Launcher not starting, Game refusing to acknowledge DLCs (Mac OS 10.14)

[Nixou]

Hello.

I recently acquired a new computer and after reinstalling Europa Universalis 4, I ran into a problem rather similar to the one depicted here although it might have a different cause since I'm not using the same OS.

The first time the game launched without any trouble from Steam, but I ran into a slight problem since the game's was trying to push a 3840 x 2160 resolution on my 15 inches monitor. I managed to change the resolution back to numbers compatible with said monitors, closed to game since these changes are only registered when you relaunch the game and…

And since then the launcher won't launch: Steam will claim that the game is synchronizing after I click play and afterward nothing will happen.
I can still launch the game directly by double clicking on the app in the steamapps/commons/EuropaUniversalisIV directory but when I do that, All the DLC is identified as "not owned", despite being there on the *very same* directory.

I tried all the usual solutions: I disinstalled/reinstalled the game, as well as Steam several times, rebooted the computer, verified the integrity of the files after each reinstall, etc… but it doesn't change a thing: I can't launch the game from the Steam App, and when I launch it directly from the Finder, the DLCs do not work.

So I'm looking for a solution or a workaround to either have the laucher work again of the game recognizes the DLCs are owned and installed when directly launched from the Finder.

 

[Nixou]

Aaaaaaaand, I've found the solution, which was somewhat obvious yet weird: the trick was to delete the launcher, and ONLY the launcher, to NOT re-install the game, and then to click play on the steam library with the game still installed without the launcher. Somehow deleting and re-installing all the files didn't fix the problem, but deleting the launcher alone did. I don't know why, but hey! my copy of EU4 works again like a charm.

 

[sarcasticpenguin]

Hi been waiting to see who would reply to this as I have exactly same problem just I am on OS 10.15 and could not find an answer to this.
Worked perfectly till about 10 days ago then zip...
What exactly did you delete to get it to work (filenames etc)?
Thanks

 

[Nixou]

I'm not sure my method will work for you since OS 10.15 supports only 64-bit apps. (that's why I haven't upgraded my own computer from Mojave to Catalina). Your problem might simply be your steam client being the wrong version, in which case you'll have the re-install it

But in case your problem is the same than mine, here's how to reproduce what I did:
• Make sure your game is already installed
• Press shift-command-G and enter "~/Library/Application Support/Paradox Interactive" ("~/library" alone will suffice, but you'll have to navigate manually within the folder)
• Erase everything you see in the Paradox Interactive folder
• Launch Steam
• Click "Play" on the Steam Client's game page.

And voilà: that's how it worked for me.

 

[sarcasticpenguin]

So this worked; and I am raging that something so simple can solve it....
This launcher is screwed.

Thank you for this. Spent nearly 2 weeks wondering what the hell was wrong