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Do you have Windows 11 24H2? If so this is certainly the cause of this problem.
it is a severely broken Windows update that has caused problems across the whole gaming - indeed computer - industry.
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/game-crashing-after-windows-11-24h2-update.1718749/
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...-freezes-after-installing-win11-24h2.1725554/
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...ws-11-24h2-with-exit-code-3221225620.1712339/
Some users found relief in various ways:
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...r-installing-win11-24h2.1725554/post-30126081
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...-windows-11-24h2-update.1718749/post-30159638
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...-windows-11-24h2-update.1718749/post-30062333
A user has come up with another possible workaround
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/24h2-w11-update-issue-found-no-more-crashes.1728373/
Some affected users have definitely seen that help them with this issue. I'd try this first as it's been pretty successful!
The CK3 devs are aware of the issue of course, but I don't know whether it is thought possible to change the game to work around the Windows 11 bugs.
IF however you don't have 24H2 your issue is unrelated, please start your own thread on that, thanks.
It has nothing to do with windows 11 or 24h2 update. I have tried every method, formatted the whole computer and the problem still persists.
I have ryzen 9700x processor 64 gb ram rtx 5080 video card
The game uses the processor between 85-95%.
The video card is running at 100% load. I play at 1080p resolution.
As soon as the computer freezes, the game uses all 64gb ram and locks the computer.
I tried it with the latest windows version on a computer with 7700k processor 16gb ram rtx 2060s, there are occasional freezes in the game, but the pc does not crash and the game can continue to play.
I guess you can't play the game if you have a good system.
Paradox team should stop blaming window and focus on the problem of the game urgently and fix this problem
I have ryzen 9700x processor 64 gb ram rtx 5080 video card
The game uses the processor between 85-95%.
The video card is running at 100% load. I play at 1080p resolution.
As soon as the computer freezes, the game uses all 64gb ram and locks the computer.
I tried it with the latest windows version on a computer with 7700k processor 16gb ram rtx 2060s, there are occasional freezes in the game, but the pc does not crash and the game can continue to play.
I guess you can't play the game if you have a good system.
Paradox team should stop blaming window and focus on the problem of the game urgently and fix this problem
After the reinstall do you have Windows 11 24H2? If so that is certainly the cause if your problem, despite what you feel and say here.
It is not impossible the CK3 devs can find a way around those issues (as I mentioned above), but it is unarguable the root cause is that Windows version - folks who have been able to revert to 23H2 report an instant fix for the computer freezing.
You don't mention looking into those workarounds I linked above; if you haven't, please do so - they may very well help you.
ETA: folks in this thread
24H2 W11 update : Issue Found : No more crashes
I FINALLY FOUND AN ISSUE After doing a lot a thing, One was the good one: A registry entry as usual Add a QWORD(x64) value in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorPort Named HmbAllocationPolicy Value 0 (default) In fact...
Have you tried switching the renderer over to Vulkan? This is the only thing that worked for me. I still have the issue when I switch back to DirectX 11.
This does in fact feel like a memory issue.
CK 3 will launch just fine in both DX11 and Vulkan as long as it's the first time I launch the game after a PC restart. After opening and closing the game a few times, the game will start crashing on launch (with Vulkan) and freezing the PC (on DX11). Removing mods/DLC will make the game launch again, but if I then exit out of the game and try to launch it again with the same mods/dlc it will once again crash despite the game having initialized without any issues not 3 minutes prior. This will continue until I restart the computer, at which point the game starts to work fine again.
It's almost certainly not an issue with the game/mods themselves because despite the crash reporter saying the application had to exit unexpectedly, the game will sometimes load anyway! And I can play it just fine.
CK 3 will launch just fine in both DX11 and Vulkan as long as it's the first time I launch the game after a PC restart. After opening and closing the game a few times, the game will start crashing on launch (with Vulkan) and freezing the PC (on DX11). Removing mods/DLC will make the game launch again, but if I then exit out of the game and try to launch it again with the same mods/dlc it will once again crash despite the game having initialized without any issues not 3 minutes prior. This will continue until I restart the computer, at which point the game starts to work fine again.
It's almost certainly not an issue with the game/mods themselves because despite the crash reporter saying the application had to exit unexpectedly, the game will sometimes load anyway! And I can play it just fine.
I have the same issue as OP and I have an AMD CPU (ryzen 5 3600 with an RTX 2070 and 32gb of ram)
Then you very likely have the unrelated Windows 11 24H2 problem which I've posted about in this and other threads here - is that what Windows version you have?
If so, A user has come up with another possible workaround
https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/24h2-w11-update-issue-found-no-more-crashes.1728373/
Some affected users have definitely seen that help them with this issue. I'd suggest you look at this step first!
And, switch the game's renderer to Vulkan on the launcher-game settings tab.
The CK3 devs are aware of the issue of course, but I don't know whether it is thought possible to change the game to work around the Windows 11 bugs.
Sorry about that!
I just encountered this issue. Very similar specs to OP. Wild that the first response is to update the bios when it's literally a single game.
Anyway - I found the issue. And it's repeatable, and fixable. I discovered it by accident when trying to rename my ironman saves to better reflect what run they encompassed.
1. Cloud saves are active.
2. In windows, go to: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\[steam ID]\1158310\remote\save games
3. Rename one of the saves (I did test_ironman.ck3 to test what would happen before I started naming my proper runs. Ironic.)
4. Launch the game. Fortuitously I still had file explore open on my second monitor. I noticed the game immediately re-downloaded a save under the old ironman save file name.
5. While the game is initialising, it'll lock up the whole computer. Need to hard re-boot.
TO FIX:
Simply delete that save file you renamed. That's it.
Can someone please explain to me why renaming an ironman save file that's backed-up by cloud save will lock up your entire PC? That's wild.
Edit: Upon further review, it seems my issue was a little different. But still; issue and fix. I'll leave it here unless mods want me to move it elsewhere.
Anyway - I found the issue. And it's repeatable, and fixable. I discovered it by accident when trying to rename my ironman saves to better reflect what run they encompassed.
1. Cloud saves are active.
2. In windows, go to: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\[steam ID]\1158310\remote\save games
3. Rename one of the saves (I did test_ironman.ck3 to test what would happen before I started naming my proper runs. Ironic.)
4. Launch the game. Fortuitously I still had file explore open on my second monitor. I noticed the game immediately re-downloaded a save under the old ironman save file name.
5. While the game is initialising, it'll lock up the whole computer. Need to hard re-boot.
TO FIX:
Simply delete that save file you renamed. That's it.
Can someone please explain to me why renaming an ironman save file that's backed-up by cloud save will lock up your entire PC? That's wild.
Edit: Upon further review, it seems my issue was a little different. But still; issue and fix. I'll leave it here unless mods want me to move it elsewhere.
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Updating the bios addresses a hardware problem with certain Intel CPUs, 13th and 14th gen ones. This is widely known across the industry and not at all confined to this game. The symptoms are random game crashes, not the PC freezing.
The quite separate issue that causes the PC to freeze are the unrelated but also widely known issues with Windows 11 24H2. That does seem to particularly affect this game for some reason, but has been seen in say Victoria3 and CSL 2 also. There is no 100% workaround for that (until MS fix it) but:
None of which relate to saved games, I have no idea why that seemed to help you!
Similar PC freeze on AMD ryzen 5 3600 6-core processor /Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050. PC no longer responds or doesn't do anything have to hold down the power button to fix it. I play modded but I'm certain I downsized a lot recently
Tried with no mods same issue. sometimes its during the startup loading screen sometimes i get further to the create a custom leader then freezes. not an intel issue?
Not an Intel issue, no - it's a Windows issue, I expect you have Windows 11 24H2. Check out my post #51 above, the second quote section in it.
i was able to fix the freeze issue with the 2 fixes i found here, i dont know which one helped, but im done testing the game anymore right now
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Found a fix that works for me and my setup.
Not sure which change fixed the crashing on startup but I'd imagine its turning on low latency mode to ultra in nvidia control panel, since this is what nvidia says to do if you have vsync and gsync enabled)
The other 2 changes I made was: Triple buffering to "on" and Texture filtering - Negative LOD bias to "clamp" (since anisotropic filtering is turned on in game).
Context of my setup:
i9 14900k
64gb of ram
4070 ti super
I am on 24H2 (windows 11).
I have two monitors.
My gaming monitor is 144 hz gsync monitor while the other is 60 hz (not gysnc or freesync) (having two monitors causes issues with other games, not sure if applicable here but sure seems so as well as vsync and gsync)
I have vsync turned on in game.
Other notes:
the vulkan setting in the nvidia control panel doesn't seem to correspond to what people are saying in these forum posts so I was afraid to change it like some of the solutions mentioned. My vulkan/opengl present method (if this is the setting people are talking about) has always been set (no changes) to auto.
Turning off full screen optimizations is something that has always been off on my setup for ck3 due to jittery/lagging map panning in game (fixes this issue for me). So this was not the fix.
With my solution my gpu drivers was already up to date when this issue started occuring, as well as my bios and other pc drivers.
No windows update available except preview (KB5055627). I did not update windows to preview with my fix.
Not sure which change fixed the crashing on startup but I'd imagine its turning on low latency mode to ultra in nvidia control panel, since this is what nvidia says to do if you have vsync and gsync enabled)
The other 2 changes I made was: Triple buffering to "on" and Texture filtering - Negative LOD bias to "clamp" (since anisotropic filtering is turned on in game).
Context of my setup:
i9 14900k
64gb of ram
4070 ti super
I am on 24H2 (windows 11).
I have two monitors.
My gaming monitor is 144 hz gsync monitor while the other is 60 hz (not gysnc or freesync) (having two monitors causes issues with other games, not sure if applicable here but sure seems so as well as vsync and gsync)
I have vsync turned on in game.
Other notes:
the vulkan setting in the nvidia control panel doesn't seem to correspond to what people are saying in these forum posts so I was afraid to change it like some of the solutions mentioned. My vulkan/opengl present method (if this is the setting people are talking about) has always been set (no changes) to auto.
Turning off full screen optimizations is something that has always been off on my setup for ck3 due to jittery/lagging map panning in game (fixes this issue for me). So this was not the fix.
With my solution my gpu drivers was already up to date when this issue started occuring, as well as my bios and other pc drivers.
No windows update available except preview (KB5055627). I did not update windows to preview with my fix.
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