Kingdoms

[Ariovistus Maximus]

Hi all! I have a little problem.

I bought M2TW GOLD a week ago. I borrowed M2 vanilla from a friend to make sure it works on my PC. Once I put graphics all the way down, it was very smooth.

So then I installed M2 Gold, expecting the same results.

Well, the vanilla campaign worked just great, but each of the campaigns is extremely choppy.

Now I'm becoming paranoid that my disks are defective. In installing 2 of the campaigns there was a file missing. I uninstalled and reinstalled and it worked fine after that, so it would seem that was OK.

And today I was playing vanilla, Spain VH/H and got to the Americas. Very exciting, because I haven't reached it before.

So I laid siege to an Aztec city and assaulted it...

and what showed up in the battle was a Middle-Eastern city!!! Large stone walls, Arab-type buildings, minarets, the works!!!

So,

1. There were some hiccups in installation, but they didn't show up again on the second try.

2. Requirements on Kingdom campaigns seem higher, although I didn't read that anywhere.

3. I'm fighting Aztecs who live in Arabian cities.

Should I be worried about this? Are there fixes, or should I get my CD's exchanged?

I'd really like to fight in a proper Mesoamerican city.

I think I have one week left to exchange. I got it at Best Buy.

Also, my PC is a 32-bit Vista with 4G of RAM and onboard video. The onboard video is why I'm not too surprised that Kingdoms was choppy, although I'm surprised that the Kingdoms campaigns are laggy while the original campaign isn't.

Anyways help would be most appreciated. Thanks guys!

[FactionHeir]

The Aztec-ME thing is indeed a game bug.

[Ariovistus Maximus]

Yeah, I just heard that from somebody else too.

OK, I guess I don't have to be paranoid any more. The other two issues seem to be OK, since lag is to be expected due to my lack of a video card, and the installation process went fine the second time.

But really, they should put that up somwhere; tell people that there are no aztec cities in-campaign. I never read that anywhere, although I have caught wind of a number of other bugs.

[A1_Unit]

It is a bug because my Aztec cities have Aztec buildings. Pyramid of the Sun, different walls, etc... - I have Aztec cities.

[Ariovistus Maximus]

It is a bug because my Aztec cities have Aztec buildings. Pyramid of the Sun, different walls, etc... - I have Aztec cities.

I realized (somewhat later) that I didn't have the 1.4 patch. It might be fixed now. Dunno yet.

[Braden]

Bit of advice. Many motherboards with onboard graphic chips still have PCI-E ports enabling you to add a dedicated graphics card easily.

Remember, the majority of PC's are built by 12 year old Chinese farmers children...they are not hard to add bits too. (exaggeration but you get the idea)

Check your settings, check online for the model of motherboard and see what you've got.

With a little research time on the web, some "how to" guides you should be ok to try a new graphics card.

Alternatively, your local PC shop shouldn't charge too much for the service but I suggest supplying your own graphics card. You don't need an expensive one for this game at maximum settings either as I've only got an ATi ASUS 4650 512mb unit which I got, 2nd hand, from ebay for less than £30 including postage.

With the rest of your spec, processer and ram you'll have an awesome PC for what...perhaps $60 (if you get someone to fit it for you). And it will run the majority of games from this year too!

[Ariovistus Maximus]

Yeah but if I'm going to get a card, I might as well get one good enough so that I don't have to replace it in 6 months.

And I'm a bit short for money so I was hoping to squeeze every little bit of power out of my current system.

But yeah I'll be getting a card eventually.

[Prussian to the Iron]

if you can just barely run M2 at low settings, I would reccomend investing in a whole new computer.

also: If you use mods like stainless steel or retrofit, you will definitely have your aztec cities (and lots of other awesome stuff too!)

[Ariovistus Maximus]

It all comes down to the $$$.

Actually, it's a good computer, I just have no video card. Literally; all graphics runs from onboard video and RAM.

I hope to rectify the situation soon, however...