Installation of Darthmod Empire leading to both Empire and Napoleon becoming unplayable, even after disc reinstall.

[DevrimJan]

So I hadn't played Empire Total War in over a year, and felt like getting back to it. I decided to install the latest version of Darthmod as that is what I used to play with. I installed it, but after starting up a battle I experienced massive lag upon ending deployment and scrolling towards the enemy, even with very few units on the map. I knew it wasn't a hardware problem, as I used to be able to play Darthmod very well before my Empire hiatus. So I decided to disable Darthmod and instead play with Empire Total Factions. However, after starting up the game normally any attempt at starting a battle or campaign would end in CTD. So I decided to clear my Empire installation by deleting both DME and ETF. Still, the same problem persisted. I decided that Empire just isn't worth it and so tried to play some NTW (which I had just played the day before). Just to be clear, NTW was pretty clean, all I had installed in regards to mods was NTF and the Ottoman Mod, and these had never given me problems. However, the same problem would happen with Napoleon, even though I had not altered anything in Napoleon's installation since the day before, when I last played it. I decided to reinstall both games from the disc. So I uninstalled all mods, deleted local content and reinstalled. Attempted to play both games in their unaltered state to see if the problem had been resolved. It had not. So I deleted local content again, manually went through my files and deleted everything that had to do with them in my C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common and C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Roaming\The Creative Assembly folders. I then reinstalled Empire, again with the disc. Once done, I check if the problem has been resolved, but yet again the same problem persists. I'm quite distressed now, as I fear my games have been left completely unplayable. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[irishron]

Do you have anything going on in the background like a antivirus scan maybe unknown to you?

Try updating all your computer's drivers?

Check your temps and voltages in case something hardware may have tanked overnight?

[DevrimJan]

1. My Antivirus software licence has actually expired and needs to be renewed, so it's not that.
2. Thing is I was able to play Darthmod just a few minutes before these problems surfaced.
3. See point 2.

I have also tried starting up Shogun 2 to see if that has been affected as well, and now it won't get past the loading screen. I also have Team Fortress 2, and that seems to be working well, so something must have happened to my Total War games.

[irishron]

A free version of Malwarebytes to run a scan could possibly be in order.
A program like Speedfan to check your voltages and temps. PC Wizard and HWMonitor are good, too. MSI Afterburner for the graphics card.
Chkdsk is good for checking the harddrive.
Memtest is good for checking your ram.

Clean the case if not done recently.
Run Disk Cleanup and do a deep, optimized defrag.
Run Windows Update manually and install all software options but Bing and Malware Removal Tool.

Sound like a Tech person, yet? I just did a quick scan with Malwarebytes and it found one of those optional installers that 7zip installed with itself trying to sell me things I don't need.

I'm thinking you either got hit with a virus (Trojan perhaps? rootkit?) or you have something on the way out hardwarewise. It's too sudden for much else.

[DevrimJan]

Here is attached a screenshot from SpeedFan.

[irishron]

The 12v rail is running high. The best is within 5% or 12.6v max and figuring 2 rails, you're pulling 13.2v.
The 5v rail of which runs the fans and other sundry items is not even showing up or is the aVcc of which is barely showing up.

Run PC Wizard and compare the two.

[DevrimJan]

In English amigo? I speak very little computerish.

[DevrimJan]

Here is what I got.

[DevrimJan]

By God, after installing the Windows updates it seems to have been solved. Thanks Irishron, you're always there when the community needs you.

[irishron]

Good to hear it now works.

A word of caution, keep an eye out. The 3.3v and 5v rails are fine. The 12v rails are using too much power and may eventually hurt the graphics card. Not to worry but be aware.

[DevrimJan]

What can be done to help alleviate the situation?