What are game files?
Game files are very important for any computer game. The game files are basically the files related to your video games and other games that you have installed on your computer system. These game files store all the essential data associated with a video or other game. The game data may include the game’s installation files, game ROMs, map files, character designs, dialogues, configurations, texture information, saved game progress, etc. It also includes the project files that developers have used in creating a video game. Most commonly, the game files are saved in the following file extensions:
GAM: It is a standard file format to store game “save” information which basically means saving the progress of a player in a game at a specific point of gameplay.DXT: This game file format is a generic format to store texture information in a compressed format using less disk space. It is also known as S3CT (S3 Compressed Texture) and BC (Block Compression).MAP: This game file format is used by most video games for debugging maps and other related purposes.ROM: These game files are used to save console-based video games on a PC. It is primarily used by Nintendo 64 games.VDF: VDF stands for Valve Data file. It is used by Valve’s Source game engine for saving the game’s metadata. It also stores data like resources, scripts, visualization elements, etc.
All these and other files are responsible for smoothly playing a game on a computer. Now, what happens if your game files are damaged or corrupted? Well, it basically deteriorates the performance of a game and causes it to crash, freeze, lag, or stutter on your PC. Your game might not even open if some important game files are broken. Because of corrupted game files, you may also experience different kinds of launch errors and other errors in a game.
Why do game files get corrupted?
There are can several factors affecting your game files that can get them corrupted. Here are some of the potential causes:
Generally, it happens if your PC suddenly crashes while playing a game.If you experience a power outage and the computer shuts down while you are in the middle of gameplay, the game files might get corrupted.If your computer contains malware or virus, it may infect your game files along with your other system and data files.The problem might also occur because of your faulty hard disk. If your hard drive where you have installed your game contains bad sectors, it will affect your game files and eventually damage them.Another reason for the same can be that you have downloaded contaminated content from online sources in a game.
There can be some other reasons also that can corrupt your game files. Now, if you want to fix the corrupted game files, you can do that by verifying the integrity of your game files and repairing the bad ones. Most of the game launchers for Windows PC provide a dedicated feature to verify and repair game files. The process of verifying the integrity of game files is basically checking the game file stored on your computer system with the clean and updated game files stored on online game servers and verifying if there is a difference between the corresponding files. If the game files are changed or modified, the game launcher will replace them with clean game files. In case there is a game file that is missing, it will be restored with the updated one. Here, we will be discussing the method to verify and fix corrupted game files on different game launchers. We are going to cover all the popular Game Launchers for PC that include Steam, Epic Games Launcher, GOG Galaxy, Rockstar Games Launcher, Ubisoft Connect, and Origin. If you use any of these game launchers, you can easily check and fix your game files on Windows. All the steps to verify and repair game files are mentioned for each of these game launchers. So, let’s check out.
How to verify the Integrity of the Game files on PC
You can use the following game launchers to verify the integrity of game files on your PC:
1] Verify Integrity of Steam game files
Steam is one of the most popular game launchers for Windows. It allows you to download and purchase thousands of games in different categories. You can easily manage and organize your games library in it. Plus, if you are experiencing issues with a game, you can fix them by verifying the integrity of game files. To verify the integrity of game files and repair them on Steam, you can use the dedicated feature called VERIFY INTEGRITY OF GAME FILES. It is present inside the properties of each game. You can right-click on the game, select properties, go to Local Files, and press the VERIFY INTEGRITY OF GAME FILES button. We have mentioned the exact steps in this post, so check out. Here’s how to very and fix game files on Steam: First, open the Steam app on your computer and click on its LIBRARY menu. It will take you to your game’s library where you can access and manage your installed or purchased games. Now, locate the game with which you are experiencing an issue and right-click on the game’s title. From the appeared context menu, click on the Properties option which will open up the game’s Properties window. Next, navigate to the LOCAL FILES tab and click on the VERIFY INTEGRITY OF GAME FILES button. Steam will initiate a game files verification process and start checking your game files. If there are corrupted or broken game files, it will replace and fix them. The process might take a couple of minutes to finish. So, let it run without any interruption. When the process is successfully done, you can try relaunching your game and see if the issue is fixed. Read: Fix Game Controller not working in Steam on Windows PC.
2] Verify Integrity of Epic Games Launcher files
As the name mentions, Epic Games Launcher is used to play games by Epic Games including Fortnite. However, you can also use it to play Unreal Engine creations. In it, you can verify your game files and fix them using its Verify feature. Here’s how to use it: Let the process run and once done, you can relaunch the game and see if the issues you were facing earlier are fixed. You might also like to read: Can’t Uninstall Epic Games Launcher in Windows
3] Verify Integrity of GOG Galaxy game files
GOG Galaxy is another popular universal game launcher for Windows. It supports cross-platform games and has some amazing features like Custom views, Cloud Storage, Multiplayer & Matchmaking, and more. Here are the steps to fix corrupted data issues using GOG Galaxy: You can try relaunching your game once the process is finished. Hopefully, it will run smoothly now. Read: How to fix GOG Galaxy Launcher Out of disk space error?
4] Verify Integrity of Rockstar Games Launcher files
You can use Rockstar Games Launcher to verify the integrity of game files of a video game by Rockstar Games like Grand Theft Auto V, Red Dead Redemption 2, L.A. Noire, and more. You can use it to fix your corrupted game files. Here’s how you can do that: You can now try playing your game and see if the previous issue is still there. See: Rockstar Games Launcher not working on Windows PC.
5] Verify Integrity of Ubisoft Connect files
Ubisoft Connect is another famous game launcher used especially for Ubisoft games like Far Cry 6, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, For Honor, and many other popular games. You can use it to verify your game files by following the below steps: Now, you should be able to play your game without any issues. See: Unable to start the game on Ubisoft Connect.
6] Verify Integrity of Origin game files
Origin is used as a game launcher for many popular games like Battlefield 4, Battlefield 2042, The Sims 4, etc. If you are experiencing any performance issues or launch errors in your games using Origin, you can verify the game files. You can follow the below steps to verify the integrity of game files on Origin: Read: Fix Origin Error while playing games on Windows PC. I hope this post helps you verify the integrity of the game files on your PC using different game launchers.
What happens when you verify the integrity of game files?
When a game launcher verifies the integrity of the game files, it basically checks the game files stored on your computer system with the respective game files stored on the game servers. If the game files are modified and found to be different, they are considered to be corrupted or damaged. The game files are then fixed by replacing them with clean and updated game files from the game servers.
How long does it take to verify game files?
The game file verification process totally depends upon the size of your game files. If your game files are large, it will take several minutes for the game launcher to verify and repair your game files. However, if the game files are small, it will only take a couple of minutes to get your game files verified and fixed. Now read: Fix Game Stuttering with FPS drops in Windows.
