The Daily Update at the Com

[Fisherking]

I just uploaded some drivers that came out after the game’s release, hoping it would fix the land battles not loading completely for me.

Well that was a huge mistake. Now I get auto shut downs telling me the system overheated. I can not tell that it did.

There is a game issue here some where. I have monitored the heat, fans, and so on and it does not seem due to excessive heat, but there is some conflict.

[Prussian to the Iron]

i must say, i believe it is your guys' computers that are the problems. i have installed it on 2 computers, a 2009 vista and an XP at least 4 years old, and i think its older. both have run it without problems, except for 1 that was resolved with the patches( and it wasnt even gamebreaking!)

perhaps you should check the specs of your computer and see if tey exceed the minimum requirements first, and then if they do, then odds are it is just not compatible with your computer, though it should be.

I have to say, im sick of people saying they hate this game because of bugs. odds are it is your computer, and thus your problem, not the softwares. judge the game based on the gameplay, not the bugs.

[Servius]

I really like the game, but have stopped playing until they squash the last vestige of the end-of-turn/agent/embark-disembark bug that causes a CTD you can't work around. The first patch cut down on the frequency a lot, but since then I've had 3 campaigns cut short because of it. I'm eagerly looking forward to the resolution of that problem since I really like the game.

[Barkhorn1x]

i must say, i believe it is your guys' computers that are the problems. i have installed it on 2 computers, a 2009 vista and an XP at least 4 years old, and i think its older. both have run it without problems, except for 1 that was resolved with the patches( and it wasnt even gamebreaking!)

perhaps you should check the specs of your computer and see if tey exceed the minimum requirements first, and then if they do, then odds are it is just not compatible with your computer, though it should be.

I have to say, im sick of people saying they hate this game because of bugs. odds are it is your computer, and thus your problem, not the softwares. judge the game based on the gameplay, not the bugs.

You seem like a good guy and I think you mean well so I will be delicate here.

1. I am happy that you can run ETW with no issues on two computers.
2. There are MANY MANY folks with very poweful rigs that cannot
3. I have continuing issues with sound and lag on the campaign map
4. None of these issues exist with other recent games I play that demand a high end rig (SHIV)
5. None of these issues exist with M2TW
6. The common denominator here is ETW and it is a buggy mess in its present incarnation

Your milage may vary - and good for you - but you cannot simply wish these issues away by blaming them on gamers pc's.

[Grumfoss]

I just uploaded some drivers that came out after the game’s release, hoping it would fix the land battles not loading completely for me.

Well that was a huge mistake. Now I get auto shut downs telling me the system overheated. I can not tell that it did.

There is a game issue here some where. I have monitored the heat, fans, and so on and it does not seem due to excessive heat, but there is some conflict.

What drivers did you update or was it a bios change?

If you roll back the driver does the problem go away or does it remain?

If it remains it looks like a hardware fault - probably processor fan - you probably wouldn't notice a problem when the computer is idling, but when you put it under pressure (i.e. running a game) the temps will skyrocket - very quickly.

If the problem goes away then it was a driver issue.

Just out of curiosity what program are you using to monitor the temps.? - I would recommend using speedfan.

[Fisherking]

What drivers did you update or was it a bios change?

If you roll back the driver does the problem go away or does it remain?

If it remains it looks like a hardware fault - probably processor fan - you probably wouldn't notice a problem when the computer is idling, but when you put it under pressure (i.e. running a game) the temps will skyrocket - very quickly.

If the problem goes away then it was a driver issue.

Just out of curiosity what program are you using to monitor the temps.? - I would recommend using speedfan.

The temps don’t skyrocket! I am using speed fan, though with my board I can’t control the fans it seems.

I updated the video drivers and a bios change.

I may be stupid but with vista I don’t know how to roll back the drivers. It is also compounded by the fact my computer is in German and it is tough to figure out what is what.

[Prussian to the Iron]

thats weird....noe of the computers im using for it is a vista too, and it works fine.

if your computer is german, are you running the german version? that may be the problem.

[TB666]

April 16th

April 16th

We've had an interesting week so far. I've just come away from a meeting on the multiplayer campaign beta and things are progressing well.

Naturally the patches remain our focus, but the multiplayer beta is also being worked on. Please don't be confused with the gameplay upgrade currently in beta testing, these are two different things and the multiplayer beta is set for a later release.

For those that are interested Sensei and I spent Easter weekend in France presenting to the excellent LAN event in Poitiers. There were about 1000+ French fans there, playing loads of different games, we made an appearence at the opening ceremony and gave an update on what we were doing with increased threading and i7 support for Empire in the near future.

It's too early to put dates or numbers on things at the moment but some of the early work is yielding impressive performance gains...

Thanks again to everyone for tuning in and reading these, hopefully they give some insight into our day to day work. Right now, patches and the gameplay upgrade are our biggest focus.

[Fisherking]

thats weird....noe of the computers im using for it is a vista too, and it works fine.

if your computer is german, are you running the german version? that may be the problem.

The version I am running came from the UK but you can load it in any of a dozen or so languages.

It is loaded in English, however.

There also seems to be more stuff using up RAM when the system is idle since the updates. RAM is a problem with vista, though I have never run out yet, so far as I know.

As I said, I was looking for a solution to the Land Battles not loading properly. It is simply the way the game is behaving on my system. I am guessing it is a problem with the video drivers or the bios change, most likely the video drivers.

But I have gone from being able to play the game using mostly auto resolves for land battles (the naval worked perfectly) to not being able to play at all.

Frustrating!

[Slaists]

The version I am running came from the UK but you can load it in any of a dozen or so languages.

It is loaded in English, however.

There also seems to be more stuff using up RAM when the system is idle since the updates. RAM is a problem with vista, though I have never run out yet, so far as I know.

As I said, I was looking for a solution to the Land Battles not loading properly. It is simply the way the game is behaving on my system. I am guessing it is a problem with the video drivers or the bios change, most likely the video drivers.

But I have gone from being able to play the game using mostly auto resolves for land battles (the naval worked perfectly) to not being able to play at all.

Frustrating!

I have not witnessed RAM problems (so far), but I have had a couple 'out of video memory' crashes. Rebooting the PC and reloading the game all worked fine in those instances. I guess, there is some 'memory leak' problems present.

[Barkhorn1x]

I have not witnessed RAM problems (so far), but I have had a couple 'out of video memory' crashes. Rebooting the PC and reloading the game all worked fine in those instances. I guess, there is some 'memory leak' problems present.

Go to this link and apply this fix. It will solve your particular issue.


http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=238484

[Forward Observer]

I have not witnessed RAM problems (so far), but I have had a couple 'out of video memory' crashes. Rebooting the PC and reloading the game all worked fine in those instances. I guess, there is some 'memory leak' problems present.

There is an explanation of the issue and a 3rd party fix for the "out of video memory" crashes. I've not had a one since I applied this process. It is a two step process for any system other than Windows Vista 64 bit, but everything is explained.

Here is a link:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=238484

If one uses this small mod you will probably have to re-apply it after any patches or updates since the modded file usually gets replaced with each update--although I believe that developers are aware of the fix and may simply incorportate it in future updates.

I may be stupid but with vista I don’t know how to roll back the drivers. It is also compounded by the fact my computer is in German and it is tough to figure out what is what.

The term "rolling back" drivers is a bit of a misleading term if one is not familiar with the process. All it really means is removing the present drivers with the uninstall feature in the control panel and installing an earlier driver release. Driver releases are numbered just like patch files are. If one goes to the manufacturer's site (ATI or NVidia) they will have files not only for the latest release, but also earlier versions.

Two new Nvidia driver versions were issued while Empire was in it release process, so the game was never tested with the latests releases. By rolling back to a previous driver, I eliminated all of my CTD's with the exception of the ones related to GPU memory. However, I believe subsequent game updates by the developer eliminated the need to do this.

There is a recommended process for changing out drivers that many people do not follow and this can lead to GPU issues and conflicts. Many people simply download and run the latest GPU drivers over their current ones. While the the NVidia and ATI driver installation programs are supposed to be designed for this, it can lead to problems because old driver data and in particular registry settings do not always get removed. This can cause conficts which in turn results in graphics related issues--especially for games which are the most intensive use of your GPU's 3D resources in the first place.

Check the FAQ for the process at the manufacturer's site and copy and paste it to a file in your system so you wll alway have it for reference. Most tech experts also recommend that one should use a driver cleaner program after removing current drivers. This requires one to reboot into safe mode before installing the new drivers to run the cleaning program.

Here is a link to the one used by everybody who bothers to perform this operation.

http://www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/


I save all the GPU drivers that I download to a file berfore I run them, and usually maintain at least the current and maybe 2 or 3 previous driver downloads. That way I have my own small library of 3 or 4 drivers to choose from.

It is a bit more involved process to update drivers this way, but most experts indicate it will definitely prevent a lot of the GPU related woes that many people seem to have.

[antisocialmunky]

The version I am running came from the UK but you can load it in any of a dozen or so languages.

It is loaded in English, however.

There also seems to be more stuff using up RAM when the system is idle since the updates. RAM is a problem with vista, though I have never run out yet, so far as I know.

As I said, I was looking for a solution to the Land Battles not loading properly. It is simply the way the game is behaving on my system. I am guessing it is a problem with the video drivers or the bios change, most likely the video drivers.

But I have gone from being able to play the game using mostly auto resolves for land battles (the naval worked perfectly) to not being able to play at all.

Frustrating!

Might be voltage settings in the bios but I strongly advise you to not mess with any hardware options in the bios. You might go and try to find a temperature shutdown value in there and set it higher.

If you want to do a rollback or look for more specific hardware help: www.hardforum.com is always a good place to goto.

[Monsieur Alphonse]

Today from Kieran

April 17th

Today we addressed several savegame issues, and also tweaked some of the unit balancing.
We've also corrected the bug whereby reinforcements entered the battlefield from the wrong direction.

There's ongoing work on the major gameplay upgrade which incorporates all of these updates and many, many more.

Apologies for the short update today, just wanted to give you a quick overview of major issues, back to the grindstone!

Kind regards,
Kieran

P.S: Just as a reminder, although there will be work going on over the weekend, there likely won't be another update until Monday.