[2022] 1.7.2 Crash to Desktop on Startup (Fresh install)

Alablm said: Running ck3.exe directly from Steam/Steamapps/Common/Crusader Kings III/Binaries

What did you see when you did this?

Alablm said: Launching with DX9 or OpenGL via the setting txt file

DX9 is not supported with this game, but was it any different with OpenGL?

Your CPU appears to support AVX, which would be a common cause of failing to start at all.


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.  

Alablm said: I notice the gamepass launcher version is 2022.9-SE, where steam is 2022-13. Is it possible to downgrade the steam launcher to see if its somehow related?

When the game starts the launcher is unloaded, so I doubt that is the cause of your problem.

You didn't explicitly say what happened when you ran ck3.exe directly from file explorer, but if that also crashed on launch then this cannot be a launcher problem as it is simply not in use. Why it would crash but the MS version not is hard to understand!  

Well, I guess it's unsurprising that as the ck3.exe from Gamepass works there, it also works when placed in the Steam folder. The question is why doesn't the Steam ck3.exe !

I'm not fully across what differences there are between the two builds, but fundamentally they have the same system and Windows requirements of course.  

Alablm said: think its possible the steam install was missing some files

The Steam Verify operation you did should have fixed that. Yo could try changing to a different Steam download region I guess, so the game comes from a different Steam server.