M2TW Saved Games do not load in M2TW Gold, WTF?!

[Legionem Insanis]

OK...
So, I went out and bought the Gold version of M2TW. I do a clean uninstall of the regular M2TW version and install the Gold version just figuring I would avoid any compatibility wierdness with Kingdoms and now I can't play the games I saved in the non-gold version.
Is this a bug or a feature? wtf?

[SD_West]

You can't see save game files in the menu or you see them, but can't load?

[Legionem Insanis]

They are visible in the menu. I appears to start loading it. The progress bar animates and it displays the date of the last turn. But when the progress bar reaches 100% it goes back to the main menu.
I tried the -show_err switch used for RTW but M2TW has a fatal error using that.

[SD_West]

They are visible in the menu. I appears to start loading it. The progress bar animates and it displays the date of the last turn. But when the progress bar reaches 100% it goes back to the main menu.

Do you have English version of M2TW? Looks like Russian and Czech autosave problems which was fixed in patch 1.2. What version of M2TW you had before Gold installation and what version of M2TW you have now? Go to options menu in the game and version number will be in the top right corner.

[Legionem Insanis]

Do you have English version of M2TW? Looks like Russian and Czech autosave problems which was fixed in patch 1.2. What version of M2TW you had before Gold installation and what version of M2TW you have now? Go to options menu in the game and version number will be in the top right corner.

both original and Gold versions are English
Original displays v1.02 even though i had installed the 1.03 patch

strangely, the Gold version also shows 1.02 but when i try to patch it to 1.03 it says its already at that version.

[SD_West]

If you had version 1.3 and made save in it, I guess this save cannot be load in version 1.2. I don't have Gold version, but anyway if you have Medieval 2 full install, then original M2TW version must be 1.3 (1.3 must be shown in the menu) and Kingdoms version must be 1.4 (1.5 with patch). Are you sure you made full install of everything Gold DVD contains?

[Legionem Insanis]

yes. i even tried to run the patches and they informed me that i already had 1.03

[Legionem Insanis]

Well, fortunately I save my game directory installs.
I did a file compare (size alone as dates were different and a binary compare would take forever) and the only thing different seems to be the Medieval2.exe. I was able to copy it to the directory with a different file name, run it and load my saved games.

I've noticed the following differences:

Medieval2.exe from the Gold install:
1) Has a newer date and is larger but it reports itself as being version of 1.1 when i look at its properties from explorer.
2.) The registry entries created by the Gold install (yes, i deleted entries in the registry from the previous install) identify it as 1.03:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SEGA\Medieval II Total War]
"Version"="1.03.000".
3.) If I try to run the patches from TotalWar.com it reports that 1.03 is already installed.
4.) When I run it and go to the Options screen it reports 1.02 in the upper right corner.
5.) Requires the Gold version DVD to be present to run.
6.) Gives me [annoying] "SecuRom" messages if that DVD is not present or if I have Microsoft's Sysinternals Process Explorer running (ya, I actually have to reboot my computer if I have run this app in order to play Medieval 2).


Medieval2.exe from previous Non-Gold install:
1.) Allowed me to run both the 1.2 and 1.3 patches.
1.) After patching: despite being older and smaller reports itself as 1.3 when I look at its properties in Explorer.
2.) After patching: I ran it and in the Options screen it reports version 1.03. I was able to load my previous saves using this .EXE
3.) Requires the Non-Gold version of the DVD to be present
4.) Does NOT give annoying SecuRom messages.


So what is up here?
If patching the Non-Gold version with 1.2 and 1.3 patches gives me the latest version of Medieval 2...
but the Gold version's executable is bigger and returns me SecuRom messages which the other doesnt...
then it looks like they added SecuRom (or a newer version of it) to the Gold version and for some reason this causes it to not load my saved games.

I wonder if the Kindoms that came with the Gold version would work with my non-Gold M2TW.
I can tell you that according to the readme.txt it will not work with the downloaded version.

[SD_West]

The registry entries created by the Gold install (yes, i deleted entries in the registry from the previous install) identify it as 1.03:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SEGA\Medieval II Total War]
"Version"="1.03.000".

Try to edit this registry version value to 1.02.000, replace Gold Medieval2.exe whit original Medieval2.exe from patch 1.2. and then apply patch 1.3. But, Gold installation after this actions may be broken, and you will need original Medieval 2 DVD to run the game.

[Seleucid king]

I have a similar problem. Sometimes when I try to load an England Campaign in the Main game(or a game in the Britannia Campaign in Kingdoms) The load just takes me back to the main menu. Does anyone know a cause for this?(BTW sorry for the "Thread Necromancing".)

[irishron]

What does your system.log.txt say? In a situation like this, it's your best guide.