[Windows 10, SOLVED] EU4 stops responding for several minutes between loading and main menu, then proceeds as normal

[Generosity]

See title. The problem has started occuring before 1.35 and persisted through the EU4 update and the Windows update from 1903 to 22H2 (yes, skipping several versions). Clean reinstall didn't help, neither did an NVIDIA driver update. Same thing happens with any total conversion mod that changes the menu look, having mods disabled/enabled/installed/uninstalled doesn't seem to have any effect. The issue does not prevent me from alt-tabbing to another window during the loading, or from playing the game after it uncorks itself. It just adds up to several minutes between pressing play and actually playing. I'm on Steam with all essential DLCs enabled.

Don't ask me how it happened it if you're addicted to birding, I have no idea myself.

EDIT: solved - EU4 on launch is conflicting with the Outline VPN client, if the VPN service is running.
TAKEAWAYS FOR PEOPLE WHO FIND THIS THREAD: if EU4 hangs, open the resource manager {Performance tab of the task manager), find EU4 in processes while it is hanging and right click to "Analyze wait chain". There may be some clues to why it hangs.

 

[grotaclas]

Does it help if you change the display mode to borderless fullscreen in the launcher like in the following screenshot?

Steam Community :: :: Borderless fullscreen in the launcher

Steam Community: Europa Universalis IV.

steamcommunity.com

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

 

[Generosity]

Does it help if you change the display mode to borderless fullscreen in the launcher like in the following screenshot?

Steam Community :: :: Borderless fullscreen in the launcher

Steam Community: Europa Universalis IV.

steamcommunity.com

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

This is the default way I run any game since forever, so that's not it.

 

[grotaclas]

This is the default way I run any game since forever, so that's not it.

In that case, did you try normal fullscreen and windowed mode? There are a few nvidia systems in which borderless fullscreen is causing problems similar to the one which you describe.

 

[Generosity]

In that case, did you try normal fullscreen and windowed mode? There are a few nvidia systems in which borderless fullscreen is causing problems similar to the one which you describe.

Changing that setting doesn't have any effect.

 

[Generosity]

So, I used my brains and the resource monitor and actually tracked down the issue. Turns out it's not the graphics card - it's the network problem. Apparently there is a conflict between EU4 and the Outline VPN client shell, that prevents the game from receiving stuff it needs to run its network services (you know, the shiny buttons for Paradox socials in the lower right corner they added a couple of years ago? Yep, those are a part of the issue). It started happening at about the same time as I switched to this client from another VPN service that had its own client, so it was easy to connect the dots from here and simply launching EU4 with VPN off was enough to fix it. Because of this I might think of changing my VPN setup to move away from the Outline client entirely, unfortunately.