[Updated] Making RTW or RTW:Gold work on windows10 - FIX

[Skizzy]

You could always activate your CDkey on Steam and make it work that way on the W10 machine.
But as you said you wanted a Steamless solution.
So that would involve tricking your pc into thinking the secdrv.sys issue is no longer an issue.
You might want to try out the solution posted by "Frunk" about 3 posts above yours in this same thread (June 08, 2016, 05:14 PM).

As per the "edit post" function, you sort of unlock that after a certain amount of posts.

[Calypze]

I have had this problem for a while, and thought it would be good to get something done about it. I don't know what's the cause of it. It used to start perfectly fine.

When I try to start it, nothing happens. I have this problem with some other games as well, but not all (not Medieval II for example).

I have Windows 7 Home Premium, 64 bit (this computer is about 4 years old).

[Frunk]

Hi Calypze, it's very likely you are experiencing the SafeDisc issue, which is caused by a security update for Windows operating systems. Please check my thread for some solutions.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...otal-War-games

Also, Skizzy has written a thread which may be more specific to Rome.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...-windows10-FIX

[Flinn]

PPS.... I just checked my files and we actually had patched the game to 1.5. Not sure if it makes a difference. No Steam.
PPPS... Why isn't there an edit option on this forum?

you cannot edit your posts unless you have been a registered member for at least 1 week AND have already posted at least 25 times

also, merged here the post from Calypze and Frunk's suggestions

[Skizzy]

Did my fix help you guys out or not?
Not seeing any additional posts here so I guess it helped.

Would like to know if you still encounter problems so I can specify/adjust my fix to a broader audience.

[danny1988]

so, so lost. i added the -ne and none work, where do i get the preferences file?

[Skizzy]

As I wrote on page 3 of this thread, May 17, 2016, 10:35 AM:

The preferences.txt file should be located here:
..\Rome Total War Gold\preferences\preferences.txt
For BI it should be here:
..\Rome Total War Gold\bi\preferences\preferences.txt
For Alex. it should be here:
..\Rome Total War Alexander\alexander\preferences\preferences.txt


The first folders may vary based on your disc version of the game and how you installed the game (the "Rome Total War Gold" and "Rome Total War Alexander" ones).
However, the .txt files will only be created if you succesfully started the game at least once.
If you have a new install, you obviously haven't been able to start the game succesfully yet, and therefor you should create the preferences.txt file yourself.
Just create a .txt file called "preferences.txt" and put this in it to start out with and save the file:


NOTE: The part I put in bold text below, is what you should edit to match your own specs, according to my guide on the first page of this thread.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

SAFE_REFRESH:TRUE
USE_TRIPLE_BUFFER:TRUE
USE_WIDESCREEN:TRUE
SUBTITLES:TRUE
MORALE:TRUE
FATIGUE:TRUE
LIMITED_AMMO:TRUE
SUPPLY:TRUE
FOG_OF_WAR:TRUE
RESTRICT_CAMERA:FALSE
DEFAULT_BATTLE_CAMERA:RTS
EVENT_CUTSCENES:TRUE
SMOKE:TRUE
DESYNC:TRUE
SPLASHES:TRUE
GLINTS:FALSE
REFLECTIONS:FALSE
SHADOWS:TRUE
VEGETATION:TRUE
DETAILED_UNIT_SHADOWS:TRUE
GLOSS_MAPPING:TRUE
STENCIL_SHADOWS:TRUE
MULTI_TEXTURE:TRUE
AUTO_SAVE:TRUE
SHOW_BANNERS:TRUE
UNIT_EXPERIENCE_UPGRADE_EFFECT:TRUE
UNIT_SIZE:80
MASTER_VOL:100
SPEECH_VOL:100
SFX_VOL:100
MUSIC_VOL:70
CAMERA_ROTATE:50
CAMERA_MOVE:50
CAMERA_FOV:75.000000
ENABLE_AUDIO:TRUE
ENABLE_MUSIC:TRUE
ENABLE_UNIT_SPEECH:TRUE
DISABLE_BACKGROUND_FMV:FALSE
DISABLE_ARROW_MARKERS:FALSE
AUDIO_3D_PROVIDER:Miles Fast 2D Positional Audio
CLOUD_TRANSITIONS:TRUE
GRASS_DISTANCE:50
AA_QUALITY:AA_HIGH
STRATEGY_RESOLUTION:1440x900
STRATEGY_MAX_RESOLUTION:2048x1536
STRATEGY_32_BIT:TRUE
BATTLE_RESOLUTION:1440x900
BATTLE_MAX_RESOLUTION:2048x1536
BATTLE_32_BIT:TRUE
UNIT_DETAIL:HIGH
BUILDING_DETAIL:HIGH
TGA_CAPTURE_WIDTH:1024
TGA_CAPTURE_ASPECT:1.333333
TGA_CAPTURE_INPUT_SCALE:1
TGA_CAPTURE_RESERVE_SPACE:FALSE
LABEL_CHARACTERS:FALSE
LABEL_SETTLEMENTS:TRUE
MINIMAL_UI:FALSE
CAMPAIGN_MAP_MAX_SCROLL_SPEED_MIN_ZOOM:30
CAMPAIGN_MAP_MAX_SCROLL_SPEED_MAX_ZOOM:30
FIRST_TIME_PLAY:FALSE
ADVISOR_VERBOSITY:0
MUTE_ADVISOR:FALSE
BLIND_ADVISOR:FALSE
CAMPAIGN_MAP_CAMERA:FOLLOW_AI_FACTIONS
CAMPAIGN_MAP_SPEED_UP:FALSE
CAMPAIGN_MAP_GAME_SPEED:99
DISABLE_EVENTS:0
MICROMANAGE_ALL_SETTLEMENTS:TRUE
ADVANCED_STATS_ALWAYS:FALSE
UNIT_USE_SHADERS:TRUE
TERRAIN_QUALITY:HIGH
EFFECT_QUALITY:HIGH
VEGETATION_QUALITY:HIGH
KEYSET:0
UNLIMITED_MEN_ON_BATTLEFIELD:FALSE
CAMPAIGN_MAP_CAMERA_SMOOTHING:TRUE
CHAT_MSG_DURATION:10
USE_QUICKCHAT:FALSE
GS_PIDS:FALSE
GS_PIDS_FULL:FALSE
GS_PIDS_CUR:TRUE
ALWAYS_LOGFILE:FALSE
TIMESTAMP_LOGFILE:TRUE
32BIT_UI:FALSE
GS_LOG_RESULTS:FALSE
CHAT_COLOURS:name=ffffa0,private=ff7707,game=94aadc,public=fff777,system=ffffff,lobby=fff777,setup=94aadc,playing=ff0707
EDIT_SETTLEMENT_NAMES:FALSE

[Skizzy]

As brought to my attention by user Rocketboy96, I never did include the 3 preferences.txt files (RTW, BI and Alex) to the original thread.
Did so just now, for the people who freshly installed on win10 instead of upgrading.
Same changes from step 2 apply to all 3 files.
The preferences.txt files are in the spoiler tags.

[Zhendy]

Hi
i have problem when run twr any version in my tablet windows 10
i have windows 10 tablet Chuwi hi10 64bit 4gb ram its close when loading battle
and what is so funny is i can run twr2 15-25 fps in lowest setting (playble) through hardisk via usb 3.0
(USB 2.0 just get 10-15 fps )
and i can even play any New game like dota 2 ,skyrim, gta 4 even gta 5(extream low setting for gta)
but not with twr (if you dont believe just search on youtube about Chuwi hi10 gaming )
have any suggestion with my problem

[Skizzy]

I'm pretty sure this is a tablet problem, not a win10 problem.
Try running rtw on a normal PC first.
If that doesn't work, come back here.

[ro6ertj]

Hi.
I have tried everything above to a Disc version of RTW.BI.Alex.
Cannot even get the game to start.
I have both the Gold version of Rome and the Anthology.
Have gone back to Win7 and everything works fine !
Really confused .

[Skizzy]

If you went back to Win7 and it works fine now, what is you general concern, if I may ask?
Trust me, I love win7 and I wish my system would let me revert to it..
It doesn't, hence why I even made this thread in the first place.

The most common issue with win10 users is step 1 of the main thread.
If you cannot get RTW to run on win7-compatibility mode, try to run it on winXP-SP3-compatibility mode.
Helps out a lot..

What exactly is the problem you are experiencing?

- Skizzy

[Skizzy]

I just checked if RTW:Gold and the mod that I use a lot (XGM) still work after the "Anniversary Upgrade" of Windows10 (august 2016) and everything still works just as fine as it did before.
I didn't have to re-do anything, everything just still kept on working.
I heard a lot of angry stuff about this upgrade of Win10, but it seems it has nothing to do with this game, luckily!

[Supreme Archer]

Greetings, Skizzy

I recently installed RTW Gold on my Windows 10 (steam version). I tried using your well thought out solution, but unfortunately it did not work. What happened was that once I launched RTW a few seconds later a black screen appeared and so I was informed that RTW Gold has stopped working. However, for a second I thought the game was working because the icon was on my taskbar.

I would greatly appreciate it if you can help me on this matter as I have greatly missed playing this game (well, actually I have greatly missed playing Roma Surrectum 2, my favourite mod in RTW).

I also do have the disk version of RTW (which would've been easier, as installing mods would not be pain unlike using the steam version of RTW) but I already know the major problems with trying to get a solution for that.

[Skizzy]

Hey SA,

What exactly did you try? Which steps etc?
Because the problem you are describing is exactly what this fix is for.
A little more information would help me out a bunch.

[Supreme Archer]

Yh no problem Skizzy. I did step 1 which was changing the compatibility settings. I then did step 2 for RTW, BI and ALX (my preferences are 1920x1080 btw). Good news is that ALX worked, bad news is that RTW and BI did not work. I noticed that the preferences (the preferences were already, I did not need to create a new one) for max resolutions for both battle and strategy was 0x0 so I changed it to 2048x1536 which was the resolution that your preferences had. That didn't work. I also noticed that the AA quality was medium for both RTW and BI so I changed it to high, that didn't work too.

I hope you can think of a solution for this.

[Skizzy]

Try setting AA to low/off for now. That might help a little.
Usually step 1 fixes 50% of people's problems with RTW:Gold.
Step 2 is just an additive to step 1.
Which makes me wonder.....
Are you running this game over Steam?

EDIT: I seem to recall that RomaSurrectum2 doesn't work at all, because the mod authors didnt make it work on win10 or some stuff.. I don't know.
For me, I always play XGM, which works flawlessly.

EDIT2: You said you were playing over Steam already, my bad. Tried a re-install and then going through the steps?

[Supreme Archer]

I did a re-install of RTW gold and I just did step 1 which was changing the compatibility settings. The good news is that it finally worked!!

However, when I launch the game, it just takes like half of my screen.

[Supreme Archer]

Actually Skizzy, I just sorted it out. I just needed to change the resolutions in the preferences to 1920x1080.

Thank you so much for helping me out.

[Skizzy]

Post1: That's a preferences.txt -- resolution thing.
Post2: You did it!