Headline: 🛠️ FIX: "Steam must be running to play DmC: Devil May Cry" – The Definitive Solution
It sounds like you're dealing with the "Steam must be running to play this game" error in DmC: Devil May Cry (or possibly the classic Devil May Cry 3/4 on Steam).
On Steam Deck, this is especially common because the game was built for Windows, and the Proton translation layer sometimes delays the handshake signal. Headline: 🛠️ FIX: "Steam must be running to
Why this works: The desktop environment keeps the full Steam client (including web helper and overlay) completely awake.
He hit Apply. Then OK.
A classic fix for legacy Steam errors involving connectivity is deleting the local registry file to force Steam to refresh its configuration. Close Steam completely.
Go to the game's install folder: SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\DmC Devil May Cry\Binaries\Win32. Look for a file named steam_appid.txt. If it’s missing: Right-click > New > Text Document. Name it steam_appid. Steam API Initialization Failure : The game may
The 2013 game may struggle with modern OS permissions or background processes.