DmC: Devil May Cry — “Steam Must Be Running To Play This” — What It Means and How to Fix It

Note: This section applies to legitimate copies of the game where a file has gone missing or is incorrectly configured, often seen after a Windows update.

Clear Download Cache:

In Steam, go to Settings > Downloads and click Clear Cache . This logs you out and refreshes your connection to the Steam servers. 4. Compatibility Mode for Modern Systems

You can reinstall Steam while keeping your steamapps folder.

"DmC Devil May Cry: Steam must be running to play this game."

  • steamapps folder (this holds your games)
  • userdata folder (this holds your saves and configs)
  • Steam.exe (keep this too)