The Daily Update at the Com

[Smellycat]

Well it could all have been avoided if they tested the game properly before release but i guess they figured out "Since everyone has to use Steam anyways we'll release now and patch later". To me the whole process is like locking the barn door after the horse been stolen. On top of that they had the nerve to charge extra for units in a game they were fully aware was not finished. Hell even the extra units are not finished, my Ottoman Organ Gun disappears when i zoom out. So you could say I don't share the enthusiasm since NO DATE was given and no real details on improved/fixed AI except for making my units more expensive which is laughable

[nafod]

Lucky you!

When I played as UP I lost two stacks against a bit more than a stack of Prussians. I don’t know if they were just teched up higher than me or what but it was more like superman vs. the homeless. And believe me there didn’t need to be more penalties on top of that one. It was more than bad enough!

I'd imagine the Prussians could be tough. Especially since they start with bayonets....seems to take ages for everyone else to even research plugs.

But I only play Russia, Prussia and the Ottomans. So I've never faced the Prussians:)

[Monsieur Alphonse]

Jack today april 15th.

Another short update today, it will cover an interesting issue that was reported during recent beta testing of the next patch.

The mod, it does not work!?!?!?1

A change that was made in the patch (addition of a seperate late multiplayer cost for units) broke mods that edited unit costs as the mods did not contain this new value. They would crash on loading the game. Now not wanting to leave people who play some of the more popular mods with a game that doesn't load for reasons they would not understand, we are adding support to the game so that mods without the new field in them will still work once the patch is released.

Though modders, I would advise you to take advantage of the new field once the next patch is out.

So...beta update?

The foruth and version of the next patch will be done soon and will enter testing.

There will be a changelist posted closer to the release of the patch.

[Veresov]

Empire is total unstable for me and the last series of 'patches' actually made things worse. Support has been about releasing a broken game and beta testing it on my dime. I am not optimistic about this patch and my patience is wearing thin.

[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.

[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 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.

[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.

[TinCow]

Good to know that development is continuing on the multiplayer patch. I'm very eager to try that out.

[Barkhorn1x]

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.

That "modded file" is the Empire.EXE and it will have to be modified after each patch (if that includes a new .EXE) until CA provides one that is set to accomodate memory beyond the set limit. They have promised to do so at some point. Of course, all will have to modify their boot string for this to work per the instructions in the link - but this need be done only once and then you get a choice of how to boot your PC.

[Forward Observer]

That "modded file" is the Empire.EXE and it will have to be modified after each patch (if that includes a new .EXE) until CA provides one that is set to accomodate memory beyond the set limit. They have promised to do so at some point. Of course, all will have to modify their boot string for this to work per the instructions in the link - but this need be done only once and then you get a choice of how to boot your PC.

This is true unless one is using Vista 64 bit, which luckily I am. All one has to do with Vista 64 bit is perform the second step in the process with mod installer to add the corrected line to the executable.

Cheers

[Dradem]

Problem: I hope Naval invasions by the Ai doesn't mean the Pirates will be nerfed at turn 5...

Maybe the Pirates will take all the small Islands in the Americas, and will be a lot harder to take down

[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.

[anweRU]

We've also corrected the bug whereby reinforcements entered the battlefield from the wrong direction.

If that is for real, then fighting manual battles with multiple stacks will be fun again!

[Slaists]

Thanks, will check it out.

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.



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.

[Rufus]

Have they said whether the major gameplay fix will invalidate previous saved games, since the AI and unit balance, etc. will be different? If so, I don't really want to start a new campaign just to have to abandon it when the patch comes out.

[Phog_of_War]

If I recall correctly, the updates will not patch your saved games. I recomend you finish those games (if you can) ASAP, and start fresh when the patch is released.

[Servius]

I wish Kieran would say a little bit about progress on squashing the last of the unit-related CTD bugs. That's the single most important issue for me right now, since I haven't been able to complete a single campaign yet because of it, and I no longer want to start new ones because it's too frustrating to put all that time into building an empire to just get cut short, and never knowing if the next time you hit the End Turn button will be the end of that campaign.

I've tried to rotate about 4 different save files to revert to when the bug appears, but that doesn't stop the bug from appearing again. I've also tried to isolate the bugged unit (it seems to start with General units), but it seems to quickly spread after the first bugged unit appears and eventually, one shows up in an AI faction and the CTD triggers when the AI is taking all of it's turns.

[Barkhorn1x]

What bug is the Unit Bug and how does it manifest itself?

[Servius]

I guess it has a lot of names. It's the one that, when you click on a particular unit or agent, or try to move it, or embark/disembark it, the game CTDs. You can try to ignore the unit. For example, if it's in an army stack, through trial and error you can eventually isolate the cursed unit. Once you've indentified which one it is, you can move all other units out of the stack and keep playing the game, so long as you just don't touch the cursed unit again.

This bug gets unavoidable when one of the AI nations gets a cursed unit. When that happens, the game will crash when that particular AI nation's flag appears at the top of the screen when all the AI nations are taking their turn.

[AussieGiant]

That's what has just happened to me I think. The AI's turn just craps out at a certain point in 1740 every time I've tried to end turn.