Hey Nixie,
Thank you for reaching out with these details! Errors referencing Windows core system files (such as api-ms-win-core-com-l1-1-0.dll) can indicate corruption or damage within the Windows installation that is subsequently preventing the program/app in question from functioning properly. Many potential problems related to your installation of Windows can be resolved by creating a new administrator account, logging into it, and trying the game there.
If the game only works consistently on the new admin account, this could indicate damaged or missing Windows system files or an issue with how the old user account is configured. This is somewhat common, and the easiest fix is to move any user-specific files that you wish to keep from the old user account to the new admin account. You can also work with Microsoft’s Support to troubleshoot the problem with the old account if preferred.
If the problem continues on the new admin account, run the “System File Checker” to scan for damaged or missing files in Windows.
If the scans return no repairs or useful info, let’s have you post a ‘DxDiag’ so we can further investigate the problem. Here are the instructions:
- Press Windows Key + R.
- Type DxDiag and press Enter.
- In the DxDiag window, click Save All Information.
- Name the file “dxdiag” and click Save
- Once you have that made, open the file. You’ll need to copy and paste the contents of the Text document into the post, and put four Tilde (~) marks above the DXDiag. It’ll look like this:
DXDiag goes here
If you have issues pasting here, please use Pastebin and post the link (ex: Pastebin (dot) com/123456).