RTW Graphics Help!!!

[Darkvicer98]

In RTW, i've changed my graphics to after clicking the 'auto-detect best graphics button' then i changd the graphics to speed and did a few custom bits in that. But my graphics have gone like your watching a video of RTW on youtube. The Detail has gone,the roads,grass,walls,buildings etc. I could show you what i mean but i don't know how to take a picture of the game whilst in gameplay,I understand you use the print screen button then go into paint but what from there? Can anyone help?

Edit:If i uninstall RTW and reinstall it will it delete my saved games?

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Might I suggest that, if you haven't tried it already, that you attempt to up the graphics settings to their original levels. This may revert it to how it was previously.

To take a screenshot you have, as you have stated, to press the "Print Screen" key. This creates a file containing the shot image.

The screenshot is then stored in "[path to your R:TW directory]/tgas". Typically this is either "C:/Program Files/Activision/Rome - Total War/tgas" if you have standard R:TW (not Gold) and in "C:/Program Files/The Creative Assembly/Rome - Total War/tgas" if you do have Gold.

The files are stored in here are in .tga format. This file format is sadly incompatible with the standard imaging tools which come with Windows. To open them/upload them you need to convert them to a format usable by Windows (.bmp, .jpg, .pgn, .gif e.c.t) using a program such as Irfanview.

After that, you can then upload the screenshot to Photobucket or ImageShack with ease.

If you wish to attempt a re-install, you can rescue your saved games manually.

Saved games are stored in "[path to your R:TW directory]/saves". Typically this is either "C:/Program Files/Activision/Rome - Total War/saves" if you have standard R:TW (not Gold) and in "C:/Program Files/The Creative Assembly/Rome - Total War/saves" if you do have Gold.

Once you have access into this directory, select all of the files in the area, right click and select to "cut" or "copy" them.

After that, navigate to an area out with the R:TW directory to paste them into (usually your "Documents" folder is a good choice). You can do this by right clicking and then selecting to "paste" in the selected area.

After that, you can re-install R:TW.

After the process is complete, just drop the files back in the directory where you found them.

Hope this is useful

[Darkvicer98]

Thanks,Omanes Alexandrapolites. May Zeus rain glory upon you.

[Darkvicer98]

Where is the saves file exactly?

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

All of the saves files are contained in there with file names the same as what you saved them as - it's not one file, it's an assortment of several.

[Darkvicer98]

But where is the file?

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

The folder should be in the R:TW directory under the name "saves". As I said before, typically this is either "C:/Program Files/Activision/Rome - Total War/saves" if you have standard R:TW (not Gold) and in "C:/Program Files/The Creative Assembly/Rome - Total War/saves" if you do have Gold. You can navigate to these locations by typing their mentioned file paths in the location bar (the white area at the top of the screen) in Windows Explorer (which can be opened by going to "My Computer" on the desktop).

[Darkvicer98]

I can't find this saves file. It says it cannot find it when you type it in run or at the top of my computer. Is their a way manually(go through the files instead of searching for it)?

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Sorry, my bad - I gave you the incorrect file path, missing out a directory on the way - my apologies

The correct path for the Gold Edition is "C:\Program Files\The Creative Assembly\Rome - Total War\saves" while the correct path for the standard version, non Gold, is "C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\saves".

I got the slashes the wrong way round - sorry

[Darkvicer98]

Still can't find it,i have the non-gold version by The creative assembly.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

You could try manual navigation, although if typing it in the address bar/run dialogue didn't work you are typically unlikely to yield any better result.

Firstly open up "My Computer".

Navigate to your hard drive, typically "C:\" and then go to "Program Files".

Navigate to "Activision" and locate the folder "Rome - Total War" within the folder.

In there you should find the "saves" directory.

If you don't find a folder named Activision, or within the Activision directory you don't find "Rome - Total War", you may wish to try manually searching for the relevant directories.

You can do this by going into "Search" on the start menu and searching for "Rome - Total War" in the location "My Computer".

If you find the folder, you should find the "saves" folder contained within.

Good luck

[Good Ship Chuckle]

Just for the record:

The directory of "The Creative Assembly" relates to the Sega published version of RTW.

The directory of "Activision" relates to the Activision published version of RTW.

They are both the same game, just published by different publishers.

@Darkvicer
It seems strange that the process I illustrated to you in the Numidian Thread didn't give you a picture. You say that you got the picture into paint though. Did you make sure that you saved it afterwards? Saving it is a critical step in finally capturing the picture. Also when you save it, I would highly reccomend saving it as a JPEG.

Btw, this method of picture taking doesn't require the "tga files" business that Omanes so artfully expressed.

Bona Fortuna.

[Raz]

If you haven't already, try this: In options, when you are on the RTW main menu, go to video settings. Then click on "Reset to defaults" which should be the bottom right button (Or is it the bottom left? ). This will put the graphics back into it's normal places.

Also, once you've firmly pressed "Print Screen", go into paint, then click at the top "Edit", a drop down menu should appear and then click "Paste". Your screenshot should be in paint now, then it's just a matter of saving the file as a JPEG/JPG, and uploading to ImageShack.
Also, (yay, 600 posts) ^_^

[Darkvicer98]

@Omanes Alexandrapolites
I thank you for your help but i still cannot find the saves file,i've been in Activision and The Creative Assembly folders yet i still cannot find it. For more info i have Windows Vista.

@Raz
I can't find the reset to defaults button in the video settings. Theres only a detect best settings button at the bottom right.

@Good Ship Chuckle and Raz
I have Windows Vista and when i click the edit dropdown button,it has 'paste from and select all'. Good Ship Chuckle,this is where i'm stuck.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Vista does weird things to R:TW - the preferences file has been known to vanish, screenshots not turn up and, now, save files being somehow hidden.

I honestly have no idea what this could be attributed to. My guesses, however, point to user account control as the possible culprit, causing R:TW to be unable to write to its own directory, and henceforth having to go look elsewhere for a place to write to.

You could try fixing this by locating your R:TW shortcut on the start menu, right clicking on it, selecting properties and then going to the "Compatibility" tab.

Go to the "Privilege Level" area and check the "Run this program as an administrator" checkbox. Select Ok and run R:TW.

Start a campaign as any faction, close the game down, and check for the files again.

If they're not there, then I'm completely lost as to their location.

If this hasn't worked and has, instead, completely hidden all your existing saved games from view, then you should be able to fix it. To reverse this, simply go back and de-check the "Run this program as an administrator" checkbox.

Also if all has failed, try a search for "saves" using the search function on the start menu. You can then press the return key to enter the advanced view.

Select the "Advanced Search" button and, in the location section, change "Indexed Locations" to "Everywhere". This prevents the system only looking in the index and henceforth only displaying a very limited number of results.

Hope this is useful

[Darkvicer98]

What about deleting the files by typing regedit in run? I've tried this before when i had trouble with RTW and i couldn't uninstall it. I still had all my saved campaigns because there wasn't a saves file so it didn't delete it.

Edit:This did not work. Guess i have to lose my save game data including my campaign of The Seleucid Empire which is nearly half the map by uninstalling RTW.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Thinking about it, if the files are not in the directory, deleting it manually probably wouldn't cause any harm. A conventional un-install, however, may do so.

To perform a manual uninstall, simply follow the guide shown here. After you've done that, re-install R:TW and, with a little look, the files should still be intact.

Good luck

[Darkvicer98]

I've deleted the files,re-installed them,uninstalled them etc and yet its still the same graphics. . Seems the only way is to wipe my computer clean of RTW.

[Raz]

Let's start from the beginning. OK?
So, what exactly do you mean that the detail has "gone"? When you play a custom battle for example, you see very bad looking troops, right? And blurry trees and rocks, right?

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Might I suggest updating your graphics card drives. If your card is a Nvidia card, you can find such drivers here. If it's an ATi card, you can find the relevant drivers here.

Hope this works, good luck

[Darkvicer98]

Let's start from the beginning. OK?
So, what exactly do you mean that the detail has "gone"? When you play a custom battle for example, you see very bad looking troops, right? And blurry trees and rocks, right?

If i put my mouse over my enemy's troops the info bar in blurred,buildings aren't good,trees are bad,troops are slightly blurred etc

[Raz]

That sounds more like a graphics card problem, OR it could be your screen resolution. Try updating your driver as stated by Omanes, or if that doesn't work, set the screen resolution (in RTW's video options) to a higher setting and to a 32 bit depth. E.g. 1280x1024 for a 17" standard (not widescreen) monitor, or 1024x768 for a 15" etc. Set it to it's highest resolution possible.

[Darkvicer98]

I've heard from someone that its the graphic file on the disc that seems to be the problem,not the computer or graphics card. Because when i uninstalled it and reinstalled it RTW still had the same graphics. The graphics before i clicked the auto-detect best graphics for my computer button which is when the battle graphics went weird. I've played RTW for months and this only happened last week.

[Raz]

I doubt that, the game doesn't read graphics from the disc, rather, it reads it straight from your harddrive... I am not saying that it isn't possible but I still strongly recommend that you update your driver.

Really, other than that, I don't have much of an idea.

[Darkvicer98]

Where can i find out what graphic cards i have on my computer? So i can update my drivers. I have windows Vista.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

You can find out which graphics card you have by typing in "dxdiag" in the search box on the start menu. This will open up the DirectX Diagnostics Tool.

Once the DirectX tool has opened, select the "Display" tab. In the "Device" section, labelled "Name:" you should see the graphics card's identity.

If the card has "ATI" in its name, then you can download the latest drivers from here. Select the version of Vista (32-bit or 64-bit), the type of card and then the card itself as identified in the DirectX tool.

If the card has "Nvidia" in its name, then you can download the dirvers from here.

If in doubt over the number of bits your OS has, you can check by right clicking on "Computer" on the desktop and selecting properties. Under the "System" section labelled "System type:" you should find the number.

Good luck

[Darkvicer98]

It says Intel Express Chipset Family which means i must have Windows Vista Basic or Standard. Where and how can i get better graphics cards?

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

You can find Intel drivers here.

Navigate to the "Graphics" menu on the left hand side of the page.

Select your type of computer (Desktop/Laptop) and then select your graphics card as specified in the DirectX Diagnostics Tool from the the list.

Select your operating system and click continue. As said before, the number of bits the OS has can be found by right clicking on "Computer" on the desktop and selecting properties. Under the "System" section labelled "System type:" you should find the number.

Good luck

[Darkvicer98]

I've downloaded the file as exe and i've run it. Is that what i'm supposed to do? Should i have saved it? My graphics are no different.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

If I remember rightly running/opening a file essentially saves it to a temporary area (which automatically wipes itself clean periodically) and then runs it. Saving a file allows the user to place it in more permanent location and then run it. There is little difference between the two options, so saving it most likely won't yield any different results.

Might I asked what happened when you did open the file - did it appear to install the drivers or did nothing happen upon opening it?

If it didn't work as you would expect it to, you may wish to try downloading and installing the package again.

If it appeared to work OK, then the chances are that the problem wasn't related to the graphics card driver. You could try downloading and installing again, but I'm uncertain as to whether that would be useful in this case.

Might I ask if the problem has affected any other games? If it has then it may be a physical problem with your graphics card itself. If it hasn't then I can't really think of a further cause. You may wish to ask Mithrandir to move the thread to the Apothecary for you - the folks over there may be able to provide a more advanced set of possible solutions.