AndrewT

That's an old file, it not being there is nothing to do with your problem.

Is this the Steam edition of the gam eor another one?

Are the mods from the Steam workshop or elsewhere?

What launcher version do you see? Current is 2021.6

Do the mod files physically exist in the Documents/Paradox Interactive/CK3/mod/ folder?  

The 3.0.4 patch that came out the other day changed the MP system to use a different back end. But that has nothing to do with the game being able to start at all. So it's hard to see how the VPN could have had that effect, I suspect that's a coincidence.

However the new stellaris.exe might need to be added to the Avira exceptions list , can you look into that?  

Once a save game has been written by a new game patch it can't be run under older patches. You'd need to load a save that had not been so updated.

But the 3.0.4 patch only updated from 3.0.3, so quite a minor update and shouldn't really have caused any problem like this. Did you try reverting to that instead of 2.8.1 which is from last year?  

Did you want your documents to be stored on the MS cloud? If not it is best to undo that, as it can get in the way.

What happened when you ran eu4.exe directly from File Explorer?

And you may as well do a clean reinstall and update of that nVidia driver:
- uninstall it and all other nVidia software
- reboot
- install August 2021 from here:
Download Drivers | NVIDIA - reboot again

good luck!  

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/Stellaris/settings.txt and pdx_settings.txt .
From your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/logs/ folder, attach here system.log , error.log .  

Ah, in that case you don't have a launcher problem at all most likely. If you run eu4.exe directly from File Explorer does it start up?


If not In the game launcher please set Display mode to Borderless. THEN go here:

The latest supported Visual C++ downloads

This article lists the download links for the latest versions of Visual C++. support.microsoft.com ... Read more

Deleting the game will not fix whatever is wrong in the Windows update process that is preventing our launcher installer from running.

You could try the free utilities Revo Uninstaller and Ccleaner, to make sure all trace of Paradox Launcher v2 is gone.

Failing that, it may be your new Windows installation did not go well. Not really sure what to suggest for that situation, to be honest!  

The 1603/1605 errors we see there are typically a previous other installation stuck, or a problem in the Windows update/install processes.

If you see msiexec running in Task manager-processes, kill it and try this launcher install again please.

Otherwise run the Update app in Windows, does it load okay, find anything to apply - whether a patch, update, or whole new Windows 10 version? If so do that and reboot, then try this launcher install again please.

If still no good, do you see Paradox Launcher v2 in the Windows Control Panel to uninstall? If so does it uninstall cleanly, or get an error doing that?  

I don't know how to do that, you might check in the User Mods forum.

For the future though best to disable that DLC before you host MP games.  

koniu said: Same problem for me and i believe it is Paradox launcher bug.
Game start properly on Launcher version 2021.1
After launcher update to 2021.6 game stop launching

Your problem seems to be unrelated to the OP's in fact. Always best in future to start your own fresh thread.

If you run stellaris.exe directly from File Explorer does it start, or still fail? If it fails is there a Windows error shown?  

Dominator14 said: Yes, you are right, it is a "trainer" I was using to modify certain parts of the game, how could I remove it?

I know nothing about such things. I guess uninstall it if it's in the Windows Control Panel, then use the free utilities Revo Uninstaller AND Ccleaner to ensure it is completely gone.  

Let's try forcing an update of the launcher.

Download the installer package: https://forumcontent.paradoxplaza.com/emailsignatures/2021.6-win-prod.zip

Unpack the file you just downloaded and place the three files in the Steam folder for the game you're having issues with. If asked if you want to replace already existing files click "yes" - that's a sign you are in the right place!


THEN
- 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 Intera... Read more

The emulated video system in Parallels does not meet the game's minimum requirements, I'm sure that is the problem here.

Is there any reason why you are not running the game under MacOS?  

What antivirus do you use? Add EU4.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 should add steam.exe and C:/users//AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2.2021.6/paradox launcher.exe to that list.  

You rproblem sounds more like a game/Windows issue than a launcher problem. I assume running ck3.exe and imperator.exe directly from File Explorer also fails?

If so, In the game launcher please set Display mode to windowed. THEN go here:

The latest supported Visual C++ downloads

This article lists the download links for the latest versions of Visual C++. support.micro... Read more

Not sure whether that would be considered a game/launcher bug, or a requirement on the Mod authors to use consistent case in their mods!  

If your CK3 is the Steam one, not say Gamepass, then it uses the same installation of the same launcher as EU4 - you are 100% sure the launcher works for CK3? What version shows there?


In any case, Let's try forcing an update of the launcher.

Download the installer package: https://forumcontent.paradoxplaza.com/emailsignatures/2021.6-win-prod.zip

Unpack the file you just downloaded and place the three files in the Steam folder for the game you're having issues with. If asked if you want to replace already existing files click "yes" - that's a sign you are in the right place!

Then please repeat the launcher reinstall procedure from before.

Good luck with that!... Read more

In the game launcher please set Display mode to Borderless. THEN go here:

The latest supported Visual C++ downloads

This article lists the download links for the latest versions of Visual C++. support.microsoft.com And run the x86 and x64 installers there.

IF that doesn't help, Install ALL these Microsoft modules:

...

Read more

Please try the following:

- unsubscribe from all mods
- delete the folder Documents/Paradox Interactive/eu4/mod/
- delete the file Documents/Paradox Interactive/eu4/mods_registry.json (if present)
- delete the file Documents/Paradox Interactive/eu4/launcher-v2.sqlite

Add eu4.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 should add steam.exe and C:/users//AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2.2021.6/paradox launcher.exe to that list.

- subscribe to a few mods
- run the game up and see if those mods are now available to you.

I hope that does it for you!  

There is nothing in those logs to say why the launcher - specifically bootstrapper-v2.exe - is not even attempting to update from that older version to 2021.6 . Normally we'd see a comms or permissions error. So I'm not really sure where to go from here on this one!

Maybe set dowser.exe and bootstrapper-v2.exe to run as the Windows Admin user?