Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

[cegorach]

Spanish... forget it then...

[Polska]

no problem, english is good for me ^^

PD: y want blood, i want cut the mongols heads!!

[Dhepee]

Prior to this problem MTW II ran perfectly. Nothing on my system has changed.

I have a CTD going into the battle map. I see the deployment screen, then it goes to the CTD.

This is a new problem. I had tried to mod something, it didn't work, and I couldn't fix it. I uninstalled and then reinstalled. It's behaving like descr_geography_new.db and descr_geography_new.txt are lurking somewhere but I can't find them anywhere.

[ehsan123]

i think the best way to solve these problems will be to get a new graphic card it worked for me trust me there i no other way you can fix these problems some have fixed them before but its really hard if your not a advanced computer user

[JR-]

I have four computers:

1. Vista64 - doesn't run at all.
Q7600
9800 GX2
2x 2GB PC6400
Intel G33 chipset

2. WinXP SP2 - CTD nearly every attempt
C6600
7950GT
2x 1GB PC6400
Intel P965 chipset

3. WinXP SP2 - CTD nearly every attempt
A64 3800+ X2
7900GT
2x 512MB PC3200
nForce 6150 chipset

4. WinXP SP2 - Works like a charm every time
A64 3200+
6600GT
2x 512MB PC3200
nForce 4 Ultra Chipset

Can usually start a new campaign, but will get repeated CTD's within 50 turns.
What i do to get a save game working on PC's two and three is start a new campaign using the same faction and difficulty level as the save game, and once it has reached the Campaign map then i load my save game.

[caravel]

Don't bother with No.1. No's 2 and 3 should be possible with older drivers and enabling 2x/4x/8x AA. Also search through the MTW CTDs thread as there are plenty of other tips in there including some settings which might help overcome a bug with moving your units around on the battle map.

[Kaidonni]

Curious, Caravel. You mentioned a possible solution to the battlemap mouseover problems in the Main Hall - been looking through this thread, and I'm wondering if it is the 2xAA technique? Running a Nvidia 8600 card here, and implementing those two files from NTW for the campaign map - just the mouseover problems remain (although I can improvise there and use the radar map and a modified GroupFormations.txt if I have to - already fought a Quick Battle using the radar map, 'tis interesting, but not impossible or unplayable ).

[caravel]

Look at the previous page of this thread, post #166.

[Kaidonni]

Thanks, seemed to have missed that last night (was online much later than I usually am). Just one thing - does it have to be applied to Global Settings, or can a specific program, like MTW, be geared towards those settings? Only, it isn't my computer, and I dare not mess with the graphics settings myself. I'd go into the control panel and take a peek, but I'm nervous about even that, I don't want to break anything...

Plus, I don't think my bro would appreciate the global settings for the entire computer being tweaked each time I wanted to play MTW...

EDIT: Okay, I figured that I can set it to be application specific, preventing me from messing up anything else.

Now, it appears that I have a number of different settings to what is normal, but I've managed to prevent units from appearing above trees, unit cards, etc. Part way there, I must be along the right lines...

Here are pics of my settings:





Now, they are a bit misleading - I can use 2xAA. However, those settings there seem to fix part of the issue. Not sure where to go from here. I know that it'll be a pain to improvise to an extent using the radar map and editted custom formations, but that's definitely better than nothing. However, can anyone point me in the right direction based on the above settings?

It's a bit frustrating, really. One issue is fixed, but my mouse continues to defy me. Like I said, I can improvise, but I don't want to pass up the opportunity to see if I can get my mouse back properly...but I have no idea where to go from here...

[JohhnyBlaze]

hello, i just reinstalled MTW on my comp since i last played it a couple years ago, and now for some reason everytime i try to play it just crashes to desktop without a warning or anything.

if anyone can help or point me in the direction of help i would be most grateful :)

[Kaidonni]

At what point does it crash? As soon as the campaign map has loaded? You can either employ some of the solutions in this thread, such as 2x Anti-aliasing and/or running the campaign map at a resolution of 800x600 while the battlemap would need to be 1024x768. However, there is another thing to try:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=79500

The last post in that thread features a unique solution to the CTD issues, and should help you a lot.

[JohhnyBlaze]

ya, it just crashes after i load the map or sometimes while its loading.

i will check out all these solutions :) thanx

[JohhnyBlaze]

i think i got it working, i played with the settings for a little while and, now that i have both the campaign and battle maps on 1280x1024 it is playing well. thanx for the help and lets hope this keeps working :P

[Kaidonni]

I'd advise that you replace the two files, also, with the ones used by NTW. It is those two files that seem to be the actual cause of the crashes, and by replacing them with the ones provided in that thread, you don't need to alter any other settings.

[christof139]

I've done all this and have a 8600 card and only the campaign map runs properly, the tactical game is still kaput. So, have to put the old computer back together.

Chris

[caravel]

Look at post #166 and try those settings I've posted there. These fixed the battle map for me.

[Kaidonni]

Any epiphanies on my problem? The screenies I posted a few posts up, and a couple of weeks back (post #189), are what I set my Nvidia 8600GT to, and it did fix units appearing above unit cards and all that, but not the mouse-over issue. I mean, I have played battles where I've improvised and used the radar map, and I'm ready and willing to continue with that if need be, but I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas about what else I can do? I did follow Caravel's post #166.

[caravel]

Disable AA and transparency anti aliasing, then your settings will be the same as the ones I used. If it still doesn't work you're going to have to test it, changing one setting at a time. That's how I did it.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Just in case any of you guys haven't noticed, this thread has had a few updates with additional potential solutions which may be useful.

[Gransoporo]

hi i'm New. And i'm Italian...so my english sucks! :-)
I'm sorry but I didn't read all the topic because it's very difficult for me, but i understand that the solutions are for nvidia configuration....i have ATI X850XT and i have the same problem. Have I to proceed in the same way?
Thanks a lot
Giovanni

[caravel]

Your english seems fine to me. Which Operating System do you run? If it's windows Vista then I've no idea of a solution sorry. But if you're running Windows XP you can try the Catalyst 5.7 drivers and that should work.

[HansMoser]

Hello!
I've bplayed MTW and MTW:VI alot on my old machine, with no problem whatsoever (Gee, new story, huh?). Now I've rediscovered the game's potential and I reinstalled the game plus the expansion and patched it to 2.01.
The problem I am now facing is not CTDs (odd enough, got a 1950gt) but I'm stuck for minutes with my loading screen. Whenever I start a campaign/battle it sends me to the loading screen just fine, but then I wait for 4-5 minutes before the loading bar starts filling up. Then I can play forever, but in campaign mode I always have to wait 4-5 minutes for a battle to start and auto-calcing is unacceptable for me.
Does anyone know a fix for this problem? I've tried changing resolutions/color depth/the AA fix etc. but the waiting is still endless!
HALP!

[newbie543]

hi,

I used to play MTW a lot, and recently i wanted to play it again, but as you can guess i have a crash when i want to start a campaign. Sometimes it just returns to the menu, and sometimes it returns to my desktop. I have read the threads concerning this problem on the forum, but i don't have a nividia graphic card so i don't think installing an older nvidia driver will work for me. I also tried replacing the 2 button files (button_ipnext.BIF and button_ipprev.BIF) but that didn't work either. Please help me, I really want to play the game...

My comp:
Windows Vista 32-bit
Intel(R) Core 2 DUO CPU (1.80 GHz)
Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family
RAM: 2038 MB

[caravel]

The problem I am now facing is not CTDs (odd enough, got a 1950gt) but I'm stuck for minutes with my loading screen. Whenever I start a campaign/battle it sends me to the loading screen just fine, but then I wait for 4-5 minutes before the loading bar starts filling up. Then I can play forever, but in campaign mode I always have to wait 4-5 minutes for a battle to start and auto-calcing is unacceptable for me.
Does anyone know a fix for this problem? I've tried changing resolutions/color depth/the AA fix etc. but the waiting is still endless!
HALP!

I have the same problem. Do you have XP or Vista? If it's XP you might want to try older drivers. Though the delay will probably not go away. If it's actually working then you're lucky.

I used to play MTW a lot, and recently i wanted to play it again, but as you can guess i have a crash when i want to start a campaign. Sometimes it just returns to the menu, and sometimes it returns to my desktop. I have read the threads concerning this problem on the forum, but i don't have a nividia graphic card so i don't think installing an older nvidia driver will work for me. I also tried replacing the 2 button files (button_ipnext.BIF and button_ipprev.BIF) but that didn't work either. Please help me, I really want to play the game...

My comp:
Windows Vista 32-bit
Intel(R) Core 2 DUO CPU (1.80 GHz)
Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family
RAM: 2038 MB

The problem is your graphics chip. I'm assuming this is a laptop with Intel Integrated Graphics? If so you're very out of luck, sorry.

The only thing I can advise to people really wanting to play this game is to get an older PC, e.g. an old Athlon XP or P4 based system with an older graphics card such as a Radeon 9xxx or Geforce 4/5/6 series card, at least 512MB of RAM, running 98/2K/XP and hook that up to your existing monitor, keyboard and mouse using a KVM switch. (no good for laptop users)

MTW is not that demanding graphically so really the latest cards are not being used to their full potential anyway. I used to run MTW perfectly fine on an old Voodoo5 card. It looks no better or worse on my 7300GT. The biggest performance bottleneck in MTW will always be your CPU when running larger battles involving two full stacks or more.

[newbie543]

I'm assuming this is a laptop with Intel Integrated Graphics?

Yes, i think so. Thanks for the help anyway.
Do you know if M2TW will run on my laptop? I might buy it, but it would be a big waste of money if it doesn't work on my comp...

[caravel]

I'm not sure if M2TW will run on that chipset because I don't think it has the pixel shader 1 support which the game requires. You may want to try RTW, you can pick that up cheaply and it should run ok.

[HansMoser]

I have the same problem. Do you have XP or Vista? If it's XP you might want to try older drivers. Though the delay will probably not go away. If it's actually working then you're lucky.

I guess I am lucky I can play, but still, can't see myself getting a coffee everytime I have to fight :) Tried older drivers but to no effect. And yes, I am playing on XP.

[caravel]

This is pretty much why I just gave up altogether. In my case I was in the middle of a modding project. With all the testing that goes with that, imagine loading up the campaign map and waiting that long every time?

[Northnovas]

I think the real issue is the video card drivers and that is reason I can't play the game anymore. The nvidia driver after 93.66 (??) around that number went offside and the game would not run for me. Before that the AA adjustment was the fix that worked. It's unfortunate because there are some aspects of the MTW VI I enjoyed.

[caravel]

The problem is indeed related to video hardware/software. It's not clear however as to whether the problem lies in the game itself, i.e. the game's inability to cope with newer hardware due to limitations in the coding (the next/previous review panel buttons issue is an example of this) or in the drivers removing backwards compatibility. I think it's a combination of the two.