Prompted by the many seemingly corrupt installs, I've created a program to check whether your RTW/EB is like my own, which works on my computer. It's automatically installed along with EB, and you'll find it in your RTW directory. Run the validateInstall batch file. You'll need java runtime installed though.
Let me know hereifwhen you find a problem with this program. DO NOT post the results of your scan here, do that in your own help thread.
There are a number of different things people have done to make their troublesome installations work. I suggest that if your installation does not work, that you try all of these. Please copy this checklist into your help thread when you create it, marking the ones you've tried so far.
_ Using a nocd crack? Your game won't work, use the original executable instead. There is no point in trying the rest of the list until you install a fresh, clean 1.5 RTW.
_ The validation turns up with a blank Notepad document on Vista? Try to get this altered validation which stores the results directly on the C: disk, where it should be allowed by Vista. You need to unpack it in the RTW folder where you installed EB.
_ Running Windows 7? Take a look at a good thread with problems and solutions found by those who went before you.
_ Missing a file called MSS32.DLL, or the game complains about 3D audio or the sound database? Get this file and put it in your RTW folder.
_ Install RTW and EB once again, from scratch
_ Install using 7-zip rather than installer
_Download a map.rwm file and place it in eb/data/world/maps/base (requires both the disaster and Oppida permanent fixes)
_ Add -nm to the shortcut. This disables movies. Using an NVidia 8xxx graphics card? No movies for you, you will probably HAVE to add this switch. If you have installed the Trivial Script, you will not have to change the shortcut, but rather just tick the box that disables movies.
_ Add -ne to the shortcut (and in combination with -nm too). This makes the game windowed. No idea why this would work, but in one case it did.
_ Delete some interfering files that Vista hides in its bowels. These are reported to be in C:\Users\<your username>\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Totalwar, at least in one instance where it helped.
_ For Vista users, install RTW and EB in a folder outside of "program files". This means changing the default location! You can also try to simply move the RTW installation, but you may be missing some files, so installation is the safest bet.
_ Run the validation tool to diagnose the problem
_ Install the fixes linked in my sig.
_Extract this archive into your <RTW>/EB/Data folder. It will disable the Greek voicemod, but has proven to make the mod work for at least one user (a very patient one at that).
_ Add more swap space in Windows, and other technical measures you can take
_ Using RTW Gold, or an installation otherwise including Barbarian Invasion or Alexander? Try to uninstall everything and install RTW without BI and Alex (remember to patch it to 1.5 if installing from the non-gold RTW disc set).
_ Got an ATI Radeon X700 graphics card? Apparently some setting called "Support DXT textures format" is creating problems. Try to change this setting for the driver called "Support DXT textures format". Try it if you've got any ATI card, really.
_ Try to upgrade your graphics drivers. If it still doesn't work, try to downgrade them.
_ For ATI graphics cards: I'm currently using 6-10_xp-2k_dd_36790.exe as my driver, and have no problems. Downgrading to this has helped at least one other person to get EB to work. Another reports that ATI Catalyst 9.3 fixes his issues.
_ Using Nero Burning ROM? This interferes with RTW. You need to either uninstall (which is easiest) or find and rename Nero's NeVideo.ax and NeAudio.ax files.
_ Check that vanilla RTW works (before or after installing EB). If it doesn't, your problem is not with EB.
_ Validation tool says that you are missing patch_1.pak (or something similar)? Get this file and extract it in <RTW>/data/packs.
_ Try to copy the settings found here into both <RTW>/EB/preferences/player.txt and <RTW>/EB/preferences/preferences.txt.
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