[2023] Game not starting from Steam

FYI the drive it is installed on is irrelevant.

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, cap refresh rate at 60.


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  

derbruzzlah said: Hello there and thank you for your reply!

Please find attached the files. There was no exceptions.log file unfortunately.

Best regards!

I see nothing about ck3.exe in that dxdiag, only the launcher. What happens if you run ck3.exe directly from file explorer?  

nastydogbreath said: Having the same issue

Updated video card driver first.

Windows 11, using CK3 Quill version. Deleted all mods, and uninstalled / reinstalled. Paradox crashes right after hitting play in Steam If I uninstall Paradox Launcher and then run it in Steam, the Paradox Launcher re-installs and the game works. Once I close the game I have the same issue.

Same as OP, in regards to not having an exceptions.log file. Also looked in Event Viewer and did not find any more information. I can run the ck3.exe file directly and with success, but not the paradox launcher that Steam seems to be using.

Thanks in advance!

In future please make your own new thread. Thanks.

What happens exactly when you run the game from Steam? Do you see our launcher?

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, cap refresh rate at 60.

Any better?  

derbruzzlah said: nothing happens. I hit play and after a few seconds I can hit play again and still nothings happens. This continues infinitely.

When you run ck3.exe directly from File Explorer you should see no PLAY buttons, the game should start up directly (if it can). Please try that and let me know what happens.  

So you can start ck3.exe but the launcher cannot. 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..14/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.  

nastydogbreath said: Running ck3.exe works fine. But going this way doesn't connect to Steam where I've purchased DLC.

nastydogbreath said: I have the Xbox PC game pass, and I am able to run the launcher from there. Since I have purchased DLC from Steam, those purchases and the mods still do not work.

Are you saying you have the base game in Gamepass but the DLCs in Steam?

If that is the situation, that is working as intended - Steam DLCs can only ever work with the Steam base game. You should get a refund for those Steam DLCs and buy them from the MS store, or any resellers they may have.