Game stuck on initial loading screen. I have tried everything. (SOLVED)

[FuttBucker69420]

I got a new XPS 15 a month ago and the game has never gotten past the initial EU4 loading screen. It has NEVER ran correctly on this brand new PC.
I can hear the music fine but it continues to load indefinitely. All my other Paradox games run fine (Stellaris, HOI4, VIC3, CIty: Skylines)

EDIT: I do not have any mods or DLC. 100% vanilla.

My computer specifications:
- i7 12700H
- RTX 3050ti 4gb
- 32gb 4800mhz DDR5
- 2tb SSD
- Windows 11

A few things I have tried to fix the issue:
- Run borderless window
- Un/reinstall game and verify file integrity
- All video card drivers are up to date
- I have installed Visual C++
- I have it exempted from my firewall (McAfee is my antivirus and EU4 has the same clearance as my other Paradox games which run fine)
- Disable Fullscreen Optimizations IS checked under compatibility.
- Typed "-nolauncher" under launch options
- Opened EU4 directly from files
- I do not have any screen overlays (e.g. MSI Afterburner)

I have tried for about 20 minutes a day for the past week looking for more solutions but to no avail.

Any help would be appreciated.

EDIT: Issue has been fixed. Turns out it was in fact a driver issue! Thanks, Andrew!

 

[Kurfürstin Adelheid]

When it is stuck on the screen, do the hints still appear, or is the banner empty?

 

[jonjowett]

I believe there were initially some problems with the Paradox launcher for some people, but I believe these have all been fixed, so there's probably no need to disable it in launch options. (Indeed, disabling the launcher may actually be harmful, because it's probably quite difficult to manage mods and DLC without the launcher. This could be an issue with a mod, so you definitely need to ensure that you have no mods enabled as part of your troubleshooting steps.)

Otherwise, I suggest you check the pinned posts at the top of the tech support subforum. If none of that helps, posting there should get a response from a Pdx staffer.

 

[FuttBucker69420]

When it is stuck on the screen, do the hints still appear, or is the banner empty?

 

[Kurfürstin Adelheid]

View attachment 961969

So it doesn't ever progress to the portrait stage? I had an issue where it would be stuck on the portrait stage with no hints showing and then would crash. What fixed it for me was unsubscribing from all mods, opting out of any betas, uninstalling, uninstalling the launcher, deleting all the 'app data', deleting the 'Europa Universalis 4' folder in documents, restarting computer, reinstalling to a location outside of program files, making sure the .exe of the game, Steam and 'dowser.exe' was an exception for antivirus software, shut down then start up computer again, start game with no mods and test, then slowly add mods back in.

 

[AndrewT]

You have a problem with your nVidia card or driver:

Windows Error Reporting:
+++ WER0 +++:
Fault bucket LKD_0x141_Tdr:6_IMAGE_nvlddmkm.sys_Ampere, type 0
Event Name: LiveKernelEvent

Please try this:

- uninstall that driver and all other nVidia software
- reboot
- install March 2023 https://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
- reboot again

Any better?