Shogun Total War on Windows 10

Hello everyone,

I know that there are problems running Shogun Total War on Windows 10 for one reason or another, but I was wondering if anyone would care to comment on the following;
For quite some time I have been successfully playing Shogun Total War ; The Mongol Invasion, on a now old PC which has Windows XP as its operating system. Using the relevant `compatability`options that were available, the game runs successfully with a patch that made it into V 1.11, and with the relevant Mongol Invasion disc in the drive. I am still playing this at the time of writing.
The one and only glitch within the game is the occasional flickering on the menu panel prior to playing the game itself (and I have seen this mentioned elsewhere. However this is not a problem as it does not affect the actual gameplay on the Campaign map or the battles themselves, so that minor blip is something that I can easily live with.
Fast forward to today when I now have two new PC`s both using WIndows 10, and I would like to try and get Shogun Total War, with or without the Mongol Invasion, to play on it.

I have some programs which are so old that they won`t actually install any more on these new machines. So I managed to get round this by simply copying the folder from Program Files on the XP machine, then plonking that same folder into the program files on the C; drive of my Windows 10 machine, made a new shortcut to the desktop, and it works (!). I have managed to get a very basic photo program working on windows 10 without actually installing it.

So I tried this same method with the folder that contains Shogun Total War; the Mongol Invasion on the XP machine.

Transferred it to the program files (X86) on the Windows 10 PC, clicked all the`compatability` options, made the shortcuts - both Shogun Total War and the Shogun Total War Mongol Invasion and the following is what happens...

When I click on the StW Mongol Invasion shortcut nothing happens, but when I doubleclick the STW shortcut the game starts up...

Having a widescreen monitor, there follows quite a bit of switching between a totally black screen and one less so, then there
is a very brief appearance of the desktop on screen with a large part of it blacked out, then the game starts OK, only it is now in its original 4.3 format with the resultant black bar on each side. Note; on my old XP machine (with the same widescreen monitor), the game is stretched to 16.9 (why is that?).
Anyway, another thing I noticed is that the screen saying Shogun Total War. Warlord Edition comes up. I am a bit mystified by this as I have never bought that particular version of the game - (I only have the original STW and the Mongol Invasion discs), although I suspect that is something to do with the patch that brings it up to V 1.11 (?)

Everything runs fine; the Intro, cut-scenes, the lot. The problem comes when I attack a neighbour and I click on the `Command the attack personally` button;

After a bit of flickering similar to that after staring the game up, the loading screen comes up and once the loading bar gets part way I get the following message;

Failed to load Dead-Sprites Page.
Unknown Error (0) (00000000)

At that point if I press the Enter key the game reverts back to the campaign map but without the battle being fought. If I did not do that then the only way of getting out of the game is the Task Manager via Control/Alt/Delete.

Also I have noticed that some of the graphics are wrongly placed as far as the buildings are concerned, such as;

Click Large castle and the `Port` graphic and text comes up.
Click to build a Port and I get the `Golden Palace` graphic and text.
Click the Improved farmland and I get the Famous Swordsmith
Click the Border Watch Towers and I get the Famous Medical School

Also on the Unit Training; when I click the Emissary, I get the correct Emissary text but the Graphic shows a Mongol Guardsman (!)

These are minor problems, but I can almost get the game to run on Windows 10. There must be an answer if I am getting so close.

Has anyone any thoughts on what I can do regarding that `Dead-Sprites ` error message?

regards

Viper21

Can't speak to the 'dead sprites' issue (maybe the samurai involved prefer seppuku to fighting...just kidding~D), but I've always had better luck staying away from the x86 folder when installing older programs, particularly games. Something about resources that get allocated (like how many processors run the game, etc). The multi-processor issue is well known for some games. As an example, I play Heroes of Might & Magic III, which crashes or runs with multiple glitches unless one designates the game to run on CPU 1 only (in my case). Also the game won't run at all if installed in the x86 directory, but will run if installed in its' own folder: C:\(game):shrug:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ReluctantSamurai

... I've always had better luck staying away from the x86 folder when installing older programs, particularly games. Something about resources that get allocated (like how many processors run the game, etc). The multi-processor issue is well known for some games. Also the game won't run at all if installed in the x86 directory, but will run if installed in its' own folder: C:\(game):shrug:

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Many older games played on newer O/S's ( post XP ), are best placed directly on the C Drive ( including all HPS games ). I have done this with many games and have had no problems
( other than with STW - where I only needed to use the in game Software Graphics option, due to a few graphical issues in battles ). However, I have my stuff on Vista and Windows 7 O/S's. I can only guess re Windows 10...

[ I am surprised though, that Viper21 does not appear to have disk reading problems. As I understand Windows 10, it cannot cope with games that require the disk in the DVD drive in order to play ! ]