypasses the Steam integration and should not trigger this problem. While we suggest you wait for further instructions by mail, you can give the NoSteam executable a try.
Details regarding this behaviour
If the SteamAppId environment variable exists, Steam has some developer-specific behaviour which circumvents certain checks (e.g. pointing out if the game is not owned by the current logged in user).
Normally players should not set the SteamAppId environment variable as this is purely a development feature. By removing the environment variable, you restore normal Steam behaviour and the initialization error which triggered the problem should be resolved.
