[2022] No launcher works with this damn game!

If you keep having to reinstall the Paradox Launcher to start the game, I recommend you set up this temporary bypass:
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/issues-with-game.1530199/post-28316805

Originally posted by ra_dancer: No fire either..Steam keeps updating every other day but it stills says downloading launcher every time I get to start it, but nothing happens.

Is this after setting up the bypass too? The launcher should no longer be downloaded after doing that.

Please check to make sure the cities.bat file is the correct file type. If you have common file extensions hidden it may not have been changed from a .txt file to a .bat file, but has ended up as cities.bat.txt which would not work.