EU4 Stuck on Title Screen

[bodds]

When starting EU4 it gets stuck on the title screen. The music is playing and if you click in the right places you can hear buttons being clicked but can only see the title screen.

I have tried a clean install and even tried rolling back my Graphics Driver but these did not fix the issue. Last worked in mid October.

Dxdiag file below.

Any suggestions on what else I could try?

 

[AndrewT]

In the game launcher please set Display mode to Borderless. THEN go here:

Latest supported Visual C++ Redistributable downloads

This article lists the download links for the latest versions of Visual C++ Redistributable packages.

support.microsoft.com

And run the x86 and x64 installers there.

IF that doesn't help, Please do a full **clean** re-install:

- move any valued save games elsewhere
- "uninstall" in Steam-EU4
- manually delete both the Steam/SteamApps/common/EU4 AND Documents/Paradox Interactive/EU4 folders
- re-install game in Steam, run a Steam Verify when done.
- add EU4.exe to the exceptions list of your antivirus app; ESPECIALLY if you have Windows Defender, add it to the Ransomware "Apps Allowed Through" list.
- start the game with no mods active and test

In particular make sure there are no files or folders left under either the Steam EU4 or Documents EU4 locations, before installing again.

Also if you have installed RivaTuner, RadeonPro, or a gaming VPN app called Evolve, or the MSI Gaming App, or Duet, disable it as it clashes with this game.


IF that doesn't help:

Please attach here your Documents/Paradox Interactive/EU4/settings.txt and pdx_settings.txt .
From your Documents/Paradox Interactive/EU4/logs/ folder, attach here system.log , error.log

 

[bodds]

I have completed all of these steps and it still gets stuck on the title screen when I run it in Borderless Fullscreen. I have attached the requested files here (the error.log is empty so it won't let me upload it).

I also experimented with the display mode and when I put it in to Full Screen it opens and only displays the title screen (as it does in Borderless Fullscreen) but when in Fullscreen when I Alt-Tab between the open programs it then shows the initial menu. If I click on any of the buttons, it doesn't change the screen but if I Alt-Tab again then I can see the effect of any button clicks.

Any idea on what else I can do?

 

[AndrewT]

Right click on eu4.exe , properties, compatibility. Tick "disable fullScreen optimisations" untick every other box in that dialog, Apply and exit.

Edit that settings.txt to say:

refreshRate=60

vsync=no

Then in the launcher Game Settings menu, select fullScreen display mode.


Is that any better? If not, run eu4.exe directly from file explorer, do you see any Windows error when it fails then?

 

[bodds]

When I did these things and ran it from the launcher I could not see anything on the screen. The program ran but even Alt-Tab would not allow me to see anything on the screen other than the eu4 steam page that I was on when I launched it.

When I ran from the eu4.exe file the same thing happened as before but the program then stopped running (previously I had to stop it with the task manager) and I got an error log that was not blank (attached here). I have attached all the other ones again as well.

Any more ideas? Thank you for the help by the way.

 

[AndrewT]

I cannot see what is causing this to you, there are no clues in those files. But looking back at your dxdiag we see several LiveKernelEvent entries. These happen when the computer or Windows is forcibly downed or rebooted. Have you seen or done that? Is it related to this game or something else?


Has this game ever worked on this machine, or never yet?

Do CK2 and HOI4 work or also have this problem?

 

[bodds]

The game has worked on the machine since I got the machine (April 2019). The last time that I played it before the other day was early October. CK3 and HOI4 both work on the machine at the moment.

The computer or windows has not been forcibly restarted and is very reliable (I don't recall it ever restarting out of the blue). I have however had to force EU4 to quit every time that I have tried to run it (as I can only see the title screen and it does not exit). I use Ctr+Alt+Del to start the task manager and select Europa Universalis 4 and then select End Task. Would this explain the LiveKernelEvent entries?

 

[AndrewT]

I have however had to force EU4 to quit every time that I have tried to run it (as I can only see the title screen and it does not exit). I use Ctr+Alt+Del to start the task manager and select Europa Universalis 4 and then select End Task. Would this explain the LiveKernelEvent entries?

No. They only happen when the machine or Windows is rebooted or powered off without Windows being downed properly. Not something that you'd think would go unnoticed!

What if you make a new Windows user on this machine and log into it with that? Any better or different?