The M2TW hardware thread: please post all hardware queries here

[irishron2004]

Nothing overclocked.
Graphics settings default.
Game graphic settings default.
Nothing tweaked.

[TinCow]

irishron2004: I agree that this looks like a hardware problem. However, those usually end up being solved with money, so you should try one last thing to make sure it's not a driver or software problem: format. I know it's a pain in the butt, but if you really want to make sure it's a hardware problem of some kind, you need to wipe the drive, install a fresh OS, install fresh video drivers, and then install a vanilla copy of M2TW. If the problem continues to occur after that, I would conclude that it is a hardware problem. The next steps would be running various tests to determine which hardware is the problem.

Also, try posting your problems in our tech forum, the Apothecary. It's far more likely that knowledgeable techies will see your posts there than in this thread.

[irishron2004]

I appreciate everybody's concern about it being hardware but here is the real answer: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=96757. Read this and find out what I did the hard way.

[Punicus]

Hello all,

I was just wondering if this card that I'm buying will be able to run M2TW on medium settings. I doubt it will be able to work on high settings but I'm hoping for something. By the way, my system has 1 GB of RAM, I think that's enough. If you need any other specs, let me know and I'll get them. But anyways, here's the card:

Link

Thanks for any help in advance.

[zor]

Hi all. Could someone please help me with what graphics settings are best to get a balance of performance and quality?

Right now I have Anti-Aliasing off, Anisoptric filtering set to 2x and all other settings set to one less than the highest possible (except for building detail which is set to high). O, and I have vertical sync on and widescreen checked and the resolution set to 1920x1080. O and I have it on Shadow 2 with shadow quality set to medium.

I'm using an Intel dual core 2.2 GHz on Vista with 2GB of RAM and an 8500 GT (512MB dedicated with additional shared).

The game is playable but I'd like to know which setting(s) are most problematic in terms of performance. I don't want to use a different resolution however if at all possible.

Thank you so much, in advance.

[zor]

I forgot to add that if there's any settings which can be increased with negligible performance loss, please tell. Thanks again.

[Monsieur Alphonse]

Turn vertical sync off. It slows down the game.

[Prince Bondus]

Hi guys, recently got a laptop to take to university in September, but I really know nothing about computers, so I was wondering if anyone could tell me whether I'll be able to play M2:TW on it? I hope these are the right details:

System Model: Inspiron 1520
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS Plus Version 1.10 A02
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T5250 @1.50 Ghz (2 cpus)
Memory: 1014 MB RAM

Name: Mobile Intel 965 Express Chipset family
Manufacturer: Intel
Chip type: Mobile Intel 965 Express Chipset family
DAC type: Internal
Total Memory: 251 MB
Display Mode: 1280 x 800 32bit 61Hz

Sorry if these are the wrong details. Cheers guys!

[FactionHeir]

Hmmm Your processor and RAM should be sufficient to meet the minimum reqs, but your graphics card may be pushing it.
I think you may just be able to run it at absolute minimum settings, though I cannot say that for certain. All I do know is that the Mobile Intel chips are bottom rung.

[palatinus178]

Hi everyone,

I'm playing M2TW: Gold on a laptop. a Dell Inspiron 1420 to be exact. Despite how many people have said that laptop can't play it, I managed to play it quite smoothly. However, during large battles, i have to turn down all settings to low..lol.

My laptop comes with a Intel 965 express chipset (i dunnno what that means) and I very very dumb with computers, I only use them for Uni/gaming (without the specs+research+upgrade part). What is a difference with all these graphics cards and the ones I have (Intel 965)?

Can i upgrade my laptop to a Nvidia or whatever that will enable to crank up my settings higher lil bit?
Any recommendations on improving my performance with M2TW? I'm obviously a newbie at computer specs/tech/info, so any suggestions?

Thanks for any reply.

[JCoyote]

Can i upgrade my laptop to a Nvidia or whatever that will enable to crank up my settings higher lil bit?

Generally speaking, with a laptop that has built-in graphics like that, no. The graphics are not upgradable usually, at least to anything that would improve performance.

[palatinus178]

Generally speaking, with a laptop that has built-in graphics like that, no. The graphics are not upgradable usually, at least to anything that would improve performance.

Hmm, so I cant do anything to make my gaming experience better? that hurts..

[Theodotos I]

My situation is this: prices on MTW2: Gold Edition have finally on dropped to the place where I’m willing to buy. However, I have an old computer. More specifically, a 1Ghz Dell with 512mb of RAM and an 128mb video card. If I move all the settings down to their lowest level, would this be enough to play MTW2 and Kingdoms? Or does anyone even have experience with MTW2 on such an old computer? Would appreciate any advice I might receive. Thanks ahead.

[irishron2004]

My situation is this: prices on MTW2: Gold Edition have finally on dropped to the place where I’m willing to buy. However, I have an old computer. More specifically, a 1Ghz Dell with 512mb of RAM and an 128mb video card. If I move all the settings down to their lowest level, would this be enough to play MTW2 and Kingdoms? Or does anyone even have experience with MTW2 on such an old computer? Would appreciate any advice I might receive. Thanks ahead.

Unless one of the geeks can prove me wrong the answer is no.

[cassu]

it should be able to run it, i have only a bit better comp and it runs with medium settings but remember to change the settings in main menu and not in game (the shadows and such are in main menu)

[Theodotos I]

Thank you very much. I may try that.

[Amir al Amin]

Hi, I don't know whether this is the appopriate thread to ask about this or not(because it might need modding) but I have a problem.

I play this game on a laptop which is not particularly high-end to say the least.
I have low FPS rates at battles, but FactionHeir's tuturial helped make make battles bearable. (yeah.. thanks for that FactionHeir )

I would appreciate any further advice to make battles go smoother.
But now I need to tackle the next problem which is the Campaign Map. I don't know why but the units move very slowly on the map and scrolling around the map is also kinda slow to an annoying degree.

How would I be able to make the Campaign game run more fast-paced and smooth?

[FactionHeir]

Campaign map is a tough one. Its really the heights (mountain peaks) and moving trees which slow it down a lot. To fix that, you need to modify the cas animation files, though I'm not sure how much exactly this will help, but every little should I suppose.
For the program to work on cas files, you want to be contacting KnightErrant as I hear he has released a new version of that tool since I last worked on it.

[Amir al Amin]

oh well.. I don't have ANY experience with modding or with animations
So if there is nothing else to do I guess I'll have to live with it
Do you know a way to scroll faster at the campaign map?

[FactionHeir]

Not outside of increasing scrolling speed, but that will lag depending on your hardware.

[Amir al Amin]

I see..

Well the road ends here I guess thanks a bunch FactionHeir

I'll be looking forward to your future ideas for increasing performance

[cassu]

do you have the shadows off from the campagin map? i have a low end laptop and it runs it pretty well, only problems are northern italy and around the holy lands (map lagging that is). check in the main menu in the options to put the graphics lower and especially shadows because the cause to most lag for me. i put the graphics on a acceptable level and it runs pretty nicely for a laptop and remember to check for any processes that would hog alot of memory (windows vista hogs a lot of memory so it woad probably run better in XP).

[Amir al Amin]

Yeah I have shadows off and everything is at it's lowest.

My problem is indeed Vista, its screws everything up

nothing I can do abt it though, cause I won't be installing XP on this machine anytime soon..

[Charles the hammer]

Im having problems in that i meet the minimum requirements but cant seem to run lag free even with everything on low and i was wonderin what could be the problem. Im dont know much about computers so could someone please help!!!

[Classics]

Hi, new to the forum (and forums in general)

I'm having trouble running MTW2, the game plays for 30 seconds tops then crashes and my computer restarts. I know next to nothing about computers so any help will be greatly appreciated.

My computer specs

O/S - Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600)
Language - English (regional setting English)
Sys Manufact- Intel
Sys model – DG31PR
BIOS- ver: 08.00.10
Processor – Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU E2180 @ 2.00GHz (2CPUs)
Memory – 2044MB RAM
Page file – 231MB used, 3705MB available
DirectX version – DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DxDiag 5.03.2600.5512 Unicode

Name – NVIDIA GeForce 8400GS
Manufacturer – NVIDIA
Chip type - GeForce 8400GS
DAC Type – Integrated RAMDAC
Approx total memory – 512.0 MB
Current display mode – 1024x768 (32bit) (75Hz)
Plug and play monitor

Cheers

[retep219]

I do not actually own M2TW, but I was wondering if the following desktop computer could play it:

1.7 GHz Pentium IV
512 MB of RAM
Nvidia Geforce 6200
Windows XP Professional

I play RTW perfectly on max graphics settings.

Anyways:

Can I play M2TW?
How bad will the graphics have to be if I can?

[FactionHeir]

Hmmm I'd say you'd get major campaign map lag and can't fight huge city/citadel type battles without using low-spec mods.
I used to play it on my P4 2.8 512 and GF 5600 and it was just like that. Yours may be a bit worse I think.

[retep219]

Don't worry...I'm used to it. Played RTW on something like a 800 MHz computer once with a video card that was outdated when the PC was new...

[Critical Bill]

Hi All

According to systemrequirementslab, I can't run Medieval as my system doesn't support pixel shader 1.1. However it says the same thing about Rome, and I can run that just fine.

Is anyone running this without pixel shader?

I've run dxdiag:

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 11/24/2008, 19:19:19
Machine name: HOME
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.070227-2254)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: VIA
System Model: K7VT4A+
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: AMD Sempron(tm) 2600+, MMX, 3DNow, ~1.8GHz
Memory: 512MB RAM
Page File: 246MB used, 1003MB 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

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
DirectX Files Tab: No problems found.
Display Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 2: No problems found.
Music Tab: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.
Network Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D: 0/4 (n/a)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce4 MX 4000
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0185&SUBSYS_81531043&REV_A4
Display Memory: 128.0 MB
Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Hansol Mazellan15ax
Monitor Max Res: 1024,768
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.9371 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 10/22/2006 11:22:00, 4527488 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
VDD: n/a
Mini VDD: nv4_mini.sys
Mini VDD Date: 10/22/2006 11:22:00, 3994624 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-42C5-11CF-6857-59A105C2CB35}
Vendor ID: 0x10DE
Device ID: 0x0185
SubSys ID: 0x81531043
Revision ID: 0x00A4
Revision ID: 0x00A4
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_B ModeMPEG2_C ModeMPEG2_D
Deinterlace Caps: {212DC723-3235-44A4-BD29-E1652BBCC71C}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_MedianFiltering
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(YUY2,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
{212DC723-3235-44A4-BD29-E1652BBCC71C}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,1) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_MedianFiltering
{335AA36E-7884-43A4-9C91-7F87FAF3E37E}: Format(In/Out)=(NV12,0x3231564e) Frames(Prev/Fwd/Back)=(0,0,0) Caps=VideoProcess_YUV2RGB VideoProcess_StretchX VideoProcess_StretchY DeinterlaceTech_BOBVerticalStretch
Registry: OK
DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled
DDraw Test Result: Not run
D3D7 Test Result: Not run
D3D8 Test Result: Not run
D3D9 Test Result: Not run

-------------
Sound Devices
-------------
Description: C-Media Wave Device
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3059&SUBSYS_97611849&REV_50
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: cmuda.sys
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.0049 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Debug
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
Date and Size: 5/12/2005 13:21:08, 1332544 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: C-Media Inc.
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: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: Yes, Yes
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: Yes, Yes
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): Yes
Registry: OK
Sound Test Result: Not run

Description: Modem #1 Line Playback (emulated)
Default Sound Playback: No
Default Voice Playback: No
Hardware ID:
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 81
Type: Emulated
Driver Name:
Driver Version:
Driver Attributes:
WHQL Logo'd:
Date and Size:
Other Files:
Driver Provider:
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: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No
Registry: OK
Sound Test Result: Not run

---------------------
Sound Capture Devices
---------------------
Description: C-Media Wave Device
Default Sound Capture: Yes
Default Voice Capture: Yes
Driver Name: cmuda.sys
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.0049 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Debug
Date and Size: 5/12/2005 13:21:08, 1332544 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x0
Format Flags: 0x0

Description: Modem #1 Line Record (emulated)
Default Sound Capture: No
Default Voice Capture: No
Driver Name:
Driver Version:
Driver Attributes:
Date and Size:
Cap Flags: 0x0
Format Flags: 0x0

Thanks in advance

[TevashSzat]

I don't really know regarding the pixel shaders question, but from the specs of the NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000, it would be a strech at best.

If it actually does run, expect to run it at lowest resolution with lowest graphics settings at the lowest unit size. Even then, there may be lots of lag. I don't know about, you, but that would really destroy the experience of the game with me

Also, that card's like 5 years old which is like 50 years old in everything else time.....M2TW is just 2 years old so yeah...