Successfully running Rome today

'lo,

Recently acquired a decent machine for the first time in a decade, so first instinct was to see where TW is at these days. After being slightly overwhelmed by the newer titles I was inclined to turn to the original Rome, only to find it running worse on a newer system than it did on my relatively low spec machine in 2004.

Saw suggestions elsewhere that running from the disc might show improved performance compared to Steam installations, but so far the game resolutely refuses to run after a disc install. [Followed this guide to attempt to fix the disc installation, but no joy as yet.]

Aside from providing any other tips on getting the game to run, can anyone here verify whether there's any discernible difference in performance playing from a disc installation? Would I be better off abandoning the disc install and trying to use other fixes to improve the performance of the Steam version? Any help on this would be appreciated.

[Will take this up at TWC eventually if need be, just thought to raise it here after finding that my ancient login still worked.]

Cheers.

Welcome back ~:wave: .

If I understand the matter correctly, Windows 10 blocks the copy-protection program included in the disk-version of R:TW. However, the program is not included in the Steam version, so you could give that a try. You don't need to rebuy the game: you can claim it in Steam with the R:TW activation code included with your disk. There's a thread on this in the EB modification forum: Running R:TW in Windows 10.

Hope this helps.

If you haven't figured got the problem solved yet, it appears that the steam version runs a bit slower in the campaign map. I had to find a no-CD crack, and it seems to be fine. It is a bit slow when I am looking around Greece or Italy, now that my campaign is farther along. I think it is all the trading ships on the map. Looking at say Campus Sakae or west of Britannia it runs perfectly smooth, say if I have a window up.

Performance of the Steam version is the issue, which is why I'd dug out the old CDs to try a new installation. That still doesn't run, while the Steam version is slow in the campaign map and lags worse still in battles. As far as I've been able to tell there's no adequate solution to this, but thanks for the responses. It's by no means critical - it seems I could play a scaled down version of Rome on a tablet with better performance. Had been keen to see the game running well with full unit size and high detail, but it looks as though that's going to have to wait a bit yet.

Yeah, if you are using Windows 10 you won't be able to play with the CDs {...}. You would be able to install, but not play. That is because the SECUROM driver that verifies original disk is totally missing in Windows 10, so the computer won't let you play. If you are using an older version of Windows there was an update that did the same thing, but that update can be uninstalled so you can play. The update is KB3086255.

Can you fix that in the directory like you can with the same change that was made to Win7?

No, there is no way to fix it in Windows 10. Really annoying. {edited}

Another thing with the update. My brother who is running Windows 8 has to uninstall it over again from time to time, so you may encounter it over again. I guess there is a way to prevent that from happening, something about hiding it, but I forget how to do it.