Problems running MTW please help!!!

[greendayzed]

Hi. Ive recently bought MTW but im having so much trouble running battles. This is my system.
AMD 1.8
256mb ram
Geforce 2 integrated
Now i know that it isnt a fast system but i think that its simply unacceptable when the game slows right down when im fighting a battle. And it doesnt just slow down and then speed up after things calm down a bit, it stays slow. Its especially annoying because ive done everything possible to sort it out,
No smoke
No fauna
Minimum unit size
Low quality sound
Lowest res on map and battle section
Changed my res on windows to match
Shut down all non essential programs
New drivers
Now i dont think that its unreasonable for my system to run the game without this serious slow down. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Gregoshi]

Er, welcome greendayzed. You have a good problem there. I can toss the check list in the trash bin. I'll post your problem in the Apothecary and see what suggestions they might have for you.

BTW, you're machine is hardly slow.

Your copied post is here: greendayzed having a baddayzed (http://www.totalwar.org/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=2;t=3243;r=1;&#top)

[greendayzed]

Thanks for your help mate. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Gregoshi]

There are some suggestions for you in the Apothecary. One step missing that I recall people doing is to turn off anti-lacing on your graphics card. Have you tried that?

[greendayzed]

Ok, ive tried doing what they suggested in the apothecary. Ive yet to try it. I checked the anti lacing and thats already off. Please extend my thanks to all those in the apothecary that helped me out And to you for posting my message in the first place. Cheers buddy. Im off to try it out now, i'll be back with more tales of woe if it doesnt work

[Gregoshi]

...fingers crossed...toes too...

[greendayzed]

Ok. Well theres good news and bad news. The good news is, it ran a lot lot better. The first battle was pretty smooth. However the next battle slowed right down again. Not as bad as before, but it was virtually unplayable at some points (locking up for about 20 secs etc). After this battle the map screen became really really slow and i had to quit out. I had changed the direct 3D settings from 27mb to 15mb by the way. So im not sure what to do. I guess i will try 10mb but im not convinced that the problem wont just come back after a couple of battles.

[greendayzed]

Hmm, well i tried it on 10 mb but it crashed twice. Both times in a battle. Not sure what to do now. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif

[greendayzed]

Ok im back. Im trying to fiddle around with my settings on my graphics card. Its 32mb geforce 2 tw. So ive gone settings, advanced, Geforce 2 tab. This is how the settings are currently:
Direct 3D settings:
Enable fog table emulation box - checked
Display logo... box - unchecked
Mipmap detail level - best image quality selected
Use up to 10mb of system memory for textures in PCI mode

So does anyone know if i should alter any of these? The game has crashed twice after i started using 10mb for textures. Do the other options need editing? What about settings in open gl mode? Should performance be balanced, aggressive or application? Sorry to bore you all with this but it is really annoying me now. Ive heard reports of people with lesser machines than mine running MTW perfectly. Its just so frustrating to spend all this money on a defective product http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/pissed.gif

[Gregoshi]

That is a bummer. I'll bet it is something minor causing major headaches for you. I'll copy your update into the Apothecary thread.

We'll get you promoted to Senior Patron so you can post there yourself.

[KukriKhan]

Just my shot in the dark: when all else fails, often a driver change is necessary. Check your manufacturer's website & compare vid card driver versions and dates.

[greendayzed]

Thanks for the promotion guys. Will stop flooding the eh with my problems now :P .I updated my drivers last week to the detonator ones so it shouldnt be a driver related problem i dont think. Im pretty sure i installed them correctly i.e. taking off the old ones first etc. I dont know. Maybe thats something i should look at. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif

[tsr]

greendayzed,

I'm having a similar issue, and I went to

http://www.guru3d.com

to see if the forums might yeild any information.

http://www.guru3d.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=43128

Solution to poor gf4 performance

I know this problem has been solved for some time, but alot of people are still asking how to fix this problem.

Some of you who went out and bought a shiny new Geforce 4 have been experiencing MAJOR slowdowns in performance. The reason for this is MOST likely you have an unsupported Ali chipset based motherboard. To fix this, simply do the following;

1)Download and install the newest Rivatuner, available here

2) Download the latest nvidia WHQL Certified drivers. (I have not tried this for drivers before 29.xx, so I do not know if Rivatuner has fixed this for these versions.)

3) Open up Rivatuner, and go to the power user page. Find the icon with the magnifying glass over the folder and click that. *VIOLA*
---------------------------MORE-----------------------------

I know what he's talking about. After loading the matched detonator database (that's the second folder icon), you have to go to the System line (not System Advanced), expand it, then scroll down to EnableAliAGP. Right click it, click the lighted bulb, save the changes, and reboot. This will enable AGP Texture Acceleration, which the GF4 seems to rely on more than previous GF cards (my brothers GF3 didn't benefit nearly as much as mine did, as I had a 20-30% performance increase, and his was more like 5-10%, and we both have very similar systems).

Also, this fix only works on Ali chipset motherboards. The general rumor is that Nvidia disabled Texture Acceleration on Ali boards because of instability, but this was done, I think, around the time of the original GeForces, maybe the GF2. Now, most Ali boards have decent AGP slots and drivers. I know I haven't had any problems yet. I'm running a Asus A7A266 with 1.33GHz AMD and Ti4400.

Again, this is an Ali chipset-only fix, and seems to work the best on GF4s, but gives some increase in the other GF cards.

Download rivatuner here:

http://www.guru3d.com/files/rivatuner/

All I have to do is try it out now...Let me know

T.Sr.

[Gregoshi]

Thanks for all that info tsr.

You'll be joining greendayzed soon and hopefully solve your woes too.

[Alrowan]

Yellow knight had a similar problem i think, he found that after he got media player 7.1 it went fine

other areas to look at include soundcard settings

[Gregoshi]

Good point Alrowan. Thanks for making the connection.

[greendayzed]

Hey guys. Just as i was on the verge of giving up, ive decided to give it another try. Thanks for the info about the drivers. I am currently downloading the 30.82 ones to see if they are any better. The post about media player jogged my memory about something. Ever since i have upgraded my system, windows media player has been unable to play properly. When i try to play mpeg videos through it, it plays them too fast and they are all jumpy. Ive reinstalled multiple versions of media player but the problem ias still there. Ive heard of others who have had the same problem but i have never heard of a solution. I remembered that MTW needs media player to work and it is true that it wont play the intro properly (all jumpy, sound jumps too) although i didnt think that this would affect it in-game. The music in MTW has also never worked. I guess i didnt bring it up before because i didnt think it would be applicable to the game after the intro and i wasnt that concerned about the loss of music. Anyone else experience this? Media player playing mpeg videos all jumpy?