Thanks for the welcome! Hope it helps others as I could find no solution elsewhere after much searching.

I should mention that I also had to disable AI in the Catalyst Control Center for the HD 4870 X2 or else I was getting a split screen effect. I also used the "button fix" with Medieval Total War to get around the well known CTD issue. I have a son that should be thanked for this"fix" though as he is obsessed with the games and prefers the ages played out in the early ones. He tortur... erm implored me to make it work.