Vista is the f-ed up?

**Dagoth Nerevar** · August 16, 2007, 09:22 PM

Alright, I don't know if this is in the right section, so move at your leisure, mods.

Anyways, I play M2 on my mom's laptop with Vista (as evidenced by the title,) and I'm having a bit of a teensy tinsy MAJOR ANNOYANCE.

The game works fine. Just as long as I stay on the campaign map. If I try to fight a battle out by myself, it stops loading once the bar is full, and although the music keeps playing and the mouse will move, the battle will not commence. This was highly disappointing, as in my Portugal campaign, which was the only one where I've gotten to America, I went to Cuba with about 400 musketeers and 200 swordsmen, while the dinky little natives had about 200 swordsmen. I wanted to see my musketeers blast the savages to bits!

Does anyone know how to fix this? Any help would be much appreciated!

**Sher Khan** · August 16, 2007, 09:34 PM

Moving this to Tech help. Good luck!

**GrnEyedDvl** · August 16, 2007, 09:43 PM

First playing on a laptop isnt the best way to play, this game uses a LOT of resources and produces a lot of heat.

What are the specs on the machine? Do they meet the minimum requirements? The average laptop doesnt have enough vidoe card.

**Dagoth Nerevar** · August 16, 2007, 09:51 PM

Specs:

OS: Vista
Processer: Intel Pentium Dual-Core Mobile Processor T2060
1MB L2 Cache, 1.60 GHz, 533 MHz FSB
Memory: 2048 MB DDR2 Dual Channel
Video: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 w/ up to 224 MB of Shared Video Memory
Hard Drive: 160 GB SATA, 5400 RPM
Optical Drive: Multiformat Double Layer DVD+RW
Memory Card Reader: 4-in-1 Secure Digital, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Multimedia card

I think that those are the pertinent specs, and I'm pretty sure that they meet the minimum requirements.

**GrnEyedDvl** · August 16, 2007, 10:14 PM

No they dont.

Video: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 w/ up to 224 MB of Shared Video Memory

Thats 224 SHARED video memory, not dedicated. That means that its sharing your 2048 of system memory with an integrated video card, and the most it can use is 224MB. Shared video memory is MUCH slower than dedicated, and dedicated memory has its own processor to handle it, shared doesnt.

Try turning your video settings all the way down for the battle map and you might get it to run. Switch to Classic Windows, that will save you 20 megs or so of video ram, and unload anything that you arent using when you game. Anything that starts when you first boot such as Messenger or burning software or anything else down there by the clock that isnt a system service, and always start from a fresh boot.

Also make sure you have the latest drivers.

**Dagoth Nerevar** · August 16, 2007, 10:34 PM

I tried auto detect, and it still didn't work, so now I'll just try lowest settings.

Dammit! Even with the lowest settings the battles still won't load.

**GrnEyedDvl** · August 16, 2007, 10:42 PM

Yer screwed lol sorry bout that. The reason auto-detect doesnt work is its only looking for hardware thats compatible.

**Dagoth Nerevar** · August 16, 2007, 10:47 PM

Hm...sorry for the total technical inept moment, but can I install a new video card/drivers/whatever in a laptop?

**sapi** · August 17, 2007, 02:12 AM

Nope, there's a very good chance that you won't be able to upgrade your laptop (and even if you could, it'd destroy its thermal profile/battery life)

**GrnEyedDvl** · August 17, 2007, 06:12 AM

While its technically posible what Sapi said is probably correct for most users. Your video card is built into the motherboard, so the only way to really upgrade it is buy a new board, a new video card, and remone all the old stuff. Not an easy task on a laptop especially if you arent familiar with hardware. Laoptop components arent standatrdized like desktop components are. It would probably be cheaper to build a decent desktop than to mess with upgrading a laptop.