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Thread: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

  1. #1
    Boy's Guard Senior Member LeftEyeNine's Avatar
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    Default Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    Since it seems that Medieval Total War 's CTDs seem endless, we need a sticky over here to gather general methods to overcome this problem. Credits go to all those that dealt with this hassle and figured out something to help.

    Above all usual routine of checking your all kinds of drivers and DirectX being up-to-date, here are the options you may try to solve your situation with MTW. Please use this thread to ask for help if none of these options work for you, instead of opening a new seperate thread. Here we go:

    • MTW is an old buddy, so that sometimes updated video drivers bug him. Therefore, especially if you have a 5xxx series Nvidia graphics card, try reverting your video drivers to v61.76's, credited to be the most compatible graphics driver with MTW. However if you have a newer generation gfx card compared to 5xxx, this set may cause problems all over, may not even be a solution for MTW.

    How to revert to an older set of drivers in a clean way:

    1- Download Nvidia ForceWare v61.76 (Windows XP/2000 version. Browse to Nvidia.com for other OS versions). Do not install yet.
    2- Uninstall your current gfx drivers from Add/Remove Program through your Control Panel which can be accessed through Start button of your Windows.
    3- Get Driver Cleaner Professional and install it. The download link is a bit down the page. (Program also has a commercial version called Platinum which promises to have been better optimized, but this free version will do the trick for us)
    4- Restart your computer and when your PC is about to load windows press F8 button to bring up loading options of Windows. Choose Safe Mode, hit enter and let it load windows that way.
    5- When Safe Mode is loaded, it may give you a warning saying what this Safe Mode is all about. Just click right away to get it fully open.
    6- Now run Driver Cleaner Professional. Since this is the Safe Mode where there are no visual supports, hence screen resolution is low, you may not be able to find the shorcut on your desktop. In that case you may try browsing your Program Files folder and find Driver Cleaner there and run its .exe from that location.
    7- Now that you have Driver Cleaner Pro run, you must select Nvidia from Cleaning Selection dropdown menu.
    8- Click Start and let it do the job. When it is finished you'll see Cleaning Finished! message at the bottom of the program window.
    9- It's time to restart your PC after all thorough cleaning, so be it.
    10- When you are normally logged into Wndows, it may say New Hardware Found blah blah, just click cancel and install old version drivers which were already downloaded. It will ask for another restart, and when that is done, you're done with downgrading your driver set peacefully.

    • Another fix (recommended generally to Nvidia 6xxx/7xxx owners) is forcing Antialiasing 2x. This is done by:
    1- Right Click your desktop and Properties > Settings > Advanced.
    2- Look for the tab labelled by your graphics card model name.
    3- Click "Performance & Quality Settings" from the panel opened leftwards.
    4- Under General Driver Settings there should be a box telling the name of the settings and their values, such as "Antialiasing - Application Controlled", "Anisotropic Filtering - Application Controlled" and so on. Now you should left click where it says Antialiasing. You should see that there is a checkbox saying "Application Controlled" ticked. Remove the tick, so that now the slider is controllable. Draw the slider right for once, it should be now under 2x. Click Apply, then OK, another OK to close this window with modified settings. Voila!

    • Try playing with Strategy Map and Battle Map resolutions. For example it always used to crush when I set the Strategy Map Resolution any higher than 800*600. It is also said that keeping both Strategy Map and Battle Map resolutions equal helps.

    • As we have mentioned by the beginning, MTW does not get on well with newer GPU's. If you have such gear, you may try disabling AGP Texture Acceleration. Here is how:
    1- Click Start, Run...
    2- Type "dxdiag" without hyphens.
    3- If it asks for something related to WHQL, you can say "No" to skip that stuff and get to DirectX Diagnostics window right away.
    4- When you're there, click "Display" tab up there. And then find "AGP Texture Acceleration" somewhere in the middle. It is probably already enabled, so click Disable button next to it to get done. Click Exit to close this window now.

    So it is all this for now. If you have any other solution, feel free to contact me by PM so I can update the info gathered here.

    Thanks again to all contributors who helped solving this issue.


  2. #2
    Cthonic God of Deception Member ULC's Avatar
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    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    Hi I'm new and having problems loading the campaign map. When it loads, it immediately sends me to the campaign map options menu (I don't see the campaign map). If I try to go back, it just loops endlessly. I have a ATI Rage Fury Pro/xpert2000. I also bought a prophet and should be getting it soon. Will installing the Prophet solve my problem, or can it be solved with the graphics card I have now?

  3. #3

    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    I am having that exact same problem.

    It is just back and forth I never get to see the campaign map, and my computer is not new at all.

  4. #4

    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions (I need some)

    Hi, this may be a little outdated but i recently got a copy of MTW and i have the CTD error. I have STW and it runs fine which is what irks me. I have a Radeon 7000 series whatever that means and I was able to get MTW to run on my junker comp no problem with some nightmare old Nvdia I believe but that comp cant handle more then a few hundred men on screen at a time. Any solution would be great, until then I guess I'll just conquer Japan.... again.....

  5. #5
    Senior member Senior Member Dutch_guy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions (I need some)

    Quote Originally Posted by tekheppicor
    Hi, this may be a little outdated but i recently got a copy of MTW and i have the CTD error. I have STW and it runs fine which is what irks me. I have a Radeon 7000 series whatever that means and I was able to get MTW to run on my junker comp no problem with some nightmare old Nvdia I believe but that comp cant handle more then a few hundred men on screen at a time. Any solution would be great, until then I guess I'll just conquer Japan.... again.....
    What are your exact specs, RAM, OS, drivers (new, or outdated) and the such.

    And where does it crash, after loading a save, or at the start of a campaign.

    Lastly, have you tried the AA fix, if yes, does the problem persist even after that ?

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  6. #6

    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    Windows xp
    2.4 gig cpu
    640 mb ram

    Radeon 7000 series driver version 6.14.10.6360
    Also noticed this under display adapters

    Intel 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics controller driver version 6.14.10.3691

    looks like the drivers haven't been updated since mid 2003 but the more I read the more it looked like thats where I wanted to be

    by AA I believe you mean anti aliasing, I have tried some but I'm a little confused. I have under the display properties/settings/advanced two tabs that have AA filters. The first, OpenGL has it disabled by default and so I tried enabling it at 2x (didnt try 4x yet I'm not computer literate enough to feel comfortable tinkering with too much with out guidance) and the game seemed to run for about 2 minutes longer then normal (3 min) total with out crash. The other tab is Direct3D which has the checkbox application preference marked and AA set by default to 4x and greyed out, I have to uncheck the app. pref. box to manually move the aa and once again, not literate enough to just go in on a whim.

    The game crashes once the campaign has been loaded, normally within the first turn, most often when I right click on anything to read the description but a fair amount of crashes doing anything else. Single battle is fine. Tuturiol crashed. STW runs like a dream. I've tried looking for info on the Radeon Drivers but everyone seems to be talking about Ndvia, personally I'm not even sure if a radeon is even able to hold up with the game, I don't use this comp for much gaming, just a nice breather inbetween work. Thanks for quick response and any help you can give.

    Chris

  7. #7

    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    You may want to try different drivers for the Radeon 7000. You have Catalyst 3.5 installed as far as I can tell. Those are quite old and may have been buggy. I don't know of anyone that uses those drivers with MTW. Follow the instructions in this post:
    https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...&postcount=140

    AA doesn't really affect Radeons as such, the 2x AA fix applies to Nvidia only IIRC.
    Quote Originally Posted by tekheppicor
    Intel 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics controller driver version 6.14.10.3691
    You may want to disable that also, as it could be part of the problem. That is your onboard graphics chip. It should not even be there, as it should auto disable when a graphics card is present in the AGP slot. To disable it you may need to go into the CMOS setup and change the Integrated Graphics Chip from either:

    1) Auto -> Disabled
    2) Enabled -> Auto

    (they differ from one type of bios to another, though the second is more common)
    Last edited by caravel; 02-27-2007 at 17:21.

  8. #8

    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    Alright I did everything that was suggested and now we have a little progress. I am able to play for about 5 mins and advance a turn or two before the crash. I tried the different screen resolutions and found that 1024 by 768 seems to work best for strat map, everything still crashes tho after a few turns. Any other suggestions? It definately seems like you guys were on the right path, prolly have had to help with this problem quiet a bit from the looks of it. Thanks again

    Chris

  9. #9

    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    Just an update. It definately seems like the game crashes when I click on the right mouse button to bring up info on something. Not always the first time but everytime its crashing now its when I am right clicking something.... if that helps. Anyone heard of that?

  10. #10

    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    Did you follow the instructions in my post? If so which driver have you downloaded?

  11. #11

    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    Yes I did. I dled and installed the Omega 2.6.53 drivers (based on Catalyst 5.7) as per the directions. I was a little unclear on how to disable the graphics chip, i was able to just right click it and select disable, not this CMOS you were talking about. (i think)

  12. #12

    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    Quote Originally Posted by tekheppicor
    Yes I did. I dled and installed the Omega 2.6.53 drivers (based on Catalyst 5.7) as per the directions. I was a little unclear on how to disable the graphics chip, i was able to just right click it and select disable, not this CMOS you were talking about. (i think)
    Did you uninstall the old drviers and run driver cleaner first? Considering you're installing over a much older version, this shouldn't be a problem, but you never know, also some of the old control panel settings may have stuck which you don't want. I don't like how you've disabled the graphics chip. You really need to go into the CMOS setup to do that, but if you don't know how to get into that in the first place it's probably best left alone for now. I had a similar problem to you, with newer drivers. When clicking on a province after fighting a battle, the game would crash. I solved it all with the Omega 2.6.53 suggested to me by Geezer57. I can run RTW ok with those drivers as well and, because they're Omega, you don't have to install the .NET crapware.

  13. #13

    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    Yes I did uninstall old drivers and run driver cleaner. What screen res. do you have your desktop set to as well as in game? If you tell me where to go for CMOS I can do it, i just dont snoop around on my own

  14. #14
    Cynic Senior Member sapi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    For screen res, if you're using a lcd there's a native res you should always be running on.

    If you're using a crt it doesn't really matter
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  15. #15

    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    If you have a CRT you can try setting the desktop resolution to the same as the game uses and also setting 16 bit colour. This sometimes makes a difference. I doubt that is related to your problem though.

    Disabling the onboard graphics may turn out to be a wild goose chase. The game isn't using it so it should be a problem. Disabling it is the safest bet though, to safely eliminate it as a possible cause. To do this you wil need to supply info as to your PC's make and model number if it is a branded machine or the motherboard's make and model number if it's a custom build. The biggest problem with branded machines and some motherboards is that the onboard graphics chip often cannot be disabled at all. You'd think this wouldn't be a problem, but I've seen quite a few instances where it has been.
    Last edited by caravel; 02-28-2007 at 14:21.

  16. #16

    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    Hi, ive got the same problem as described before. When i try to start a campaign i always end up in the main many again.

    I figure that this has something to do with my graphics card, or rather my lack of it. Im trying to run the game on my laptop wich uses integrated graphics, the Intel Mobile 945GM chip.
    In the settings of the graphics i cant change antialiasing, so is that whats wrong?

    Could you give me any tips to get me going, or should i give up?
    thanks

  17. #17
    Member Member moomo's Avatar
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    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    After a few serious starting problems with MTW I got to the part where I can not exit game in the proper way
    The game freezes on exit and everything else with it (reboot needed).
    Anyone have a clue....feel free to share it.
    I know I can alt+tab or ctrl+alt+delete
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  18. #18

    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    Quote Originally Posted by flaskhals
    Hi, ive got the same problem as described before. When i try to start a campaign i always end up in the main many again.

    I figure that this has something to do with my graphics card, or rather my lack of it. Im trying to run the game on my laptop wich uses integrated graphics, the Intel Mobile 945GM chip.
    In the settings of the graphics i cant change antialiasing, so is that whats wrong?

    Could you give me any tips to get me going, or should i give up?
    thanks
    Welcome, flaskhals, to the .org

    The integrated graphics could well be your problem. I have read a few posts concerning this type of graphics chip and MTW not working well in the past. I fear you may be out of luck. The antialiasing fix applies to Nvidia graphics cards only AFAIK, and not Intel. You could try messing with some of the settings. Try turning as much off as possible, and then enabling one at a time and testing. Try the lowest resolution, it will probably look ugly because it won't match your lcd's native resolution but it may be that the campaign map won't work at that res. Apart from that I can't really suggest anything.


    Quote Originally Posted by moomo
    After a few serious starting problems with MTW I got to the part where I can not exit game in the proper way
    The game freezes on exit and everything else with it (reboot needed).
    Anyone have a clue....feel free to share it.
    I know I can alt+tab or ctrl+alt+delete
    Are you sure a reboot is needed? I have the same problem and have been unable to solve it so far. I just ctrl+alt+del and kill the MTW process. The problem only occurs if I've loaded to the campaign map, by either starting a new campaign or by loading an old campaign. If I run the game and immediately exit, or run the game and play a quick battle and then exit, it terminates normally. See if you have the same problem.

    Post up some hardware specs also.


  19. #19
    Member Member moomo's Avatar
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    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    Caravel,

    After a "quick battle" the game would exit normally.
    After entering the campaign menu it would only exit with Ctrl+alt+del.
    This was one test made to confront your post. I've noticed from the begining the differnece but didnt payed much attention.
    Really, my problem is that MTW doesn't always accept Ctrl+alt+del, but often enough in requires a reboot (freeyes everything) which is altogether another thing in terms of using and ending an application.

    I could give "some" specs althogh i think they are nor relevant to the problem:

    Time of this report: 4/2/2007, 03:19:21
    Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.061219-0316)
    Language: English
    System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
    System Model: System Product Name
    BIOS: BIOS Date: 08/21/06 20:34:40 Ver: 08.00.12
    Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3800+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.4GHz
    Memory: 1024MB RAM
    Page File: 533MB used, 1928MB available
    Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
    DX Setup Parameters: Not found
    DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

    Display Devices

    ---------------
    Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GT
    Manufacturer: NVIDIA
    Chip type: GeForce 7900 GT
    DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
    Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0291&SUBSYS_40001682&REV_A1
    Display Memory: 256.0 MB
    Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (75Hz)
    Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
    Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
    Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
    Driver Version: 6.14.0010.9131 (English)
    DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
    Driver Attributes: Final Retail
    Driver Date/Size: 8/24/2006 04:03:38, 4529408 bytes
    WHQL Logo'd: n/a
    WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
    VDD: n/a
    Mini VDD: nv4_mini.sys
    Mini VDD Date: 8/24/2006 04:03:38, 3925920 bytes
    Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-41D1-11CF-9956-0A6000C2CB35}
    Vendor ID: 0x10DE
    Device ID: 0x0291
    SubSys ID: 0x40001682
    Revision ID: 0x00A1
    Revision ID: 0x00A1
    Video Accel:
    Deinterlace Caps: n/a
    Registry: OK
    DDraw Status: Enabled
    D3D Status: Enabled
    AGP Status: Disabled
    DDraw Test Result: Not run
    D3D7 Test Result: Not run
    D3D8 Test Result: Not run
    D3D9 Test Result: Not run

    -------------
    Sound Devices
    -------------
    Description: Sound Blaster Audigy
    Default Sound Playback: Yes
    Default Voice Playback: Yes
    Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_1102&DEV_0007&SUBSYS_100A1102&REV_00
    Manufacturer ID: 1
    Product ID: 100
    Type: WDM
    Driver Name: P17.sys
    Driver Version: 5.12.0001.0512 (English)
    Driver Attributes: Final Retail
    WHQL Logo'd: n/a
    Date and Size: 7/7/2005 11:14:30, 1389056 bytes
    Other Files:
    Driver Provider: CREATIVE
    HW Accel Level: Full
    Cap Flags: 0x0
    Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0
    Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 0, 0
    Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
    HW Memory: 0
    Voice Management: Yes
    EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: Yes, Yes
    I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
    Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No
    Registry: OK
    Sound Test Result: Not run
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  20. #20

    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    I take it you've tried the 2x antialiasing fix? If so then I can only suggest installing an older driver for your card, and see how that goes.

  21. #21

    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    Ok I've just run a test I've been meaning to do for ages. The crash on exit appears to be indirectly related to the wav sound that is played when you exit the game. I have tried exiting with sound disabled and the problem doesn't occur. The game exits instantly. The sound always delays the games exit anyway, but if it hangs, then the game won't be able to exit at all. I've tried replacing the file with a smaller wav file used for the sliders but it has the same result.

    -Edit: Ok I have a temporary fix to the crash on exit problem:

    1) Browse to the "\...\Medieval - Total War\Sounds\Frontend" folder
    2) Rename "quit_game.wav" to "quit_game.bak"

    This doesn't throw any kind of an error message, it just delays very slightly when you click to confirm the exit and then the program exits normally. This is all I can suggest until another solution is available.

    I believe the problem may be caused by the program trying to quit too early before the sound has finished playing, this may be a side effect of a faster graphics card, as I've never had this problem with my previous graphics cards, only with the ATI Radeon 9800.

    -Edit: It doesn't always work. I still get the crash on exit most of the time....
    Last edited by caravel; 04-03-2007 at 22:25.

  22. #22
    Member Member moomo's Avatar
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    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    I've played with the antialising options with no noticeable effects.

    I won't try the "quit_game" to bak since it was no certain effects.

    My card won't like an older driver and I think this is aside the problem since the card has no problem rendering ingame.

    I'll forcefully terminate the game before it will make me reset.
    Thanks for the tips anyway. Talking on a problem is a good thing in itself.
    Some nice people inhere.
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  23. #23

    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    Quote Originally Posted by moomo
    I've played with the antialising options with no noticeable effects.
    No, I was confused there. The 2x AA stops the CTD when loading the campaign map that some Nvidia users were having.
    Quote Originally Posted by moomo
    I won't try the "quit_game" to bak since it was no certain effects.
    Don't bother with that, for some reason it worked once but has never worked since.
    Quote Originally Posted by moomo
    My card won't like an older driver and I think this is aside the problem since the card has no problem rendering ingame.
    I think you're right. Older drivers help when you have ingame rendering problems and/or CTDs they don't seem to help with the crash on exit.
    Quote Originally Posted by moomo
    I'll forcefully terminate the game before it will make me reset.
    Thanks for the tips anyway. Talking on a problem is a good thing in itself.
    Some nice people inhere.
    I still have to CTRL+ALT+DEL and kill the MTW process, looks like we'll have to live with it for now.

  24. #24
    Sports Freak Member dgfred's Avatar
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    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    Trying to get back into the game, but having CTD problems every time on single campaigns. I've tried having my display and game settings to 800/600
    and 1024/768 but the same thing happens. The only difference I know of
    since I had it loaded last is that I now have Take Command: Second Manassas loaded (memory hog) and it plays fine. When loading MTW it
    crashes back to the Resume/Save/Load/etc screen every time. Then if
    I click Resume game, it will CTD.

    Any advice you guys can give would be greatly appreciated.
    PB-PL Commander/CC2 Commander/MTW Commander

  25. #25

    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    hi.. i'm new here and this is my first post.

    i'm getting quite desperate in finding a fix to that pesky CTD problem
    that i am on the verge of using the game CD as a frisbee to get my money's worth of enjoyment out of it..

    my first instinct was to download a patch. and i got one that's v1.1 but it still gives me the CTD. then i've read thru a bunch of forum threads (some even dating from 2002! you think they would've made a working patch by now ) 'coz i've already installed the patch. got the newest drivers as stated in the readme file. (didn't work). went online and read something about "downgrading" the drivers, installing the directx that came with the cd, manually changing anti-aliasing 2x, fiddling around with the resolutions of both in-game and my pc, switching on/off the AGP acceleration, adjusting the virtual memory to system controlled, playing the game on MUTE, and THEN i followed the steps mentioned on this thread. but still nothing works.. i don't get it!!

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
    i can play MTW single player campaign.
    but if i do certain stuff.. (ie: if i click on a certain unit or province on a certain given time.. i get a CTD) which is stupid. 'coz i can play the game just fine for several turns and i can get around some of those glitches as long as i reload the game and don't do the stuff that caused me to CTD for several turns in the first place
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
    so i can't see the logic of the drivers getting involved. 'coz if it is i wouldn't be able to play the single player campaign at all..


    this CTD error is blatantly IN-GAME..
    i also read the error log and some threads that this line could be the problem.

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
    C:\Crusaders\main3d_1.cpp(1720) : DirectX call : DDERR_SURFACELOST


    which is non-existent in my drive nor the two discs..
    is there a patch or fix or whatever to remove that? i also read that MTW was supposed to be called 'crusaders' and that this code was a bunch of leftover coding.

    i also read that it might be something to do with the safedisk copy protection something.. that gets buggy if you have a cd burning utility installed (yep, i tried uninstalling Nero but it still didn't work)

    i'm on my wits end guys.. i keep playing the BGMs by Jeff van Dyck from the game as i have vivid dreams of those glorious battles when i fought off 2 crusades simultaneosly on the same turn. when the pope declared we weren't good buddies..

    arrgh!! this is so frustrating!!!

  26. #26

    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    sorry about the previous post.. (i thought the 'B' icon on the right side was for bold

    anyway.. i got so desperate that i tried installing cracks and no cd launchers to no avail.. so i've been scrying more threads and forums looking for a fix to the CTD problem, but i can't find any process that actually works 100% of the time.. (it's practically a hit or miss deal with everybody)

    so i ended up here and reread my post.. searched for the edit post button (couldn't find one) 'coz i forgot to put in my PC specs on my previous post.

    here goes:

    os: windows xp SP2
    processor: AMD Duron 1.1 ghz
    ram: 512mb
    videocard: Tornado GeForce4 MX440-8x 128mb

    anyway.. i hope to get replies soon.. 'coz i'm running on empty..
    i keep holding the game disc over the trash bin and end up cuddling it like a baby..

    how can this UNGODLY great game be so.. *sniff*

  27. #27
    Daimyo, Sultan & True Roman Member Crian's Avatar
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    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    I used the exact same video card you have for 5 years before finally upgrading. I never had a single problem with it related to Medieval TW, maybe I had a CTD once or twice but never too often to have a lasting impact on my enjoyment.

    Have you tried reinstalling MTW from scratch? Uninstall then manually delete the game folder afterwards. Usually works....
    Last edited by Crian; 05-03-2007 at 09:00.



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  28. #28

    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    Quote Originally Posted by icarus0626 (from the other thread)
    if so. can you run MTW without it CTDing?

    +can you post here a link to the nvidia driver you used?

    +did you patch the game to 1.1?

    +what are the in-game settings you used?

    +what's your desktop's screen resolution?

    +what are the settings of your anti-aliasing and anisotropic filter?

    any help would be greatly appreciated..
    +I don't use this card, but I do know that it has been troublesome for others in the past. I would advise that you switch to using a driver of the 44.xx series or earlier. Get driver cleaner pro, and remove the existing drivers before you install any more.

    +If you have MTW you always need to patch the game to v1.1. If you have MTW+VI (Viking Invasion) you always need to patch the game to 2.01.

    +For the Nvidia card you should always enable the 2x AA

    +The desktop resolution and colour depth should be the same as the in game resolution and colour depth. I believe that MTW only makes use of 16bit colour and not 24 or 32bit, so have the desktop the same is a good idea and eliminates any potential CTDs that mode switching may cause. You may be able to change back to whichever resolution you wish once you're sure this is not causing the problem.

    +I'm not sure AF would make a difference, though you should turn it off for now.
    Quote Originally Posted by icarus0626
    hi.. i'm new here and this is my first post.

    i'm getting quite desperate in finding a fix to that pesky CTD problem
    that i am on the verge of using the game CD as a frisbee to get my money's worth of enjoyment out of it..
    If you're going to use anything as a frisbee use that graphics card as one. Don't lose hope as yet. You should be able to get this working with some time and effort. If all else fails then I'd advise you to replace that card, with something not quite as unreliable and dated, though second hand, cheap and cheerful (not just yet though).
    Quote Originally Posted by icarus0626
    my first instinct was to download a patch. and i got one that's v1.1 but it still gives me the CTD. then i've read thru a bunch of forum threads (some even dating from 2002! you think they would've made a working patch by now ) 'coz i've already installed the patch.
    They have made a working patch, the problem is more so hardware/drivers, and less so the game itself. Patch 1.1 is the latest patch (unless you have VI) and is required.
    Quote Originally Posted by icarus0626
    got the newest drivers as stated in the readme file. (didn't work). went online and read something about "downgrading" the drivers, installing the directx that came with the cd, manually changing anti-aliasing 2x, fiddling around with the resolutions of both in-game and my pc, switching on/off the AGP acceleration, adjusting the virtual memory to system controlled, playing the game on MUTE, and THEN i followed the steps mentioned on this thread. but still nothing works.. i don't get it!!
    The newest drivers never seem to be the best, as far as MTW is concerned, and they're often never the best when older graphics cards are concerned. Those drivers are probably not the very latest Nvidia have to offer, but they probably include optimisations and functionality for Geforce4, FX and later cards that your card doesn't support. So you've often very little to gain from installing them except maybe compatibility with some newer games.

    Downgrading involves cleaning, and cleaning involves getting driver cleaner in order to clear off all of the old bits and pieces the previous driver leaves behind, to give you a completely fresh install.

    Leave the AGP acceleration off for now. You say you've downgraded to the DirectX version on the CD? I can't remember what version of DirectX was on the MTW CD but I'm sure VI came with DirectX 9.0(?) This pretty much means MTW 1.1 will also run on DirectX 9.0. I would advise you to stick with DirectX 9.0c for now and not downgrade DriectX.

    Quote Originally Posted by icarus0626
    i can play MTW single player campaign. but if i do certain stuff.. (ie: if i click on a certain unit or province on a certain given time.. i get a CTD) which is stupid. 'coz i can play the game just fine for several turns and i can get around some of those glitches as long as i reload the game and don't do the stuff that caused me to CTD for several turns in the first place so i can't see the logic of the drivers getting involved. 'coz if it is i wouldn't be able to play the single player campaign at all..
    Strangely enough I had this same problem and I have an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB AGP. If for example I went into a battle and returned and then clicked on a province: boom! CTD. I also had a strange corrupted icon along the bottom left had side of the screen. Installing older drivers fixed this and no more CTDs.
    Quote Originally Posted by icarus0626
    this CTD error is blatantly IN-GAME..
    i also read the error log and some threads that this line could be the problem.

    C:\Crusaders\main3d_1.cpp(1720) : DirectX call : DDERR_SURFACELOST
    I also had that error in my logs from the CTDs I was having. It is not a Direct3D problem but a DirectDraw one, this suggests drivers, or an incompatibility with the drivers, as the likely culprit. Some people have this error in their logs but don't experience crashes so it seems very platform specific as to whether it CTDs or not.
    Quote Originally Posted by icarus0626
    which is non-existent in my drive nor the two discs..
    is there a patch or fix or whatever to remove that? i also read that MTW was supposed to be called 'crusaders' and that this code was a bunch of leftover coding.
    Disregard it, that directory path is just an error message, it doesn't relate to your PC but a C++ source file in a folder on a developers' workstation. MTW was originally going to be called "Crusader: Total War", happily this was not to be.
    Quote Originally Posted by icarus0626
    i also read that it might be something to do with the safedisk copy protection something.. that gets buggy if you have a cd burning utility installed (yep, i tried uninstalling Nero but it still didn't work)
    Not related. The safedisk issue can cause the disc to be unrecogniseable in some disc drives and may be related to the Nero/Winice/softice debugger/Divx codec problem. If you have this problem the game won't even start. To be doubly sure of that add a text file called "skipcredits.txt" to the same folder as your "Medieval_TW.exe". The text file should be empty. This will cause the program to skip the into video and credits and go straight to the menu.

    Quote Originally Posted by icarus0626
    anyway.. i got so desperate that i tried installing cracks and no cd launchers to no avail.. so i've been scrying more threads and forums looking for a fix to the CTD problem, but i can't find any process that actually works 100% of the time.. (it's practically a hit or miss deal with everybody)
    Avoid the no cd stuff, as it can be corrupt and cause more ctds as well as potentially containing viruses and other malware. Personally I have two CD drives and the VI CD just stays in one of them permanently. That's a lot easier than trawling warez sites looking for dodgy no cd cracks.
    Quote Originally Posted by icarus0626
    so i ended up here and reread my post.. searched for the edit post button (couldn't find one) 'coz i forgot to put in my PC specs on my previous post.

    here goes:

    os: windows xp SP2
    processor: AMD Duron 1.1 ghz
    ram: 512mb
    videocard: Tornado GeForce4 MX440-8x 128mb
    You should be able to run the game with no problems, as I've said earlier it's your graphics card that is the problem. Searching the forums revealed others having similar problems with your card. Definitely get driver cleaner, and download the 44.03 driver. Uninstall your old Nvidia drivers from the control panel, do not restart, run driver cleaner and remove all nvidia related stuff, then restart. Remember to re-enable the 2x AA if necessary. If that driver fails, go to this page (near the bottom) and try all of the drivers in sequence earlier than 44.03 until you find one that works. Remember to run driver cleaner, clean off all of the Nvidia related stuff, and do a restart between each driver reinstall.

    Do you have any details on your motherboard?

    Do you understand how to enter the BIOS setup? If so you may want to decrease the AGP aperture to as small as possible and disable the AGP texture acceleration from dxdiag.
    Last edited by caravel; 05-03-2007 at 10:33.

  29. #29

    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    i can't believe my noodles!! it actually works!!
    you've just saved my soul!! i am so much into the worship of you..

    but now i'm thinking of getting a new vid card and scrapping the old one..
    *smash!!

    any suggestions? hopefully something i can use to play MTW2 and other modern games that needs pixel shaders, etc and at the same time run MTW..
    preferably something that can run MTW on a more recent driver... or something..

  30. #30
    Ja mata, TosaInu Forum Administrator edyzmedieval's Avatar
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    Default Re: Medieval Total War CTDs and Solutions

    HELP ME!!!

    Im really desperate. I'm getting a CTD when I enter the campaign. My settings:

    - unit size: HUGE
    - camp map resolution: 1152x8(something)
    - battlemap resolution: 1280x1024

    Intel Pentium IV 3.2
    512MB DDRII
    ATI RADEON X700 256MB

    Help me please. It's patched to 2.1
    Ja mata, TosaInu. You will forever be remembered.

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