RTW vanilla does install, but not start!

[armygroupdf]

Hi there,

I'm new posting here, though I have been lurking since some weeks. I bought RTW Gold (vanilla plus BI that is). I installed some mods like RTR and DTW and have been running smooth. Then I tried to install EB and something went wrong. So I uninstalled RTW (and deleting all mod related stuff) and reinstalled a clean RTW version.

The disc installs the game on my computer without any problems it seems. Then I try to run either RTW or BI and all I see is the credit screen before CTD. I don't get to the intro movie or the start screen...

I've been searching the forums but can't find any solution for my problem (easy on me, I'm a noob ). Can anyone help me?

[irishron]

If you have Vista or Win 7, did you also delete the Rome folder hidden in users\username\appdata\roaming\?

After you uninstalled and delete all traces, did you run a registry cleaner like Ccleaner or Eusing Free Registry Cleaner?

When you get a "clean" copy of Rome, again, copy the whole Rome folder for each mod, and keep the clean copy for future.

[armygroupdf]

Thx for the quick reply. And I do use Vista.

I have checked the users\username\appdata\roaming\ folders but didn't see any Rome folder...

And a registry cleaner? Won't that mess up all my computer?

[irishron]

Did you unhide all hidden files and folders in foder option first?

I have used Eusing's since it was released with no problems. You either do it that way or use regedit. The game's uninstaller does not remove the registry keys.

[armygroupdf]

I just used CCleaner to search for some left-overs of RTW, and it found many. I deleted it all.

Now I'm gonna reboot and try to install RTW again.

[irishron]

Good luck.

[armygroupdf]

Tried it, still the same results...

I just get the screen with the credits and then it's back to the desktop!

[irishron]

In the Rome icon, inthe shortcut tab, in the targat window, -show_err. Try it, again, and see if you get an error message.

Were you able to start a campaign the first time before adding mods?

[armygroupdf]

What do you exactly mean by that? Renaming the exe to RomeTW-show_err.exe?

I could play the game before, yes... :S

[irishron]

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Activision\Rome - Total War\RomeTW.exe" -show_err

[armygroupdf]

Under "Run" I did K:\Rome Total War\RomeTW.exe" -show_err but to no avail. It just showed me the credits screen and CTD'ed. I saw no error popping up. What do now? :S

[irishron]

Is it an internal harddrive, external harddrive, virtual?

[armygroupdf]

Internal harddrive...

[irishron]

Are you logged in as Administrator?
Are your permissions set correctly? The credit screen wipes out my popup and I have to do it manually.

[armygroupdf]

I have all the access. Plus, it did work on me before adding mods.

[irishron]

You still have something wrong and it could be a mod or part of a mod "hidden".
You have to have it someplace even under another name in Program Files, or Users, or documents and settings, or even on another drive, even an external one.

The next step would be use regedit, search and delete all enties dealing with RTW, BI, Activision, any mod names, and anything else remotely resembling Rome.

[armygroupdf]

All should really be gone.

When I reinstalled RTW and searched in K:\Rome - Total War\data\world\maps\campaign I saw two folders called Imperial Campaign and Sons of Mars. This last one is a campaign of Diadochi Total War. Weird part is that I manually deleted the RTW folder, then uninstalled the game, removed all keys and other mod stuff, before installing. Almost looks like it is put on the disc itself?

And when booting RomeTW.exe on the disc I get an error: cannot find MSS32.dll...

I hope this triggers some idea how to fix this mess?

[irishron]

That mss32.dll has to be loaded for the game to start. The only way to get it is reinstalling, sound on, speakers plugged in, and the disc in the drive.

[armygroupdf]

I did something wrong earlier concerncing adding things to the shortcut. -show_err didn't do anything but -nm did result in me getting into the game! I could play a custom battle but the game CTD'ed when loading a campaign (imperial or prologue)...

[armygroupdf]

Also the mss32.dll is in the game folder on my harddrive. Yet when booting the exe from the disc, still gives the error that it doesn't have that dll file...