Paradox launcher not working

[lecoqaveugle]

Hello everyone!

I started to experience problems with Paradox launcher for EU IV two months ago, but only now I have time to start solving it.

When I launch from Steam library or manually eu4.exe, Steam shows that my game is launched and I am playing for a few seconds. In Task Manager I also see Europa Universalis being launched and then terminated. I tried every common solution I could on the forums and internet, yet none of them worked for me.

Then I noticed that in Task Manager, when eu4 is being terminated a Windows Error task shows up. I followed up to the Windows Error reporting and saw an error 1001 associated with eu4.exe.

Anyone has any solution or was in the same situation like this?

Originally posted by Sullen Coffee:

Fault bucket 1769234001346149479, type 5
Event Name: BEX
Responce: Not available
CAB id: 0

Problem signature:
P1: eu4.exe
P2: 1.0.0.0
P3: 5b7ae10e
P4: StackHash_2264
P5: 0.0.0.0
P6: 00000000
P7: PCH_03
P8: c0000005
P9: 00000008
P10:

Attached files:
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WERBC88.tmp.dmp
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WERBDF1.tmp.WERInternalMetadata.xml
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WERBE21.tmp.xml
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WERBE27.tmp.csv
\\?\C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\Temp\WERBE66.tmp.txt

These files may be available here:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportArchive\AppCrash_eu4.exe_554b399bb5debb0a6dcb3db34adedbf69db3ec_41f1e0bf_2451c301

Analysis symbol:
Rechecking for solution: 0
Report Id: f990697f-7bbf-4987-bafb-47e43daf1f6e
Report Status: 268435456
Hashed bucket: 1842bf7fb679f969688d94f34ec7bc67

[Gay Actor Michael Douglas]

I've been having this problem too, you used to be able to use eu4_profiling beforehand to bypass but it's not in my eu4 steam files anymore.

[Laladen]

Just to link the two threads you have started concerning this issue so if a solution is found on the other and someone is searching forums for a fix, its linked: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/game-not-launching-crashing.1118226/

Anything causing an overlay besides Steam needs to be stopped. MSI, Evolve, Nvidia Experience.

Open your Anti-virus and create an exception for the EU4 folder in Steam.

Update your GPU directly from the manufacturers website.

Do you have any other Paradox games? Try and start one of those. If you experience the same issue, it's likely your C++ libraries. For these you can try reinstalling the libraries:

Uninstalling Visual C++ is done just like any other program on your system. The different versions and components will be listed in Programs and Features (or Add or Remove Programs for Windows XP). To uninstall Microsoft Visual C++:

Open Programs and Features from the Windows Control Panel (or Add or Remove Programs for Windows XP). An easy way to bring this up on non-Windows XP systems is to type "programs and features" in the search field at the bottom of the Start menu.

Uninstall everything that starts with "Microsoft Visual C++."
(Yes, it is extremely important for this step that you uninstall the libraries first. Do not skip this step)

Download and install all of the following (Download one at a time):

Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable (x86)[www.microsoft.com]
Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable (x64)[www.microsoft.com]
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable (x86)[www.microsoft.com]
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 Redistributable (x64)[www.microsoft.com]
Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable (x86)[www.microsoft.com]
Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable (x64)[www.microsoft.com]
Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Update 4 Redistributable (x86 and x64)[www.microsoft.com]
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Redistributable (x86 and x64)[www.microsoft.com]
Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable (x86 and x64)[www.microsoft.com]

Please note that only the x86 versions will work on 32-bit systems and you should install both the x86 and x64 versions on 64-bit systems. The file names for each download are the same, so be sure to not overwrite a prior one before installing it. Download one, install it, then download the next, install it, etc.


If this doesn't work...

Please try a clean install using the directions below. Do not skip steps because it sounds useless. If it's in here, it's in here for a reason.

Manually delete the personal EU4 directory (see step 3a below) and afterwards verify the game in Steam.

If that doesn't fix the problem try a clean reinstall, i.e. all of the following and in that order:

0) unsubscribe from all mods (Favorite them first so they are easy to find and re-subscribe afterwards)

1) delete the game's local content in Steam (i.e. uninstall the game)

2) exit Steam

3a) manually delete your personal EU4 directory---its path depends on the OS:
(Note: You might want to make a backup of the local save games in there before doing that!)

- [Windows] \Users\<username>\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Europa Universalis IV\

- [macOS] /Users/<username>/Documents/Paradox Interactive/Europa Universalis IV/

- [GNU/Linux] /home/<username>/.local/share/Paradox\ Interactive/Europa\ Universalis\ IV/

3b) manually delete your EU4 Steam directory (if it still exists...)---its path depends on the OS:

- [Windows 64bit] C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steamapps\Common\Europa Universalis IV\

- [Windows 32bit] C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps\Common\Europa Universalis IV\

- [macOS] /Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Europa Universalis IV/ (hidden on macOS 10.7+; this[www.macworld.com] might be helpful)

- [GNU/Linux] /home/<username>/.steam/steam/steamapps/common/Europa\ Universalis\ IV/

4) restart Steam

5) reinstall the game

6) verify the game

[lecoqaveugle]

As I said, after I had tried many things and the ones suggested in this thread.

I managed to solve this though, so here is the solution that worked for me if anyone encounters something similar in the future.

What I did:

• Even though I had all the path and 'Steam' folder added to the whitelist of my antivirus & firewall, I added again to the 'Windows Defender' whitelist steam.exe;
  
• I deleted settings.txt and system.log from the paths '\Users\<username>\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Europa Universalis IV\' and '\Users\<username>\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Europa Universalis IV\logs' respectfully;
  
• Checked the box in properties of eu4.exe in path '\Steam\Steamapps\Common\Europa Universalis IV\' to launch with administrator rights;
  
• Deleted the folder 'dlc' with all its content from the path '\Steam\Steamapps\Common\Europa Universalis IV\' and manually created an empty folder with the same name;
  
• Deleted all the files except eu4.exe and folders in path '\Steam\Steamapps\Common\Europa Universalis IV\';
  
• Verified game's cache through Europa Universalis 4 -> properties and it auto downloaded all the files that I had deleted

After I did all that, the launcher finally decided to work again without windows closing it and reporting a windows error as I had shown above.

[Laladen]

I suspect some administrator issue was preventing the game from either accessing a folder or writing to a folder.

Glad you got it fixed.

[Ubi]

I was in a similar issue... but deleted everything ..
including %appdata%/local/Programs/Paradox/

And now, after reinstaling, the launcher gives me a "general error" and i just cant find a way to properly reinstall it...
i made a copy of the folder
if deleted, reinstaling the game from steam doesnt install the launcher,
ir copied back, it gives "general error"

the exact message is: " Initializing game container failed: Loading config launcher-setting.json failed: Setting file doesn´t exist"

where is that file?? why verifying files from steam cant resolve it???

[Topaz Magoo]

same ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ problem as you but lucky you fix your game mine doesnt fix just makes me sad face. launcher completely broke my game. it runs launcher then closes launcher when i click play. process goes from running to nothing. when i run eu4.exe manually it starts game then crashes on loading graphics. totally unstartable. deleted all files re download em still sweet fa. i didnt want to go sailing but your forcing me to that sordid lifestyle. after paying your company hundreds of £ this completely sux

[Ubi]

SOLVED MY PROBLEM .- Uninstall from windows, both EU4 AND the launcher. And Reinstalled from Steam.

[playboicalorie]

Originally posted by Ubi:

SOLVED MY PROBLEM .- Uninstall from windows, both EU4 AND the launcher. And Reinstalled from Steam.

Did you have the same problem as the rest of us? ( launcher doesnt even start)

[grotaclas]

Originally posted by Chef G:

Did you have the same problem as the rest of us? ( launcher doesnt even start)

Probably nobody who posted in this thread this year has the same problem as the others.

This thread was started in 2018 and talks about the old launcher.

Please make a new thread if you have problems with the current version of the game. Then I will gladly help you.

[playboicalorie]

Originally posted by grotaclas:

Originally posted by Chef G:

Did you have the same problem as the rest of us? ( launcher doesnt even start)

Probably nobody who posted in this thread this year has the same problem as the others.

This thread was started in 2018 and talks about the old launcher.

Please make a new thread if you have problems with the current version of the game. Then I will gladly help you.

The thing is i did but nobody could find a solution, my problem seems to be that the current launcher just doesnt even start up, perhaps you have a solution.

[grotaclas]

I will help you in the other thread. I didn't do that before, because your thread was created before I started helping people on steam,

And I hope that nobody else posts here and gets confused by the outdated information in the earlier comments

[Dökkálfar]

Up !

I have some more informations. The probleme seems to be related with the launcher. There is different version of it, and all the paradox games don't use the same. And it conflict with Steam to...

But. For me, the issue was that the launcher were installed under C:/~/appdata, and my games on D:/ The solution for me was first to install EU4, then to uninstall the launcher (V1 and V2, with deleting every thing manualy after using windows uninstaller), and finaly to install the launcher manualy using the launcher-installer-windows.msi inside the EU4 folder, and put it on D:/

Hope it can help. 4 days on it to find out :'(

[Dökkálfar]

Ok... no... false alarm... restarting the computer undo the fix...
I'm dying, just let me play T_T

[grotaclas]

Originally posted by Dökkálfar:

Up !

I have some more informations. The probleme seems to be related with the launcher. There is different version of it, and all the paradox games don't use the same. And it conflict with Steam to...

But. For me, the issue was that the launcher were installed under C:/~/appdata, and my games on D:/ The solution for me was first to install EU4, then to uninstall the launcher (V1 and V2, with deleting every thing manualy after using windows uninstaller), and finaly to install the launcher manualy using the launcher-installer-windows.msi inside the EU4 folder, and put it on D:/

Hope it can help. 4 days on it to find out :'(

This thread is about the old launcher which was removed 2.5 years ago. Please try to find a new thread about whichever problem you have(search for your error message) or make a new one and then I can help you.