Game Crashes to Desktop when loading a battle.

Hi. I just installed NTW on my laptop. It took so much effor to actually install it on 2 pc's, but when i eventually got it right I stumbled upon the next problem:

The game loads fine and the campaign screen works perfectly.
The problem comes in when I load a battle.
I've tried a quick-battle as well and I have the same problem.
I get the all time favorite "Napoleon Total War has stopped working" error with no further explanation whatsoever.

I would really like to know what the problem is.


My DXDiag is attached where all the info can be found. Let me know if any information is still needed.

PS: Don't tell me to verify my game cache or update my drivers. I'm not an idiot.
Thanks!

I won't say anything about updating drivers but your RealTek audio drivers are over a year old.

I won't say anything about updating drivers but have you tried updating the graphics at Nvidia's webite?

In Nvidia Control Panel, is the game set to integrated chip or power performance?

Hi.
Thanks for the speedy reply.
Looks like I am an idiot....
I had to manually update my nvidia drivers from the nvidia website because for some reason in the devices section of control panel it says that my graphics card drivers are already up to date (when they aren't?)
I downloaded the drivers and voila!
But why isn't my laptop picking up that I have a Nvidia card?
In dxdiag it says that I have a Intel HD card?
Luckily it works now.
If you are able to answer the other question it would be much appreciated, but I'm happy enough now that NTW is up and running again!

Thank you again

Here is Wikipedia's input on Optimus Technology. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Optimus

It's a power saving feature and anything more, the user has to do it his/her self.

I knew of the Optimus technology but still wondered if the graphics card thing is unrelated.

You said that my sound driver is out of date. I visited Dell's website and they only have the version that I allready have on my pc (the outdated one).
The reason being something along the lines of it being the most stable version for the laptop, which to me is ....

I want to update my sound drivers to the latest version but don't know where to find the Dell's realtek driver as it uses the Dell Audio by Realtek with functions suited to the laptop's features such as the waves maxxaudio3 system. I'm affraid that if I download the normal realtek drivers the interface will change and some features will cease to be available.

I know this is off-topic, but I would appreciate the assistance, and if not be redirected to the right place as to find a solution for this.

Thanks again for the help.

High Definition Audio codecs at www.realtek.com.tw for the real thing.

I bought a Dell desktop in 2002 but still went looking elsewhere for drivers as theirs were always out of date even for RTW.

You know as much about Optimus as I do but I'd still try the latest Beta drivers at www.nvidia.com to see how proprietary the laptop is. If not, you have up to date drivers instead of depending on Dell..

Thank you for the assistance. It is much appreciated.
For now....
Case closed!