... problem accessing ... Supernova user data folder ... file not found

from GalCiv4 Forums

When I start GalCiv IV in Steam on my Win11 desktop, a window with an error message appears:

"There was a problem accessing your Galactic Civilizations IV: Supernova user data folder. Error: Das System kann die angegebene Datei nicht finden. 

Please see our troubleshooting guide or post on our support forum for assistance."

The German part of that message translates to: "The system cannot find the specified file."

I let Steam verify the installation. 2 files were found wanting and replaced, but the problem persists.

Galactic Civilizations IV GalCiv IV Support Type: Bug Report
3,971 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

The GC IV data folder is found at %userprofile%\Documents\My Games\GalCiv4\

Do you see any reasons why on your system that folder would be inaccessible ?

Reply #2 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

I'm an Administrator on this system, and I have full access rights to the GalCiv IV folder. It contains directories "Factions", "MPSaves" and "Saves". I see no reason why access could be blocked for the game.

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Reply #3 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

Rename it and let the game recreate it, see if that helps!

Reply #4 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

I renamed the GalCiv4 folder to GalCiv4_old, started the game; a new folder GalCiv4 appeared in %username%/Dokumente/My Games (the naming in German Win11) next to GalCiv4_old, but the error message remained the same.

 

Reply #5 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

Is it on OneDrive or some equivalent ?

Another idea would be the %username%, is it using some kind of strange character specific to your language ?

Reply #6 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

Could your antivirus be silently deleting files? You may need to whitelist the game

Could you try creating a shortcut and launching it as an admin directly?

Reply #7 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

No, the "User" directory is on C:\ (an SSD). My username contains no special characters. I'm using no antivirus software other than what Windows routinely provides. 

I tried launching the game by right clicking on what I believed is the appropriate executable: 

E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Galactic Civilizations IV\GalCiv4.exe 

( E:\ is a Hard Disk Drive) and chosing "Run as administrator". This loads a launcher, so I'm not positive I actually started the game as an administrator. I'd be grateful for your advice as to which executable I should access to start the game as administrator.

Reply #8 from GalCiv4 Forums Top

This is really strange. Having the game installed on another SSD is fine, that should not cause any issue. 

Do you see anymore error message in debug.err found in %userprofile%\Documents\My Games\GalCiv4\ that could give more clues as what is happening ?

Else, from what you're describing everything seems to be as it should, so let's try something a bit deeper to make sure you PC and Windows installation is not the problem. 

In an Elevated Command Prompt (in run, type cmd and press ctrl-shift-enter), do these commands one after the other, let the first one finish then do the second one:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

sfc /scannow

restart your PC and see if that helped your issue

If not, reopen the Elevated Command Prompt and do this one, see if it find any issues. You can also do it on E: if you want.

chkdsk C: