CK2 mods no longer work

[Matt Milder]

I recently got a new PC, and it's taken a few weeks to notice that my Crusader Kings II mods no longer work. They appear in the launcher and are checkable...and were working when I first installed them a few weeks ago, but not anymore.

The game and mods worked fine on my Windows 7 computer (albeit slow to load and with lots of performance lag). But I recently bought a new Windows 11 PC and one of the first programs I redownloaded from Steam was CKII and its mods. It was working fine as of two weeks ago...I stared playing a game using the After the End Fan Fork Mod...and it was working fine. I got bored with that play and started a traditional ironman game, and after that I went back to playing a more modded variant, which loaded as such...but I noticed stuff wasn't right...the childhood traits my leader didn't go away when they became an adult...I didn't make the connection at the time, and only realized today that other mods were also gone, the MTA Specific Punishments were gone, I wasn't able to upgrade My Personal Castle...all of which went under the radar as I was playing. Yesterday I decided to do a new game set in the After the End Fan Fork Mod...and after starting the game, I do get the loadscreen for it (the North American map over the Great Lakes that looks hand drawn) but when I go to the set-up screen, instead of the overhead map of the North America, the default map of Eurasia is in the background...it was only then I realized the game wasn't loading up the MODs.

So I've spent the last three hours searching online for ways to fix this, read several threads about setting exclusions to the Microsoft Defender Antivirus and workarounds with the Ransomware protection, I deleted the mods from the PC, unsubbed and re-subbed, restarted the game a dozen times, and am basically still exactly where I started, the game works fine, the mods all appear in the list and can be selected, but when the game loads...they aren't there...and in the case of Elder Kings, the game actually crashes...unlike After the End, it doesn't show the correct loading screen, it's instead a big white screen, and then the game just closes. I tried the Nova Monumenta Iaponiae Historica (the Japanese world mod) which I only subbed to today...and like After the End, when I got to the set-up screen...there's the big Eurasian Map in the background.

Has anyone actually got a step by step fix for this? I'm tired of trying everyone's piecemeal fixes. There has to be one workable solution to this problem. Is it just a matter of turning off protection service? Are there specific files that need to be excluded from the antivirus list? This has something to do with the launcher, from what I read, and it's been a problem with other Paradox titles as well.

I only have a dozen MODs, but I have saved games that use them and don't want to load them up and mess up my saves if the mods aren't working correctly.

Again...the game works fine, I'm only having issues with the mods no longer working. I had zero issues with this on my old PC, and they were working fine a few weeks ago on this brand new PC, but now don't seem to be working at all.

[Varainger]

Hmm...

The Steam Workshop doesn't work for some as it should, for unkown reasons.
So there is no known fix either, only a workaround.

Go to Documents/paradox../Ck2/mod
and check if the zip files for the mods apparently missing have a reasonable size or if they are just one kb.

The latter would mean the mods didn't download properly, if at all outside the empty folder (zipped) and file. Selectable, but not truly there, hence why not loading into the game. Going by what you described that sounds like it.

IF that is the case, then verify if the mods zip file is instead at
Steam\userdata\some_number\ugc\referenced\some_other_number\mod

IF the zip of a mod is there, then the missing *.mod file is easily created by either completeky creating it yourself or by copying the descriptor.mod file inside the zip.

The alternative, assuming the Workshop mods downloaded are empty as i suspect, but are not to be found in the userdata directory either, is to get the mods via manual downloads.

Other ideas/suggestions
(None of the below worked for me):

- Are you using another Windows account then before ? One without admin rights etc., thus maybe being blocked from accessing the files in Documents.
- You could see if completely un-and reinstalling Steam suddenly makes it work (apart form the games, move them elsewhere beforehand).
Could be related to Firewall changes in permisssions, registry entries or such.
- If your Documents are in a cloud, then the issue might be there. Get it back to be local on your comp.

[Dimitrius145]

Try turning on steam cloud and syncing the game because that is what fixed mods for mine.

[Matt Milder]

according to my settings, it's already synchronizing (it's checked in the settings at any rate)

[Matt Milder]

Okay, as to your suggestion, I looked at the downloads for the mods. The zip files are all various sizes 14kb-300,000kb but the actual mod files are only 1 kb each. I'll see what I can do with them using your suggestions.

[Matt Milder]

Oh. That's interesting.
I noticed before that there's a folder (in steam/steamapps/common/Crusader Kings II/mod) that has a text document titled "DontPutModsHere" and I know for a fact, that folder was empty before. But I just checked it, and there are mods (and their respective zip files) in that folder...this is after I deleted all the files from the user-name/documents/Paradox Interactive/Crusader Kings II/mod folder...which is where the mods have been downloading and installing to (which is the correct location if I'm not mistaken).

Why would they be installing in a separate location? Maybe that's part of the conflict? No idea. I deleted them from there too. Let's see what happens. I deleted all the zips and the mods, and unsubbed to all on the workshop, except one (the one I'm trying to test), hopefully when I open CKII it automatically downloads to the correct spot and we're good to go.

I also deselected the cloud sync...not sure if there was a conflict there or not, but I am ONLY playing this game from this computer, so I don't really need the cloud.

[Matt Milder]

Dang it...found another folder that had the files in it (and deleted them too)
this one: users/"user-name"/desktop/mod
Only problem is now, whenever I open CKII, I can't click on the MODS tab...so the game is saying no mods are downloaded, yet according to Steam Workshop, I have subbed to one mod (and i've unsubbed and re-subbed to it several times) it should be someplace, but all three locations where it was previously downloaded are empty. ??
And the cloud syncing thing got re-checked, so I just left it checked. Not sure what's up with that either. I haven't yet checked my cloud files...I'm taking a break...I spent three hours on this after midnight last night, I need another break before tackling this again.

[Matt Milder]

UPDATE: okay, learned a few things.

I was having issues with the MODS tab not being selectable in the launch window. Searching around the Steam settings, I found that the "Keep Game Saves in Steam Cloud" was unchecked (I must have unchecked it at some point during this whole figure out what's going on problem) and I RE-checked it (making it active) and when I went into the game, the mod tab is now usable, so that fixes that.

With the steam cloud working...the Mods downloaded again, but as I suspected, they aren't downloading into the right folder...the two I subbed to downloaded into that mod folder with the "DontPutModsHere" text file in it...so I guess I should move them to the correct mods folder and see if that fixes things. The two mods do appear in the Mods tab in program, so the game is finding them. ....am I doing this right? those files should not be in that folder. I'm thinking: move these files to one of the other folders and see if they are usable in game, if not, move them to one of the other files...keep doing this until they work, then download the other mods I want to use and put them in the correct window.

Anyway, that's where I'm at...

[Matt Milder]

that didn't work
I've tried moving the files to another folder, but they keep re-downloading into the "DontPutModsHere" folder. The mods appear in the mods tab, but they aren't loading. After The End Fan Fork keeps loading up with the default Euroasian map, so I know it's not loading. And Elder Kings is still crashing every time I try to use it, so I unsubbed and deleted the files...I'll tackle it when I get the other mods working.

[Matt Milder]

Originally posted by Varainger:

Hmm...

IF that is the case, then verify if the mods zip file is instead at
Steam\userdata\some_number\ugc\referenced\some_other_number\mod

IF the zip of a mod is there, then the missing *.mod file is easily created by either completeky creating it yourself or by copying the descriptor.mod file inside the zip.

[Matt Milder]

I went back to your response, to the above portion. I have found that folder (with the "some number" folders) and yes, those zip files are located in those different numbered folders. should those be deleted as well? Because there are a bunch of numbered folders and each of them has one of the zips I previously downloaded, even the ones I deleted from other locations.

I am so lost at this point.

[Matt Milder]

UPDATE: to verify that the "DontPutModsHere" folder should be empty...I opened up that location on my old computer, and indeed, the ONLY files in that folder are the two text files named "DontPutModsHere" and "dummy" text files.

That means that on THIS computer, the mods are being downloaded into the wrong folder, because every download I try to sub to, gets put in this folder...location:
"Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Crusader Kings II/mod"
So is the downloader the problem? How can I fix this, or make it work. Like I said initially, these mods all worked on my old PC, and prior to the last few days, they were working fine on the new PC too...but not anymore. How can I fix this?

[Varainger]

That's quite some posts to read and potentially respond to....
*phew*
I'll probably try later tonight (CET).
IF not, then at some point tomorrow.

[Matt Milder]

Yeah, I woke up today, saw you had responded, then immediately tried to address the problem...another few hours tried and no fix yet. I'll pop back in later and see if you have anything new for me. I feel like there is something simple, I'm just not seeing it or not understanding it. Thanks for your help!

[Varainger]

Instead of quoting your posts,i'lltry to respond in order.

1. Cloud-syncing (in Steam-Settings-Cloud) has to be activated for the CK2 Workshop to work, no matter if you use the cloud or not. Been that way since release. Don't read of anything having changed in this regard.

2. If the zip files are that big, then it's not the cause i initally thought.
Though you didn't say where those mods were. Anyway, irrelevant for now.

3. Mods should indeed NOT be in Steam/steamapps/common/Crusader Kings II/mod.
Can cause issues,hence the dummy files. Mods should only be at one place, which by default is Documents/Para.../CK2/mod.
IF you use OneDrive in Windows, then there can be issues by it trying to put mods into a Documents folder in the Windows cloud. Better to not use Onedrive or exclude CK2. I have no idea about how to handle OneDrive, so please don't ask concerning that.

4. The properties option ""Keep Game Saves in Steam Cloud" should NOT need to be active. Not sure why that made the Mod tab selectable in the launcher.

5. Having files in users/"user-name"/desktop/mod suggests to me you either used CK2 on a Windows account with limited access rights or created a userdir.txt file inside the CK2 folder in Steamapps/common.

6. Regarding the Steam/userdata directory, that is usually where CK2 mods get downloaded to when they are not going into the default Documents directory. Happens to me as well. You can either copy,move or cut them and move them to the mod folder in Documents. There you then create the missing modname.mod file to make it selectable. It's what i do.

Summary of the most relevant points (5+6) :

- Question :
Do you have a userdir.txt file inside the CK2 folder in Steamapps/common ?
IF so, open it. There should be a path inside it as only text. That path then is an alternative location for the CK2 folder by default in Documents, which the game tries to create on launch. It could be the reason why mods in the default Documents location don't seem to work.

- How to (usually) use mods downloaded into the wrong loction :
You can use the mods downloaded to the Steam/userdata directory by simply moving or copying them to the CK2 folder in Documents/Parad../CK2/mod. Then you need to create the *.mod file.

- Windows OS stuff causing probs:
a)Be sure you are using a Windows account on your comp that is not limited in access rights to files and folders, as standard guest accounts usualy are.
b) Don't use OneDrive or such cloud services
c) Could be Win11 messing with you either way.
Can't give you an answer on questions of either of these three subpoints.

[Matt Milder]

as to #3 - I was having massive problems with One Drive constantly uploading files, so I disabled it completely more than a week ago. What an annoyance. It was causing massive lags in YouTube videos, which never happened on my old PC which was a dinosaur.