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What is the Launcher for, and why did it just appear on the desktop please?

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Neil Wilkes

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Feb 8, 2024
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This is a strange one for me.
I have Victoria 3 (via Steam) and am also waiting on Millennia dropping (also on Steam) which is pre-ordered.
I recently noticed that the Paradox Launcher has appeared on the desktop but it's empty & tells me I don't own any games so I was wondering the following:
1 - How did it arrive on the desktop please, and
2 - What is it for?
Baffled, London
 
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Ok so, I have played C:SL I and II in the past and they have launchers, however Paradox Launcher v3 which is made for C:SL II does not show C:SL I, which is completely normal, however in your case, if the files are corrupted it may lead to Paradox Launcher stating that there is no games provided, This is how it may have gotten installed:
Since Victoria 3 is published by Paradox, Paradox creates launchers so that your data can be saved, in such cases, whenever you launch a game, Paradox Launcher opens as the first step, then you press play and the game launches, this was added recently in C:SL I and it was a minor change and it didn't effect, all games made from paradox interactive have a file which automatically installs paradox interactive during the installation from steam.
 
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gluedtomatoes said:
Ok so, I have played C:SL I and II in the past and they have launchers, however Paradox Launcher v3 which is made for C:SL II does not show C:SL I, which is completely normal, however in your case, if the files are corrupted it may lead to Paradox Launcher stating that there is no games provided, This is how it may have gotten installed:
Since Victoria 3 is published by Paradox, Paradox creates launchers so that your data can be saved, in such cases, whenever you launch a game, Paradox Launcher opens as the first step, then you press play and the game launches, this was added recently in C:SL I and it was a minor change and it didn't effect, all games made from paradox interactive have a file which automatically installs paradox interactive during the installation from steam.
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Thank you for the reply, but I am now even more confused than I was before.
I don't have a clue what C:SL is, and I have certainly never installed it (mainly because I don't know what it is) so it could not possibly have turned up through that path.
It's also not the v3 - it's v2 apparently.
 
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Neil Wilkes said:
Thank you for the reply, but I am now even more confused than I was before.
I don't have a clue what C:SL is, and I have certainly never installed it (mainly because I don't know what it is) so it could not possibly have turned up through that path.
It's also not the v3 - it's v2 apparently.
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C:SL is basically Cities: Skylines, which we call in short form
if it is v2 I would recommend reinstalling because the files may be corrupted, v3 is the newer version which will have Millennia
 
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gluedtomatoes said:
C:SL is basically Cities: Skylines, which we call in short form
if it is v2 I would recommend reinstalling because the files may be corrupted, v3 is the newer version which will have Millennia
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I still don't know how it got installed in the first place though, which was the main thing. I've never even heard of 'Cities: Skylines' (sorry, but it must have passed me by) so again, how did the v2 launcher even get installed?
I'm also not convinced it will work with Millennia either, as that's a steam distribution so at this point I think uninstalling would be the better option here as it doesn't do anything - but it's how it got installed in the first place that still bothers me.
 
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Neil Wilkes said:
I still don't know how it got installed in the first place though, which was the main thing. I've never even heard of 'Cities: Skylines' (sorry, but it must have passed me by) so again, how did the v2 launcher even get installed?
I'm also not convinced it will work with Millennia either, as that's a steam distribution so at this point I think uninstalling would be the better option here as it doesn't do anything - but it's how it got installed in the first place that still bothers me.
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v2 launcher is installed with the game itself, when the game is installed, steam copies those files from the developers .zip which they provide during the release and pass it onto your computer, which itself starts installing on yours, there is a file located probably in that which is the installation for the v2 launcher, which is then installed onto your computer.
 
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gluedtomatoes said:
v2 launcher is installed with the game itself, when the game is installed, steam copies those files from the developers .zip which they provide during the release and pass it onto your computer, which itself starts installing on yours, there is a file located probably in that which is the installation for the v2 launcher, which is then installed onto your computer.
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Yes, but - and this is important - what was it that installed it in the first place, please?????
 
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Every current Paradox game comes with a launcher installer. If you are on Windows you'll see a .msi file in the game's Steam folder that is run if the launcher is not installed. Other components are dowser.exe in that same folder (which starts the launcher when you hit PLAY in Steam), bootstrapper-v2.exe which checks for launcher updates, and Paradox Launcher.exe itself. Those latter two are under C:/users/{userName}/AppData/Local/Programs/Paradox Interactive/.

Launchers are for the main purpose of making game changes and settings before starting the game; otherwise you'd need to do it in-game then restart it. You can choose mods, disable DLCs, and some game settings such as resolution and display mode, and MP service.

Some games, like CSL mentioned above, don't actually use it for those purposes; this is the choice of their developers (Colossal Order in that case). For those games, it's really just for news and ads.


If you run the launcher from that desktop shortcut or the .exe directly, it runs in a standalone mode which is for users who do not want to run Steam. It does need a separate game installation if used that way, but none of your games were never ported to that platform. You'll need to run them from the PLAY button in your Steam Library instead. Only a few games, mostly older non-PDS ones, are available there and still supported.
 
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CSL = Cities Skylines.
 
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