[2023] an error has occurred and the application quit unexpectedly

jonnyf89 said: When I try to send the error report, this fails also.

the message that it's failed is a known bug. the message does go through  

Moved to Tech Support  

Please do a full **clean** re-install:

- move any valued save games elsewhere
- "uninstall" in Steam-CK3
- manually delete both the Steam/SteamApps/common/CK3 AND Documents/Paradox Interactive/CK3 folders
- re-install game in Steam, run a Steam Verify when done.
- add CK3.exe to the exceptions list of your antivirus app; ESPECIALLY if you have Windows Defender, add it to the Ransomware "Apps Allowed Through" list.
- start the game with no mods active and test

In particular make sure there are no files or folders left under either the Steam CK3 or Documents CK3 locations, before installing again.


If those don't help:
DXDIAG is a program you run from the Windows search box on the task bar. After running it will open a window and start collecting info with a progress bar in the lower-left corner. When it completes click the 'save all information' button and save it to a file then attach that file here.

Please attach here your Documents/Paradox Interactive/CK3/pdx_settings.txt .
From your Documents/Paradox Interactive/CK3/logs/ folder, attach here system.log , error.log, exceptions.log  

Lots of DirectX 11 errors, plus other video problems in there. While your nVidia driver is pretty recent, being on Windows 8.1 is not ideal - were you at all thinking of updating that OS?

Right click on ck3.exe , properties, compatibility. Tick "disable fullScreen optimisations" untick every other box in that dialog, Apply and exit.

Then in the launcher Game Settings menu, select fullScreen display mode, Vsync off, refresh rate 60.

Is that any better?


If not, edit that pdx_settings.txt file and replace DX11 with OpenGL .Does it load then?  

atrubetskoy said: Hello! I have a similar issue, my CK 3 only opens the launcher and when I press play it says "An error has Occurred. The game appears to have crashed or terminated unexpectedly (exit code null). The issue may be solved ..."
I tried doing a clean reinstall, but nothing helps. I tried to run as admin, tried to change DX11 with OpenGL, tried to add CK3.exe to exceptions in Defender
I attached the DxDiag and pdx settings, however I do not have a logs folder in the CK3 folder.
Let me know if you need anything else

Please make your own new thread in future, thanks.

What happens if you run ck3.exe directly from file explorer? Any error show there?

Has the game ever worke don this machine? Or never yet?  

atrubetskoy said: Thank you for getting back to me, apologies about using the same thread.
If I run CK3.exe the game launches, goes to loading screen with the art and then crashes to desktop with no message.
I did launch CK3 on this laptop a few times about a year ago.

Ah, that is usually an antivirus app getting in the way. What antivirus app do you use? You need to make sure all these apps are in its exceptions lists:

ck3.exe (in the Steam CK3-binaries folder)
dowser.exe (in the Steam CK3-launcher folder)
C:/users/{username}/AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2.2023.1.1/paradox launcher.exe
C:/users/{username}/AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/bootstrapper-v2.exe

IF that doesn't help, also set each of those .exe files (EXCEPT ck3.exe !) to run as the Windows Admin user.

Then the game should run from Steam/our launcher, and enable all the DLCs.  

atrubetskoy said: I use the standard Windows Defender.
I added all the above to the exceptions list in Windows Defender, encountered the same problem

Was that specifically in the Ransomware-controlled folder access feature? I ask because sometimes users have confused that with the firewall feature in WD, which has nothing to do with this problem.


DXDIAG is a program you run from the Windows search box on the task bar. After running it will open a window and start collecting info with a progress bar in the lower-left corner. When it completes click the 'save all information' button and save it to a file then attach that file here.

Please attach here your Documents/Paradox Interactive/CK3/pdx_settings.txt .
From your Documents/Paradox Interactive/CK3/logs/ folder, attach here system.log , error.log , exceptions.log  

I don't see any reason for this problem in those files.

Right click on ck3.exe , properties, compatibility. Tick "disable fullScreen optimisations" untick every other box in that dialog, Apply and exit.
Then in the launcher Game Settings menu, select fullScreen display mode, Vsync off, refresh rate 60.

If still a problem, also select Vulkan in that menu.

Do they make any difference?  

You haven't set ck3.exe to run as Admin also, have you? If so, undo that.

Otherwise, this may be a launcher issue that is currently being worked on.  

2023.2 came out last night, I don't suppose that helped?