[2023] CK3 1.9.1 - Ironman mode slows the game down every 3-4 months on the 2nd

It will probably be calculations rather than saving triggering this.

But you are saying it only happens with Ironman? Because the above ought to be basically the same either way.


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  

Delete that empty systems.log file , does the game make a new one that is populated this time?

If so does that help the issue?


Also, you may as well update that nVidia driver to this month's one https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us  

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 that doesn't help, Please report the temperatures of your CPU and video (GPU)
1/ before starting the game up and
2/ after say 10 minutes' play.
If your PC's vendor has given you no way of reading temperatures, install
SPEEDFAN http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php  

Delta Aquila said: After: 80°C

There is your problem! Or at least a problem, for sure.

What refresh rate are you seeing in the game? If it is more than 60, check you disable vsync and set that cap to 60, as I mentioned above (it was 120 before).


If it is 60 you should not e getting temps up at 80c. Clean out all air vents it has (compressed air cans are good for this). Make sure airflow to them is not blocked by anything like walls, books or whatever.
If that doesn't drop the temps enough, you probably have a faulty fan or a heatsink/thermal paste problem. You may need professional help at that point.  

You said above this happens in Ironman mode - are you saying it ONLY happens then, not otherwise?

Dos this also affect HOI4, Stellaris, and EU4?


If not, as a test revert to 1.8.x in. the Steam Betas tab for the game, and start a new test campaign - doe sit still happen there?  

Well that is weird, because aside from the save game regime Ironman and non-Ironman are the same - whatever calculations occur on the 2nd of the month will be the same for both.

Delta Aquila said: The game stops every 3-4 months on the 2nd day of the month. It stops as if it's autosaving, but I have it on yearly autosave and not monthly.

Note that Ironman doesn't do autosaves as such; it does what you might call a forced manual save at certain points. So changing the autosave setting has no effect on it.

Doing a test run I see my game pauses briefly on the 2nd of the month in Ironman. The pause is so brief, less than a second, I'd not noticed it before!

Do both local and cloud save settings show this issue for you?  

Are your Windows User Documents folder, and Steam installation, on the same disk? If the first is on an SSD and the latter on a conventional hard disk, that might explain that perhaps - cloud saves are actually written out to a Steam folder, and only synced up to the Steam Cloud when you exit the game.  

Then I have no explanation for your problem! It doesn't match doing a save , as that would happen whether Ironman or not, although to a different folder. As would doing in-game calculations, they are the same in Ironman and non.

Could your antivirus app be doing realtime scans of the Steam folders but not the Windows user Documents folders?  

Unless you are using the default Windows Defender one only, it's worth checking with the vendor!