Game won't even load.

[Lincoln6Echo]

Well, here's something new...

OK, first of all, the latest patches have totally screwed up the game with regards to the sound.

I was playing, did a naval battle, lost all activity sound, (click selections and so forth) and then I clicked on some unit stack and I get one of those "The program has quit working correctly" messages and then CTD.

So I decided to try something. I removed all the mods I had installed.

So I tried restarting the game, and right after I get the brief white screen and opening credits screen, it CTD again.

Even a reboot, it still did it.

So I finally did the unthinkable and did an uninstall, and reinstall. Let the game update itself and I still can't get the game to run.

What the hell is going on?

[Lincoln6Echo]

Any idea here? I can't even get the game to run now.

[Lincoln6Echo]

OK, fixed the problem. However it was a drastic solution. Had to totally delete the AppData folder for Empire (C:\\User Name\AppData\Roaming\The Creative Assembly\Empire). AppData is a hidden folder, so you have to go into Folder Options to enable Hidden folders and files. It was some preferences or even perhaps some SaveGames that were causing the problem.

Haven't played it yet to see if it cleans up the patch sound problems, but it might. I was just thrilled that game loaded this time.

[Jihada]

I've got exactly the same problem.I'm new to Vista so as well as reinstalling 3 times today , I just spent 2 hours trying to find AppData. How do I find hidden files. Wish I'd stayed with XP..lol.
Where do I find folder options on Vista?

[Lincoln6Echo]

I've got exactly the same problem.I'm new to Vista so as well as reinstalling 3 times today , I just spent 2 hours trying to find AppData. How do I find hidden files. Wish I'd stayed with XP..lol.
Where do I find folder options on Vista?

Go to Control Panel. Click on Appearance and Personalization, and then under Folder Options click on Show Hidden Files and Folders. However, you're not done yet. This will bring up the Folder Options window. Then about half-way down the visible list there, you'll see Hidden Files and Folder in a little folder of its own. You then must select the option there Show hidden files and folders. Once you do this and click OK, the AppData folder will show up when you select your User Name from the Start Button.

Then you just navigate to AppData/Roaming/The Creative Assembly/Empire. You can either try deleting the preferences.empire_script file from the Script folder, or deleting the whole Empire folder altogether as I did.

Whatever the case, something is getting corrupted or at the very least conflicted with all these auto-updates. If just deleting the preferences file doesn't work, I'm afraid, a deletion of the entire folder is necessary.

But in the end, your game will start working again near like it did prior to the 3.25.09 patch.

Oh, it's a pain going through and resetting your preferences in your game, but it fixes the problem.

[SherwoodGoblin]

Go to Control Panel. Click on Appearance and Personalization, and then under Folder Options click on Show Hidden Files and Folders. However, you're not done yet. This will bring up the Folder Options window. Then about half-way down the visible list there, you'll see Hidden Files and Folder in a little folder of its own. You then must select the option there Show hidden files and folders. Once you do this and click OK, the AppData folder will show up when you select your User Name from the Start Button.

Then you just navigate to AppData/Roaming/The Creative Assembly/Empire. You can either try deleting the preferences.empire_script file from the Script folder, or deleting the whole Empire folder altogether as I did.

Whatever the case, something is getting corrupted or at the very least conflicted with all these auto-updates. If just deleting the preferences file doesn't work, I'm afraid, a deletion of the entire folder is necessary.

But in the end, your game will start working again near like it did prior to the 3.25.09 patch.

Oh, it's a pain going through and resetting your preferences in your game, but it fixes the problem.

WHAT THE ..!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WORKS!!!!!!! IT WORKS!!!!! I BOUGHT GTA IV CUZ I COULDNT PLAY ETW BUT IT WORKS NOW!!!!!!!!!!!! GOD BLESS YOU!

[evopro128]

hey...i installed ETW and now when i go to play it goes to the white screen and then a empire.exe error message pops up what do i do?! Help!