CKII loads but the display window takes on the Windows desktop behind it

[lordbane]

If I click certain spots in the window the game will respond (e.g. I was able to launch the dev diary by clicking on the right spot) but it takes on the appearance of whatever is in the desktop behind the window and shows no graphics inside the window.

No other games do anything like this
No mods are installed
Deleted/uninstalled everything (backed up my saves/settings and deleted that folder too under the Documents folder)
Disabled all DLCs to see if it would help (it didn't)
I own all of the game-affecting DLCs
Verified files after every attempt at reinstalling
AV disabled or other suggestions like using Administrator rights, compatibility settings, etc have no effect
Closed all open programs and only had Steam and essential processes running

Windows 7 Professional x64 SP1
1080IT nVidia with latest drivers (418.91)

Please help.

 

[AndrewT]

Has th egame ever run okay on this computer? Or never?

Does this affect Stellaris or Eu4?


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 .

 

[lordbane]

Has th egame ever run okay on this computer? Or never?

Does this affect Stellaris or Eu4?


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 .

Hi Andrew,

It does not affect EU4 or Stellaris although something odd did happen when I launched EU4 just now to test forgetting I had another game running. It complained about me having more than one video adapter but it still launched. I don't, but I do run a dual monitor setup. At one time, I was running 2x970GTX in SLI but not for over a year. I relaunched EU4 a second time without another game running and no message. Launched perfectly fine.

CK2 has run fine since I swapped the video cards until just recently and even with the A Game of Thrones mod installed.

Now CK2 will not launch properly even after dumping everything from the old install and starting fresh and performing all the steps I mentioned above. I own all of the game-affecting DLCs including Holy Fury.

Here are the files you're asking for. Thanks!

 

[AndrewT]

Please edit that settings.txt to say:

refreshRate=60
fullScreen=yes

If that doesn't help, what antivirus do you se? Add ck2game.exe to its exceptions list/whitelist.

 

[lordbane]

Hi Andrew,

Those lines had no effect. I am using McAfee LiveSafe Home (the full version). Putting an exception for the game executable file had no effect. Even if I disable the real time scan engine entirely it has no effect.

The game continues to do the exact same thing at launch.

 

[lordbane]

Hi Andrew,

I was able to get the game to show the normal launch screen by playing with the 3d settings for the game and making changes from the normal presets that work perfectly fine with EU4, Stellaris (and every other game on my PC) in the NVIDIA Control Panel. I started disabling things and changing settings to see what would happen. Some combination of settings seems to have allowed the game to render correctly in the window. I will need to tweak it some more and figure out which setting causes if it not render correctly (or combination of settings).

 

[lordbane]

I reloaded the "A Game of Thrones" mod and success.

I need to head to bed as it's a work day tomorrow and it's late here now but I will gladly tell you which setting(s) break the game tomorrow when I'm off work and can play with this some more.

Thanks

 

[lordbane]

Hi Andrew,

Setting "Vertical sync" in the Global Settings or in the Program Settings for ck2game.exe to "Fast" (Fast Sync), which is the NVIDIA recommended setting for the 1080TI, causes the game launch screen to not render properly, at least on a 144hz gaming monitor.

No other setting I could change made the game fail to launch just the Fast Sync setting being enabled. The same Fast Sync setting, which is applied to EU4 and Stellaris, doesn't prevent those games from launching.

Here is a link explaining what NVIDIA Fast Sync is: https://beebom.com/what-is-nvidia-fast-sync-enable/
Here is another: https://www.anandtech.com/show/10325/the-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-and-1070-founders-edition-review/13

PS - I hope this is helpful. Maybe you can add it to your FAQ?

 

[AndrewT]

Well done on all that effort and finding such an esoteric solution!

I'll happily add it to our database but I really need some other cases to confirm this is not a one off; you're unlikely to be the only person with this game to have that hardware!