Victoria 3 is a grand strategy game from Paradox Interactive. The title is out now on PC through Steam, and thousands of players are already in-game. It was one of the most anticipated strategy releases in years, and it’s been over a decade since the last entry in the series came out. Despite great performance, some players have reported technical issues getting in the way of playing. If you want to fix the Victoria 3 crash at launch issue, here are a few things we recommend.
Fixing the Victoria 3 crash at launch issue
Like many other PC releases, the launch can be a problem for some players. This either comes down to something missing on the user’s end or broken files. This is a common occurrence, and we have a few suggestions to address this issue.
Launch the game directly using the executable
For some players, the shortcut created by Steam doesn’t properly launch the game, and it’s likely tied to the Paradox launcher. Instead, you can launch it directly using the executable.
- Open Steam and then your library
- Here, right-click on Victoria 3
- Click Manage
- Then select Browse local files
- Open the Binaries folder
- Now, run the game using the victoria3.exe executable
Verify Game files
It’s possible that the game files were corrupted during the download or installation process. We recommend verifying the files through Steam to ensure everything is in order.
- Open Steam, and navigate to your library
- Right-click on Victoria 3 in your library
- Click Properties
- Select the LOCAL FILES tab
- Click on Verify Integrity of local files…
Add an exception to your anti-virus
At times, games can potentially be tagged as a threat by your anti-virus software. To ensure this doesn’t happen, please add the Victoria 3 folder to the exceptions or exclusions list. A few users have reported that this fixed it for them.
We have listed some popular ones and their respective FAQ pages.
- Windows Defender
- Microsoft Security Essentials
- Malwarebytes
- Avast Antivirus
- AVG Antivirus
- Kaspersky Anti-Virus
- Webroot SecureAnywhere
- McAfee Antivirus (Steam Support guide)
- Bitdefender
Run the game as an administrator
You can go the extra step and give the title admin privileges to ensure there is no interference on that end.
- Open Steam and then your library
- Here, right-click on Victoria 3
- Click Manage
- Then select Browse local files
- Right-click on the victoria3.exe and select Properties
- Click the Compatibility tab
- Check “Run this program as an administrator“
Update DirectX and Visual C++ Redistributables
Ensure that both DirectX and Visual C++ Redistributables are on the latest version.
Manually update your GPU Drivers
Make sure that you have the latest drivers for your GPU installed. You can get the latest ones from the links below.
We hope this guide helped fix the Victoria 3 crash at launch issue. Let us know if you have any questions in the comments below.
