Launching the new launcher! (Coming with 1.29 Manchu)

[BjornB]

With the 1.29 Manchu Update we are upgrading EU4 to the Paradox Launcher! This new launcher will give us a great baseline which we will build on to add lots of new features to enrich your EU4 experience.

This new launcher will change how EU4 works with Mods - for example you are now able to disable or enable all mods with a click of a single button! The new launcher requires that you do one thing to transition from the old way mods work into the new system.

If the mods in your launcher looks like this:

Then all you need to do is navigate to "...\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Europa Universalis IV" and delete the folder called ‘mod’. (Make sure you backup this as there might be stuff you want to keep in there)

Steam should then reacquire your subbed mods in the new format and you are good to go just as you were before - but with a shiny new launcher!

If you are a modder yourself
There are some things you need to do to keep your mod working / create new mods going forwards. Please go here for more information!

For more help with troubleshooting, please go here!

 

[BjornB]

Further Troubleshooting:

If you have problems with steam re-downloading your mods you should try the following:

1. Check if there is a steam workshop content download for Eu4 pending - if there is then start the download.
2. Restart steam - this often works!
3. Restart your PC - the good old off and on again fix works more than you might think...

If none of the above works then you can try:

1. Go to steam and unsubscribe to the mod that isn’t being reacquired.
2. Resubscribe to the mod - steam should then reacquire it.

If after trying all of the above you still can’t get mods to work then please submit a ticket here: support.paradoxplaza.com or visit our Technical Support Forum

If you are downloading your mods from the forum rather than through steam then the old method of copying the mod directly into the "...\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Europa Universalis IV\mod" will still work as before.


If the launcher fails to start or you cannot use it for any other reason, you can always run the game directly.

To do this, right-click on "Europa Universalid IV" in your Steam library, go to "Properties", switch to the "LOCAL FILES" tab and click "BROWSE LOCAL FILES...". This will take you to the folder where EUIV is installed. Double click "eu4.exe" (Windows), "eu4" (Linux) or "eu4.app" (macOS) and the game will start without using the launcher.
The default settings enable all DLCs you own. If you want to disable specific DLCs or enable Mods without using the launcher you will have to edit the file "dlc_load.json", usually located in "C:\Users\your_username\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Europa Universalis IV" (Windows), "~/.local/share/Paradox Interactive/Europa Universalis IV" (Linux) or "~/Documents/Paradox Interactive/Europa Universalis IV" (macOS).
To disable DLCs, add them to the "disabled_dlcs" list, to enable mods add them to the "enabled_mods" list.

"dlc_load.json" Example:
{
"disabled_dlcs":["dlc/dlc065_fredmans_midsummer_epistles/dlc065.dlc","dlc/dlc052_sabaton_soundtrack/dlc052.dlc"],
"enabled_mods":["mod/ugc_1792575623.mod"]
}

 

[BjornB]

[UPDATE: 09/18/19]

Instructions for Modders

Current mods will keep working with 1.29 (As long as they are not broken by in game changes we made). No action is required until the mod is updated. Mods uploaded with the new launcher will show up in the 1.28 launcher but will not work (Clicking on them has no effect).

Creating mods
- Open the launcher
- Got to "Mods"
- Click on "MOD TOOLS"
- Fill in all details (Note that "Version" specifies the mod version not "supported_version", that needs to be put into the descriptor manually)
- Click "CREATE MOD"
- The launcher will create the folder and two descriptors: "ModName.mod" in "mod/" and "descriptor.mod" inside the mod folder. "ModName.mod" is local only and will not be uploaded. What will be uploaded is "descriptor.mod" and any files inside the created folder. This is also what will be downloaded when subscribing (Plus the launcher-created descriptor, see "Good to know")
- This means that "ModName.mod" is just for convenience, anything that should end up at subscribers should be put into "descriptor.mod", that includes "supported_version", "tags", etc.

Uploading mods
- Open the launcher
- Got to "Mods"
- Click on "MOD TOOLS"
- Go to "Upload a mod" tab
- Select the mod you want to upload. All mods will be shown here, uploading any other than your own will fail with a credential error.
- Select "Steam Workshop" below "Upload to", "Paradox Mods" currently does not work for EUIV
- Enter a description and upload
- Set the mod public in its Steam Workshop page

Updating mods (improved version updated 20190926)
Currently most mods have one mod descriptor, usually ModName.mod. This is now split in two: ModName.mod which has the name entry and a path or archive entry only and descriptor.mod inside the mod folder, which has everything else. Updating them means creating this descriptor.mod and moving most things from ModName.mod into that. So essentially: Keep name and path or archive in your current .mod and move everything else into descriptor.mod inside the mod folder.
-If you have an issue with creating the descriptor file you should note that you can simply copy the content of the .mod file into the descriptor - this should not cause an issue.
-Remember that the descriptor.mod file should be inside the mod folder.
-If you get a credential error when attempting to upload a mod make sure you have something in the description section - you can simply put your current description from the workshop here. If your workshop description is to long for this then update the mod with anything in the description box and then add your full description later.
-Remember to select "Steam Workshop" in the "Upload a mod" tab, since "Paradox Mods" is not currently supported.

Good to know:
Currently mod zips show up in "C:/Users/user/Paradox Interactive/Europa Universalis IV/mod" after subscribing. This works slightly different now. Mod zips (Now named *.bin) will now stay in the Steam downloads folder (Something like "D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\workshop\content\236850\217416366", but users should not have to care about this, it is handled by Steam exclusively and shouldn't be touched) and the "mod" folder will just contain "ugc_1234567.mod" files ("descriptors") that reference these downloaded files. The old way of copying mods into that folder will still work however.

If you have questions or want to discuss these changes with the modding community, please do so in the Modding subform here!

 

[BjornB]

That's nice. Maybe you could do similar for HOI4 and CK2. That mod screen in launcher is very practical.

HoI4, yes. CK2 no I'm afraid. More info on HoI4 later on.

 

[mikesc]

Does the "--skiplauncher" command work when launching the game?

"--skiplauncher" no longer exists, but starting the game directly without arguments will have the same effect since the launcher is now a separate executable.

Will mods that are currently fully compatible with 1.28 and the old launcher need to be reuploaded to Steam, or will there be an option to simply update them to be compatible with 1.29?

If you want to change "supported_version" you need to reupload in the new format, if "supported_version" is not set there is no update necessary, it will just work.

I'm confused, is this only for mods uploaded to Steam? Do local folders still work as before?

Local mods will work just like before.

 

[mikesc]

Does the launcher actually work on Linux this time around? It's been broken since launch for Imperator despite multiple bug reports and posts in the corresponding technical support subforum.

There are some known issues on Linux, however it's not easy to say which configurations will be affected. If you have any issues refer to the second post in this thread, and please report any issues you have.

Will the launcher now support more than 50 subscribed steam mods? That has been my main issue with the old one.

Yes, the new launcher will support more than 50 mods.

Are we ever getting a feature to be able to save a specific amount of mods to a list, that you can load with one click? It's such a clickfest to change between major overhauls in all of your games. Apologies if such feature is already there, and do point me in the right direction. In total war games you have to download a separate mod manager(10 times better than the regular one) to do this, which is ludicrous - seeing how vital and huge modding is in these type of games.

Does it mean we'll be able to create different load lists, or is there only one dlc_load.json?

There is no built-in support to do that, but you can always keep different copies of your dlc_load.json.

 

[BjornB]

- so CK2 being dead is confirmed?

No But for technical reasons we can't do this for CK2 I'm afraid (it is very old you know)

I would note that, if you have local mods in your mod directory, do NOT just delete the directory unless you've made a backup first... ;-)

Good point! Will update the thread. Thank you!

Are we ever getting a feature to be able to save a specific amount of mods to a list, that you can load with one click? It's such a clickfest to change between major overhauls in all of your games. Apologies if such feature is already there, and do point me in the right direction. In total war games you have to download a separate mod manager(10 times better than the regular one) to do this, which is ludicrous - seeing how vital and huge modding is in these type of games.

This is a feature that we would want to have. But I refer to mikesc's answer above for now.

 

[Imse Vimse]

Hi @Mekbots we are looking into this right now. Please try the other launch option and see if that resolves the situation.

 

[Groogy]

Oh? I dont see that, just as soon as I hit play it pops up with the image I attached to my first message.

Try restarting steam? Sometimes the client can be a bit slow to get the latest configuration

 

[Groogy]

Edit - ahh Groogy beat me to the old restart tip

 

[StarNaN]

Oh? I dont see that, just as soon as I hit play it pops up with the image I attached to my first message.

It will be fixed soon. 1.28.3 should be fixed any moment. Older branches will be fixed one by one as soon as possible. In the meantime, you should be able to launch the game from the directory.

 

[MatRopert]

We changed the shader code that renders the map colors.
Try starting without mods, I suspect you are running a mod that is tied to rendering and wasn't updated for 1.29.

 

[Groogy]

I wonder if I could get an answer as to how to get local mods working when they point to somewhere outside of the mod folder? I have the path: path="..\Modding\MarsUniversalis" and it simply doesn't appear in the launcher.

Asked quickly one of the techy people, the new launcher requires an absolute path so you can't do relative like that.

 

[Imse Vimse]

Something has changed with the new resolutions.

I go down to 1920x1080 resolution because trying to read in 4k resolution would kill my eyes, but now the in-game mouse pointer is way too big, and blocks me from being able to see important things. How can I fix this?

When you start the game, can you make sure you start it in Fullscreen, and not Borderless Fullscreen?

 

[Groogy]

Hello. I'm having trouble updating my current Steam Workshop EU4 mod with the new update, everytime i attempt to [Upload] the mod again using the new launcher to update to 1.29, and definitely selecting my mod (my original mod folder and .mod file) that's been in my /Europa Universalis 4/Mod directory. I get the following error: (https://imgur.com/QvFr0uZ). Is this a problem anyone else gets? Or is this a case of my .mod file being unrecognizable now?

(As an example, i'd copy/paste my mods from a backup folder i've put them in - to the /mod directory when i needed to work on it again and play the game with the mod to test. Then remove and put them in a backup once i've re-uploaded it again with new content. Would that cause problems with it's credentials?)

Reading form here:

- Select the mod you want to upload. All mods will be shown here, uploading any other than your own will fail with a credential error.

Did you do first the Create Mod step on the first post so everything gets setup properly for the new launcher?

 

[Imse Vimse]

It is in regular fullscreen, not windowed fullscreen.

Thank you for your update. Can you make a report about this in the Bug Forums and attach a screenshot?

 

[Groogy]

Oh, so you have to re-'create' your mod onto the workshop all fresh & new from scratch for 1.29? If so, thanks for the info

Also be sure to pick Steam Workshop and not Paradoxplaza, Paradoxplaza will also give the error of invalid credentials.

 

[Groogy]

Well the launcher does not work for me in Linux and I will never ever try to sort my mods through a JSON file or try to launch it through the executable directly. Tried it with my main x server, and creating a separate one in TTY2 with my Nvidia card enabled. Both of them did not work. Just shows the paradox spinning logo and closes immediately. And after closing, it still keeps some background processes. I would appreciate if you guys can at least add a failsafe to this mess so it closes itself completely on a crash. I am on Arch Linux btw.

Is this starting it through Steam? What happens if you launch dowser directly from a terminal?

 

[mikesc]

Well I copied the entire folder to this location but it can't still find it... I restarted steam aswell but somehow it doesnt find anything

You need the folder and the .mod file next to it, make sure you have both.

 

[mikesc]

Another EDIT: So, it turns out that replace_path only fails to work when using absolute path for the mod's location. This still needs fixing, please.

Can you try putting all replace_path entries into your descriptor.mod (The one inside the mod folder)? They may not work in the one with the absolute path.