Playable via Steam?

[mk56]

Hello all,

I bought Rome: Total War Gold through Steam (the direct download service run by Valve). Anyway, the game is downloaded through the Steam client, so I don't have cds or anything. Is it possible to run this conversion while playing the game through Steam? I searched around here looking but didn't see anything, apologies if this is a common question.

Thanks!

[Tellos Athenaios]

If the game works without any mods installed, it should still work with them installed ... I guess. :juggle:

Sorry, but AFAIK you're the first to appear with a legal version that doesn't involve CD's; so you are the one where the knowledge will have to come from. :shrug:

[Teleklos Archelaou]

Since we don't alter the .exe, and since the whole mod is in a subfolder, I would think that it would be able to run, but as the other TA said, we don't know for sure yet.

[Ayce]

If a mod will work with a cracked version (which it does), it will work with a Steam version too.

[mk56]

Thanks for the replies all I will give it a shot. It's in a special Steam folder but I will play around with it a bit.

I certainly deserve to be able to use mods after all, having paid for the game! :beam:

[mk56]

Well, I just ran the install program for EB. It installed fine, but when I try to run EB I get an Application Error "Failed to find Steam." Regular RTW still runs fine though.

So I guess Steam is messing something up here.

[mk56]

Ok as an update, I figured out how to get this running in Steam. The problem was that EB is started with a command line on RomeTW.exe, and there was no way to put the shortcut the EB installation program creates into Steam (that I know of at least).

The solution is to manually enter the command line into the launch program button within Steam itself. In Steam, if you right click on the Rome: Total War launch button, there will be a properties option. In the general tab of properties there is a "Set launch options" button, which will bring up an empty text box. Manually type in "-mod:eb -show_err" (without apostrophe) into that box. Now when you run Rome: Total War, it will launch EB.

The downside is that I don't know a way to have a second Rome button in Steam, so if you wanted to play regular RTW you would have to go in and delete the command line. There might be a way to set it up where that is not necessary however.

Anyway, the mod runs and looks great, I am looking forward to trying it out, though I'm still relatively new at RTW. GJ to all who work on it.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Do you mind if I quoted that in the EB Install Guide?

[mk56]

Not at all, though it might be a "Duh!" thing to some others who are more knowledgeable about Steam :laugh4:

But as I said, the game (as are all the Total Wars I believe) is available on Steam, so it might come up for someone else.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Ok. Done.

[BeeSting]

Hello All:

I live in United States and have been wanting to play EB via Alexander.exe. The only way for me to own the expansion was through steam so I forked out another 29 bucks to buy the gold addition.

Now, the questions is:

1. Where do I install EB mod in steam file?
2. And, for those that play EB on Alexander.exe, any suggestions or links on how I can play EB on Steam via Alexander.exe?

Thank you in advance for your help.

[johnhughthom]

Just install it in the RTW folder in steam, file path something like program files-steam-steamapps-common-rome total war gold. Then follow what mk56 says above. As for getting Alexander to work, I haven't tried it yet so I'm not too sure if it will work.

[BeeSting]

OK, I figured it out.

To play Alexander.exe via steam, type "-mod:eb -show_err -nm -noalexander" in the launch option.

Thank you all for your help.

[Riolyfa]

Hey guys, I’ve been a big fan of Rtw from the start but I’m a bit new to all this mod business. Now I’ve followed the advice of other posters and have got my Eb 1.2 working on steam…well sort of.
I go on rome total war 1.5 and yay the Eb menu comes up but then sadly it just freezes, aborting to good old contral-alt-delete!
Ps…I have Xp is that is any consolation
Any comments would be great!

[johnhughthom]

The first time you fire up EB takes a looong time, I have heard stories of 15 minutes or more. Start it up, go make a cup of tea or read for a while, then come back and hopefully you'll be set.

[A Very Super Market]

Yep. Unless it's gone for hours, it should just be loading.

[vartan]

If a mod will work with a cracked version (which it does), it will work with a Steam version too.

Isn't that illegal?

[Skullheadhq]

Isn't that illegal?

Yeah that is illegal, except if you've bought the game and hate to put the cd's in or it is better for CPU.
Pirated=Illegal
Bought=Legal

[vartan]

Exactly. My question was whether pirating software you don't own is illegal. Surely enough it is. So, Skullheadhq, say you bought Rome: Total War. Assume you lost your CD's, or that you accidentally broke them. Would you consider it perfectly fine legally for you to download a pirated version of that game and to play it?

[Skullheadhq]

Exactly. My question was whether pirating software you don't own is illegal. Surely enough it is. So, Skullheadhq, say you bought Rome: Total War. Assume you lost your CD's, or that you accidentally broke them. Would you consider it perfectly fine legally for you to download a pirated version of that game and to play it?

Yes, you payed for the game so you have the right to play the game. Even if the game disc is broken, don't you agree?

[Alexandros_III]

I made a guide to this in the EB install guide. Heres a copy.
____________________________________

It seams people are having trouble with this, so I thought I would clear it up. I bought the Alexander version of steam (since I forgot to get the real one) and figured this out a little while ago. Firstoff, download EB, and install it into your C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\rome total war gold as you have probably have guessed. Download and install EB 1.2 as well. Now comes the harder part. Normally if you had a disk version of the game merely clicking on the EB shortcut that is installed would work, but it targets itself at the TrivialScript, which in turn targets Rome.exe, which with Steam will not work. So heres how to fix it. In Steam, make a desktop shortcut for RTW Gold vanilla. Right click this and click on properties. Under target it should say something like:

"C:\Program Files\Steam\steam.exe" -applaunch 4760

But yours may be different, dont use mine. Copy this. Now right click your EB shortcut (or any, it doesnt really matter) and paste this over what is written in target. Leave a space and paste this:

-show_err -nm -mod:EB

And you'll have something like:

"C:\Program Files\Steam\steam.exe" -applaunch 4760 -show_err -nm -mod:EB

It should work. But I've only tried it with the Alexander expantion, so I'm not 100% sure.

[Andros8891]

I reinstalled EB according to the guide and followed the instructions here on how to use it with Steam and I'm still having the same error message that it can't be found. I changed the actual launch options of Rome Total War Gold in steam to -mod:eb -show_err, but that didn't do anything. I also tried what Alexandros suggested, but that ended up just launching RTW vanilla again. Can it not find Steam because the file that launches has a starting location in a sub folder of Steam? Even if I click on the RomeTW.exe in my Europa Barbarorum folder, it says cannot find Steam. It could be the Play Singleplayer EB button that I click to try to start it. The start location is "C:\Users\And\Games\Steam\steamapps\common\Europa Barbarorum" and the target is "C:\Users\And\Games\Steam\steamapps\common\Europa Barbarorum\EBTrivialScript\EBTrivialScript.exe" -s ebconfig.xml -runeb -type "Single Player". Is this right?

[A Very Super Market]

Are you launching it from steam itself?

[godsakes]

say you bought Rome: Total War. Assume you lost your CD's, or that you accidentally broke them. Would you consider it perfectly fine legally for you to download a pirated version of that game and to play it?

i personally wouldn't have any moral issues with that - with software, you're really paying for the right to use rather than the physical copy

AFAIK - it's perfectly legal to make a backup copy of a game so long as you own it, stretching this logic is it all that different if i simply downloaded a ISO of the same game?

[Andros8891]

Are you launching it from steam itself?

Well, if I try to launch it from Steam after changing the launch options, it still launches regular RTW instead of EB. And if I try to launch it through the shortcut in the start menu that goes to trivial script, it gives me the error message. So is EB supposed to be in the same folder that contains steam.exe for it to work?

[A Very Super Market]

Sorry, I must apologize, I didn't read your post correctly.

The directory for EB should be

Blablabla/steamapps/common/rometotalwar/EB

You need to rename your folder to EB, then move it into Rome Total War.

[Andros8891]

So, when I first install Europa Barbarorum in the folder containing RomeTW.exe (I think it's called Rome Total War Gold by default), do I need to rename that to EB? I know when you install it, it puts another EB folder within it. And what file actually launches the game? Should I not use the shortcut that comes with the installation?

[johnhughthom]

First of all do a clean reinstall of your Rome:Total War Gold then launch it to make sure it's ok.

Install EB 1.2 into the Rome Total War folder (C-Program Files-Steam-Steamapps-Common-Rome: Total War Gold). Don't change anything in the folder.

Open Steam, go to My Games, and right click Rome:Total War Gold, select properties then open Set Launch Options. Type -mod:eb -show_err in the box. Launch EB through the desktop RTW shortcut to double check it works.

If it does install 1.2 into the same place you installed 1.1. Go to the 1.2 fixes sticky in this forum and install the permanent fixes.

That should be you good to go.

[Andros8891]

k one more thing: does it matter where I put the Trivial Script and the other two optional things that come with the installation? Should it be in the Rome Total War folder with the rest of the EB files?

[johnhughthom]

Don't use the trivial script, launch through the desktop shortcut for RTW.

Just install the recruitment viewer and documentation where the installation defaults, never had any problems doing that.

[Andros8891]

hey thanks man, it worked now. i think the problem was that when i installed the 1.2 patch, even though i deleted the default and chose the location, for some reason that default message saying "you must put this in your rome tw folder and not here" was added on to the end of the pathname and it created a separate folder within the rome total war gold folder. anyway i'm going to download the fixes now. thanks again

[johnhughthom]

Enjoy.

[vartan]

Don't use the trivial script, launch through the desktop shortcut for RTW.

Just install the recruitment viewer and documentation where the installation defaults, never had any problems doing that.

There's no problem with this until the moment arises when you wish to play MP. With Trivial Script, instead of manually replacing current EDU with MP EDU, you have the Script do it for you. More of a convenience thing really.

[johnhughthom]

I'm not sure you can use the Trivial Script with a Steam version though. I could be wrong, I don't play multiplayer so finding out hasn't been a priority for me.

[vartan]

I'm not sure you can use the Trivial Script with a Steam version though. I could be wrong, I don't play multiplayer so finding out hasn't been a priority for me.

Whether or not Steam is involved, the RTW executable exists on computer. Trivial Script has no reason not to work as long as RTW is available.

[gattods]

Hi everybody

I recently got a new computer with WIndows 7 64, installed Steam and purchased RTW (Gold + Alexander). I followed your tips to install and run EB. Well the point is I don't get the menu option to start a new campaign (only historical battle and custom battle appear).

Any ideas?

[A Very Super Market]

Run EB Single player.

Under all programs, open the Europa Barbarorum folder (From start menu). Run EB singleplayer.

It won't open because you aren't opening through steam, but you can open it again from steam and play it fine.

[gattods]

Thank you very much! It worked great!.

[riffoboy]

Does anyone know how to play EB multiplayer via Steam?

While "-mod:eb -show_err" activates the singleplayer mode for EB, how would I activate the multiplayer mode for EB?

Any help would be appreciated.

[A Very Super Market]

You activate Multiplayer EB as normal. It won't work, you will get a pop-up about "Missing steam" or something like that.

But when you start the game up again on steam, it will be EB MP.

[vartan]

The problem you have with Steam is the problem I have playing EB with the Alex engine. It isn't a problem because I do exactly what A Very Super Market suggests (a four-word user name...really???!!!).

Start > Programs > Europa Barbarorum > Configuration

Set the dropdown box to Multiplayer (or Singleplayer) as you wish.

Click on 'Save and Exit'.

Open the game using the appropriate launcher (in my case Alex shortcut, in your case Steam).

---------------------------------

I would love if anyone could help out with this, as there may be people who need the following.

When people buy RTW Complete Pack on Steam, apparently Gold (BI and RTW) is installed in one folder, while Alex is installed in another folder completely. As such, EB mod folder is only available to RTW and BI executables. To make the shortcut for EB on Alex, one would need 4770 code number (as 4760 is RTW Gold). Now, we cannot simply place a copy of Alex executable in RTW Gold folder and run the shortcut, for several reasons. First, it is not enough. There is a critical file that is known as a SAN file somewhere, that is installed during Alex installation. That is necessary as well. It seems like a big mess. Anybody who runs EB Alex and has Steam (or anyone in that case), I would appreciate some input.

Thanks,
Vartan