Game won't start

[xWingsOfRequiemx]

So I used to play the game just fine, then yesterday I start playing and boom the game crashes.

After a few of those, I try and verify the integrity of files. Seems okay, and the again crash.

Then I reinstalled the game completely and now it opens the launcher but it gives me a message to "Check the C++ redistributable and Net Framework" which I checked and I have all of them.

I also try the "windowed" mode but no change.

Any ideas?

[Son Goku]

I have the same problem!

[oozePOP]

Same here. Getting really frustrated. Wonder if Steam will offer a refund.

[xWingsOfRequiemx]

Okay so maybe it's a game patch issue

[xWingsOfRequiemx]

bump :/ someone please help I would really like to play

[*insert meme coin*]

Does nobody have a fix? Kinda frustrating....

[Ashling]

Edit: You should also post this in https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/forums/crusader-kings-iii-tech-support.1078/ if you haven't already.

For my hot take:

This sounds like a new problem that I've never heard of before. This might be unrelated, but there was a popular crash introduced with the newest update which does have a solution detailed below. I don't expect this to work, but maybe something wonky is going on (certainly can't hurt, and I think something similar happened in CK2):

In the upper bar of the steam window (top left of the window you're on now) go to Steam > Settings > Cloud, disable Steam cloud sync. We don't want Steam to restore the files we're about to delete.

-Exit Steam completely.

-Go to the following location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata

-You should see a folder with a name made up of lots of numbers. That's your Steam ID, and holds all the save data associated with your Steam account. Go into that folder.

-Find the folder named with your game code below (CK3 AppID 1158310). That's the App ID for your game. Go into that folder, then go into the "remote" folder.

-When you see the UserData.sav folder, delete it.

(Where I found this: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/ck-iii-repeatedly-crashing-to-the-desktop-the-specific-actions-within-the-client-do-not-seem-to-matter.1518600/ )

I tried this method and it fixed my game (I didn't have the UserData file, but deleting the remote folder worked for me). Still, I'm not very confident this'll work for the problem at hand, but I can see ways in which it might be affecting it, so there you have it.

Outside of that, a new update is coming which might fix the problem (they have been alerted to some crash problems), also make sure your anti-virus isn't doing anything stupid (if you have one).

Edit edit: It also looks as though deleting the documents CK3 folder has worked for some people.

[oozePOP]

So, I just tried letting it be unresponsive for a bit and went out for a smoke. I came back in, the game was launched. Wonder if that's the fix? I'll have to try it again next session.

[oozePOP]

Originally posted by oozePOP:

So, I just tried letting it be unresponsive for a bit and went out for a smoke. I came back in, the game was launched. Wonder if that's the fix? I'll have to try it again next session.

I just tried this again, and it worked again. So, my problem was that I would get a blank black or white screen, and if I clicked, it would tell me the program was not responding, giving me the option to wait for it to respond, or close the app. For me, the simple fix is just giving the program a moment to start. It skips that initial CK3 start up screen, but ultimately, the game will run. I do not click when the game gives me the blank screen, I just let it do its thing.

[xWingsOfRequiemx]

Originally posted by oozePOP:

Originally posted by oozePOP:

So, I just tried letting it be unresponsive for a bit and went out for a smoke. I came back in, the game was launched. Wonder if that's the fix? I'll have to try it again next session.

I just tried this again, and it worked again. So, my problem was that I would get a blank black or white screen, and if I clicked, it would tell me the program was not responding, giving me the option to wait for it to respond, or close the app. For me, the simple fix is just giving the program a moment to start. It skips that initial CK3 start up screen, but ultimately, the game will run. I do not click when the game gives me the blank screen, I just let it do its thing.

yeah this is a known one, click start, and don't touch anything, I wasn't having an issue with that though :/

[Vervain]

So I just installed the game. Opened the launcher, got the message to restart the application due to launcher update, and then upon restarting got the hung launcher that would just crash. I am on windows 11 and apparently the last update may have caused some issues like disabling windows .net framework 3.5. I first tried re-enabling windows .net 3.5 (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/install/dotnet-35-windows) but that didn't fix it for me. Then I checked my installations, and for some reason steam had not installed the redistributable for CK3. I don't know if this is because of steam or some weird thing again with windows. I had no redistributables installed on my pc. I don't know which one CK3 needs so I installed the 2015-2022 x64 package here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170
After that, my game is apparently fixed. The launcher loads in just fine and I can play. Just sharing what I went through in case it helps someone.

[xWingsOfRequiemx]

Originally posted by Peregrinus Canit:

So I just installed the game. Opened the launcher, got the message to restart the application due to launcher update, and then upon restarting got the hung launcher that would just crash. I am on windows 11 and apparently the last update may have caused some issues like disabling windows .net framework 3.5. I first tried re-enabling windows .net 3.5 (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/install/dotnet-35-windows) but that didn't fix it for me. Then I checked my installations, and for some reason steam had not installed the redistributable for CK3. I don't know if this is because of steam or some weird thing again with windows. I had no redistributables installed on my pc. I don't know which one CK3 needs so I installed the 2015-2022 x64 package here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/windows/latest-supported-vc-redist?view=msvc-170
After that, my game is apparently fixed. The launcher loads in just fine and I can play. Just sharing what I went through in case it helps someone.

Awesome thanks for the info <3

[Kelan12345]

Is anyone continuing to have this issue? I've tried the fixes list above but with no such luck

[Disguised Archfey]

Cant open my game, Working just fine Yesterday

[xWingsOfRequiemx]

Originally posted by Kelan12345:

Is anyone continuing to have this issue? I've tried the fixes list above but with no such luck

I reinstalled all my C++ redistributables and Net Framework and then it started working again fine. Didn't have issues since

[Disguised Archfey]

Originally posted by xWingsOfRequeimx:

Originally posted by Kelan12345:

Is anyone continuing to have this issue? I've tried the fixes list above but with no such luck

I reinstalled all my C++ redistributables and Net Framework and then it started working again fine. Didn't have issues since

How do you do that?