Game worked fine for a week, now it keeps crashing

[Gronpt]

Hello.

I own the game on Steam and I played over 30 hours with no problems, but since wednesday I am unable to play ck3. When I try to play via Launcher it just says "Launching game failed". I can enter the game via the .exe file but it randomly crashes at different moments:
-Just as it gets to the main menu
-Just as I click to start a game
-On the rare ocasion that I actually start playing, it crashes shortly after or just as it gets to the first autosave


This is what I've tried already, based on other posts:

-Started the .exe file with admin permissions;
-Verified file integrity on Steam;
-A full reinstall of the game by also deleting the C:/Documents/Paradox/CK3 folder;
-Updated all drivers;
-Used Windows Update assistant to fully upgrade my Windows to the latest update;
-Downloaded all the Visual C++ Service pack libraries;
-Stopped Steam from autosaving to the Cloud;
-Made an exception for CK3 with the Windows Defender (I don't use other antivirus and Ransom Protection is disabled);
-Disabled Autosave from the game settings;
-Plugged out everything from the USB ports, including my mouse;

At this point I am really out of ideas and it seems I am not alone based on the posts here. Worth to mention that I can play EU4 ou Stellaris just fine on Steam, same as other games.

 

[LDonahue]

I’m having this exact same problem. Fresh install, safe mode, compatibility mode, updated OS, updated drivers. Half the time I don’t even get a crash report

 

[AndrewT]

-Stopped Steam from autosaving to the Cloud;

Can you delete all cloud saves, and set the game to to local saves only - does that help?

 

[Gronpt]

Can you delete all cloud saves, and set the game to to local saves only - does that help?

It did not, I was already trying to play a fresh game offline. The crash persists. Although lately it only crashes after I start a game and not on the main menu anymore.

EDIT: After this, I disabled my intel graphic card and started a fresh non-ironman game with local saves only and I played just fine, although I have to play through the .exe file because the laucher is still showing the error. I played about 10 in-game years.
EDIT2: After playing for a while, I restarted the game, tried to make a new ironman game and it crashed on the first autosave. Maybe it's worth mentioning that I also logged in the Paradox account in the game on that try. I logged out of the Paradox account to play on the other non-ironman game and it crashed after a random time, even with the autosave off.

 

[Gronpt]

After more testing this is what I came up with so far:

-I can start the game, with the Steam Cloud offlline, from the .exe file with no problems. I have no mods at all and I never even installed mods for CK3 ever.
-I can start NON-Ironman games or load previous ones with no problems, provided that the autosave feature is turned off.
-If I start a Ironman game, sometimes I crash imediatly after the game loads but most of the time it happens on the first autosave. The same happens on non-Ironman games with the autosave on.
-I can play for some seemingly random time before the game crashes. I can't be sure, but at least in the latest tries I crashed when a character or title screen was open.
-I lowered the graphics, turned off SSAO characters with no difference at all.
-Most of the times I don't even get an error message, but I got this message a couple of times:

I hope this information helps you find the problem and solve it fast.

 

[MadMathus]

This is a big problem for me as well. I had the game working completely fine until this morning. I have reinstalled on different drives, deleted my avast, tried the ransomware protection. I have done everything and it will not launch. I hope this is looked into because this game is a beauty.

I have traced your steps best I could and tried what I could and no success.

 

[AndrewT]

EDIT2: After playing for a while, I restarted the game, tried to make a new ironman game and it crashed on the first autosave. Maybe it's worth mentioning that I also logged in the Paradox account in the game on that try. I logged out of the Paradox account to play on the other non-ironman game and it crashed after a random time, even with the autosave off.

Was this using local or cloud saves please?

-Most of the times I don't even get an error message, but I got this message a couple of times:

That's a Windows error ...
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/CK3/pdx_settings.txt .
From your Documents/Paradox/CK3/logs/ folder, attach system.log , error.log

 

[Gronpt]

Was this using local or cloud saves please?

Local only.

Here are the files, just after I tried to start a Ironman run. The game crashed right after the load.

 

[AndrewT]

A bunch of crashes and errors at the end of that dxdiag but nothing to do with this game. Nothing in the error log either.

What antivirus app do you use? Add CK3.exe to the exceptions list of your antivirus app; ESPECIALLY if you have Windows Defender, add it to the Ransomware "Apps Allowed Through" list.

 

[Gronpt]

A bunch of crashes and errors at the end of that dxdiag but nothing to do with this game. Nothing in the error log either.

What antivirus app do you use? Add CK3.exe to the exceptions list of your antivirus app; ESPECIALLY if you have Windows Defender, add it to the Ransomware "Apps Allowed Through" list.

I already did that before. I only use Windows Defender, created an exception for the CK3 folder and the Ransomware protection is off.

 

[Gronpt]

After following the advice from another thread, I can play the game if Steam is shutdown. I hope this may help you find the root of the problem.

EDIT: So this didn't completely fixed the crashes but I only had 2 in about 5 hours of play which isn't too bad considering the circumstances

 

[AndrewT]

Possibly there is a corrupted save game in the Steam Cloud. What if you disable Steam Cloud sync for this game?