Could not locate any valid installation of the Paradox Launcher. Please try again. Error

[XaneTaaz]

How are you supposed to play Paradox games now, reinstalling the games doesn't work.
Are you forced to download bloat to play games you have paid for?

Ok, installed it, only Stellaris shows up. none of my other games on Steam, Epic, GamePass shows and there is no option to add them...
So Paradox have just removed all but one of my games, wonderful.

 

[Aepdneds]

AFAIK the launcher is supposed to show only games which weren't purchased/activated over Steam/Epic/Gamepass, I am still able to start all games directly over Steam without loading the launcher manually beforehand.

While some players have problems with the launcher from time to time, by no means is it broken - it works fine for the vast majority of users.

If you run the launcher in standalone mode, it does not find the games installed under Steam because the exact purpose of that mode is for non-Steam users. So yes, you'd need to install them separately if you want to run the games that way. Additionally only games from Stellaris onwards were ever ported to that platform, earlier ones such as EU4 and CK2 were not, and must be played from Steam as before.

Looking at your screenshots I don't see any actual problem there though, only those matters I've covered above. What problem are you seeing with the launcher when run from the PLAY button in Steam?

 

[AndrewT]

How are you supposed to play Paradox games now, reinstalling the games doesn't work.
Are you forced to download bloat to play games you have paid for?

Ok, installed it, only Stellaris shows up. none of my other games on Steam, Epic, GamePass shows and there is no option to add them...
So Paradox have just removed all but one of my games, wonderful.

You must have run the launcher from the desktop shortcut, which is a standalone mode for users who do not want to run Steam. It does need a separate game installation if used that way, and of your games only Stellaris was ported to that platform.

If you are okay using Steam just run the games from the Steam PLAY button as before. Then the launcher runs in a Steam-compatible mode.