Crashing Upon Loading At 30%

[Tadaskay]

Pretty much title. I start the game up, and it crashes at 30% on the loading screen. This happens both with and without mods. Have disabled all the outdated mods (that worked before...paradox) and still run into the issue.

Even if I quit the game after running it, and running it again, it will still stall at 30%. It only works when I verify the integrity of the files.

Have tried doing a completely clean uninstall and reinstall (deleting all the files in the folder), and still the same issue. Graphics driver is up to date (NVIDIA 1070 TI). I'm at ropes end, don't know what else it could be/I could do. Have tried rolling back to an earlier version, still the same issue. Has to be something on my end, I don't know what though.

Any help would be appreciated.

[Geoff]

Originally posted by Tadaskay:

Any help would be appreciated.

You might want to check and verify that Stellaris.exe can get past your firewall and/or virus-protection software. Generally that's the point in the load-process where the executable phones out from your computer, and for a lot of people their defenses throttle it.

[Brier]

This sometimes happens to me if I am watching a video with VLC (dunno about other media players) and I start the game. There is some sort of glitch where VLC freezed and the game just stops at 30%. If you force quit VLC, the game resumes loading. Might not be your problem, but you can try turning off any apps running that might want to take over video function.

[Tadaskay]

Thanks for the advice.

I think I've found what's causing it, something corrupting files. Looks like I've taken care of it (knock on wood).

[Xaphnir]

Originally posted by Tadaskay:

This happens both with and without mods. Have disabled all the outdated mods (that worked before...paradox) and still run into the issue.

Could you clarify? You said it happens with and without mods, but then you say you disabled only outdated ones. You tried with all mods disabled, or only outdated ones disabled?

[lexasaur3]

Originally posted by Tadaskay:

Thanks for the advice.

I think I've found what's causing it, something corrupting files. Looks like I've taken care of it (knock on wood).

What exactly did you do to fix it? I'm also suffering from this.

[Tadaskay]

Originally posted by Xaphnir:

Originally posted by Tadaskay:

This happens both with and without mods. Have disabled all the outdated mods (that worked before...paradox) and still run into the issue.

Could you clarify? You said it happens with and without mods, but then you say you disabled only outdated ones. You tried with all mods disabled, or only outdated ones disabled?

I've tried it with mods (outdated and current mods) enabled, no mods, and removing outdated mods.

Originally posted by lexasaur3:

Originally posted by Tadaskay:

Thanks for the advice.

I think I've found what's causing it, something corrupting files. Looks like I've taken care of it (knock on wood).

What exactly did you do to fix it? I'm also suffering from this.

I'm still running into the issue, so I think, it is mod related at this point. Unfortunately beyond that, I don't really know. Some mods work, some mods don't (even when they're current) and it's just rather random. Frankly, I think it's the Paradox launcher. I never had a problem with this stuff before when it'd just run through steam. But the moment that I'm required to use the launcher, BAM. I run into problems. So unless that can get rolled back some how. Maybe mod related is the best answer I've got, sorry.

Otherwise, uninstalling and deleting the files, and reinstall should take care of any corrupted files.

[Xaphnir]

Originally posted by Tadaskay:

Frankly, I think it's the Paradox launcher. I never had a problem with this stuff before when it'd just run through steam. But the moment that I'm required to use the launcher, BAM. I run into problems. So unless that can get rolled back some how. Maybe mod related is the best answer I've got, sorry.

You can bypass the launcher by running the .exe directly from the game's folder. Try that and see if it works.

And make sure you verify integrity of game files, if you haven't yet. If one got modified directly instead of by a mod, that could potentially be causing the crash.

[Tadaskay]

Originally posted by Xaphnir:

You can bypass the launcher by running the .exe directly from the game's folder. Try that and see if it works.

And make sure you verify integrity of game files, if you haven't yet. If one got modified directly instead of by a mod, that could potentially be causing the crash.

I've tried that, unfortunately it's still the same issue. I think the .exe still runs through the launcher or is linked to it some how.

[Xaphnir]

Originally posted by Tadaskay:

Originally posted by Xaphnir:

You can bypass the launcher by running the .exe directly from the game's folder. Try that and see if it works.

And make sure you verify integrity of game files, if you haven't yet. If one got modified directly instead of by a mod, that could potentially be causing the crash.

I've tried that, unfortunately it's still the same issue. I think the .exe still runs through the launcher or is linked to it some how.

It doesn't. I've had issues with launching the game through the launcher in the past, and running the .exe directly worked. If directly running the .exe isn't working, either, it's not the launcher.

[Tadaskay]

Originally posted by Xaphnir:

Originally posted by Tadaskay:

I've tried that, unfortunately it's still the same issue. I think the .exe still runs through the launcher or is linked to it some how.

It doesn't. I've had issues with launching the game through the launcher in the past, and running the .exe directly worked. If directly running the .exe isn't working, either, it's not the launcher.

I don't have an idea other than certain mods triggering it? But the kicker is, it seems to change which mods work and which don't. Like I enabled mods A, B, and C and all worked. But when I went to activate mod D, it didn't work, and suddenly mods B and C didn't work either.

It could be something machine specific, but I'm not running into issues on any other games. I can get it to work without mods now. So kind of narrows it down, at least.

[iomtalach]

No mods, clean install, running the exe directly/through launcher, no diff. Game crashes right at 30% of loading. Completely unplayable.

[iomtalach]

Fixed it. Head to your windows defender settings, look at the last actions, you might see the Stellaris folder being blocked under the most recent "low" action. You can open it and select allow and the game will run again.

[Maephi]

Originally posted by iomtalach:

Fixed it. Head to your windows defender settings, look at the last actions, you might see the Stellaris folder being blocked under the most recent "low" action. You can open it and select allow and the game will run again.

Thanks! This was my issue after a clean install as well!

[FredH]

windows defender settings??? What are they/it/them????

[Geoff]

Originally posted by FredH:

windows defender settings??? What are they/it/them????

On windows 11 there's an "app" called "Windows Security" you can pull up by searching the start menu. You can also open it by going to Settings/Privacy & Security and clicking the button that says "Open Windows Security"

From there, you might want to check the Windows support forums if you can't figure it out on your own.