Things to do BEFORE installing the game

[ShellShock]

As us poor relations over here in Europe will be installing the game in the next few days, here is are some handy tips to prepare yourself and your other half (your PC that is).

1. Uninstall the Rome Total War Demo. There are rumours that the demo is not compatible with the full game, e.g., causing problems with not seeing all possible screen resolutions in the game video menu. Better safe than sorry.

2. Delete any unwanted clutter from your hard disk and defrag it, so it is like a virgin field of snow...

3. Update your graphic card drivers from the manufacturers web site: Nvidia or ATI

4. Some people recommend updating the firmware on your CD/DVD drive to ensure it won't have any problems reading the RTW CDs. It is possible a bad batch of CDs hit the States last week - hope we don't get that here

5. Turn off any virus scanner software before installing - this has been recommended by Activision support.

6. Create a system restore point. In Windows XP this is under Accessories, System Tools, System Restore. You can also get to it from Start, Help and Support.

7. If you've already got DirectX 9.0c installed (it comes with Windows XP Service Pack 2, or as a separate download), do not install DirectX from the RTW installer. The version of DirectX included with RTW is 9.0b (i.e., older), and it could screw up your DirectX configuration, as it does not seem to detect that you have a later version already, and you end up with a mix. To see what version of DirectX you have, run dxdiag.

8. The installer also requests that you first disable any CD/DVD emulation software, such as Alcohol/Daemon Tools.

9. If you do have any installation problems, check the dedicated .COM forum. eradosan (admin at the .com) has created a web site for known problems and workarounds/fixes.

10. Stock up on your favourite poison, lock all the doors, and prepare to make war


That's all I can think of. Anyone got any more?