What Windows version to use? Which game version is more stable?

Hi,

i decided to make a dual boot just to play EB so i need to know which Microsoft Windows OS version is better for playing EB.

Also, since I've been absent from EB a long time could anybody please post what mod combination they use or do they use Alexander, BI or some other game version.

Thanks in advance.

Mario Maric

I think I have less crashes with BI but never tryed Alex.

OS: I've never tried Vista, but EB works just fine with both XP and 7.
Setup: I'm using Jirisys's EB mod compilation which has versions for both RTW.exe and Alex.exe. I like it since it adds a bunch of small mods together without the hassle of downloading and installing them separately.

If you don't install RTW+EB into Program Files under Vista/win7 you won't get more problems than with XP (apart from hardware/driver related individual problems, very rare). Game speed may vary.
In case of the different exe's, Alex is the most stable one, however which exe offers the best CAI, BAI and diplomacy is part of discussion.

XSamatan

I do have a related question:

I am playing under Vista, works ok, I have RTW Gold installed, and then installed EB, so I guess it's using RTW.exe now and I get a huge load of CTDs at the moment.
Will switching to BI.exe change that? and what effects does that have on AI behaviour?

I don't have Alex, and if I bought it I probably wouldn't play vanilla Alex anyway, does it make sense to get it, just to be able to use ALX.exe for EB for stability, CAI, BAI, DAI?

Also, I guess I can still use all savegames when using a different .exe, right?

I'm running RTW:Gold on Win7 with the unit card mod, extended offices mod, force diplomacy, rs textures and the city mod and I've experienced maybe one ctd. I had RTW original (not gold) on Vista (not in program files) and that didn't crash too much either.

To be absolutely clear on this point:
The Eb-team supports EB1 only for RomeTW.exe not for the addons, these are minimods created by people not afflicted with the team.

Switching to BI may help you, however in most times the CTD's are engine related, take a good look into the frequent issues and especially in the section about crashes.

IIRC RTW-->BI is completely safe, RTW/BI-->Alex may require additional files (check the submod.forum).

XSamatan