Restore the installed game files through Steam
Close the game. In the Steam Library, open Potato Please properties, choose Installed Files and select Verify integrity of game files. Wait for verification and any download to finish before launching again. The developer identifies a missing GameAssembly.dll as one possible cause. Check your security app protection history for the game install path if verification keeps replacing the same file.
If verification finishes but Windows still blocks launch
Open Event Viewer shortly after the failed launch. Under Applications and Services Logs, look in Microsoft, Windows, CodeIntegrity, Operational. One Windows 11 player found event 3077 naming PotatoPlease.exe and GameAssembly.dll at launch time. Match both the time and the file before reporting that result. A block on an existing DLL is different from a missing file, so a successful integrity check alone may leave this symptom in place.
Send the diagnostic to the studio
Record your Windows version, whether Steam replaced a file, the complete launch message and the matching event text if there is one. The developer gives support@goldenhornstudios.com in the linked thread and specifies 64-bit Windows 10 or 11. Include the error from your installation so the studio can distinguish an unreadable library from a missing one.
Restoring D3D12Core.dll after trying an old launch workaround
A player reported deleting D3D12Core.dll to get an early build to start. The later 1.0.3 developer notes say the game now uses DirectX 11 only. If you changed the installation following that thread, close the game, let Steam finish updating, then use Properties > Installed Files > Verify integrity of game files. Steam can restore files that belong to the installed build. Start the game through the library and look for the main menu. Leave the resulting installation intact even if a newer build has a different set of files.
Player describes a manual D3D12Core.dll workaround ↗
Smart App Control offers no exception for one game DLL
First confirm that the failure is a Smart App Control block, with the same DLL and launch time, rather than an antivirus quarantine. Microsoft says there is no per-app allow option in Smart App Control and recommends contacting the publisher about signing. Keep the protection enabled and send Golden Horn Studios the matching event and version. A Defender antivirus exclusion addresses a different Windows feature. As of our November 12 check the linked game thread had no studio date for a signed-binary update.
Windows 11 players report the GameAssembly.dll Code Integrity error and ask for a signing fix ↗
Microsoft: individual-app exceptions, reactivation and signing in Smart App Control ↗
Studio instructions for a reproducible report, images, video and logs ↗
A forum reply says turning protection back on needs a Windows reinstall
The Steam post describes a player’s Windows 11 setup at the time. Microsoft’s current FAQ says newer Windows updates support re-enabling Smart App Control from Windows Security on eligible devices, and lists configurations that can still require a reset. Check the Microsoft guidance for your device before acting on the old post. Reinstalling Windows is not a confirmed fix for the game’s signing issue. For this error, the evidence to send is the matching Code Integrity event.
Windows 11 players report the GameAssembly.dll Code Integrity error and ask for a signing fix ↗
Microsoft: individual-app exceptions, reactivation and signing in Smart App Control ↗
Include the actual desktop error box in a launch report
Leave the error box open and use Windows Snipping Tool. Select Window or Rectangle and capture the box containing the complete error message. Save the image and check that the filename or DLL at the end of the message is visible. Steam Game Recording normally captures the game surface and does not record the Windows desktop after the game closes; the separate screenshot lets the studio see that final dialog.
Windows 11 players report the GameAssembly.dll Code Integrity error and ask for a signing fix ↗
Studio instructions for a reproducible report, images, video and logs ↗
Microsoft: capture a selected window or area with Snipping Tool ↗
When Unity never writes a line to Player.log
Record the time of the failed launch. Open Event Viewer and examine the Windows CodeIntegrity Operational log at that time. Look for PotatoPlease.exe and GameAssembly.dll on the same entry. One player had a zero-byte Unity log but a matching Windows block. Send the event details alongside the log size and Steam build so the developer can distinguish an early load failure from a later in-game crash.
Separate a Windows audit entry from an enforced block
Match the launch time, process and file first. Microsoft's 3076 is an audit event: the rule would have stopped the file under enforcement. A matching 3077 records an enforced block. If the only matching event is 3076, keep investigating the launch failure and include other errors from that timestamp instead of reporting an enforced block as the cause.
Pair the signature event with the correct launch
Open the Details tab for the 3077 event naming PotatoPlease.exe, record its correlation ActivityID, and look for a 3089 with the same identifier. Save the matching details. Another program can generate events in the same second, so use the identifier as well as the clock when sending the evidence to the studio.
Preserve the two signing values in their original order
One Windows 11 player recorded requested level 2 and validated level 1. Those fields describe the level required by policy and the level Windows actually validated for that launch. Include the labels, both values and the affected file. They are diagnostic evidence; by themselves they do not show that Steam delivered different game bytes.
Record the parent process and the blocked library separately
In the matching Windows event, File Name identifies the library that was refused; Process Name identifies the executable that tried to load it. For the published case these were GameAssembly.dll and PotatoPlease.exe respectively. Record both with the launch time and policy name so support can identify the same operation.
Read the signature count before calling a library unsigned
Find the 3089 record correlated with your block and read TotalSignatureCount. Microsoft documents a count of zero for a file with no detected signatures. A nonzero count points to signature information to inspect, even if the policy still refused the load. Keep the count with the associated 3077 for the developer.
Capture the failed and successful launch as separate attempts
The player who posted the detailed CodeIntegrity event later said the game launched, without identifying a change that fixed it. Note each launch time, any updates between them, and whether a new block appears on the second attempt. Preserve the earlier event before describing a workaround so another player can compare the same conditions.
Sources
- Developer reply and Windows 11 player diagnostic steamcommunity.com
- Player describes a manual D3D12Core.dll workaround steamcommunity.com
- Golden Horn Studios: hotfix 1.0.3 store.steampowered.com
- Valve: verify game files help.steampowered.com
- Microsoft: individual-app exceptions, reactivation and signing in Smart App Control support.microsoft.com
- Studio instructions for a reproducible report, images, video and logs steamcommunity.com
- Microsoft: capture a selected window or area with Snipping Tool support.microsoft.com
- Valve: recording modes, clips, export and sharing store.steampowered.com
- Steam player discussion: Failed to load il2cpp steamcommunity.com
- Microsoft: reading Windows App Control events learn.microsoft.com
- Microsoft: enforced blocks, audits and signing details learn.microsoft.com
- Steam player discussion: Fatal error – Failed to load il2cpp (GameAssembly.dll blocked by Windows Security) steamcommunity.com