Solving the Loadgame AI Bug - A suggested approach

[Kull]

In the hope of discovering another method for running RTW "permanently", I ran a series of tests using "Virtual PC" (as discussed above, this software lets you create a virtual computer, complete with it's own O/S, all resident on your existing PC). Unfortunately the results were very discouraging. I loaded up Virtual PC and found it extremely easy to use and configure. With WinXP installed, patched, and running, RTW loaded up nicely. But when I tried to run the game, it insisted that DirectX 9.0 was not installed. I verifed the presence of 9.0b, and even went so far as to download and install 9.0c, all to no avail - RTW still refused to run. So I uninstalled the game and reinstalled - this time allowing RTW to install the 9.0b drivers, but again, no joy.

At this point I did some googling and found a blog run by the MS Virtual PC Program Manager. He commented that Virtual PC emulates a "lowly S3 Trio with 8mb VRAM" (not encouraging), but he'd also recently tested a number of games. I decided to try one we had in common (Alpha Centauri, minimum DirectX 5.0), and it worked fine. So then I installed MTW (min DirectX 8.0), and it refused to start, saying it was "unable to initialize Direct 3D". So it appears that Virtual PC can't handle the graphics requirements imposed by the Total War series - although that's just a guess. The only certainty is that Virtual PC is not a viable work-around for the Loadgame/AI bug.

VPC Tested Games: http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy...gory/8225.aspx