Cannot open Spine

anhtho11

Everytime I open Spine and it will pop up ERROR: Spine has detected its files have been modified. Please reinstall Spine.
I have to uninstall and reinstall it everytime. This happened after I change my graphic card.
Can anyone help? Thanks in advance.

Misaki

anhtho11 I think the issue you're experiencing is quite similar to what a user in the following thread encountered:
https://esotericsoftware.com/forum/d/26081-spine-cannot-be-opened-recently

And as you can see from this thread, at that time, the users eventually stopped replying partway through, and we were ultimately unable to determine the cause.
We'd like to help you, but unfortunately, we can't determine the actual cause of the problem from the error log, so we can only suggest possible causes, as Spinebot suggested and as Nate suggested in a previous thread.

We would appreciate it if you could let us know which graphics card you replaced your current one with, as this information might provide a clue in identifying the cause of this issue.

Spinebot

This error typically occurs when Spine detects that its installation files have been altered or corrupted. Since this started after changing your graphics card, it's likely related to driver software or security tools interfering with Spine's files. Here are some things you can try:

Check your Antivirus/Security Software

Your antivirus or security software may be modifying or quarantining Spine's files after installation. Try:

Adding Spine's installation folder as an exception/whitelist in your antivirus software
Temporarily disabling real-time protection during installation and first launch
Checking your antivirus quarantine to see if any Spine files were flagged

Check Graphics Driver Software

Some GPU software suites (like NVIDIA GeForce Experience, AMD Radeon Software, etc.) can interfere with application files. Try:

Disabling any overlay features from your GPU software
Making sure your GPU drivers are fully and cleanly installed (consider using DDU - Display Driver Uninstaller - to do a clean driver install)

Reinstall to a Different Location

Try installing Spine to a different directory, such as directly under C:\Spine instead of the default Program Files location, as Windows UAC and certain software can interfere with files in Program Files.

Run as Administrator

Try running the Spine installer and the Spine application itself as Administrator by right-clicking and selecting "Run as administrator".

Check Windows Integrity/Permissions

Make sure the folder where Spine is installed has the correct permissions and that no system integrity tools are modifying files after installation.

If the problem persists after trying these steps, you can reach out directly to Esoteric Software by emailing contact@esotericsoftware.com for further assistance.

anhtho11

Misaki

Misaki thanks for your reply. I changed to NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 5090. I have turned off windows firewall, also put spine install folder in exclusive folder in firewall's setting.

Misaki

anhtho11 Thank you for the additional information.

Please note that Windows Firewall controls network connections, so adding the Spine folder as a firewall exception is unlikely to affect this issue. The error indicates that one or more files in the Spine installation folder have been changed after installation.

Could you please check the following instead?

Open Windows Security, then go to Virus & threat protection → Protection history, and check whether any Spine files have been blocked, quarantined, or modified.
Add the Spine installation folder as an exclusion under Virus & threat protection settings → Exclusions. If you use any antivirus software other than Windows Security, please also add the folder to its exclusions.
If you installed the NVIDIA App or GeForce Experience when you changed the graphics card, please temporarily disable features such as the in game overlay and game filters. If possible, you could also temporarily uninstall the NVIDIA App while keeping the graphics driver installed, then reinstall Spine and test it again.

Does Spine open successfully immediately after installation, but show the error the next time you launch it? If that's the case, I think a spine.log file should have been created when you launched the editor, so please show it to us. The spine.log file should be saved in the following location, unless you've changed the installation folder: %UserProfile%\Spine\spine.log or C:\Users\<user name>\Spine\spine.log.

anhtho11

"Does Spine open successfully immediately after installation, but show the error the next time you launch it?"
=> Yes.
I found this text file in C:\Users\MyPC\Spine

Here's whats in it:

Spine Launcher 4.3.06
Esoteric Software LLC (C) 2013-2026 | http://esotericsoftware.com
Windows 10 Pro amd64 10.0
NVIDIA Corporation, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090/PCIe/SSE2, 4.6.0 NVIDIA 581.57
An activation code is required.
Spine Professional has been activated.
Licensed to: <removed>
Downloading: Spine 4.3.23 Professional
Starting: Spine 4.3.23 Professional
Spine 4.3.23 Professional
Licensed to: <removed>
Started.
OpenAL 1.1, Default audio device

I have no other antivirus, just window firewall, I have checked protection history, nothing relating to Spine.
I am trying nvidia app now.

Misaki

anhtho11 Thank you for sharing the contents of the spine.log file!
Based on the log, it does appear that the launcher and editor are launching normally.

If Spine fails to launch due to antivirus software, in most cases the editor won't even start. So, it's quite possible that NVIDIA-related software is the cause. I hope you'll check it and be able to resolve the issue.

anhtho11

Misaki
I have checked Nvidia app, I don't even have it, so no game overlay.

Erika I have tried everything. Nothing works.

I'm stuck :😭

Erika

Just in case, here is the troubleshooting page:
https://esotericsoftware.com/spine-troubleshooting

Erika

Hmmm could you list every antivirus and firewall you have installed? Could you check again that you have whitelisted Spine and the Spine folder for all of them? Since it works but it gets modified after you launch it, something must be interfering with it.

Nate

Sorry you are still having trouble. 🙁

The log you showed doesn't show a "Spine integrity check failed" message. That should appear in the log when you see the dialog titled "Integrity check failed". The log file is rewritten every time Spine runs. To be sure, delete the log file, run Spine, then check the log file.

The integrity check means the files in your Spine installation folder have been modified. On Windows the Spine installer extracts and verifies those files are correct. The only possibilities are that 1) something modified the files after they were extracted by the installer, or 2) your storage device has not reliably stored the files. If you reinstall and still get the same problem, it is an indicator that you may have malicious software on your system that is changing your files.

Note that this integrity problem is unlikely to be caused by antivirus or anti-malware being injected into the Spine process. That would cause a different error. This is specifically that the installed Spine files on disk differ from what they should be. Antivirus or anti-malware can be invasive and may even modify Spine's files, just like an actual virus might do (they are nearly the same technology).