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Changes to Playing Previous Versions of PDS Titles

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HottestRod

HottestRod

Associate Product Marketing Manager
May 14, 2018
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Previously you were able to revert back to earlier versions of Paradox Development Studios (PDS) games at will on Steam. These specific versions predate the enactment of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - hence they are not compliant with the new policy.

In order to continue our endeavor to reach full GDPR compliance, we have designed a new system regarding the access to earlier versions of PDS titles: from the 1st of October 2018 onward all previous versions of PDS titles will be locked under a Steam password.

After 1st October, you will need to log into the Paradox Plaza website with your Paradox Account to access the codes for previous branches of each game that you own. This will, however, require you to link your Steam account to your Paradox Account. In an effort to comply with the GDPR, this is something we need to put behind the Paradox logins as it requires agreement to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use to adhere to the GDPR guidelines.

To get the codes for previous versions:
  1. Go to https://accounts.paradoxplaza.com/games and log in (or create) your Paradox Account.
  2. Scroll Down.
  3. Find "Access Earlier Versions"
  4. Click "Show"
  5. See below to revert to older versions under passlock.
How to switch to old branch versions, (illustrated version here both for old and new roll-backs):
  1. Go to your Steam Library and select your game of choice.
  2. Right-click and select Properties.
  3. Under the “BETAS” tab.
  4. Enter the relevant code retrieved from Paradox Plaza and click “CHECK CODE”.
  5. Select the version you wish to play and wait for Steam launcher to finalize the switch.
  6. If the previous step fails, exit the game, right click properties, local files, Verify integrity of game files and wait for all files to be verified.

FAQ

Steam automatically updated my PDS game to the latest version, why?
On 1st of October, to ensure compliance with the GDPR as well as with the new rules regarding the possibility to revert back to a previous patch version, we had to update your game to its latest version.

What if I do not have a Paradox Account?
You need to have a Paradox Account to access previous versions of PDS games. It is currently the only way for us to be GDPR compliant.

My games do not sync properly on Plaza, will I still see the codes?
The fact that not all your games show in your My Games page WILL NOT AFFECT this function. The passwords necessary for access beta versions will be provided in the My Games page AS A SEPARATE LIST, NOT attached to the games there. Plaza only needs to recognize a valid Steam account.

Which versions of PDS titles will NOT be password protected?
EUIV: 1.27 and onward
Hearts of Iron IV: 1.5.4 and onward
Stellaris: 2.1.3 and onward
CK: 2.8.3.4 and onward

My friend gave me a code to access an older version of the game, can I use it?
Yes, but please understand that by using the code you agree with our Privacy Policy and understand what it means. You have to bear in mind that the previous sentence is merely informative in order to be as transparent as possible. We do not advocate password sharing, if you use a shared password, it is at your own risk. The reason we ask you to have a Paradox Account to retrieve the codes is to ensure you agree with our Privacy Policy and get the opportunity to read it and understand which personal data will be collected from you when you play these old versions.

Does it only apply to versions predating the GDPR changes? Those from now on, will be available via Steam normally?
Yes.

I am confused about the GDPR, where can I read more information on the subject?
You can read more information regarding the GDPR on our Privacy Policy page.

EDIT (October 4, 18:00 CEST): Due to a visual bug stemming from the connection between your Paradox and Steam Accounts, we have decided to remove the following steps for the sake of clarity:

2. You will have to link your Steam and Paradox accounts to see your games - where your codes will be listed.
3. To link your Steam and Paradox Accounts: simply go to the Settings tab. Under Steam account click connect (you will then be redirected to Steam to confirm your action).
4. With that done the My Games tab on Paradox Plaza will show the list of codes needed to revert to previous versions.

Edit 12/05/2022: Updated links to Privacy Policy.
 
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Let's hope it'll make things better NOT worse. ;)
 
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RodDel said:
Previously you were able to revert back to earlier versions of Paradox Development Studios (PDS) games at will on Steam. These specific versions predate the enactment of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - hence they are not compliant with the new policy.

In order to continue our endeavor to reach full GDPR compliance, we have designed a new system regarding the access to earlier versions of PDS titles: from the 1st of October 2018 onward all previous versions of PDS titles will be locked under a Steam password.

After 1st October, you will need to log into the Paradox Plaza website with your Paradox Account to access the codes for previous branches of each game that you own. This will, however, require you to link your Steam account to your Paradox Account. In an effort to comply with the GDPR, this is something we need to put behind the Paradox logins as it requires agreement to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use to adhere to the GDPR guidelines.

To get the codes for previous versions:
  1. Go to https://accounts.paradoxplaza.com/games and log in (or create) your Paradox Account.
  2. You will have to link your Steam and Paradox accounts to see your games - where your codes will be listed.
  3. To link your Steam and Paradox Accounts: simply go to the Settings tab. Under Steam account click connect (you will then be redirected to Steam to confirm your action).
  4. With that done the Games tab on Paradox Plaza will show the list of codes needed to revert to previous versions.
  5. See below to revert to older versions under passlock.

How to switch to old branch versions:
  1. Go to your Steam Library and select your game of choice.
  2. Right-click and select Properties.
  3. Under the “BETAS” tab.
  4. Enter the relevant code retrieved from Paradox Plaza and click “CHECK CODE”.
  5. Select the version you wish to play and wait for Steam launcher to finalize the switch.
  6. If the previous step fails, exit the game, right click properties, local files, Verify integrity of game files and wait for all files to be verified.

FAQ

Steam automatically updated my PDS game to the latest version, why?
On 1st of October, to ensure compliance with the GDPR as well as with the new rules regarding the possibility to revert back to a previous patch version, we had to update your game to its latest version.

What if I do not have a Paradox Account?
You need to have a Paradox Account to access previous versions of PDS games. It is currently the only way for us to be GDPR compliant.

My friend gave me a code to access an older version of the game, can I use it?
Yes, but please understand that by using the code you agree with our Privacy Policy and understand what it means.

Does it only apply to versions predating the GDPR changes? Those from now on, will be available via Steam normally?
Yes.

I am confused about the GDPR, where can I read more information on the subject?
You can read more information regarding the GDPR on our Privacy Policy page.
Click to expand...


so what this means is you guys collect data, old versions have different non GDPR compliant privacy policies, we need to adhere to one privacy policy to rule them all?
 
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Hm, I'm not sure that works. I basically own all Paradox Games, but on the Paradox Plaza Games tab (i.e. https://accounts.paradoxplaza.com/games), I can only see a selection of my games and DLCs. (Maybe just the ones I actually bought from the Paradox Store, not from Steam?) Crusader Kings 2 base game, for example, is not listed. Or am I looking in the wrong place?
 
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Zaister said:
Hm, I'm not sure that works. I basically own all Paradox Games, but on the Paradox Plaza Games tab (i.e. https://accounts.paradoxplaza.com/games), I can only see a selection of my games and DLCs. (Maybe just the ones I actually bought from the Paradox Store, not from Steam?) Crusader Kings 2 base game, for example, is not listed. Or am I looking in the wrong place?
Click to expand...

Just to make sure, you've completed the Steam / Paradox linking process? Your products bought on steam SHOULD appear here if so. If not ... ugh, the only other way I know of involves manual entry of CD Keys.

Another option is, towards the top of this page, hover over your user name, then go to your owned items. There's a button that will force the sync, telling it to pull down anything that might be missing from Steam.
 
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I think I should be synced correctly, see my sidebar icons, for example. But I will try and trigger the manual sync. I've noticed for a long time, though, that the account games page does not actually list all my games, but I assumed that it wasn't meant to.
 
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Having linked my Steam account, I have only the Evangelical Majors free DLC listed, when I actually own just about every EU4 DLC (and CK2, and Stellaris, etc). Trying to add my steam keys manually via Redeem did not work. Is there a way to fix this, prior to the great rollback apocalypse?
 
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Zaister said:
Hm, I'm not sure that works. I basically own all Paradox Games, but on the Paradox Plaza Games tab (i.e. https://accounts.paradoxplaza.com/games), I can only see a selection of my games and DLCs. (Maybe just the ones I actually bought from the Paradox Store, not from Steam?) Crusader Kings 2 base game, for example, is not listed. Or am I looking in the wrong place?
Click to expand...

caintheconfused said:
Just to make sure, you've completed the Steam / Paradox linking process? Your products bought on steam SHOULD appear here if so. If not ... ugh, the only other way I know of involves manual entry of CD Keys.

Another option is, towards the top of this page, hover over your user name, then go to your owned items. There's a button that will force the sync, telling it to pull down anything that might be missing from Steam.
Click to expand...

This comes into effect on the 1st of October, we wanted to let to you know ahead of time :)
 
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The "Games" window is bugged for months now and while there is a maintance on the 26th
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/forum-maintenance-26-09-18.1120137/
that's supposed to be only affecting the bugged search function, as far as i know.

No code reading then or is that fix among the 26th maintenance activities ?

Anyway, i would also like to know why exactly the GDPR requires this move ?
The privacy policy page isn't telling that to me.
I suspect as it's as the post above by Jos de trol suggests, regarding oudated privacy policies coming with the old versions.
I wonder that we have to sign a new one for old versions.
I 'd assume the old ones were simply not legal anymore and the one for the standard version would
be the relevant one, but apparently not. That i even get bothered by that appears like a bad sign to me.
Mysterious ways these days. *grumble*

Hmm..
Could you 'just' not collect data from the old versions ?
Not that i worry, i keep major version copies on the side anyway, so i don't rely (in most cases) on the Steam Beta option,
but it would be good to know.
 
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Ehhh, not sure I'm a fan of all this, but a workaround is a workaround.
 
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Jos de trol said:
so what this means is you guys collect data, old versions have different non GDPR compliant privacy policies, we need to adhere to one privacy policy to rule them all?
Click to expand...

To a degree, we've not changed the data we collect (gameplay telemetry), just there are new requirements on what we need to show in the Privacy Policy. Rather than update a million builds of our games, this solution allowed us to do the same thing but a lot quicker and simpler.

I had actually suggested we just remove all the old versions, but a few people in PDS rebelled and came up with this solution instead. ;)
 
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