The game appears to have crashed or terminated unexpectedly (exit code null)

[PotatoXSeries]

Hello, I recently encountered an error when writing the europa universalis 4 save file. I started adding the launcher, steam and the game itself to the exception for blackmailer programs, according to advice from the Internet, the problem did not disappear. Then I completely turned off the antivirus and started the game. The problem was also not solved. Then I checked the box "run the program as administrator" in the compatibility properties and there were a lot of errors. At first, the game did not start at all using the button from the launcher, then when I removed the check mark "run the program as administrator", I removed all exceptions and replaced them with bootstrapper-v2.exe , cpatch.exe and paradox launcher.exe in general, the launcher has stopped running. Now I have reset everything to its original appearance, that is, I have removed all exceptions now completely, but now the game does not start from the launcher with the error "the game appears to have crashed or terminated unexpectedly (exit code null)" Please help me, I do not know what else I can do.
(If anything, all the listed libraries in the screenshot have been installed for a long time)

 

[Opanashc]

EUIV: Technical Support

 

[prismaticmarcus]

Moved to Tech Support

 

[AndrewT]

What happens if you run eu4.exe directly from File Explorer? That bypasses the launcher and Steam.


Assuming that works, Please try this:

- uninstall Paradox Launcher v2 from the Windows "Apps and features" utility, if still present.

Delete the following folders if still present:

- C:/users/{userName}/AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/
- C:/users/{userName}/AppData/Local/Paradox Interactive/
- C:/users/{userName}/AppData/Roaming/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2/
To see the AppData folder you'll need to enable View Hidden Items in File Explorer.

- exit the Steam app entirely
- run steam.exe as the Windows Admin user
- run the game from the PLAY button in Steam

IF that doesn't help, in this folder are some .log files:
C:/users/{userName}/AppData/Local/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2/
Please attach them here.
To see the AppData folder you'll need to enable View Hidden Items in File Explorer.

 

[PotatoXSeries]

What happens if you run eu4.exe directly from File Explorer? That bypasses the launcher and Steam.


Assuming that works, Please try this:

- uninstall Paradox Launcher v2 from the Windows "Apps and features" utility, if still present.

Delete the following folders if still present:

- C:/users/{userName}/AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/
- C:/users/{userName}/AppData/Local/Paradox Interactive/
- C:/users/{userName}/AppData/Roaming/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2/
To see the AppData folder you'll need to enable View Hidden Items in File Explorer.

- exit the Steam app entirely
- run steam.exe as the Windows Admin user
- run the game from the PLAY button in Steam

IF that doesn't help, in this folder are some .log files:
C:/users/{userName}/AppData/Local/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2/
Please attach them here.
To see the AppData folder you'll need to enable View Hidden Items in File Explorer.

Hello, your method solved the problem, but I decided to turn off protection from blackmailer programs because it blocked everything in a row and it annoyed me. After that, the same error started to appear as in the screenshot. Now I'll attach the logs. I will add that I reused your method but it did not help

 

[AndrewT]

What happens if you run eu4.exe directly from File Explorer? That bypasses the launcher and Steam.


Looks like you still have a file system access issue:

2024-04-22 21:04:51 [daemon] [ERROR] versions: downloading repo metadata: write C:\Users\batin\AppData\Local\Programs\Paradox Interactive\launcher\.cpatch\launcher-v2-bootstrapper\_keys\public.gpg: Access is denied.

That is usually an antivirus app getting in the way. What antivirus app do you use? You need to make sure all these apps are in its exceptions lists:

eu4.exe and dowser.exe (in the Steam EU4 folder)
C:/users/{username}/AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2.2024.6/paradox launcher.exe
C:/users/{username}/AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/bootstrapper-v2.exe

 

[PotatoXSeries]

What happens if you run eu4.exe directly from File Explorer? That bypasses the launcher and Steam.


Looks like you still have a file system access issue:

That is usually an antivirus app getting in the way. What antivirus app do you use? You need to make sure all these apps are in its exceptions lists:

eu4.exe and dowser.exe (in the Steam EU4 folder)
C:/users/{username}/AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/launcher-v2.2024.6/paradox launcher.exe
C:/users/{username}/AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/bootstrapper-v2.exe

I use the built-in Windows Defender. If you run eu4.exe from the explorer, everything works, but then the clock counter in the steam and achievements do not work. Everything that can be added to the windows antivirus exceptions. It only helps to run steam as an administrator, but I'm too lazy to run it as an administrator every time windows starts. I tried to check the box on automatic startup as administrator in the compatibility tab, but steam complains about some kind of windows compatibility problem at startup. Sorry for being so picky about the little things, thank you for your work done, you have already helped me in principle, but if you want to solve the problem to the end, I will only be very grateful

 

[AndrewT]

Well clearly something is preventing the launcher from updating that file. If it is not Ransomware-Controlled folder Access then there's something else in Windows doing this to you!

Does this also affect HOI4? It should as it uses the same launcher.

Please install and run the free utility Speccy. Send its output to a text file and attach that here, thanks.

Speccy - Free Download

Download Speccy - the System Information tool

www.ccleaner.com

 

[PotatoXSeries]

Well clearly something is preventing the launcher from updating that file. If it is not Ransomware-Controlled folder Access then there's something else in Windows doing this to you!

Does this also affect HOI4? It should as it uses the same launcher.

Please install and run the free utility Speccy. Send its output to a text file and attach that here, thanks.

Speccy - Free Download

Download Speccy - the System Information tool

www.ccleaner.com

Yes, this also happens with hearts of iron 4, but for some reason it does not affect the process of launching the game at all and the game as a whole, only sometimes it does not save locally, but this is easily fixed by disabling the antivirus. And then eu4 blocks it like it's some kind of Trojan.

 

[AndrewT]

I was expecting to see some other antivirus app still present and active in there, but not so. I don't know why Windows Defender is causing you so many problems, it is not normal.

Make a new Windows user on this computer and log into it with that. Do you get the same problems there?