Error Loading Mount Database, and Other Oddities

[Red_Russian13]

Edit: I used the (not terribly effective) search function. I apologize if this is a rerun.

I gave up trying to fix this seven months ago. So I went to Roma Surrectum (RS) for a while. Time has a way of making one forget, so today I decided that I wanted to play EB, my favorite mod, once again (it worked wonderfully on my old computer...).

I'm using a Windows Vista Home Premium edition 64-bit job. I have AMD Phenom 9550 Quad-Core processor at 2.20 GHz. I have 4GB of RAM. I have 2 ATI Radeon HD 4850s.

I have NOT installed RTW in any of the Program Files folder, and have instead made a new folder on the C: drive named "Games." This is because, despite turning off the infernal UAC, RTW is not liked in either of the aforementioned locations on Vista machines. Vista is not the issue; I played RS for seven months with no problems.

This is what I've done:

Uninstalled every trace of RTW/EB/RS/BI, etc, etc.

I then installed RTW, then BI, then EB 1.1, then EB 1.2, then the BI installer, as directed by that mini-mod's creator. I get the following error once the splash screen for EB comes up:

"Error loading mount database."

I have to Right-Click-Tab out. I click "Okay."

Then I get this message:

"Script error in eb/data/descr_mount.txt, at line 446, Column 1.
Could not find battle model for 'elephant oliphant."

I uninstalled everything. I installed up to EB 1.1. It loads up and I get to the main menu. At this point, EB will run off the RTW disk just fine it seems, as the BI installer hasn't been applied.

Then I install EB 1.2. Same error. So I figure that maybe I've got a bum download. I download the installer for 1.2 from another source. No joy. I uninstall completely and do it over again, this time with an installer for 1.2 from yet another source. I have tried this without the BI installer, and I get the same error.

I am at wits end. I cannot figure this out. Your help would be greatly appreciated. I just want to play EB, but this is taking up a great deal of my "game playing time."

Thanks in advance.

Edit 2: I "validated" my install, and the validation text file has nothing in it. So I don't know if that validated or not.

[bovi]

The validation should always return text, if nothing else a message saying you have a functional installation. If you run a validation and it comes up empty, the validation program is either not allowed to write the results to the folder you're running it from (typical if you've installed RTW/EB under Program Files or other "special" locations), or Vista redirects it to some other place, Bill Gates knows where. You would have to search your disk for the ebValidationResults.txt file in that case, and hope that the search function doesn't helpfully omit the location where it is stored, as it tends to do.

If however the validation takes next to no time, you may not have Java installed, or it may fail to run for some reason. The validation should take at least a minute. Check what is displayed in the "black DOS window" that opens when you run the validation.

[Red_Russian13]

Okay. It doesn't look like I'll be playing 1.2 for some reason.

I did a complete reinstall. Tested 1.1, and it played fine. Installed 1.2. Did the validation. NOPE. Made sure I had Java installed. I do. Retried validation. NOPE. Reinstalled Java. Retried validation. NOPE.

EB is not installed in Program Files. EB is installed in C:/Games/Activision/Rome Total War.

I get the exact same error as mentioned in my first post. I get this regardless of whether or not I install the BI files. I have no idea how to get around this Java issue so as to get a proper validation of my obviously unvalidatable (mount database?) install. I got nothing...

[Red_Russian13]

Edit: Got Java to work.

Edit 2: It appears I have a lot of "missing files." And changed files. And added files. This is what the validation tells me:

"You don't have an original installation; There are changes to files, or some are missing.
However, these may be conscious changes you have made, to remod EB. See below for details."

I can only assume that I, somehow, didn't remove all of RTW or something prior to installing EB 1.2.

[bovi]

Please show the results of the validation and I can interpret what it means.

[Red_Russian13]

Please show the results of the validation and I can interpret what it means.

I tried that, but it's 560,000 characters long and the limit for posting is 500,000. So I've uploaded it to my yousendit account.

https://www.yousendit.com/download/Y1RxcmxjTkwrV3lGa1E9PQ