So recently I've seen that Paradox Launcher loves to bug out the number of installed mods/does not want to show newly downloaded mods. Here's a simple fix I've been doing to fix that.

STEP 1 : You need to enable hidden folders.

Open File Explorer from the taskbar.

1. Select View > Options > Change folder and search options.

2. Select the View tab and, in Advanced settings, select Show hidden files, folders, and drives and OK.

STEP 2 :

Navigate to C:/users/(your username)/AppData/Local (disk character may vary if you have more than one, always use one where you have your Windows installed)
There you will find Paradox Interactive folder, delete it.

STEP 3 :
Go back to AppData folder and open Roaming folder. There you need to delete Paradox Interactive and paradox-launcher-v2 folders.

STEP 4 :

Navigate to :
C:\Users\(yourusername)\Documents\Paradox Interactive folder and delete contents of Stellaris folder. ALWAYS REMEMBER TO DRAG YOUR SAVE GAMES FOLDER to safe location before deleting contents of the folder, or else your precious saves will be gone! You can drag it back once you're done with the fix. Also remember to trash your recycle bin or Windows will read that the files are still there and fix won't work.

STEP 5 :

Open Control Panel and go to Programs and Functions. Proceed to uninstall Paradox Launcher v2. Once it's done, launch Steam and run Stellaris. It should install Paradox Launcher once again. NOTE : You might need to run the launcher few times to let it download all updates.


Edit 07/05/25 :

Only STEP 4 should be enough if you clear out recycle bin after deleting the contents of the folder.

Hope that will help. All the best The RMG Stealer Price ;)