What is up with this game?

[sabot67]

I got the game yesterday. I love it- I hate it.

I started to play RTI but had to stop because there was a glitch in my game that did not allow me to see Quebec.

Then I started a Grand Campaign game, but all the boundaries, cities, buildings and armies were blinking. Finally figured that out- play in a window. But playing from a window detracts a bit from the game- like you cannot see how much improvements cost because they are cut off. No worries, still playable.

Wrong! An hour into the Grand Campaign game the game crashed! I know that it is not the computer- 1 GB Video, 6GB RAM, Intel Core 2 Quad processor. I noticed that there is a patch on the fourms, should I install it? That seems like a stupid question, but I am not sure if this annoying STEAM program already installed it or not- it did a hell of a lot of downloading yesterday when I first installed the game.

[Skott]

If your game has the delete saved game feature then you already have the latest patch. If not then you dont have the latest patch. And, yes, you should update and get the latest patch since it fixes many things. If after getting latest patch and you still have the problems you mentioned I would suggest a complete and thorough uninstall of the game and then reinstall it again. If that doesnt fix it then I dont know what to tell you. I dont think STEAM itself is the problem with the game. Its the game itself that has all these bugs.

Edit: You dont mention which video card you have but you may want to get the latest drivers for it just to be on the safe side. Some people have found that helped their blink, lag, and stutter problems with the game.

[sabot67]

If your game has the delete saved game feature then you already have the latest patch. If not then you dont have the latest patch. And, yes, you should update and get the latest patch since it fixes many things. If after getting latest patch and you still have the problems you mentioned I would suggest a complete and thorough uninstall of the game and then reinstall it again. If that doesnt fix it then I dont know what to tell you. I dont think STEAM itself is the problem with the game. Its the game itself that has all these bugs.

Edit: You dont mention which video card you have but you may want to get the latest drivers for it just to be on the safe side. Some people have found that helped their blink, lag, and stutter problems with the game.

Thanks Skott,

I have ATI RADEON HD4870X2 for the video. Solved the video problem by playing in a window and there are no updated drivers from ATI right now. After writing the post, I started a new Grand Campaign, this time I made it until 1712 before the game crashed. Did SEGA not Beta test this game before taking people's money? This thing is a dog. They would never release a console game that was so messed up. Looks like I will have to uninstall and then reinstall.

[xsvfan]

Sad part is this is their 3rd patch since release. For me at least, every patch causes more problems

[Skott]

If you look back at CA's history they always have quite a few obvious bugs in their TW games and end up having to patch after release. IMO however this game is their worse release from a stability standpoint. I had hoped they had changed their methods about QA but apparently not. On the positive side they are at least getting patches out. This last one has fixed many things.

[sabot67]

If you look back at CA's history they always have quite a few obvious bugs in their TW games and end up having to patch after release. IMO however this game is their worse release from a stability standpoint. I had hoped they had changed their methods about QA but apparently not. On the positive side they are at least getting patches out. This last one has fixed many things.

How often are the patches coming? I am thinking that I should just walk away from this game for a while. It crashed on me again this morning- that makes 3 times now.

[MikeV]

Did SEGA not Beta test this game before taking people's money? This thing is a dog.

Why should they? Micro$oft doesn't. Windoze (any version) is a dog, yet they still get plenty of $$$ for it. And still we pay ...

[Marquis of Roland]

I got the game yesterday. I love it- I hate it.

I started to play RTI but had to stop because there was a glitch in my game that did not allow me to see Quebec.

Then I started a Grand Campaign game, but all the boundaries, cities, buildings and armies were blinking. Finally figured that out- play in a window. But playing from a window detracts a bit from the game- like you cannot see how much improvements cost because they are cut off. No worries, still playable.

Wrong! An hour into the Grand Campaign game the game crashed! I know that it is not the computer- 1 GB Video, 6GB RAM, Intel Core 2 Quad processor. I noticed that there is a patch on the fourms, should I install it? That seems like a stupid question, but I am not sure if this annoying STEAM program already installed it or not- it did a hell of a lot of downloading yesterday when I first installed the game.

You're now more or less where everyone else was a month ago.

I'm getting that blinking crap too but I have a nvidia geforce 8800gts, and I just downloaded the latest patch before Patch 3 was installed. It's not the hardware, has to be another graphics glitch; at least its not a real gamebreaker like some of the other ones before.

Be prepared to crash many, many more times. (Hint: keep at least 3 or 4 turns saved)

[knoddy]

ive finished 3 or 4 world domination campaigns without any crashes at all, not once.

while the game does have a few issues i find it quite enjoyable and quite replayable and quite challenging with the latest patch on the harder difficulties. while it does have its issues none of them are glaringly bad enough as to make the game totally unplayable.

Cheers Knoddy

[pevergreen]

For the issue of patches, we have 3 patches. M2:TW only got 2.

So already we have more patches.

[Pinxit]

For the issue of patches, we have 3 patches. M2:TW only got 2.

So already we have more patches.

If you want to get past a specific ctd occuring say... 1742. You reload 1741 and do things a little different. That works fine for me since it seems that the combination of certain events causes the ctds.

[MikeV]

For the issue of patches, we have 3 patches. M2:TW only got 2.

So already we have more patches.

But we started with more CTD level bugs! Just because a Steam-based app can be updated more frequently doesn't mean it's "better." M$ Windoze updates weekly, too, yet doesn't appear to be getting any better or less buggy ...

At this point, we seem to have the following user populations (anecdotal, not quantified):

1. Those who can't get the app to run reliably at all, due to h/w and/or driver issues
2. Those who can get it to run, but then experience CTDs that they can't work around
3. Those who are able to run it

Apparently, the recent "game play" changes have annoyed/frustrated some in the last group.

It's no wonder the PC game industry is struggling, if this is the best it has to offer ...