Crash, Crash, Working.....Crash...

[Kaos23]

Hello there...
I don't know if anyone can help, but I have now tried two versions of this game and it crashes in the same place on both (albeit not everytime). It always crashes during or just after I go into Battle mode. The screen goes all sorts of shades of red and pink and I have to just turn the comp off and on again...Think it hurt the HD slightly last time and I'm getting a bit annoyed that I can't play a game I have bought...I have seen other problems peeps have had with Battle mode and am more annoyed that no real help has been forthcoming from the company behind the game...Also a lot peeps with problems seem to have Geforce cards...And yet noone has said 'If you buy this game beware it may not run properly with your Geforce graphics cards' (If I am wrong on this please let me know as I'm stumped as to what else it could be!)
The specs for my comp easily meets the minimum requirements: RAM: 512Mb (I have 1Gb), CPU: Celeron 1.8 (I have Pentium D Dual Core 3Gb), 128Mb Hardware Accelerated video card (I have an NVidia Geforce 9700XL with 128Mb)
I REALLY have enjoyed all the Total War games and am getting sooo frustrated that I can't play this awsome game to it's full potential - Besides...I'm better than the AI in battles and can't trust it to win for me!
As I said, it doesn't happen every battle, but it's very random when it happens - small battles, large battles, fortress battles, out in the open battles - all have crashed at some point...
I have tried all combinations of Firewall on/off, Internet on/off, etc...
I am now in the process of upgrading my RAM from 1Gb to 3Gb and will probably have to install a new HD after the hit it took after the last crash of the game...Surely I won't have to buy a new graphics card as well just to play one (admittedly brilliant) game???
HELP!

[irishron]

What version of the game are playing? Do you have any mods installed?

First of all, your system will play it. Second of all, battles are randomly bugged. Ranting against the game company about it will only get you a deaf ear. Third, if the screen is freezing in battle mode, try minimum settings. It maybe set too high.

The kind of things that need to be done but gets overlooked is make sure you go to all your websites and download and install the latest drivers, including Nvidia and Microsoft.

[Kaos23]

What version of the game are playing? Do you have any mods installed?

First of all, your system will play it. Second of all, battles are randomly bugged. Ranting against the game company about it will only get you a deaf ear. Third, if the screen is freezing in battle mode, try minimum settings. It maybe set too high.

The kind of things that need to be done but gets overlooked is make sure you go to all your websites and download and install the latest drivers, including Nvidia and Microsoft.

Thanks for your speedy reply to my quandry!
Sorry...It did turn into a bit of a rant..hehe...Wasn't my intention...Just want to play the game properly...
I have installed some of the updates (1.1 and 1.2, but not 1.3 - altho this patch shouldn't make a difference unless I am playing online?) and all of my comps drivers are up to date (should have mentioned that in the original post).
I have bought two versions of this game...The original and the budget release by Avanquest...Both act in the exact same way...
When you say 'Battles are randomly bugged' what do you mean? Because if everyones battles crash as often as mine (at least 75% of) I'm sure we shouldn't be taking it as par for the course...
Lastly I have tried high settings, I have tried low settings, I've tried everything inbetween...Again I should've mentioned that in the first post...
All in all I hope you can understand my frustration and complete confusion over why I can't get this to work properly...
Thanks again for your reply...Any other suggestions would be most appreciated!

[irishron]

You're right, 1.3 is for online only.

You have read the posts about battles being bugged. If wanted to go through every post about it here, at www.totalwar.com and www.totalwar.org, and other sites that have unofficial Total War forums, you can make a good sized list of the units and siege walls that cause this. 1.2 took care of some but not all by any stretch.

I understand your frustration. Even then I have yet to see anyone with the expertise that has the time to fix them all. Each unit mentioned in the export_descr_units.txt has to be listed in the modeldb for each faction that has its own skin, armour, weapon, etc., and all those have to be in their proper folders. The siege walls only add to the confusion.

My way around it when I know I can win the battle? Cheat. I use the auto_win attacker or defender cheat before I click the auto-resolve button.