CK2 Startup and Launcher Freeze PC [3.1.0]

[akagecowboy]

Hello! Longtime player, second-time poster,

Let me preface this by saying that up until the past three days or so Crusader Kings II ran without major problems for. However, since the 3.1.0 "Great Works" update I've been experiencing frequent issue with starting up the game-- somewhere around 75%+ of the time my computer will freeze up and become unresponsive:

• No keyboard activity or imput.
• No changes on the screen.
• Sound will continue, but with slight pauses, hiccups, and artifacting.
• If the game loads (modded or unmodded), it seems to run fine (no major stress testing though).

This issue occurs only while interacting with the launcher or during startup before the loadingbar comes up. I'll get to attempted solutions in a moment, but first I want to establish a clear timeline and layout my operating parameters for when the game has worked and when it hasn't. I started playing CK2 again when the mod "After the End Fanfork" was updated for CKII 3.1.0 (10 to 11 days ago) and was having a great time playing with no issues or errors from the game. Around 3 or 4 days ago ATEF updated with a minor bugfix and it was only after that that I became largely unable to launch the game (but not always). Now this is when I started trying solutions--non of which have worked except the last one*:

• Verifying the cache.
• Disabled Long After the End.
• Disabled all mods.
• Disabling some mods.
• Trying totally different mods.
• Reinstalling mods.
• Restructuring the [Documents/Paradox Interactive/Crusader Kings II] folder (including all files therein contained).
• Launching in 'Low-Resolution Compatibility' mode.
• Full wipe and clean installation.
• HDD diagnostics to search for memory corruption or poor disk health.
• Resetting ram.
• Clean wipe and new installation of graphics and sound drivers.
• Launching directly from the .exe.
• Full wipe and clean installation on different drive.
• *Reverting back to v.3.0.1.1 [NNDO].

Thus far, reverting to before "Great Works" is the only solution in which I am reliably and consistently able to launch the game (though I have not trying launching 3.0.1.1 with any mods yet). I am baffled by this issue as it's a) not 100% constant, b) doesn't affect other Paradox (or any other) games, and c) leads to severe system lockup. Any help or advice you can offer would be wonderful and if you can help to fix my poor game I promise to complete my missing DLC collection next time they are on sale
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OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Version 10.0.17763 Build 17763
System Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model Z97X-Gaming G1
System Type x64-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790K CPU @ 4.00GHz, 4001 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. F6, 5/29/2014
BaseBoard Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
BaseBoard Product Z97X-Gaming G1​

Adapter Description AMD Radeon R9 200 Series
Adapter RAM (1,073,741,824) bytes
Driver Version 25.20.15031.1000
Resolution 2560 x 1080 x 60 hertz

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[AndrewT]

up until the past three days or so Crusader Kings II ran without major problems for. However, since the 3.1.0 "Great Works" update I've been experiencing frequent issue with starting up the game-

But 3.1.0 came out a month ago. You ran okay with it up until 3 days ago though? If so the issue must be elsewhere, not the game or this patch.

Reverting back to v.3.0.1.1 [NNDO].

Are you saying this does NOT happen when you revert to this version, or does?

• Disabled Long After the End.

• Disabled all mods.

• Disabling some mods.

• Trying totally different mods.

• Reinstalling mods.

When you disable all mods do you get the correct checksum 3.1.0 KKAD in the main game menu? Or something else?

BIOS Version/Date American Megatrends Inc. F6, 5/29/2014

You might look into updates for this.

I see you get a lot of crashes in CtHdaSvc.exe which seems to relate to a Creative sound driver. Have you looked into this issue?

 

[akagecowboy]

But 3.1.0 came out a month ago. You ran okay with it up until 3 days ago though? If so the issue must be elsewhere, not the game or this patch.

When 3.1.0 came out I loaded it up to checkout the new update, but didn't really start playing it until ATEFF updated 11 days ago. It was only after a week of playing that that I started to have issues.

When you disable all mods do you get the correct checksum 3.1.0 KKAD in the main game menu? Or something else?

Yeah, with 3.1.0 I get checksum KKAD

Are you saying this does NOT happen when you revert to this version, or does?

So far I have had no issues with 3.0.1.1, but continue to have computer lockup on launcher/load with 3.1.0 vanilla.

I see you get a lot of crashes in CtHdaSvc.exe which seems to relate to a Creative sound driver. Have you looked into this issue?

My current Creative sound driver appears to be newer than the on the Gigbyte website that's listed for my motherboard, but I will trying installing the listed driver to see if that perchance fixes my issue.

 

[akagecowboy]

Updated BIOS and Creative Audio Drivers , but launching CKII 3.1.0 is still fairly unstable. I am finding it really off that the issue is only present with the launcher or while loading the game, and not during gameplay at all.

 

[akagecowboy]

Also, seeing another post on here lead me to try booting Stellaris to see if the issue is replicated there. it is to a T!

 

[AndrewT]

Updated BIOS and Creative Audio Drivers , but launching CKII 3.1.0 is still fairly unstable. I am finding it really off that the issue is only present with the launcher or while loading the game, and not during gameplay at all.

There has been an issue with CK2 where if you mess with the mouse as it is loading it can crash. Not with Stellaris though.

 

[akagecowboy]

if you mess with the mouse as it is loading it can crash

Unfortunately whatever is going on doesn't appear to be related to that. I have also tried disabling all overlays (Steam, AMD, f.lux) and having a clean installation with no subscribed mods. Disaballing overlays and having no mods made loading the game feel more reliable, but I have neither taking stringent data nor does it actually keep my computer from freezing. Whatever is going on does seem to be effecting Stellaris the same as CK2. I have yet to do much testing on HOI4, and EU4 seems unaffected.

The only thing I can think of is that I used Steam Mover to create symbolic links for the [My Documents/ Paradox Interactive] game subfolders (Vic 2, Eu4, CK2, HOI4, and Stellaris). This seemed to work fine for a few days at least until I noticed that the link was broken for some of the games and a new folder had been created in [Paradox Interactive]. I didn't take as close of note of this as I should have, but I believe that the CK2 folder had been recreated, but not the EU4 one. I noticed this when I started up CK2 and all my mods were redownloading, which hadn't happened the several days after I created the linked folders. IDK if that has anything to do with the freezing issue, and I understand if it outside the scope of the technical support here. I wouldn't think that any of that would have any bearing on the current state of my game (not)launching after several clean installations, but I am at a loss and dearly craving some tanistry mishaps.

 

[AndrewT]

The only thing I can think of is that I used Steam Mover to create symbolic links for the [My Documents/ Paradox Interactive] game subfolders (Vic 2, Eu4, CK2, HOI4, and Stellaris).

FYI you did not need to do that. Use Notepad to make a new text file called userdir.txt in the Steam folder where game's .exe is. In that file put your desired file path for the game's user files. I'm not sure about Vic2 but that will work for all those other games you list.

However I rather doubt that is the cause of your problem of the whole computer freezing. More likely this is your video driver, as we have just discovered in the last week. Update it to the latest 'optional' version 19.4.3 from here:
https://www.amd.com/en/support/grap...es/amd-radeon-r9-200-series/amd-radeon-r9-290

All the best!

 

[akagecowboy]

Update it to the latest 'optional' version 19.4.3

I updated and so far no change in launch success.

Other than the fact that my game doesn't make it to the load screen proper before freezing--and if it does display the load bar it loads all the way--my issue seems related to the "Crash on Loading Graphics" bug other people are experiencing. Like them I seem to be able to get 1 good load for every 1 deleted user cache (but because I have to reboot my computer every time it crashes I haven't tested this extensively.

I'm going to try the "userdir.txt" fix you have suggested elsewhere to see if it works. Thank you for all the suggestions.

 

[AndrewT]

my issue seems related to the "Crash on Loading Graphics" bug other people are experiencing.

I thought of that but O'm not aware others are seeing that freeze the whole computer like you are, so I dismissed that in favour of the video driver which IS known to have such a problem.

But if deleting the cache folder helps than that is the problem for sure. It will need a patch to fix I'm afraid.