CK2 "not responding" after clicking "play" on launcher

[drunkenknight9]

I last played CK2 around August or September 2019 and it was working perfectly at that time.

I am running 64-bit Windows 10 and have absolutely no issues with any other games.

When I launch either from Steam or from the CK2game file the launcher will open as normal. I am able to login to my Paradox account there without issue. When I click "Play" the game appears to boot. I can hear the music start playing in the background and there is a tab on my taskbar for the game but it is blank instead of displaying the game logo. My screen appears as though the game is overlaying it no matter what I do despite the fact that the game is not visible at all. If I ctrl+alt+del I can only navigate task manager with my keyboard as my mouse ceases to be visible. Task manager will say CK2 is not responding. I have tried touching nothing and waiting for a while but that changes nothing even after about 10 minutes. I have done a full uninstall and file delete then reinstalled with the exact same problem (3 times now after each other attempted fix). I have made sure all drivers and Windows updates are complete. I have ensured C++ 2015 is installed. I have "run as administrator".

I am at an absolute loss as to what to do now. I've searched high and low and found nothing else out of the ordinary with my computer nor have I found any suggestions other than those mentioned. I'm extremely frustrated as I had put this game down for a long time but really wanted to come back to it. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[AndrewT]

Please edit documents/paradox/ck2/settings.txt to say:

fullScreen=no
borderless=yes

IF that doesn't help, Please do a full **clean** re-install:

- move any valued save games elsewhere
- "uninstall" in Steam-CK2
- manually delete both the Steam/SteamApps/common/CK2 AND Documents/Paradox/CK2 folders
- re-install game in Steam, run a Steam Verify when done.
- add ck2game.exe to the exceptions list of your antivirus app; ESPECIALLY if you have Windows Defender, add it to the Ransomware "Apps Allowed Through" list.
- start the game with no mods active and test

In particular make sure there are no files or folders left under either the Steam CK2 or Documents CK2 locations, before installing again.

Also if you have installed RivaTuner, RadeonPro, or a gaming VPN app called Evolve, or the MSI Gaming App, or Duet, disable it as it clashes with this game.


IF NEITHER OF THOSE HELP:
DXDIAG is a program you run from a command prompt or the Windows start menu 'run' dialog box (or 'search programs' in Windows 7 or later). After running it will open a window and start collecting info with a progress bar in the lower-left corner. When it completes click the 'save all information' button and save it to a file then attach that file here.

Please attach your Documents/Paradox/CK2/settings.txt
From your Documents/Paradox/CK2/logs/ folder, attach system.log .

 

[drunkenknight9]

First tip solved it. Why is this necessary to do?

 

[AndrewT]

It's a problem between recent Windows updates and nVidia drivers, which affects several of our games.