Sid Meier's Civilization VI

Sid Meier's Civilization VI

625 ratings
How to bypass the 2K launcher
By BezaoBuilder
The new 2K launcher has been known to cause many issues, crashes and lag. The easiest solution to all of this is to just bypass it entirely.
Note this guide is aimed towards Windows, but should be similar for other operating systems.
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Find Civ6's executable
To find Civ6's executable, right click the game in your library, hover over "manage" and click "browse local files".

A window of your operating system's file browser should appear. Now enter the folder "Base"

Now the folder "Binaries".

Now this may depend upon your operating system, since I am running Windows, I enter the folder "Win64Steam", but if you are running other operating system, it should change accordingly. There should be only one folder in there anyways.

Now you should stumble upon a bunch of files. Now you need to find the Civilization VI executable. Note that without the launcher, you will not be able to choose between DX11 and DX12. If you play on DX11, the Civ6 executable is "CivilizationVI.exe" on Windows, and probably called the same on other platforms, but without the extension (or maybe a different extension). For DX12, it is called "CivilizationVI_DX12.exe" on Windows., again, same deal with extensions. Remember those names.

Now you need to assemble the actual path to the executable. You first need to get the folder's location. On Windows, you do this by clicking the path on the top, where you can then copy the text.

Then you need to add the executable name to it. On Windows, you do this by adding a backslash and then the file name. For example, if your folder is in
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization VI\Base\Binaries\Win64Steam
and your executable is
CivilizationVI.exe
for DX11, the final result is:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization VI\Base\Binaries\Win64Steam\CivilizationVI.exe

On MacOS and Linux, you add a forward slash instead. For example, if the folder is:
/home/bezaobuilder/.steam/steam/SteamApps/common/Sid Meier's Civilization VI/Base/Binaries/Linuxx64
and your executable is:
CivilizationVI
then the final path is:
/home/bezaobuilder/.steam/steam/SteamApps/common/Sid Meier's Civilization VI/Base/Binaries/Linuxx64/CivilizationVI
Add the launch options
You now have the path to your Civ6 executable. What good does it do? Well, now you need to go to the game's launch options. Right click the game in the library, but this time, click properties.

A window like this should show up:

Now, look at the "launch options" text box, there you want to type
"path_to_civ6_executable" %command%
Replacing path_to_civ6_executable with the path to the civ6 executable we found out on the previous section.

Need an example? Let's say the path to the game's executable is:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization VI\Base\Binaries\Win64Steam\CivilizationVI.exe
Then what you want to type in the launch options is:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization VI\Base\Binaries\Win64Steam\CivilizationVI.exe" %command%

Let's see another example. Say your path to the executable is:
/home/bezaobuilder/.steam/steam/SteamApps/common/Sid Meier's Civilization VI/Base/Binaries/Linuxx64/CivilizationVI
Then what you want to type is:
"/home/bezaobuilder/.steam/steam/SteamApps/common/Sid Meier's Civilization VI/Base/Binaries/Linuxx64/CivilizationVI" %command%
Include the double quotes too. And %command% has to be outside the quotes.

Now, when you launch the game, Steam may be confused, saying the game is not running (but it is running). It may also take a while for the window of the game to start. But when it does start, congratulations! You just started Civilization VI without the 2K launcher.
Linux on Proton
The above methods work for Linux only if you are running it natively without Proton (which is probably what most are running, and thus you shouldn't worry about this), but if you are using Proton, it will not work. whoisfel made a guide on how to bypass the launcher if you are using Proton to run the game:
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2600050365
If you don't know what Proton is, or you haven't applied it to Civ6, just use the method I mentioned.
126 Comments
Vakii 27 Jul @ 7:38am 
I had no issue and allowed me to not have to click accept on their EULA bullshit
Awing 27 Jul @ 4:10am 
why dx12 commonly freeze with this way bypass 2k launcher?
dem22 11 Jul @ 4:43pm 
Thank you! Just grabbed game on Summer Sale 2.99! and this is the first thing i did. Worked perfectly.
Apollo702 9 Jul @ 10:09pm 
OK. I was getting fed up with not having C6 and ignored the dmp files. I just went with the redoing the paths and apparently it is WORKING!

The game itself seemed to pull up faster. It does flash a quick 2K logo and I did have to refuse the terms-as usual- but it seemed to fire up faster.

Now it took a while to load a previous game- but it is a giant game, so that was OK.

It IS up and running!
Elijan 3 Jul @ 10:08am 
thx man.:steamthumbsup:
Apollo702 2 Jul @ 6:00pm 
My hope was that 7 would be epic with grand maps and better (system) resource management.

Now, I question even getting it at all with that last stunt.

And I wont alter any files until someone can answer my question.

I have 2 exe.dmp files. One for DX11 and one for 12. There is no regular exe. So which(if any) should I modifiy?
FDR'sThinkTank 2 Jul @ 5:17pm 
Thank you for this. It saves the game.
MontyLaw 2 Jul @ 9:32am 
I agree, vanilla just feels too small both in size and features. I really do think the game is unplayable without mods! My gripe with the game is that it doesn't have enough details, as in historical flavour that makes it feel more realistic.
Apollo702 2 Jul @ 12:54am 
I (used to!) play a massively modded game. It was the only way that I could make it epic enough- the #1 problem is for several editions in the series the maps have been shrinking- then with the new system of districts and wonders taking up space that meant undergoing massive modification.
MontyLaw 2 Jul @ 12:45am 
it just sucks that I cant play the game I paid for. I would play via other means if it weren't for the great mods here