game initialization indefinitely and crashing

[Jase]

i had the game in the past and recently reinstalled. i launch the game from steam and then from within launcher and the screen goes black. a few minutes later the title screen comes up and then a load screen will pop up saying initializing game with a spinning wheel in the top left. it will stay on this screen for several minutes and sometimes music will start playing. it will stay on this screen indefinitely and the wheel will spin forever.

once or twice it’s went to the main menu after an absurd amount of time where upon starting a new game or adjusting video settings, the game crashes.

i’ve tried most fixes i can find: moving to ssd, deleting old saves and ck3 folder within paradox, checking file integrity, full reinstall, updating windows, updating drivers, and nothing seems to be working. i played the game with no problem a few years ago so it’s probably not hardwear related ( all specs on par or above recommended settings ). it’s worth noting that i’m playing on pc windows 10 and no mods are active.

any help would be appreciated !