Crusader Kings 3 Dev Tracker

What is your antivirus? 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.

You may need to add steam.exe and C:/users//AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2.2020.16/paradox launcher.exe to that list.  

Not a bug, FYI.

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/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.  

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/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 a command prompt or the Windows start menu 'run' dialog box (or 'search programs' in Windows 7 or later). 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' but... Read more

This list should cover it:

ck3.exe
dowser.exe
steam.exe
C:/users//AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2.2020.16/paradox launcher.exe
C:/users//AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/bootstrapper-v2.exe

You may find Avast has actually deleted or quarantined one or both of those last 2 files, check if they are physically present.  

Please try this possible workaround :

Start the game on GeForceNow and deactivate all dlcs, load savegame ( which won't work) , leave game and start again with all dlcs activated.

Good luck with that!  

Aside from the raw fps numbers do you see any other symptoms of poor performance? Slow loading times, slow time passing in the game, jerkiness in scrolling or zooming the map? All of those?

As you haven't played for a while, a clean rein stall would be a good idea:

- move any valued save games elsewhere
- "uninstall" in Steam-CK3
- manually delete both the Steam/SteamApps/common/CK3 AND Documents/Paradox/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 a command prompt or the Wind... Read more

I see nothing in there to explain this, I'm sorry. In the game's video settings try setting the frame rate cap to 60, does that change anything?

Undo any overclocking you have set up.

And let's try a clean reinstall of that nVidia driver, I see a report that helped one affected use:

- uninstall it, and all other nVidia software
- reboot
- install the latest (2021) by fresh download from here:
Download Drivers | NVIDIA - reboot again

Good luck with that!  

Does this happen right from the start of a new game? Or only in mid or late game play?


DXDIAG is a program you run from a command prompt or the Windows start menu 'run' dialog box (or 'search programs' in Windows 7 or later). 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 your Documents/Paradox/CK3/pdx_settings.txt .
From your Documents/Paradox/CK3/logs/ folder, attach system.log , error.log  

Some users found that connecting via a VPN got past the problem. Not all though, so perhaps there is more than one underlying problem here!  

The ck3.exe problem in that dxdiag is a hang not a crash, so things have changed - the Windows update did help to some degree then.

So I think the hang is very likely a bad saved game, sorry about that! I think that's what all the entries in error.log are about.  

In the game launcher please set Display mode to windowed.

IF that doesn't help, Has the game ever run OK on this computer? Or never?

IF NEVER:
Install ALL these Microsoft modules:

Download Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86) from Offic...

Read more

I see, so in fact your problem is nothing like the one discussed in this thread. In future can you please make a new thread of your own? Thanks.

Please try this:

- exit the Steam app entirely
- uninstall Paradox Launcher v2 from the Windows "Apps and features" utility, if still present.

Delete the following folders if still present:

- C:/users//AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/
- C:/users//AppData/Local/Paradox Interactive/
- C:/users//AppData/Roaming/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2/
To see the AppData folder you'll need to enable View Hidden Items in File Explorer.

- run steam.exe as the Windows Admin user

- run the game from the PLAY button in Steam

IF that doesn't help, in this folder are some .log files:
C:/users//AppData/Local/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2/
Please attach them here.  

You may as well, but by now we're pretty sure this is not a game problem.

You can test your theory that it was caused by the latest game patch, by reverting to an earlier one in the Steam Betas tab for the game. If a version that used to not have this problem for you now does, the cause is outside the game.  

Prussiabrother said: I did as you and he asked, but still asked me to delete the old launcher.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding something here. You are specifically getting an error removing the old launcher, even though it has been removed by Revo?

A new launcher 2020.17 came ou tlast night. Hopefully by tomorrow I will be able to direct you to its installer, which may get past your issue.  

There is only one crash in CK3 in that dxdiag:

+++ WER2 +++:
Détecteur d'erreurs 1447653377709246828, type 4
Nom d’événement : APPCRASH
Réponse : Non disponible
ID de CAB : 0

Signature du problème :
P1 : ck3.exe
P2 : 1.0.0.0
P3 : 5fc907a9
P4 : StackHash_8ac2
P5 : 10.0.18362.1316
P6 : 45a49e53
P7 : c0000374
P8 : PCH_E5_FROM_ntdll+0x000000000009D244

Which looks very much like a Windows problem, I have to say. However the error.log looks pretty bad too ...

Windows has not have a major update applied for 2 years, so please run the Windows Updater app and look for a new Win10 version to apply - not a patch or update but a whole new version. Apply that, reboot, run the updater again, apply everything ... keep doing that until there is nothing to fix.
... Read more

GholaTeg said: Hey Andrew, thanks for your prompt reply, I was busy and couldn't get back to you, however I do not have AVG, Avast, nor Kaspersky on my machine, so there was nothing to grant exceptions to. I can provide you with some logs, which ones would you be looking for in particular? Thanks!

Are you getting the exact same Java error seen in the OP here then? Or another Java error? or some other symptom entirely?

What AV app do you use?  

Prussiabrother said: I've just tried everything you've mentioned, and my app no longer has the Pparadox Launcher.

I'm at the end of my rope, here's the Log please help me.

You should update for the next version: skip removing the old launcher or a smarter search.

First run the Windows 10 updater app and apply everything it finds to fix.

Then go here:

...

Read more

I'm sorry I missed this thread, I don't know how that happened.

The best way to remove apps that won't uninstall is the free utility Revo Uninstaller.


Once it's gone, Please try this:

- exit the Steam app entirely

Delete the following folders if still present:

- C:/users//AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/
- C:/users//AppData/Local/Paradox Interactive/
- C:/users//AppData/Roaming/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2/
To see the AppData folder you'll need to enable View Hidden Items in File Explorer.

- run steam.exe as the Windows Admin user

- run the game from the PLAY button in Steam

IF that doesn't help, in this folder are some .log files:
C:/users//AppData/Local/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2/
Please attach them here.  

We now have reports of this on AVG, Avast and possibly Kaspersky.

You need to make sure all these apps are in its exceptions lists:

dowser.exe (in the Steam CK3 folder)
C:/users//AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2.2020.16/paradox launcher.exe
C:/users//AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/bootstrapper-v2.exe

Good luck!  

That certainly looks better than the published minimum requirements. What are you seeing in there that makes you ask, was there something specific?

Note that if you buy from our store, we have complete discretion over refunds.