Cannot start EU4 through steam

[Henfrid]

I have tried almost everything i can find on these discussions. When i click start through steam it acts like its going through the process then just fades back into play and nothing happens. I can staert it through the actuall eu4 file in my documents but that is really annoying and i cant controll mods without the launcher. how do i fix the launcher?

[grotaclas]

Do I understand you correctly that the launcher doesn't really start?
First try to restart steam and your computer. That sometimes helps.
Launcher problems can often be fixed by reinstalling the launcher:
On Windows, first use the windows uninstall function to uninstall "Paradox Launcher v2"(if it is there). And then delete the launcher directories:

• C:/users/<UserName>/AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/
  
• C:/users/<UserName>/AppData/Local/Paradox Interactive/
  
• C:/users/<UserName>/AppData/Roaming/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2/
  
• Documents/paradox interactive/.cpatch/
  
• every directory in Documents/paradox interactive/ that starts with launcher-v2

In Linux delete the directories ~/.paradoxlauncher and "~/.local/share/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2/" and the file "~/.local/share/Paradox Interactive/launcherpath"

In macOS delete the directory "~/Library/Application Support/Paradox Interactive"


Afterwards you can start the game from steam again to reinstall the launcher.

[Henfrid]

i have tried deleting all the files from steam, then in docs and reinstalling the whole game, nothing changed. Paradox launcher v2 does not show up in the windows unistall function. i will try again really quik just to make sure.

[Henfrid]

Yeah i tried it again and nothing changed. You are correct that the launcher doesnt start.This problem has been going on for months now so i have restarted the computer and steam several times. The other paradox games do not have this issue.

[grotaclas]

Do the other Paradox games use the new launcher? If they do which version of the launcher do they use? The version number is displayed near the bottom, right of the link to the End-User License Agreement.
Did you try to delete the other launcher directories which I mentioned in my first comment? They are outside the steam folder and most of them are not in your Documents.

[Henfrid]

For CK2 all i can find are the numbers 3.30 (XDS W)
I deleted
C:/users/<UserName>/AppData/Local/Paradox Interactive/
C:/users/<UserName>/AppData/Roaming/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2/
Documents/paradox interactive/.cpatch/
every directory in Documents/paradox interactive/ that starts with launcher-v2
but i could not find
C:/users/<UserName>/AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/
If they are not in my documenst then i have no idea how to even find them.(Im not great with computers and can only really use the file explorer)

[grotaclas]

That doesn't look like a version number from the new launcher. They all start with 2019. CK2 probably still uses their old launcher. I think eu4, hoi4, stellaris, imperator rome and a few others use the new launcher. But for example imperator uses an old version of the new launcher.
When I said outside the documents I meant folders like "C:/users/<UserName>/AppData/Local/Paradox Interactive/" which do not start with "C:/users/<UserName>/Documents"

Did the launcher start after you deleted the directories?
If not, try to run steam as administrator and then try to start the game(do this just once and don't make it a permanent change). That sometimes allows the launcher to install some missing dependencies.

[Henfrid]

the launcher still doesnt not start, even when i run steam as an administrator. after id deleted the directories it still did not start.

[grotaclas]

a few other things that you can try are:

• if you have an antivirus or a ransomware protection software, add the launcher to their exception list. If you have Windows Defender(also called Microsoft Defender), add it to the Ransomware "Apps Allowed Through" list(here[docs.microsoft.com] are instructions for that). If you have bitdefender, add the launcher to the list of ransomware exceptions and "give it access" to "protected files".
  
• install Missing Microsoft libraries: Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable x86[www.microsoft.com], Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Redistributable x64[www.microsoft.com], Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable Update 3 RC[www.microsoft.com]
  
• a clean reinstall as described in my guide on reddit about common startup problems with version 1.29