Please help: (Win8 64 bit) Medieval II crashes at startup AFTER installation of Kingdoms, but campaigns work?!

[Flagman-Ahead]

Hello folks, would really appreciate any help on my problem. I'm trying to fix it since a couple of days and have tried some hints given in this forum - with no success so far. Any ideas?

THE SYSTEM:

• Win 8 Home OEM German 64bit
• German versions of Medieval 2 and Kingdoms
• NVidia 710 with newest driver
• DirectX 9 installed during game installation process

THE PROBLEM:
After installing Medieval 2, the game seems to work fine. But after installing Kingdoms (with no patches used before), there is the famous "unspecified error" on startup of medieval2.exe; starting kingdoms.exe leads to a small error window without any content. The weird thing is that the kingdoms campaigns started from the desktop shortcuts seem to work without problems.

Although I don't think it's the Win8 compatibility problem (because Medieval worked without Kingdoms), I've tried to run in WinXP compatibility mode (as administrator) - no result. The UAC is switched off. Then I've installed the 1.5 Patch (EU version) - no result. As I mentioned above, no mods, no other patches were installed. I've also tried to completely remove and reinstall the game - again, Medieval 2 works fine without Kingdoms and crashed with it.

Here is my system log:

09:41:40.801 [system.rpt] [always] CPU: SSE2
09:41:40.801 [system.rpt] [always] ==== system log start, build date: Oct  5 2006 version bld-medieval2-final-52 (29455) ===
09:41:40.816 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_0.pack
09:41:40.816 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_1.pack
09:41:40.816 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_2.pack
09:41:40.816 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_3.pack
09:41:40.816 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_4.pack
09:41:40.816 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/localized.pack
09:41:40.816 [system.io] [warning] open: data/text/tooltips.txt is missing
09:41:40.816 [system.io] [warning] open: data/text/strat.txt is missing
09:41:40.816 [system.io] [warning] open: data/text/battle_ed.txt is missing
09:41:42.472 [data.missing] [warning] missing/invalid cursor for ANISELECT
09:41:42.474 [data.missing] [warning] missing/invalid cursor for MODIFIER_SABOTAGE
09:41:42.476 [data.missing] [warning] missing/invalid cursor for MODIFIER_TRADE
09:41:42.485 [data.missing] [warning] missing/invalid cursor for DRAGGABLE
09:41:42.485 [data.missing] [warning] missing/invalid cursor for DRAGGING
09:41:42.487 [data.missing] [warning] missing/invalid cursor for MODIFIER_MULTIPLE_SELECT
09:41:42.487 [data.missing] [warning] missing/invalid cursor for MODIFIER_ATTACK
09:41:42.487 [data.missing] [warning] missing/invalid cursor for MODIFIER_PLACE_CHARACTER
09:41:42.487 [data.missing] [warning] missing/invalid cursor for MODIFIER_PLACE_RESOURCE
09:41:42.488 [data.missing] [warning] missing/invalid cursor for MODIFIER_PLACE_FORT
09:41:42.488 [data.missing] [warning] missing/invalid cursor for MODIFIER_MOVE_OBJECT
09:41:42.488 [data.missing] [warning] missing/invalid cursor for MODIFIER_PLACE_WATCHTOWER
09:41:42.488 [data.missing] [warning] missing/invalid cursor for MODIFIER_DEPLOYMENT_AREA
09:41:42.488 [data.missing] [warning] missing/invalid cursor for MODIFIER_PLACE_TILE
09:41:42.488 [data.missing] [warning] missing/invalid cursor for MODIFIER_PLACE_SPECIAL_PIECE
09:41:42.488 [data.missing] [warning] missing/invalid cursor for MODIFIER_PAINT
09:41:42.488 [data.missing] [warning] missing/invalid cursor for MODIFIER_ADJUST_HEIGHTS
09:41:42.488 [data.missing] [warning] missing/invalid cursor for MODIFIER_ADD_UNIT
09:41:42.488 [data.missing] [warning] missing/invalid cursor for MODIFIER_PLACE_SETTLEMENT
09:41:43.098 [system.rpt] [error] Medieval 2: Total War hat einen unbestimmten Fehler entdeckt und wird jetzt beendet.

Any ideas? Thank You very much!

[Flagman-Ahead]

Forgot to mention that I installed the game in C:\Games\SEGA\Medieval II Total War (as was often recommended here).

[Flagman-Ahead]

Strange... I've downloaded the "Medieval 2: Total War v1.3 All No-DVD [Prophet]" patch from here http://megagames.com/fixes/medieval-...ngdoms-v15-all (is this legal? it was a desperate bid) and replaced my medieval2.exe - and the game starts! But the version number showed is 1.3, although I've installed the 1.5 patch in the meantime. Actually has to be 1.5 in the Medieval starting screen, or not?

By the way: The "Medieval 2: Total War - Kingdoms v1.05 All No-DVD [Prophet]" doesn't work.

[irishron]

Starting Medieval2, the version should be 1.2/1.02 for singleplayer and 1.3/1.03 for multiplayer.

I know Sega did release a German patch but if [Prophet] is the legal version, I don't know.

Logged in as Administrator?
Taken ownership of C: drive?
Activated your copy of Win 8 and run Windows Update manually installing all software options?

[Flagman-Ahead]

To Your questions / hints: Already tried starting as administrator and did the ownership thing - with no result. My Win8 is a preinstalled OEM version, so it is activated. And I have all updates installed. I'm not a computer specialist, but my intuition says this is not a compatibility problem (remember: Medieval 2 did run perfectly without Kingdoms installed).

[Flagman-Ahead]

If the MTW2 starting screen is supposed to show version 1.03 (I've never started the multi mode, though), than the Prophet v1.3 All No-DVD might have solved the problem. The game starts and I hope it will run without crashing. But the question is why do I have to replace the original executable with a dubious file from the web in order to get everything running? I have installed the game packages in the order described here (MTW2 - Kingdoms - Patch 1.05) and without using any mods or cracks.

[irishron]

Don't bet on it being already activated. The last preinstalled OS I has I thought was activated until I got Microsoft's nice Blue Screen wanting my activation code or I was not logging in.

Win 8 is a new animal all by itself to tinker with to make an old XP program work on it. 99% of the time in a situation like this it boils down to permissions being set properly.

Have you right-clicked the icons and set them to "Run as Administrator" and "XP Mode"?

[geyserik]

I also have win8 64 bit med2 runs fine but when I try to install kingdoms it fails, half way through I get an error message and can not install.Any Ideas why?

[irishron]

I also have win8 64 bit med2 runs fine but when I try to install kingdoms it fails, half way through I get an error message and can not install.Any Ideas why?

Post the error message.

[geyserik]

Irishron,thanks for asking that question.I put the install disk in and when it got to the part of the install that failed last time it kept going and fully installed!Just started a new crusades campaign!

[irishron]

Good to hear. Enjoy playing.

[Flagman-Ahead]

irishron, thank You for Your help. Before replacing the original EXE file, I've tried nearly everything suggested in this forum, including starting the game as administrator and in compatibility mode. Nothing worked. After replacing the file the problem was solved. I've been playing for a while now, no crashes so far. The only thing that irritates me is that I can't start Kingdoms by executing the kingdoms.exe, but only by going directly via the campaign executables. But maybe this is how it should be.

[irishron]

You cannot start kingdoms.exe the way you want to because CA did not make it a standalone executable but tied it to the mods folder and mods.

[Losthief]

Just a fyi about windows 8, to actually turn off UAC all the way you have to edit the registry now. Just turning the slider to no notify doesn't do it like in win7 anymore. Unless that changed that with an update in the last couple months since i tinkered with a win8 computer.