Newest Paradox Launcher version 2023.14 no longer starts on Win7

[Lys]

I suppose this may be a WONTFIX but I wanted to report anyway.

Until yesterday I was able to run every game fine on Windows 7 with launcher version 2023.13.1.

Today (?) there was an update to 2023.14 and now the launcher will no longer start. When run via steam it just silently closes after a few seconds. When running the "Paradox Launcher.exe" manually there is an error displayed though: "DiscardVirtualMemory" is missing from the "KERNEL32.dll".

I can, of course, still launch the games .exes directly (no steam achievements and mods though...).

Now to keep playing I have prevented the launcher from continously trying to update by breaking some config file.

**It would have been nice though** if this update wouldn't brick the launcher in the first place if unsupporte. Or some way to roll back to previous versions.

 

[maarten_714]

I have no real answer for you, but Windows 7 is now a 14 year old OS (released in 2009), has been out of mainstream support for 8 years now (2015) and extended support finally ended in January 2020 roughly 3 years and 9 months ago.

What this means for any software/hardware company including Paradox is that THEY TOO can no longer call Microsoft for support. So if they have a problem with Windows 7, Microsoft will tell them: Oh well, that OS is now as obsolete as the iPhone 3 (which was released in 2009 as well), so we won't support you.

That the OS is "perfectly fine" and that your old iPhone 3 with them sweet rounded corners is also "perfectly fine", despite both of them being 14 years old..... doesn't really matter, as the companies providing support for these products pulled the support on it a LONG, LONG time ago.

There will come a time (and it has already happened with many other software companies) that companies making software products will be unable to support Windows 7. It is very possible that Paradox no longer has a single Windows 7 computer left in their building to even test the client for Windows 7, and the fact that it still worked up until now..... is just pure luck because the code had not changed all that much, or not in the spots that matter for compatibility.

I'm not saying this IS the cause, but running a 14 year old OS is bound to cause problems at some point. Perhaps its time to upgrade to Windows 10, which is still supported for another 2 years....

 

[Lys]

I have no real answer for you, but Windows 7 is now a 14 year old OS (released in 2009), has been out of mainstream support for 8 years now (2015) and extended support finally ended in January 2020 roughly 3 years and 9 months ago.

Thanks, I am very well aware of all this, hence my first sentence in the post. (Before I upgrade to the dumpster fire that is Windows 10+ I will permanently switch to Linux though.)


I am also pretty sure that this error is just depending on some compiler (option) used when creating the exectuable.

My primary purpose of this post was to notify one of the devs of this issue in case it was unintentional, and secondarily I assume there are still other people who are now running into the same issue and might look for fixes.
After all, until yesterday everything was fine with it and the games standalone still run ok.

 

[moonaru]

Version 2023.14 does not work on Arch Linux either. I just installed the game and updated Paradox Launcher v2. Afterwards, the Launcher opens, closes within 5 seconds and opens again. After opening the application for the second time, it closes within 5 seconds and does not open again.

 

[mal_dun]

Same pro

Version 2023.14 does not work on Arch Linux either. I just installed the game and updated Paradox Launcher v2. Afterwards, the Launcher opens, closes within 5 seconds and opens again. After opening the application for the second time, it closes within 5 seconds and does not open again.

same problem on Fedora 38. Only workaround till now: Either launch the game directly via console, or delete ~/.paradoxlauncher but this works till the next update

 

[jormung]

Now to keep playing I have prevented the launcher from continously trying to update by breaking some config file.

Could you tell me how you broke the config files? Having the same problem on Windows 8.1.

(Every time I uninstall, it works once when steam auto-downloads version 2022.9. Next time it auto-updates to 2023.14. I'm scared that steam would auto-download the new version tomorrow and I'll lose my achievement run forever. (I mean, until I install a new OS...))

 

[Lys]

Could you tell me how you broke the config files? Having the same problem on Windows 8.1.

(Every time I uninstall, it works once when steam auto-downloads version 2022.9. Next time it auto-updates to 2023.14. I'm scared that steam would auto-download the new version tomorrow and I'll lose my achievement run forever. (I mean, until I install a new OS...))

Yeah I kinda bricked my last save by starting the eu4.exe directly and going into the game, messing with the launcher itself shouldn't break any ironman saves though.

I'm not 100% sure since I played around a little with uninstalling/changing some files.

But I think I restored my old 2023.13.1 launcher settings from
/Documents/Paradox Interactive/Europa Universalis IV/

and now I'm rolled back 2022.9, too. It specifically complains about the file
launcher-v2.sqlite
being from a newer version, but at least it won't update the launcher anymore.

 

[jormung]

Apparently both launcher-v2.2022.9 and launcher-v2.2023.14 folders were still inside %LocalAppData%\Programs\Paradox Interactive.
I just tried deleting 2023.14 and renaming 2022.9 to 2023.14 and miraculously it worked! Poor thing still tries to update itself every time but fails to complete.

 

[grotaclas]

I had a look at the differences between the launcher versions and I can shed some light on the reason why the launcher doesn't work on older windows versions anymore:
The launcher is built using the electron framework which uses the chromium browser engine(used by chrome, edge and opera) to create desktop applications. Electron dropped support for windows 7/8 with version 23 If I see it correctly, the launcher version 2023.13.1 was still using electron version 19 (based on chrome 102) while the launcher version 2023.14 is using electron 26 (based on chrome 116). I can only speculate about the reasons for the update, but maybe it was done, because they wanted to use some features of the new electron version or because the old electron version had bugs which impacted the launcher.

@Deuterium Oxide are you aware that the launcher doesn't work anymore on windows7/8? Maybe you can give some more explanations if it is intentional or not.

Disclaimer: I'm not working for Paradox. I'm just trying to help people.

 

[grotaclas]

Version 2023.14 does not work on Arch Linux either. I just installed the game and updated Paradox Launcher v2. Afterwards, the Launcher opens, closes within 5 seconds and opens again. After opening the application for the second time, it closes within 5 seconds and does not open again.

same problem on Fedora 38. Only workaround till now: Either launch the game directly via console, or delete ~/.paradoxlauncher but this works till the next update

The problem on Linux is different than the windows problem and almost certainly solvable from the users side, because the launcher still works on ubuntu (at least for me on kubuntu 22.04 and ubuntu 23.04). Have you tried starting the standalone version of the launcher ( "~/.paradoxlauncher/launcher-v2.2023.14/Paradox Launcher" ) from a terminal? Maybe it gives a helpful error message. You could also try a full uninstall of the launcher as explained in this support article. Maybe an older cache file is causing the problem. And if this doesn't help, you could have a look at the logs which are in the folder which is mentioned at the end of the article. You could also post the logs here

 

[Deuterium Oxide]

@Lys - Unfortunately, the time has come for us to stop supporting windows 7. It left even ESU at the start of this year, and IT takes a dim view of us running machines under those circumstances. Additionally, as @grotaclas speculated, there are numerous bug and CVE fixes in recent Electron version that we very much would like to get in order to improve the general app security and user experience.

In order to run an older version of the launcher, the easiest way to do it is to rename the folder of the version you want to keep (in this case %LocalAppData%\Programs\Paradox Interactive\launcher-v2.2023.13.1) to instead be named launcher-v2.2099.99. This will cause it to be chosen as the latest version. Launcher updates should subsequently fail - Which is probably what you want.

That being said, we should have been more transparent with this update and its possibly disruptive effects for players whose OS has passed its "best before" date. When we need to do something like this in the future, we'll offer a more graceful way to deal with it.

 

[RMS Oceanic]

Thanks for confirmation one way or the other. I am currently planning a new computer with newer Windows OS, as Steam has been broadcasting for months they will discontinue functioning on Win7 in the new year, so something like this wasn't unexpected, just the silent switchover threw me for a loop.

I guess my current problem is in attempting to resolve the situation I've lost the 2023.13 folder and am stuck with 2022.9 which seems to be missing the playlist option. I'll have to go hunting around.

 

[mal_dun]

The problem on Linux is different than the windows problem and almost certainly solvable from the users side, because the launcher still works on ubuntu (at least for me on kubuntu 22.04 and ubuntu 23.04). Have you tried starting the standalone version of the launcher ( "~/.paradoxlauncher/launcher-v2.2023.14/Paradox Launcher" ) from a terminal? Maybe it gives a helpful error message. You could also try a full uninstall of the launcher as explained in this support article. Maybe an older cache file is causing the problem. And if this doesn't help, you could have a look at the logs which are in the folder which is mentioned at the end of the article. You could also post the logs here

Thanks for the answer. I am quite sure it is a library problem as it works on Fedora 37 for a friend of mine but not for me on Fedora 38, so it most likely is some library version at odds here, but without knowing which library I don't know how to fix this. My current workaround is either deleting the latest version and starting the old one which still works or using the Proton version. I already put a bug report with the logs online. So I hope someone can help me to give a pointer. I already tried what you suggested too but no idea.

 

[unmerged(514131)]

@Lys - Unfortunately, the time has come for us to stop supporting windows 7. It left even ESU at the start of this year, and IT takes a dim view of us running machines under those circumstances. Additionally, as @grotaclas speculated, there are numerous bug and CVE fixes in recent Electron version that we very much would like to get in order to improve the general app security and user experience.

In order to run an older version of the launcher, the easiest way to do it is to rename the folder of the version you want to keep (in this case %LocalAppData%\Programs\Paradox Interactive\launcher-v2.2023.13.1) to instead be named launcher-v2.2099.99. This will cause it to be chosen as the latest version. Launcher updates should subsequently fail - Which is probably what you want.

That being said, we should have been more transparent with this update and its possibly disruptive effects for players whose OS has passed its "best before" date. When we need to do something like this in the future, we'll offer a more graceful way to deal with it.

Thank you for the reply and the advise. It's a desperate situation we win7 users are in, I would upgrade tomorrow if I could but money doesn't really grow on trees.. and all our life situations are different. I also absolutely hate how someone (not pointing to anyone particular) has to immediately point it out it's a this and this old OS. It's impossible to get actual help without the comments flooding in. Ofc I know it's old. I'm not enjoying being on this OS.

What helped me is there seems to be a separate folders of the 13 and 14 launcher versions. Copy over the 13 to a fresh new folder and rename as mentioned above.

 

[grotaclas]

I would upgrade tomorrow if I could but money doesn't really grow on trees

Upgrading from windows 7 to windows 10 has been free for years until Microsoft retracted that offer a few months ago. And AFAIk you can legally use windows 10 for free if you don't register it, but then you miss out on a few features. And almost all paradox games run on ubuntu Linux which is also free(some with their native linux versions and others via proton)

 

[caksz]

Where can i find launcher-v2.2023.13.1 ? .... the one come on reinstall is launcher-v2.2021.8.2 version & missing stuff

 

[Mefisto1029]

Can someone upload folder for 2023.13.1 version?
I was suggested to reinstall and now I don't have this folder

 

[AndrewT]

Can someone upload folder for 2023.13.1 version?
I was suggested to reinstall and now I don't have this folder

Paradox Launcher v2.2023.14 Will not open on Windows 7

Pretty much what it says. I'm aware Windows 7 is super old and is indeed slated to no longer operate Steam in the New Year, hence my shopping around for an upgrade, but it's frustrating when such an update breaks your setup without warning. After...

forum.paradoxplaza.com

 

[NoobishHeadache]

While I understand the reasoning behind this decision, and accept this is something that was bound to happen sooner or later, I for one would have greatly appreciated there being some kind of check in place to prevent users (like myself, who is still on W8.1 for now) who are still running on these older systems from automatically installing a launcher update their system cannot actually run and soft-locking themselves out of multiple games whose system requirements have not changed. Thank you for the advice on a workaround, at any rate; seems to work like a charm, and I can deal with a constant "launcher update ready" notification as opposed to the alternative.

All I can say is, at least I went looking for answers and ended up here, rather than assuming my terrible Internet corrupted something by downloading too slowly. Would hate to have accidentally lost the most recent launcher version I can actually launch by attempting to re-install something.

 

[Karl Von Sternau]

While I understand the reasoning behind this decision, and accept this is something that was bound to happen sooner or later, I for one would have greatly appreciated there being some kind of check in place to prevent users (like myself, who is still on W8.1 for now) who are still running on these older systems from automatically installing a launcher update their system cannot actually run and soft-locking themselves out of multiple games whose system requirements have not changed. Thank you for the advice on a workaround, at any rate; seems to work like a charm, and I can deal with a constant "launcher update ready" notification as opposed to the alternative.

All I can say is, at least I went looking for answers and ended up here, rather than assuming my terrible Internet corrupted something by downloading too slowly. Would hate to have accidentally lost the most recent launcher version I can actually launch by attempting to re-install something.

How did you make it run?. I also have W8.1, and I've tried renaming the folder, and it still doesn't work. Could you please help me?