My game has started! I don’t know if this will help anyone or not, but a completely different method helped me. I deleted all folders and files associated with Paradox Launcher. I also deleted the savedgames and shadercache folder in the My Documents folder. Checked the integrity of the game files. Steam automatically installed Paradox Launcher, and to my surprise the game started.Hard to tell, but 1 core is definitely too few! restricting it to 6 - the FIRST 6! - ought to do it okay.