The Daily Update at the Com

Copied this from the Com. They have started a thread telling us what they are doing.

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April 8th:


Just thought I would make a post about where things are, where things are going and what we plan on doing.
First off, we are going to support Empire for a long time. The first game play patch with both a lot of fixes and balancing/economic changes as well as more is in testing, and then the cycle of hot fixes then game play patches will begin again. At the moment every programmer is focused on fixing bugs.

What balance/economic/other changes will be in the first game play patch?
Quite a lot really. Unit balancing has seem some general tweaks across the board to improve it. Unit costs have changed for both multiplayer and single player.
For multiplayer there are now separate costs for early and late era so that units better reflect the techs available, and units such as mortars and rocket ships have had big cost increases and light infantry have had their cost increased a bit as well.
For single player, unit costs have increased on normal, even more on hard and even more on very hard so that on very hard units cost 4x their upkeep cost. Bigger ships have had their cost increased and all ships upkeep costs have increased.
There have also been general economic tweaks to prevent the huge sums of money that were possible in the late game, and so to increase the challenge of the game.
As for the other changes, we've added in a delete save game button, a button to allow you to view battle replays from the single player Play Battle menu, improved ship grouping UI and other things.
There are also of course AI improvements and yes naval invasions though they may be rare for now.

What you going to do after that?
Well we are going to carry on fixing and improving the game. The AI (both battle and campaign) will see continuous improvements, multiplayer will see improvements, there will be more balancing improvements, and some nice free stuff you'll be hearing about in due time.
From a personal perspective as someone working on unit balancing, the next game play patch after this one will see some big improvements in terms of diversification of different unit and artillery types. The game play patch after that one will see improvements to naval battle balancing.

So what are you getting at?
We are going to carry on supporting Empire for a long time. We are going to carry on improving Empire. You'll see more as things get done.



Jack.

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http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic/53425

"There are also of course AI improvements and yes naval invasions though they may be rare for now."
ahem what?
so France and Great Brittain will get to india how? or attack each other how? I am shaking my head in disbelief here. what does RARE FOR NOW mean?

Jack Lusted at the Com

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There were bugs preventing naval invasions that have been fixed for next patch, however balancing the priorities of them against other things will take more time hence why for now they will likely be rare but occuring after the gameplay patch, but improving more over time as we continually improve the AI.

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Originally Posted by Smellycat

I am shaking my head in disbelief here. what does RARE FOR NOW mean?

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Perhaps it means as rare as they were in real life....

naval invasoion just means transporting troops by sea, thats not rare

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Originally Posted by Smellycat

naval invasoion just means transporting troops by sea, thats not rare

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Well perhaps nations ferrying troops between their own regions wasn't(to me that is the main issue, not naval invasions of enemy territory), but you know how CA usually work. They go from one extreme to another, I was worried the next patch would suddenly see random three or four unit armies landed on your territory a la BI.exe for RTW or M2TW where you would see Portugal land armies in Wales every campaign. I am very pleased they intend to change it slowly and not go for a massive overhaul.

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Originally Posted by johnhughthom

Well perhaps nations ferrying troops between their own regions wasn't(to me that is the main issue, not naval invasions of enemy territory), but you know how CA usually work. They go from one extreme to another, I was worried the next patch would suddenly see random three or four unit armies landed on your territory a la BI.exe for RTW or M2TW where you would see Portugal land armies in Wales every campaign. I am very pleased they intend to change it slowly and not go for a massive overhaul.

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Well, come to think of it: the only purposeful AI naval invasions I have so far seen in TW games took place in Stainless Steel mod of MTW2...

All the vanilla game invasions usually involved some AI's units (or lone faction heirs) being shipped to some obscure lands and left there to wander (or sit) aimlessly...

A couple exceptions: in vanilla RTW, Carthage used to land forces to take Corsica. but that was scripted I think pluse - unless destroyed, Carthage would land a force (to be destroyed by Romans) in Corsica every other turn... The other exceptions that I noticed were in MTW2: Byzantines would consistently land forces in Crete while Sicilians would go for Tunisia and western Greece. Again, these invasions were most likely scripted.

I hope, CA does something more creative with ETW in this department.

I am pleased to know what they are working on at least, and an indication of their appreciation of what is or isn't a priority. I personaly hope CA are dealing with what we see as a priority first, and what they see as easy to do second. No one wants to big issues to be un-touched and carried over throughout various patches.

Ok now I only saw this in my first game, I've never seen it since & I'm not sure where they came from...But I invaded India & had a small stack of Dutch come marching up into my territory. Not Portugese, Dutch.

Now they weren't at war with everyone on the map, so the only way they could have got there is by landing.

Course never seen it again & don't expect to, its by far the worst bug in the game. That and AI factions massive F.A.G (Fear of Aggressive Gaming) factor, VH/VH, nobody attacks me!

Yes it will get better, no doubt...But geez fix the blindingly obvious game killer, *omg this games getting boring* bugs first.

Rant ends.

They may have just traded territory...

Any naval invasion is good enough for me. As long as it means Spain can get rid of their piles of units once every 5 turns, that's fine :D

Same goes for them actually re-enforcing troops in the Americas, instead of leaving me to annihilate them.

Problem: I hope Naval invasions by the Ai doesn't mean the Pirates will be nerfed at turn 5...

i hope they fix some obvious diplomatic bugs too. for some reason offering a 2500 dollar gift and 3 enlightment techs, 2 military techs and an industrial tech doesnt seem to be enough to get my ALLY to trade with me.....

and why is it everyone refuses to trade with me?i mean, sometims my allies or people i am "very friendly" with will refuse trade. trade is good for everyone!! why refuse it?!

This is the kind of stuff I like to see, forward looking comments.

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Originally Posted by John-117

i hope they fix some obvious diplomatic bugs too. for some reason offering a 2500 dollar gift and 3 enlightment techs, 2 military techs and an industrial tech doesnt seem to be enough to get my ALLY to trade with me.....

and why is it everyone refuses to trade with me?i mean, sometims my allies or people i am "very friendly" with will refuse trade. trade is good for everyone!! why refuse it?!

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On my H campaign I have not had a problem getting trade agreements with as many nations as my ports would bear. If one faction refuses, I go to another...

I suspect, trade refusal has something to do with the random AI personalities: some are more mercantilistic than others. After all, mercantilism (keeping trade internal and "protected") was not such an unpopular idea in the time period considered.

I think this is very good news. Jack Lusted deserves a lot of respect for his work on previous games and the fact that he is taking the time to make such a statement suggests that it may reach a point where I'll allow myself to play it.

It seems like mostly good news.

Rare invasions is good. I hate them spamming loads of armies and putting them ashore on every little dirt clod. If it were just France trying to go to England or England intervening on the content that would just about be enough.

We will just have to see how the upkeep and price increases impact the play.

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Originally Posted by Prodigal

Ok now I only saw this in my first game, I've never seen it since & I'm not sure where they came from...But I invaded India & had a small stack of Dutch come marching up into my territory. Not Portugese, Dutch.

Now they weren't at war with everyone on the map, so the only way they could have got there is by landing.

Course never seen it again & don't expect to, its by far the worst bug in the game. That and AI factions massive F.A.G (Fear of Aggressive Gaming) factor, VH/VH, nobody attacks me!

Yes it will get better, no doubt...But geez fix the blindingly obvious game killer, *omg this games getting boring* bugs first.

Rant ends.

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Dont the Dutch have Celyon and another mainland India province?? I have not played in India yet so i am not sure.

No, Ceylon is an island, and only the Portuguese have a mainland territory.

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Originally Posted by Phog_of_War

Dont the Dutch have Celyon and another mainland India province?? I have not played in India yet so i am not sure.

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ceylon is an island, and the only non-indian faction with an indian mainland province at start is portugal.

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Originally Posted by Fisherking

We will just have to see how the upkeep and price increases impact the play.

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I hope that it improves the mid and end game. No spamming of stacks by the human player and the AI (Spain garrisoned by 25 stacks) I hope.

I hope that CA nerves the minor powers and make the great powers more aggressive. Small states should be looking for help from major powers, not destroying them.

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Originally Posted by Monsieur Alphonse

Small states should be looking for help from major powers, not destroying them.

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Remembers a small tribe of ~ 600 cavalrymen eventually conquering Byzantium, Serbia, Hungary, Bosnia, Albania, Mamluke Syria and Egypt, the Caucauses, and what is today Iraq and Iran, and sending fleets as far as Ireland and Burma.

Also remembers a small group of rebels turned revolutionaries, whose navy by 1945 was larger than all the rest of the world's navies combined - and most of those navies were ships built by said nation...

I don't have a problem with a minor power rising to a major power status. It should take time, and effort though.

I also don't have a problem if one minor nation becomes very strong, but this was the age of rivalry between GB and France (aka the second hundred years war), the rise of Prussia, the dividing of Poland etc. The small powers allied with the big ones to get some help.

In this game France is a nice kitten without claws. The struggle for colonies between England, France and Spain never takes place. France was trying during the 18th century (and before and after) to dominate Southern Germany and Italy. The small states that should feel threatened by France are more dangerous to France then vice versa. When the strength of Spain was weakening France was trying to get influence there as well. Because of the alliance between France and Spain from the beginning this never takes place.

I don't want a simulation of the eighteenth century but there are great opportunities for war that never materialize.

second update

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April 9th


Hi there everyone, today we thought we would post a follow up to yesterday's daily update as there was a lot of response to it.

How come you are focusing on balancing and not fixing bugs?

We are not. The designers are working on balancing improvements, and the programmers on code fixes. Work on one does not preclude work on the other. It is not a case of we can work on balancing or fixes, it's a case of we can do both, so we are.

You're quadrupling upkeep costs!?!

No, the recruitment cost of units on very hard will be 4x their upkeep cost. Upkeep costs are actually reducing slightly. This confusion was caused by poor wording in yesterdays update.

Why didn't you mention fixes for such and such?

As a designer I do not work with code so I am not aware of all the fixes that have been done. This does not mean there haven't been any. We are fixing the sound issues people have been reporting, crashes and lots of other bugs.

Some examples of fixes in the upcoming patch are:

- Fixed audio volume dropping following advisor
- General sound balance changes
- Campaign map optimisations, and general crash fixes
- General stability improvements and crash fixes- General optimisation tweaks- An array of fixes and tweaks to improve AI aggression levels
- Fix Video Stutter

There are a lot more fixes than those coming in the patch.


And what did you mean by rare naval invasions for now?

We've fixed the bugs that were preventing the AI from doing naval invasions, but that did not mean they would suddenly start doing them all the time. The priority for them needs to be balanced against all the other items that have priorities for the AI and this will take a while to get right. We are going to continuously improve the AI so the amount of naval invasions will keep on getting better from the initial fix that is coming in the next patch.

What about multiplayer?

More maps are coming. When is still being discussed but you will see more maps at some point(mostly 4v4s, 3v3s and 2v2s).

The problem with cheaters being able to edit unit stats and costs without problem for multiplayer has been fixed and will be in the next patch.

Other multiplayer improvements are still being discussed.

We will also continue to work to fix bugs with multiplayer.

As this weekend is Easter Bank Holiday weekend in the UK, there will not be anymore Daily Updates until Tuesday. Hope you all have a good weekend.

Jack.

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I hope the wait-10/15seconds-for-audio bug will indeed be fixed. It is such an odd bug though. I suffer from it when selecting Paris (in my current UP game), and some of my naval units (especially if they are in port), but not with most other stacks & cities.

As for the post above that: Hopefully the colonial rivalries will show up with naval invasions bug being fixed. I agree that the European 1-region minors need to be nerfed. They get a huge bonus for both economy & research, making their armies deadly to the so-called "major" powers. Larger "minor" powers, such as Denmark and Persia, aren't that bad. They seem to behave just like the "major" powers.

As I said before, I don't mind minors growing into majors if a power vacuum exists. But the way Austria, Spain, France, Sweeden, Prussia, Poland, Russia & the Ottoman AIs are, there are far too many power vacuums in Europe.

a.i. needt to be more agressive. not onec have i had an invasion of my provinces larger than 3 units burning some farms. and only 2 times have i had my port blockaded.

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Originally Posted by John-117

only 2 times have i had my port blockaded.

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While I agree the AI is not aggressive enough in general, in each campaign I have played the AI has been quick to blockade a port I have left poorly defended, especially the port in my home region.

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For single player, unit costs have increased on normal, even more on hard and even more on very hard so that on very hard units cost 4x their upkeep cost. Bigger ships have had their cost increased and all ships upkeep costs have increased.

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A little surprised at this . . . if anything, it feels there should be more units on the map, not less.

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Originally Posted by NimitsTexan

A little surprised at this . . . if anything, it feels there should be more units on the map, not less.

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oh thats for us not the AI

Yeah, but if things need balancing, you could lower the cost for the AI (giving it more troops), not raise the cost for humans.

Also, it is sort of counterintutive to the real logistic situations faced by European power. Building armies (and, to a lesser extent) navies was the "cheap" part; keeping them manned and supplied was what was more expensive. Raising an army quickly should be doable, but the player should also be encouraged to disband unnecessary units in time of peace. But that change looks slow the raising of armies and make it more beneficial to maintain a large standing army indefinately.

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Originally Posted by NimitsTexan

Yeah, but if things need balancing, you could lower the cost for the AI (giving it more troops), not raise the cost for humans.

Also, it is sort of counterintutive to the real logistic situations faced by European power. Building armies (and, to a lesser extent) navies was the "cheap" part; keeping them manned and supplied was what was more expensive. Raising an army quickly should be doable, but the player should also be encouraged to disband unnecessary units in time of peace. But that change looks slow the raising of armies and make it more beneficial to maintain a large standing army indefinately.

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Oh IDD, I also think just making troops more expensive is taking the easy way out and does not equate better campaign AI

Unit recruitment costs are being increased to make losing a full stack mean more instead of just being a couple of turns worth of that losts full stacks upkeep cost.

Oh while you are here will any other European factions than Portugal/Netherlands make it to India like the nice lady in the faction intros said? And please, I bought the game because of your AAR and haven't played it for 2 weeks now because of the naval invasion bummer I require a real answer, its either coded or its not

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Originally Posted by Jack Lusted

Unit recruitment costs are being increased to make losing a full stack mean more instead of just being a couple of turns worth of that losts full stacks upkeep cost.

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That of course presumes that the AI will be clever enough to defeat a full stack of mine,:boxing:

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Originally Posted by SpencerH

I think this is very good news. Jack Lusted deserves a lot of respect for his work on previous games and the fact that he is taking the time to make such a statement suggests that it may reach a point where I'll allow myself to play it.

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According to the credits, he's listed as a designer. So, he'd be a good person to question about gameplay-related issues.

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Originally Posted by Jack Lusted

Unit recruitment costs are being increased to make losing a full stack mean more instead of just being a couple of turns worth of that losts full stacks upkeep cost.

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Thanks, Jack.

I understand what you're trying to do but I rather see the AI actually capable of defeating a stack. This solution seems just kinda like a bandage since it doesn't make the experience anymore fun, just somewhat frustrating when the AI hits you with ridiculous amount of troops that you can't afford but it can just throw away. We've seen mods where this happens(Grey Death from EB for example) and it just gets old after a while.

Not saying upkeep shouldn't be tweeked because raising armies is fairly easy but I rather still ahve that great AI you guys promised. :laugh4:

PS. They should be paying you for PR :)

We're not changing the costs because of the AI, we are changing them so that it makes losing a full stack have more of an impact.

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Originally Posted by MikeV

According to the credits, he's listed as a designer. So, he'd be a good person to question about gameplay-related issues.

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I'm well aware of who Jack Lusted is (online). I'm not interested in gameplay issues per se. I'm interested in determining whether I will ever buy this or any future TW game. To that end, I'm interested in reading comments on the current version and (hopefully) its evolution from a beta version to a game I will play. While any rational comment is useful, those written by people who's opinions I've come to respect on these issues over the years are more valuable to me. After my frustration with CA over the years, I do not attribute any special status to comments on TW games made by those who work for CA. In fact, I'm more likely to view their comments with more skepticism than the average post. Jack Lusted, OTOH, is in a special position IMO since he is a player, a modder, and is now an EA insider and I have no reason to believe what he says is corporate "doublespeak".

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Originally Posted by Jack Lusted

We're not changing the costs because of the AI, we are changing them so that it makes losing a full stack have more of an impact.

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The only ones whoever lose a full stack in my games (aside from fighting against the Cherokee, darn OP AmeriIndians) is the computer . . . I have never lost a full stack against the Euros or Asians in ETW. I imagine it is the same for most players.

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Originally Posted by NimitsTexan

The only ones whoever lose a full stack in my games (aside from fighting against the Cherokee, darn OP AmeriIndians) is the computer . . . I have never lost a full stack against the Euros or Asians in ETW. I imagine it is the same for most players.

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Seconded. Only defeats came from the Inuit and the Cherokee.

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Originally Posted by nafod

Seconded. Only defeats came from the Inuit and the Cherokee.

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Lucky you!

When I played as UP I lost two stacks against a bit more than a stack of Prussians. I don’t know if they were just teched up higher than me or what but it was more like superman vs. the homeless. And believe me there didn’t need to be more penalties on top of that one. It was more than bad enough!

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Originally Posted by nafod

Seconded. Only defeats came from the Inuit and the Cherokee.

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I suppose they wouldn't be so difficult if all the minor factions were balanced (such as Georgia not being able to recruit multiple stacks), and if the Native American units weren't so inexpensive to recruit.

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Originally Posted by SpencerH

I'm well aware of who Jack Lusted is (online). I'm not interested in gameplay issues per se. I'm interested in determining whether I will ever buy this or any future TW game. To that end, I'm interested in reading comments on the current version and (hopefully) its evolution from a beta version to a game I will play. While any rational comment is useful, those written by people who's opinions I've come to respect on these issues over the years are more valuable to me. After my frustration with EA over the years, I do not attribute any special status to comments on TW games made by those who work for EA. In fact, I'm more likely to view their comments with more skepticism than the average post. Jack Lusted, OTOH, is in a special position IMO since he is a player, a modder, and is now an EA insider and I have no reason to believe what he says is corporate "doublespeak".

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Don't you mean Sega? Shogun was the only Total War game published by EA. Medieval was was published by Activision and then from Rome and on, it has been Sega. The CA development company was actually purchased by Sega, so I doubt there will be any more changes of publisher in the near future.

Cheers

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Originally Posted by Forward Observer

Don't you mean Sega? Shogun was the only Total War game published by EA. Medieval was was published by Activision and then from Rome and on, it has been Sega. The CA development company was actually purchased by Sega, so I doubt there will be any more changes of publisher in the near future.

Cheers

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Rome was activision. Don't know about its expansion packs, though.

I'm pretty sure SEGA took over just before Barbarian Invasion.

anyways (yes it was just before BI) i like the way Jack Lusted side stepped this question

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Originally Posted by Forward Observer

Don't you mean Sega? Shogun was the only Total War game published by EA. Medieval was was published by Activision and then from Rome and on, it has been Sega. The CA development company was actually purchased by Sega, so I doubt there will be any more changes of publisher in the near future.

Cheers

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Sorry, by EA I meant CA. :Bangs head numerous times:

The dude sounds tired.

They're obviously doing their best to get it straightened up.


On a side note: "planning to support ETW for a long time" this could either be a good or a bad thing.
But will no doubt swallow some profits, so let’s just look at it as kind. :beam:

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Originally Posted by Megas Methuselah

Rome was activision. Don't know about its expansion packs, though.

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You are correct. When I was typing, I grabbed the Barbarian Expansion Box and saw SEGA on it, and just assumed Rome was the same without first checking.


Cheers

IIRC, Activision was Rome. Sega was BI.

*oops didn't reasd that last post*

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Originally Posted by Smellycat

anyways (yes it was just before BI) i like the way Jack Lusted side stepped this question

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you...you do know hes not on this thread right? that was a letter in the .com. geeze some people are so ignorant :furious3:

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Originally Posted by John-117

geeze some people are so ignorant :furious3:

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And others are so rude. ~;)

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Originally Posted by John-117

you...you do know hes not on this thread right? that was a letter in the .com. geeze some people are so ignorant :furious3:

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He posted in this thread 3 times and i posted my question 5 minutes after his first post so he is "on" this thread unless his little brother took his log in details and trolled us

No offense, Smelly, but you might trying being a little more diplomatic. "Requiring" an answer is a bit presumptious, don't you think?

Anyway, it is generally standard policy not to post details about things like that, at least until after they believe they have everything fixed. I am surprised (and pleased) that Lusted has shared even the little details he has.

Yeah but problem is a person like Lusted who is a really experienced modder would notice the lack of naval invasions within 2 hours of playing the game and re-reading his AAR now seems like it was a science fiction novel

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Originally Posted by Smellycat

Yeah but problem is a person like Lusted who is a really experienced modder would notice the lack of naval invasions within 2 hours of playing the game and re-reading his AAR now seems like it was a science fiction novel

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Actually his AAR doesn't list anything innaccurately. Of course after playing it it doesn't describe much at all.

Has there been any word on when the next patch may come out?

I've stopped playing until the rest of the CTD bugs are gone. Just too tired of starting up a new campaign and then randomly (to me) hitting a CTD wall in the cycle of AI turns, or when I try to embark/disembark a units. Those crashes are rarer since the last patch, but they still occur every so often. I haven't been able to complete a campaign yet. But I really like the game, when I am able to play it, so I eagerly look forward to the extermination of the remaining bugs causing this kind of CTD.

Today at the com by Jack Lusted

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April 14th

Todays update will be some progress news on the next patch.

The Beta Test Group

As many of you will be aware a short while ago we asked for members of the community to apply to a beta group we were setting up in order to help test and provide feedback for future updates. We now have a good sized beta test group testing the latest version of the next patch. This is the third version of the patch they have tested, and soon they will testing the next version of it. They have been providing very good and detailed info for us, and patch progress is good.

The next patch is almost where we want it to be for release. After the next patch is released we will continue a cycle of bigger gameplay patches that will of course include more than just gameplay changes.

A short update today, but I know a lot of you are wondering about the next patch and I hope this gives you an idea where we currently are with it, and how the patching cycle will continue.

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Good update.

We could all bitch about why CA didn't go the Beta Test Group route with the first patches. But that would be pointless. They are doing it now - and the patch will be on version #4 soon. Without this group we probably would have had to suffer with a buggy version #2.

and ther best part is they don't have to pay them anything

Way to make a positive into a negative!

If you really want to go down that road, CA have to pay the people who are looking after the feedback from the Beta group etc.

But that would be silly, and a waste of everyone's time right?

Well it could all have been avoided if they tested the game properly before release but i guess they figured out "Since everyone has to use Steam anyways we'll release now and patch later". To me the whole process is like locking the barn door after the horse been stolen. On top of that they had the nerve to charge extra for units in a game they were fully aware was not finished. Hell even the extra units are not finished, my Ottoman Organ Gun disappears when i zoom out. So you could say I don't share the enthusiasm since NO DATE was given and no real details on improved/fixed AI except for making my units more expensive which is laughable

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Originally Posted by Fisherking

Lucky you!

When I played as UP I lost two stacks against a bit more than a stack of Prussians. I don’t know if they were just teched up higher than me or what but it was more like superman vs. the homeless. And believe me there didn’t need to be more penalties on top of that one. It was more than bad enough!

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I'd imagine the Prussians could be tough. Especially since they start with bayonets....seems to take ages for everyone else to even research plugs.

But I only play Russia, Prussia and the Ottomans. So I've never faced the Prussians:)

Jack today april 15th.

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Another short update today, it will cover an interesting issue that was reported during recent beta testing of the next patch.

The mod, it does not work!?!?!?1

A change that was made in the patch (addition of a seperate late multiplayer cost for units) broke mods that edited unit costs as the mods did not contain this new value. They would crash on loading the game. Now not wanting to leave people who play some of the more popular mods with a game that doesn't load for reasons they would not understand, we are adding support to the game so that mods without the new field in them will still work once the patch is released.

Though modders, I would advise you to take advantage of the new field once the next patch is out.

So...beta update?

The foruth and version of the next patch will be done soon and will enter testing.

There will be a changelist posted closer to the release of the patch.

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Empire is total unstable for me and the last series of 'patches' actually made things worse. Support has been about releasing a broken game and beta testing it on my dime. I am not optimistic about this patch and my patience is wearing thin.

I just uploaded some drivers that came out after the game’s release, hoping it would fix the land battles not loading completely for me.

Well that was a huge mistake. Now I get auto shut downs telling me the system overheated. I can not tell that it did.

There is a game issue here some where. I have monitored the heat, fans, and so on and it does not seem due to excessive heat, but there is some conflict.

i must say, i believe it is your guys' computers that are the problems. i have installed it on 2 computers, a 2009 vista and an XP at least 4 years old, and i think its older. both have run it without problems, except for 1 that was resolved with the patches( and it wasnt even gamebreaking!)

perhaps you should check the specs of your computer and see if tey exceed the minimum requirements first, and then if they do, then odds are it is just not compatible with your computer, though it should be.

I have to say, im sick of people saying they hate this game because of bugs. odds are it is your computer, and thus your problem, not the softwares. judge the game based on the gameplay, not the bugs.

I really like the game, but have stopped playing until they squash the last vestige of the end-of-turn/agent/embark-disembark bug that causes a CTD you can't work around. The first patch cut down on the frequency a lot, but since then I've had 3 campaigns cut short because of it. I'm eagerly looking forward to the resolution of that problem since I really like the game.

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Originally Posted by Fisherking

I just uploaded some drivers that came out after the game’s release, hoping it would fix the land battles not loading completely for me.

Well that was a huge mistake. Now I get auto shut downs telling me the system overheated. I can not tell that it did.

There is a game issue here some where. I have monitored the heat, fans, and so on and it does not seem due to excessive heat, but there is some conflict.

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What drivers did you update or was it a bios change?

If you roll back the driver does the problem go away or does it remain?

If it remains it looks like a hardware fault - probably processor fan - you probably wouldn't notice a problem when the computer is idling, but when you put it under pressure (i.e. running a game) the temps will skyrocket - very quickly.

If the problem goes away then it was a driver issue.

Just out of curiosity what program are you using to monitor the temps.? - I would recommend using speedfan.

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Originally Posted by Grumfoss

What drivers did you update or was it a bios change?

If you roll back the driver does the problem go away or does it remain?

If it remains it looks like a hardware fault - probably processor fan - you probably wouldn't notice a problem when the computer is idling, but when you put it under pressure (i.e. running a game) the temps will skyrocket - very quickly.

If the problem goes away then it was a driver issue.

Just out of curiosity what program are you using to monitor the temps.? - I would recommend using speedfan.

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The temps don’t skyrocket! I am using speed fan, though with my board I can’t control the fans it seems.

I updated the video drivers and a bios change.

I may be stupid but with vista I don’t know how to roll back the drivers. It is also compounded by the fact my computer is in German and it is tough to figure out what is what.

thats weird....noe of the computers im using for it is a vista too, and it works fine.

if your computer is german, are you running the german version? that may be the problem.

April 16th

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April 16th

We've had an interesting week so far. I've just come away from a meeting on the multiplayer campaign beta and things are progressing well.

Naturally the patches remain our focus, but the multiplayer beta is also being worked on. Please don't be confused with the gameplay upgrade currently in beta testing, these are two different things and the multiplayer beta is set for a later release.

For those that are interested Sensei and I spent Easter weekend in France presenting to the excellent LAN event in Poitiers. There were about 1000+ French fans there, playing loads of different games, we made an appearence at the opening ceremony and gave an update on what we were doing with increased threading and i7 support for Empire in the near future.

It's too early to put dates or numbers on things at the moment but some of the early work is yielding impressive performance gains...

Thanks again to everyone for tuning in and reading these, hopefully they give some insight into our day to day work. Right now, patches and the gameplay upgrade are our biggest focus.

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Originally Posted by John-117

thats weird....noe of the computers im using for it is a vista too, and it works fine.

if your computer is german, are you running the german version? that may be the problem.

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The version I am running came from the UK but you can load it in any of a dozen or so languages.

It is loaded in English, however.

There also seems to be more stuff using up RAM when the system is idle since the updates. RAM is a problem with vista, though I have never run out yet, so far as I know.

As I said, I was looking for a solution to the Land Battles not loading properly. It is simply the way the game is behaving on my system. I am guessing it is a problem with the video drivers or the bios change, most likely the video drivers.

But I have gone from being able to play the game using mostly auto resolves for land battles (the naval worked perfectly) to not being able to play at all.

Frustrating!

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Originally Posted by Fisherking

The version I am running came from the UK but you can load it in any of a dozen or so languages.

It is loaded in English, however.

There also seems to be more stuff using up RAM when the system is idle since the updates. RAM is a problem with vista, though I have never run out yet, so far as I know.

As I said, I was looking for a solution to the Land Battles not loading properly. It is simply the way the game is behaving on my system. I am guessing it is a problem with the video drivers or the bios change, most likely the video drivers.

But I have gone from being able to play the game using mostly auto resolves for land battles (the naval worked perfectly) to not being able to play at all.

Frustrating!

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I have not witnessed RAM problems (so far), but I have had a couple 'out of video memory' crashes. Rebooting the PC and reloading the game all worked fine in those instances. I guess, there is some 'memory leak' problems present.

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Originally Posted by John-117

i must say, i believe it is your guys' computers that are the problems. i have installed it on 2 computers, a 2009 vista and an XP at least 4 years old, and i think its older. both have run it without problems, except for 1 that was resolved with the patches( and it wasnt even gamebreaking!)

perhaps you should check the specs of your computer and see if tey exceed the minimum requirements first, and then if they do, then odds are it is just not compatible with your computer, though it should be.

I have to say, im sick of people saying they hate this game because of bugs. odds are it is your computer, and thus your problem, not the softwares. judge the game based on the gameplay, not the bugs.

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You seem like a good guy and I think you mean well so I will be delicate here.

1. I am happy that you can run ETW with no issues on two computers.
2. There are MANY MANY folks with very poweful rigs that cannot
3. I have continuing issues with sound and lag on the campaign map
4. None of these issues exist with other recent games I play that demand a high end rig (SHIV)
5. None of these issues exist with M2TW
6. The common denominator here is ETW and it is a buggy mess in its present incarnation

Your milage may vary - and good for you - but you cannot simply wish these issues away by blaming them on gamers pc's.

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Originally Posted by Slaists

I have not witnessed RAM problems (so far), but I have had a couple 'out of video memory' crashes. Rebooting the PC and reloading the game all worked fine in those instances. I guess, there is some 'memory leak' problems present.

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Go to this link and apply this fix. It will solve your particular issue.


http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=238484

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Originally Posted by Slaists

I have not witnessed RAM problems (so far), but I have had a couple 'out of video memory' crashes. Rebooting the PC and reloading the game all worked fine in those instances. I guess, there is some 'memory leak' problems present.

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There is an explanation of the issue and a 3rd party fix for the "out of video memory" crashes. I've not had a one since I applied this process. It is a two step process for any system other than Windows Vista 64 bit, but everything is explained.

Here is a link:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=238484

If one uses this small mod you will probably have to re-apply it after any patches or updates since the modded file usually gets replaced with each update--although I believe that developers are aware of the fix and may simply incorportate it in future updates.

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I may be stupid but with vista I don’t know how to roll back the drivers. It is also compounded by the fact my computer is in German and it is tough to figure out what is what.

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The term "rolling back" drivers is a bit of a misleading term if one is not familiar with the process. All it really means is removing the present drivers with the uninstall feature in the control panel and installing an earlier driver release. Driver releases are numbered just like patch files are. If one goes to the manufacturer's site (ATI or NVidia) they will have files not only for the latest release, but also earlier versions.

Two new Nvidia driver versions were issued while Empire was in it release process, so the game was never tested with the latests releases. By rolling back to a previous driver, I eliminated all of my CTD's with the exception of the ones related to GPU memory. However, I believe subsequent game updates by the developer eliminated the need to do this.

There is a recommended process for changing out drivers that many people do not follow and this can lead to GPU issues and conflicts. Many people simply download and run the latest GPU drivers over their current ones. While the the NVidia and ATI driver installation programs are supposed to be designed for this, it can lead to problems because old driver data and in particular registry settings do not always get removed. This can cause conficts which in turn results in graphics related issues--especially for games which are the most intensive use of your GPU's 3D resources in the first place.

Check the FAQ for the process at the manufacturer's site and copy and paste it to a file in your system so you wll alway have it for reference. Most tech experts also recommend that one should use a driver cleaner program after removing current drivers. This requires one to reboot into safe mode before installing the new drivers to run the cleaning program.

Here is a link to the one used by everybody who bothers to perform this operation.

http://www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/


I save all the GPU drivers that I download to a file berfore I run them, and usually maintain at least the current and maybe 2 or 3 previous driver downloads. That way I have my own small library of 3 or 4 drivers to choose from.

It is a bit more involved process to update drivers this way, but most experts indicate it will definitely prevent a lot of the GPU related woes that many people seem to have.

Good to know that development is continuing on the multiplayer patch. I'm very eager to try that out.

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Originally Posted by Forward Observer

If one uses this small mod you will probably have to re-apply it after any patches or updates since the modded file usually gets replaced with each update--although I believe that developers are aware of the fix and may simply incorportate it in future updates.

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That "modded file" is the Empire.EXE and it will have to be modified after each patch (if that includes a new .EXE) until CA provides one that is set to accomodate memory beyond the set limit. They have promised to do so at some point. Of course, all will have to modify their boot string for this to work per the instructions in the link - but this need be done only once and then you get a choice of how to boot your PC.

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Originally Posted by Barkhorn1x

That "modded file" is the Empire.EXE and it will have to be modified after each patch (if that includes a new .EXE) until CA provides one that is set to accomodate memory beyond the set limit. They have promised to do so at some point. Of course, all will have to modify their boot string for this to work per the instructions in the link - but this need be done only once and then you get a choice of how to boot your PC.

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This is true unless one is using Vista 64 bit, which luckily I am. All one has to do with Vista 64 bit is perform the second step in the process with mod installer to add the corrected line to the executable.

Cheers

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Originally Posted by Allu X

Problem: I hope Naval invasions by the Ai doesn't mean the Pirates will be nerfed at turn 5...

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Maybe the Pirates will take all the small Islands in the Americas, and will be a lot harder to take down :2thumbsup: