New patch? [Archive]

Jacobin

03-23-2012, 20:26

Any thoughts on this ?

I am seeing a different wallpaper on the menu screen for FotS, different unit cards, walls and gates appearing on castle battle loading screen maps, enemy unit status (confident/shaken etc) adding to the mouse over info at legendary (which I really dislike as the whole point of legendary is that you know no more than your general would about enemy unit morale), my own unit cards disappearing completely immediately after they hit rout status.

Oh and the fog of war effect on campaign map seems darker somehow - the islands off Kyushu I don't have ships near have virtually disappeared.

Overall deeply underwhelmed.

EDIT see there is a patch description and much heated discussion over at http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=529388

Fagar

03-23-2012, 22:22

I am actually a fan..
I like the subtle little sound bytes that have been added, I like the sharpening of the graphics and the changes to the fog of war..
However most of all I really enjoy the changes to the diplomacy scales and the addition of the predicted outcomes and the "verbal" interaction now with the rival Daimyos..

Even the changes to the in game battle is great..the addition of the status of the archery towers in sieges but what really blew me away was that during a siege I was the smaller attacking force but was given the option to play as the larger force!!!!!! How much does that rock!!!!

sassbarman

03-24-2012, 02:34

I love the new features they've added; thank you CA, but man have the graphics taken a beating. I used to love zooming in and watching the action up close, the units where beautiful, but now all the amour is flat black. Helmets no longer have chips and dents, no more wet armour effects, glint off weapons, and the draw distance is lowered drastically. Very disappointing!

Maltz

03-24-2012, 04:12

Here are fixes that could affect our play habits:

- Only primary generals now get full XP in battles; generals commanding reinforcements get reduced XP
- Removed timer from certain battles to prevent exploit

It is good to see fixes to get rid of exploits/inconveniences. The reinforcement practice is particularly bad, as we are pretty much forced to split up generals to receive the maximum benefit. Hopefully there are still other ways to properly level up generals.

Not sure under which circumstances the timers are removed. Like the sally attack in the last season of a besieged castle?

Jacobin

03-26-2012, 18:49

I have seen the timer remove but didn't make any note as to the circumstances - may well have been a siege sally though as almost all of the mid and late game battles I fight are sieges.

Having played through a new Shimazu legendary domination campaign through to the 1570s post-patch there are so many changes that it feels almost like a different game:

a) Units lose exp when they regenerate - thanks to various bonuses I had some +6 bow ashigaru some of which after many battles are back down to +1 or +2 (I almost never merge under-strength units but there now seems little point in not doing so).

b) The AI builds many more ships and seems to use them much more aggressively - pre RD my main naval problem was with pirates popping up and blockading key ports, now I rarely see the pirates as AI fleets are chasing them down - and am currently being persecuted by lots of single bow kobaya fleets that are raiding my trade routes and blockading ports and that my fleets can't catch on the campaign map as I haven't researched any naval technologies.

c) Possibly because they are building more ships the AI seems to be sending out fewer stacks on land - so far I've never had to fight more than two full-ish stacks at a time when pre-patch I'd have seen 4 or 5 or 6 stacks gang together and set about besieging my castles one by one by this time.

d) The AI is much less aggressive diplomatically - previously I'd almost always have clans from the other side of the map like the Satake and Imagawa declare war in the early game and send out invasion fleets - this campaign most of the eastern factions stayed at peace with me right up until RD even though most went to hostile quite early.

e) Perhaps because of this I haven't seen any great power rise on the AI side as I normally do - in particular minor clans seem to last longer.

f) The graphics are indeed worse and I can't see any improvement in performance - quite the opposite as I have had to go back to the 20 minute timer due to the game stuttering when fast forwarded.

Overall these changes seem to make the game considerably easier - I avoid exploits and usually turtle before RD to make sure I have a robust enough economy to survive without trade and so tend to end up battling against the clock to get that last province and finish a legendary domination campaign by 1600 - at current rate this one should be over before 1585.

However it may make the the hard central and eastern clans more playable.

Maltz

03-26-2012, 22:00

Confirmed: the sally battle during the last siege season still has the timer on.

Narcisista

03-29-2012, 23:40

So graphic performance is indeed worst as I noticed. Bummer.

The game ran beautifally even at the highest setting, and now I've had to reduce graphic quality and it still doesn't play as well.

Sp4

03-30-2012, 00:19

It is better for me lol =D Hey, I got a patch just for me \o/

jepp21

03-30-2012, 10:41

Graphics still run fine here, but the avatar menu is lagging every time i complete a battle or select an avatar, tried reducing graphics settings, butt that was not the problem, mi internet is also well above recommended

Still i love the new graphics, and especially the new diplomacy details. Makes it seem more realistic instead of every rival diamyo saying "That will be an affront to a mountain monkey, BAH!"

frogbeastegg

04-01-2012, 21:59

Have battlefield unit movement speeds changed at all? I've seen a few people suggesting that FotS' slower speeds might have carried over to the original campaign and RotS, but I haven't seen a conclusive yes or no yet.

Sp4

04-01-2012, 22:21

You still using that unit movement reduction mod?

frogbeastegg

04-01-2012, 22:39

You still using that unit movement reduction mod?
Yes. I do not like the original vanilla speed - I can't keep up without copious pausing, and I find the battles look absurd.

If someone who is already playing without a mod can confirm that speeds have altered I'll remove the mod and see what I think. I'd try it myself, only FotS has sent my loading times through the roof and I don't fancy spending an appreciable amount of time to test a question others can probably answer.

Sp4

04-01-2012, 23:44

I think units move a lot slower in FotS, at least the rifle/musket infantry does.

They are really slow.. annoyingly slow sometimes.

I see if I can test it though.

Grin

04-02-2012, 00:07

I went to check this and discovered they removed the 'speed' stat from the encyclopedia unit pages... not that i expected it to be that easy.

another question have bow cavalry always gotten those huge boosts to their ranged stats in swooping crane? I've never noticed it before.

Sp4

04-02-2012, 00:22

These formations do stuff to unit stats? Wow oO

Narcisista

04-02-2012, 00:41

I haven't noticed any change in speed in Shogun. If anything the units seem faster when the game doesn't start to freeze.

Might be the fact that I', playing mostly RotS, with it's smaller units...

Jarmam

04-02-2012, 04:47

Just got home from 15 days in the US and A and I couldn't be happier to see this - a Shogun 2 patch that sounds like it addresses actual real issues with the game! Exciting! Especially this

Here are fixes that could affect our play habits:
- Only primary generals now get full XP in battles; generals commanding reinforcements get reduced XP
- Removed timer from certain battles to prevent exploit

I went to check this and discovered they removed the 'speed' stat from the encyclopedia unit pages... not that i expected it to be that easy.

another question have bow cavalry always gotten those huge boosts to their ranged stats in swooping crane? I've never noticed it before.

Weird that they removed movement speed stat from the screen. But yes, Bow Cav always got a massive, massive, massive accuracy bonus from sweeping crane. They also keep their distance in sweeping+skirmish against melee to the point where they're always just 5 feet away to maximise casualties. Bow Cav are absolutely devastating against Katana/Yari/Monk Naginata based armies as they inflict absurd amounts of casualties and can act as big squads of Light Cavalry after that (they are actually surprisingly effective in melee against Katanas and archer units). Play a Takeda all-cavalry campaign and use 6+ Bow Cavs in each stack to learn more!

Edit: I dont know if this is general knowledge but now Agents get a 3 point xp per turn from being in towns as opposed to just 1. This is *colossally* important and will change the way I would play Chosokabe, Tokugawa and Hattori fundamentally.

Also the new 40 unit battlefield just made Oda 3 times easier. The 20 man setup worked fine for me in terms of unit casualty rates, speed etc but with 40 units I really wish they'd reduce movement speed a little. It becomes very chaotic *very* quickly and it seems like speed on foot units has not been changed.

Also it seems the Unmannered Samurai for the Ninja now provides a 7% movement bonus as opposed to the 2% it used to give. Quite a significant upgrade.

Andres

04-02-2012, 13:24

Is it just me or did the game (Shogun II; I don't have FoTS yet) become less stable with the new patch. I used to have CTD's when clicking on the quicksave button or right after a battle, but I'm now having them more frequently. In fact, I can only play 3 or 4 turns before the game CTD's.

Jacobin

04-03-2012, 10:11

I have had not just a couple of CTDs but a blue screen of death complete crash in mid-battle.

Sieges seem to be the main problem as there is more going on graphically.

And I have also noticed my metsuke and monks levelling up a lot quicker just for sitting in towns - didn't realise ninja got the same benefit as well though, so could have saved all the money I've been spending on sending them out to sabotage farms just to gain XP.

frogbeastegg

04-03-2012, 23:45

Looks like I should leave my mod in place then. Thanks. :bow:

Harleyquin12

04-04-2012, 08:37

This is probably a trivial issue, but since the big FoTS patch was installed on my copy of Shogun 2 my game has almost completely lost the ability to play pre-battle speeches in the main Shogun 2 campaign. Yesterday was an exception as speeches were mysteriously reenabled (Field battle against Ashikaga Shogunate, citadel siege, field battle against Tokugawa army) on one playthrough only.

After an expected power outage and a restart, I find that speeches don't play anymore. Previously if I laid siege to a Christian rebel castle something along the lines of taking out Christians would play. Similarly battles with small forces would have a quick blurb on family and last thoughts.

I own all of the DLC with the exception of FoTS. I've installed and reinstalled the latest issue of Flash Player countless times to no avail.
There is nothing in the patch notes stating that pre-battle speeches were disabled in the main Shogun 2 campaign, I don't own FoTS so did they reduce the number of occasions when speeches would play in the new patch? I've altered no settings on my PC since the big patch so this issue is perplexing me.

Jarmam

04-04-2012, 10:22

Harley, have you tried verifying the integrity of your game cache in Steam? I also have all DLCs except FotS, but no problems with pre-battle speeches. Admittedly the TW games have a habit of crashing if a file isn't acting the way it's supposed to, but just in case try letting Steam detect the problem for you.

Harleyquin12

04-04-2012, 11:08

Did that again soon after my first post, again no dice. (Siege battle at Echizen with Tier 3 fort against Christian Rebels). The game somehow updated itself with a 20+ Mb mini-patch but I have no idea what changed.

Other problems I've noted:
1. The order for Encyclopaedia entries for buildings in Shogun 2 is messed up, in particular the final tier upgrades for various specialty buildings (e.g. Ninja fortress is lasted after Burakumin Village, not the Smuggling Network).
2. Nanban Trade Ships are far less accurate than pre-patch, in addition cannons no longer sink ships and the morale hit is less pronounced than previously (definitely undocumented, I had a replay pre-patch where one Nanban ship sank 7 Hattori warships without so much as a scratch, replaying that same battle after the patch saw the Nanban ship go up in flames. I had to delete that reply afterwards which is a bit of a shame).

Andres

04-04-2012, 14:30

I noticed the Nanban Trade Ships being less powerful too. It's still possible to win with two or three Nanbans against a half stack fleet, but at least, the opponent now manages to put one of the Nanbans on fire. Personally, I considered the Nanban ships a bit overpowered, so I don't necessarily find this change a bad thing.

Harleyquin12

04-04-2012, 16:51

Pre-patch Nanbans made Christianity a huge draw for Western Clans, although they're still powerful and save a lot on naval upkeep post-patch it seems a little unrealistic that ships can be struck 4-5 times with direct cannonballs and NOT sink. One pirate raid I repelled using Nanban ships saw one of the trade ships lose its main mast, get hit by half a dozen cannonballs, lose over half of its crew and still be one of the last ships to rout!

I suspect the programmers changed the way cannonballs work in Shogun 2 because of the big March patch accomodating the new expansion, but they did not document it.

Jarmam

04-04-2012, 17:27

So wait... Nanban Trade Ships aren't Battlecruisers with trade capabilities anymore?

Now that would change the way I play a lot of clans - can't say I'm sorry to hear this.

Harleyquin12

04-05-2012, 13:11

Another bug I've noticed with the new patch:

Prior to March I could not unlock a single battle-related achievement on Steam, now with the patch I unlock the common ones like Unnecessary Force as well the multiplayer-only Master of the Waves even though I don't play multiplayer at all...

faker01

04-05-2012, 13:35

Since the patch it is harder to beat the oda with the tokugawa. At least my tactic doesn't work anymore. So I have to bribe one stack and try to beat the other Stack in an very unfair fight. (I only played on legendary)

Harleyquin12

04-05-2012, 16:24

Continuing my Mori Hard campaign, I think I've pinpointed the exact problems I'm facing which were not an issue prior to the March patch:

1. All-samurai army led by any general against Christian rebels (Field/siege battle, attack/defence) will not have a pre-battle speech prior to army deployment, in contrast my Daimyo leading a samurai-majority army with 2 yari ashigaru, 2 bow ashigaru and 2 wako raiders does play a pre-battle speech when sieging a Shimazu castle.
2. Mori Nanban ship cannons can sink enemy ships PROVIDED said ships had red hull strength and almost no crew remaining prior to the battle. The cannons have no way of sinking enemy ships if the starting opponent's ships were undamaged at the start of the battle. I'm not sure if the presence of the Nihon Maru and its Inspire Fleet ability made the difference for the cannons.

If anything in this forum is kind enough to verify whether or not they're experiencing the same issues, please reply. Also, how do I contact Creative Assembly regarding the above issues in the hopes of getting them fixed in whatever patch is coming up in the pipeline?

frogbeastegg

04-06-2012, 16:05

Nanbans are nerfed that heavily? I'm a sad froggy - they were the only reason I could see to convert to Christianity! They were overpowered, but considering the time, expense and future hassle involved in converting, the reward needs to be suitably alluring.

I can't remember seeing any general's speeches since I installed FotS. I haven't tried a S2/RotS campaign yet, so I can't say whether it's a general lack or something specific to my campaign.

Prior to March I could not unlock a single battle-related achievement on Steam, now with the patch I unlock the common ones like Unnecessary Force as well the multiplayer-only Master of the Waves even though I don't play multiplayer at all...
That one has been around for a long time. I unlocked it in June, if I remember correctly I 'earned' it during a castle siege. I have never played a single MP game.

I've been given another MP achievement: my 'requiem of the dead' has been exchanged for 'skilled warrior'. The unlock date remains the same, meaning that I supposedly unlocked the achievement 4 months before it existed! No idea if I will be able to unlock requiem a second time.

1. The order for Encyclopaedia entries for buildings in Shogun 2 is messed up, in particular the final tier upgrades for various specialty buildings (e.g. Ninja fortress is lasted after Burakumin Village, not the Smuggling Network).
The in-game encyclopaedia, or the one you can access outside of the game via the steam menu?

Also, how do I contact Creative Assembly regarding the above issues in the hopes of getting them fixed in whatever patch is coming up in the pipeline?
There are bug threads on the official forums, totalwar.com. CA do read them, although they frequently do not reply. There's a few CA staff who read threads here too. I think that there is a way to submit bug reports via Sega's technical support pages.

Harleyquin12

04-06-2012, 18:58

Nanbans are nerfed that heavily? I'm a sad froggy - they were the only reason I could see to convert to Christianity! They were overpowered, but considering the time, expense and future hassle involved in converting, the reward needs to be suitably alluring.

I can't remember seeing any general's speeches since I installed FotS. I haven't tried a S2/RotS campaign yet, so I can't say whether it's a general lack or something specific to my campaign.

That one has been around for a long time. I unlocked it in June, if I remember correctly I 'earned' it during a castle siege. I have never played a single MP game.

I've been given another MP achievement: my 'requiem of the dead' has been exchanged for 'skilled warrior'. The unlock date remains the same, meaning that I supposedly unlocked the achievement 4 months before it existed! No idea if I will be able to unlock requiem a second time.

The in-game encyclopaedia, or the one you can access outside of the game via the steam menu?

There are bug threads on the official forums, totalwar.com. CA do read them, although they frequently do not reply. There's a few CA staff who read threads here too. I think that there is a way to submit bug reports via Sega's technical support pages.

@Nanbans: In your guide, you said skilled players could sink fleets with a single ship. That is no longer the case, now you need 3 Nanbans against a typical AI fleet in naval battles for certain victory.
It's confirmed that FotS has no general pre-battle speeches, my beef is that my game is somewhat glitched since some battles in particular(?) don't give a speech while others do.

@Achievements: Prior to the patch, I wasn't getting achievements I should have earned by right. Now it's the other way round, coupled with your case it appears adding in the FotS achievements has once again screwed up the Achievements system.

@Encyclopaedia: I would think it doesn't matter which way the encyclopaedia is accessed, but I can confirm the browser-based encyclopaedia has the messed-up order.

@Bug reporting: I've signed up on the official forums and posted a thread regarding the speeches on the technical support side, as of yet I've not seen any replies.

frogbeastegg

04-06-2012, 20:21

@Nanbans: In your guide, you said skilled players could sink fleets with a single ship. That is no longer the case, now you need 3 Nanbans against a typical AI fleet in naval battles for certain victory.
Gah! Nanbans are relatively expensive and slow to build, needing so many kills any hint of an advantage. There goes my only reason to play the occasional Christian game.

It's confirmed that FotS has no general pre-battle speeches
I hadn't seen anything about that and so didn't know if it was related or not.

I can confirm the browser-based encyclopaedia has the messed-up order.
In that case I can confirm that particular problem is not universal. Mine displays the ninja family correctly, and I haven't spotted any errors elsewhere.

Harleyquin12

04-07-2012, 03:52

Gah! Nanbans are relatively expensive and slow to build, needing so many kills any hint of an advantage. There goes my only reason to play the occasional Christian game.

I hadn't seen anything about that and so didn't know if it was related or not.

In that case I can confirm that particular problem is not universal. Mine displays the ninja family correctly, and I haven't spotted any errors elsewhere.

For my Mori long game on hard, having the big Nanban navy and one normal stack of regular ships seems to work and doesn't break my budget, it helps that I used my huge treasury to buy myself a 40+ rice surplus so that trade is no longer a red figure. That would probably leave playing Christianity as a means of getting all of the Chi arts researched long before the AI does, plus the nice rebellions.

There's at least one thread on the official forums mentioning the lack of speeches in FotS.

I had a quick check on the encyclopaedia in-game and the off-game version using my browser. In-game the building order is correct, using my browser as I type this on the other hand reveals a messed-up order for the Craftswork, Intellectual, Naval, Smith and port chain buildings. This is when I check this: file:///C:/program%20files%20%28x86%29/steam/steamapps/common/total%20war%20shogun%202/data/encyclopedia/buildings.html

Forward Observer

04-07-2012, 04:17

There is big argument going on about changes in graphic quality on both the official forum over at TW center. One guy was able post before and after shots by recreating screenies he had taken of the historical battle of Sekigahara prior to the patch. Based on those shots, the graphics have definitely taken a hit for the worse.

Anyway, several people are in a uproar about it. Now it could be that some of these changes were put in place to boost general performance and also to accomplish having 40 units on the battlefield, but a big contention is that none of this is mentioned in the patch notes

Previously, many had complained of the glossy plastic look of the units, which now appears to have been removed. Some argue that they like the change while others are saying that they want it back. However, the real crux of the matter is that it appears other graphic changes were also made in the process. CraigTW has posted that CA made a design decision to remove the gloss from the units, but he has not acknowledged any of the other perceived graphical changes which include:

1. Swords and spears no longer glint in the Sun.
2. The draw distance has been reduced. One can pan back from a unit and easily see each soldier's face disappear at a point that is a bit too obvious.
3. The special AA (I forget what it's called) that was added for ATI cards doesn't work any more. I have NVidia, and never used this setting.
4. Textures have been reduced to the point that black and red costume components look simply garrish with no depth or clarity. This may associated with the gloss removal, but The Mori particularly look bad now.
5. Blood effects (decals) on dead bodies are gone. (this has been confirmed by CA as a possible bug)
6. It is claimed that DOF and HDR are not working correctly also. I don't use these, so I can't comment for sure.

I'm sure there are another one or two complaints, but these are just off the top of my head. Some of this I might not have noticed if not mentioned. I never cared for the over glossy look of the units, but overall I am less pleased with the look of Shogun II after the patch.

It also could be my imagination, but too many of the battles now look like there is layer of dirty industrial smog everywhere. I just don't think the battle side of the game looks as good as it did, but I'll refrain from whining too much about it until the guys at CA formerly respond to the complaints.

Cheers

Sp4

04-07-2012, 11:02

I had not paid that much attention to it but yeah, now that you mention it. All reflection effects as well as sword glints are actually gone.

-E- One thing I seem to notice atm is that the game seems to randomly crash at time >_> Like just stop working. The process just ends, desktop, Shogun gone lol.

HopAlongBunny

04-08-2012, 04:07

Gray_Lensman

04-10-2012, 07:48

I haven't played since the patch, although I have an on-going Mori long campaign.

I decided to take a look; graphics are darker and flatter (if that makes sense :p)
The reports logged here actually make me hesitant to play a turn; I don't like surprises in the middle of a game. I have no DLC at all so the question is: why am I subjected to the patch? If I get my nerve up I'll play a few turns tomorrow; thank you all for the information on the current state of the game.

Going forward, if you can stand it, place and leave STEAM in OFFLINE mode until you finish a game. That'll prevent unwarranted updates. I too have a game going pre-patch and have kept STEAM in OFFLINE mode until I finish my current game. There's nothing on STEAM that's so important to ruin an ongoing game.

frogbeastegg

04-11-2012, 17:33

A hotfix is now available:

Hi all,

We've just released a patch for a couple of issues.

Fix for blood effect in blood pack
Fixed occasional crash when entering Avatar Conquest Map
Miscellaneous other crash fixes
Fixed an issue where trees could appear black
Fix for level 9 clan skill lockout

Enjoy!

The Creative Assembly

Harleyquin12

04-12-2012, 12:55

Feedback isn't that great for the hotfix, it seems the problems they fixed in the hotfix are only partial, not complete. There are complaints that the blood decals only cover half the body.

frogbeastegg

04-13-2012, 13:59

I've got problems with draw distances after the hotfix. Units use low detail models much sooner, and they visibly 'pop' between the various detail levels as my camera gets closer and further. Unless my camera is right up in their faces, they are so lacking in detail they look like plastic miniature soldiers. They used to transition seamlessly, and use higher detail for much longer. This with a geforce 560 ti 1GB, latest drivers. I do not have the blood pack.

Considering overall game performance took a big dive with the FotS patch/FotS installation, I'm not that happy. I had to turn a bunch of settings down in order to restore a smooth frame rate, and now the game won't even display properly at that reduced level. Add in the missing gloss and detail maps (e.g. chipped lacquer on helmet rims) and the game has taken a large visual hit on my machine. I'm not a graphics nutter but this texture popping business is distracting, and reducing both performance and fidelity is a losing combo.

I'm not trying to do anything crazily ambitious either. These aren't 40v40 battles - I haven't even fought a 20v20 since the patch! These are all medium-sized battles.

faker01

04-13-2012, 22:21

Yesterday I started a new campaign with the Oda. The perfomance is much better then before the patch. (before the patch the game often only accepted one command per second).
The Takeda were very friendly to me, but the rest were extremly aggresive, but not effective. Often they didn't try to capture the prefectures, they attacked my stacks, when they were near or putted something in fire. In the first two years I got three declarations of war without any reason, several incoming half stacks and 2 nearly full stacks. So I had no units left to defeat the rest of the Imagawa, so I made a peace treaty with them. In this time I made an alliance with the takeda. In the third year the ikko-ikki came with 2 Stacks, ronin-heavy stacks,(how the f. they could get them so fast?) but where defeated by one and a half stacks from the Takeda and one of my stacks. Don't ask me why they supported me.
After that the game was easy. The Takeda still supported me without any reason and they where the only other surviving clan, which sended stacks together. The rest send their stacks separate -> ineffectiv.

Jacobin

04-14-2012, 00:44

My Oda campaign was very different - after I destroyed Tokugawa and made peace with the Imagawa they stayed loyal but first the Takeda and then the Hattori attacked me.

Had exactly the same experience with the Ikko Ikki ronin hordes in several pre-patch campaigns.

Did think that the AI was more aggressive but not sure now....

frogbeastegg

04-29-2012, 16:01

Forward Observer

04-29-2012, 20:13

Is anyone else having problems after this week's three hotfixes? I cannot get the game to load at all, it just sits there on the initial loading screen forever. Verifying the game's cache with steam didn't help.

No problems here. I also have the same GPU as you. My CPU is 1st generation 2.9 Ghz I7 that I got in anticipation of Empire back in 2009. The card is the only upgrade I've made to my system since then.

I will add that I rarely, if ever, got a crash with Shogun 2, but since the release of FOTS and the subssquent patch to the main game, I get either a complete lock up or a "Shogun II stopped working" default for about every 2 hours of game play. It's not as bad, but it almost reminds of the early days with EmpireTW--LOL.

Cheers

Maltz

04-30-2012, 02:38

Is anyone else having problems after this week's three hotfixes? I cannot get the game to load at all, it just sits there on the initial loading screen forever. Verifying the game's cache with steam didn't help.

I got a similar problem some time ago and wrote to Sega. This is their reply - hope it helps:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting SEGA Support.

In order to troubleshoot the issue, please follow these steps and try running the game after each one:

1) Use the secondary installer for Visual C++ and rename the ClientRegistry.blob file:
- Navigate to the following folder: C:\Program files\Steam\steamapps\common\total war shogun 2\redist
- Inside the "redist" folder, double click on the "vcredist_x86" executable
- When installation is finished, and after making sure that Steam is not running (if it is open, use the top menu: "Steam" -> "Exit"), navigate to its installation path: C:\Program files\Steam
- Right-click the file named "ClientRegistry.blob" and select "Rename". Change the name of this file to "ClientRegistryOld.blob"

2) Uninstall C++ 2005 and reinstall it, as it might have become corrupt:

- Click on Start -> Control Panel
Windows Vista / 7: Select “Programs and features” (or “Uninstall a program”)
Windows XP: Select “Add or remove programs”

- Click on Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable and select “Uninstall”. Do this for all instances of Visual C++ 2005
- Once Visual C++ 2005 has been completely uninstalled, access the following path: C:\Program files\Steam\steamapps\common\total war shogun 2\redist
- Inside the "redist" folder, double click on the "vcredist_x86" executable to reinstall Visual C++ 2005

3) Check the Steam client Properties:
- Ensure that the Steam installation folder and its contents are not set to “Read-only”
- Check that the “Steam.exe” application file is not being run in “Compatibility mode” and that you are running it as an Administrator. To check this, right-click on the file and select “Properties”, then the “Compatibility” tab

4) Look for Steam client updates:
- Open Steam
- Click on the top left menu: "Steam" and select "Check for Steam Client Updates..."
- Steam will restart automatically if an update needs to be applied

5) Verify the integrity of the game’s cache:
- From the Steam Games Library, right-click on Total War: Shogun 2 and select "Properties" from the menu
- Select the Local files tab and click the "Verify integrity of game cache..." button
- Steam will verify the game cache files - this process may take several minutes
- If Steam finds that some files need to be reacquired, repeat the verification process once more

6) Disable your Antivirus and any other security software:
You should be able to temporarily deactivate your Antivirus by right-clicking on its icon in the notification area, next to the system clock. If you cannot deactivate the Antivirus using this method, please refer to the instructions from your software provider.

We hope these steps help you to run the game. If you continue encountering the same issue, please reply to this email so we can offer additional help.

Kind regards,