New patch hosed my otherwise perfect game!

[Behemoth]

Sorry for the apparent drama, but I'm at a loss. My game had none of the problems people have been complaining about. I had 0, count them, 0 CTDs after yesterdays patch I get them after every engagement. This on a new campaign, and RtoI. I'd be patient if it wasn't that I had no problems until steam decided to patch up my game. I've got the game on a XP pro computer with a 8800GT with a 181.22 driver. I'll go over the list and see what they could have changed to make my game all wonkers, tho. It's like snatching a sucker out of a baby's mouth, I tasted how good it was, now it's gone! Not the most constructive post, but I haven't read many posts that have mentioned a patch introducing a problem after absolutely no problem, so at the very least CA should know that at least for me, they got something right, before they got something very wrong. I was on a turn 103 of the UK GC, the patch DL'd this afternoon and that was that. :no:
-B out!

[Mr Frost]

I've just dicsovered I cannot click on the Trade tab in the Government window in any campaign without a crash .
That problem didn't exist before the latest patch .

It is always "anounced" by a noise glitch , so it could be sound related , but it definitly new .
They really need to get on the ball with these bugs because the number of bugs is getting silly and are not minor {C.T.D.s are not minor} .

[JeromeBaker]

I got a few CTDs in my GB campaign before the patch spread out, but when I loaded the game after the patch it now gives me a CTD every time I try to advance to the next turn. It could be I was headed towards this issue without the patch, but it does seem odd the problem came about right after my game was patched. I started a new Prussia campaign it is working fine so far.

[antisocialmunky]

How-to-ROLLBACK-Empire-Total-War-latest-Patch (http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic/51612/t/How-to-ROLLBACK-Empire-Total-War-latest-Patch.html)

URL says it all.

[Callahan9119]

Where do I purchase this perfect game your talking about?

[Eusebius86]

Where do I purchase this perfect game your talking about?

Callahan, the problem is that CA is releasing patches that are creating CTD's where none previously existed. I'm having the same problem. When ETW was first released, no patches, I didn't experience one single CTD. So I went into Steam and turned auto-update off. Well, I wanted to start playing multi-player and had to update to play with everyone else. This caused all :furious3: to break loose. I can't even play a grand campaign anymore, period. Every time I select "Grand Campaign" I get a CTD. This is ridiculous. CA needs to fix bugs, not create them. They're not Microsoft...

[NimitsTexan]

Just out of curiosity, but are those experiancing high rates of CTDs using mods/edits of any sort?

[Eusebius86]

Just out of curiosity, but are those experiancing high rates of CTDs using mods/edits of any sort?

I'm not using any mods or edits at all...

[NimitsTexan]

Just out of curiosity, anybody tried a clean reinstall?

I just find it curious that so many people exeperiance systemic CTDs, but (a) they seem to be caused by all sorts of different things and (b) many people experiance few if any CTDs. While it may be that CA is not testing things as they should, Iit also seems that whatever common denomiator exists is not obvious, which is why I wonder if some crashes might be caused by corrupted game files somwhere?

[Devastatin Dave]

Wow, I have an occasional CTD and even some toral reboots. I'm almost afraid to download the latest patch. With the economic downturn and the total hose job by CA and their buddies at Steam, I have a feeling this might be the end of the TW series...:no:

[mp84]

How-to-ROLLBACK-Empire-Total-War-latest-Patch (http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic/51612/t/How-to-ROLLBACK-Empire-Total-War-latest-Patch.html)

URL says it all.

Unfortunately more then that is needed:

You would also need to rollback the

patch_en.pak
empire.exe
mss32.dll

As those files were also affected.

I highly doubt we can upload a.exe file, but hopefully we can do a patch_en.pak and mss32.dll and with the moderators permission as this is a rare exception, someone can upload those specific files only.

thanks,

MP

[Monk]

CA just released a hotfix a moment ago:


Issue with save games disappearing from the save game list if fixed

Updated of the Miles dll to fix some random crashes in sound

[gollum]

Now we cant even complain properly, by the time the whiner theads come about a fix is in place already...:laugh4:

[Melvish]

With or without mods it always crash after a naval engagement (if i auto-calc it is all ok). This is from brand new game as i've delete all the old savegame files.The patch(+hotfix) have improved the performance greatly, i can now run at the setting the autodetect propose (high) and get decent performance. Clicking on a shipyard can sometime still cause minor lag but this clear up way faster that before). I also now hear the rain on the intro movie. I suspect something is still very wrong with the miles.dll (sound related) and those not experiencing CTD have better sound card that don't use that dll.

I know it not the pc the problem as it is in mints condition (drivers, genuine prog, professional security, etc). It is a laptop although and the sound card is its weak point (Dell pr M4400). i never had prob with any other games (Farcry2, MTW2, EUIII/Rome/VV, Fallout3) since i've got it 6 month ago.

Hopefully CA will respond with a quickfix as fast as when the previous patch was released and it messed up the games for our German speaking friends.

[mp84]

CA just released a hotfix a moment ago:

That hotfix has been out for awhile, and I have downloaded that, and unfortunately I still have my sound-out of sync problem. :(

MP

[Melvish]

Ok, i've found a workaround my sound related CTD problem and i thought it would be fair to share it with you in case it might help those who still experience CTD and sound choppiness.

Go to the sound config menu of ETW and instead of choosing "Windows Default" try selecting "Mono" or another. "SRS" did the trick for me. If it still fail try turning all sound off to get a clue if the problem is sound related.


Hope it help.

[seireikhaan]

CA just released a hotfix a moment ago:
Unfortunately, this hotfix has made my Maratha campaign incredibly unstable. I fear my revenge of the Inuit pimp slap may not come to fruition. :no: However, I have yet to start a new one to see if its just impacting old saved games.

[Monk]

Unfortunately, this hotfix has made my Maratha campaign incredibly unstable. I fear my revenge of the Inuit pimp slap may not come to fruition. :no: However, I have yet to start a new one to see if its just impacting old saved games.

I guess I've been lucky then, my current games seem unharmed by the patches. :shrug:

[bloodshed]

The new hotfix just released unfortunately didnt fix the sound problem for me at least there is still a little bit of delay and random musket fire sounds.

[CookieRawr]

Ohhh My, new patch screwed me over too, game is ctding after every battle. I only had minor problems with the game before the patch lol.

[Namarie22]

Prior to patch I actually didn't have a single CTD.. I had a few stalls on the campaign map, but waiting a bit worked.

Now, I'm getting CTD's after EVERY friggin' naval battle! :(

[Melvish]

I see i'm not the only one with the "post naval engagement crash the game" problem. If a lots of people have this problem we can expect a new hotfix soon.
In the meantime try turning all sound off in the ETW config panel (uncheck the box there).
It will solve the problem temporally while we wait for the hotfix.


Don't do the roll back fix unless you are computer literate


CA really need to get their act together, if i had produced patches of those dubious quality i would long have lost my job.

They have gone from my "will buy blindly their game" list to "i'll wait 6 month to see the reviews and see the what the community think" list. Hopefully they will not end up in the "Will never by their game" list.

[Behemoth]

My crashes are post naval as well. I'm trying out the roll back fix today, I'll report back, GL everybody

[Fridgebadger]

Is there any way to check if the game has been patched?

I dl'd the patch, and got ctds after the first loading screen. I did have a mod installed though, so I've gone back to vanilla, and it starts fine but I haven't seen Steam dl'ing the patch. There's nothing like a version number in the game menus is there? What should I look for in the altered files? (patch_en.pak still says 3/4/2009)

Is there any way to tell in Steam? It's not showing any updates available next to Empire...

Edit: I think going to Steam, right click on empire, properties and verify game files seems to have fixed it - at least files are updated to 27/3 now...

[ZIM!!]

Since the latest patch I am geting CTD every time I click on a naval unit. I will click on it the game sort of freezes for a while then crash!

do they even bother to test the patches?

[CookieRawr]

Lol I'm getting naval and land battle crashes,bahh I paid 69.99 for 20 days of a enjoyable game and now its unplayable thanks to a patch.

[Zatoichi]

This was just posted over at the .com:


Hi guys,

For those of you experiencing crashes when leaving a battle, please try turning off sound effects. We are currently working on a fix which we will distribute as soon as possible.

Thanks,

Mark O'Connell
(aka SenseiTW)

The highs and lows of hotfixes. My land battles now work, but my naval battles CTD after the results screen. I'll try this workaround in the meantime.

[Barkhorn1x]

The highs and lows of hotfixes. My land battles now work, but my naval battles CTD after the results screen. I'll try this workaround in the meantime.

Please report back as I hesitate to install this one until I know what the heck is going on.


Thoughts on these sound issues:
I use onboard sound and have all sorts of audio problems with the videos, latency when clicking on cities/armies, the occasional post battle CTD and the occassional combine unit CTD.

I just received my new sound card and will install tomorrow morning. I hope that will change things for the better. But I am not all that hopefull.

[Zatoichi]

OK, turning the sound effects off enables me to play naval battles without the CTD at the end (seems it's the sinking fleet sound that is causing the problem).

However, it's a total immersion killer to play without sound effects.

Time for a sing song:

"There was an old lady who swallowed a hotfix..."

[Melvish]

However, it's a total immersion killer to play without sound effects.



You can try selecting another mode than "windows default" in the sound config panel of ETW. I was able to finish naval battle with sound on using SRS. It may differ from pc to pc but chance are one of the options will allow you to play with sound on. Read my previous post for further detail.
I sometime wonder if someone read my post as i've posted the fix yesterday...

[batemonkey]

Every patch they have released has made the my game that little worse, bit by bit and i'm spending less and less time playing as result. I'll try this sound of thing, but as zatoichi says it does kill hte irmersion factor

[Zatoichi]

You can try selecting another mode than "windows default" in the sound config panel of ETW. I was able to finish naval battle with sound on using SRS. It may differ from pc to pc but chance are one of the options will allow you to play with sound on. Read my previous post for further detail.
I wonder if someone read my post sometime as i've posted the fix yesterday...

I was already using '5.1 discrete' - I don't know what the difference is from the default to be honest, but I had some annoying stuttering back when the game first came out and changing from Windows Default to this seemed to sort it out. I suppose I can try a few more sound settings like you've suggested (twice!) - I just don't enjoy the prospect of my naval battles crashing until I find the right one.

However, I just realised I can turn the sound effects off before the battle ends rather than for the whole battle, which would be an improvement.

I also just read a random post over at the .com that leaving the finish battle screen open for 10 - 20 seconds also has solved the CTD for some people. How effective this is I couldn't say.

[Suraknar]

I was experiencing CDT on starting a new Campaign before the patch and fixed that by renaming the preferences Script, the game created a new one upon launch.

It may work in this case as well, at least worth a try.

It can be found in:

C:\Documents and Settings\"your profile"\Application Data\The Creative Assembly\Empire\scripts

You may need to edit the folder options to show Hidden Files and folders to see the Application Data folder.

Just rename the preferences.empire_script.txt to preferences.empire_script.bak and start the game.