I've been trying to get a copy of Vanilla Medieval 2 working, but I've encountered a litany of issues. Re-installing has proved fruitless more often than not, and I'm confident that I did wipe the system registry of all remains from the game. I had it working initially, before unpacking messed everything up (and I couldn't find the two necessary files to delete), I uninstalled and re-installed a few times, with the gaming crashing on battles each time, save for one time. That install worked until I attempted to patch the game to 1.2, where the CTD began again. I'm not too computer literate, so hopefully it's something obvious I've done to screw this up, but in my experience dealing with Total War crashes (I've been playing since 06), nothing has been so persistent or frustrating.
Spoiler for Even shorter version:
Me no computer good. Help!
Hello;
It's been awhile since I had the urge to play MTW2, and haven't uploaded it to my new desktop yet. The urge to start trying to teach myself how to mod (something I've had the want, but not the time to do for some time) led me to install the retail version of my game. I checked it, selecting the English faction, and attacked a small rebel village, just to make sure all is in order. It worked perfectly, so I set out to begin updating and applying the patches, before ultimately installing my Kingdoms.
That's where the problems started. You see, I installed Kingdoms, (tested the Brittania campaign, and a battle, both worked) and began unpacking all the games afterwards, because, as I stated before, I wished to try my hand at some modding. Just unpacking the games caused a CTD when entering a battle. The loading screen ended, the units and battlefield flashed on screen momentarily, before crashing. I paused, thought back to when I used to frequently play MTW2. Realizing I hadn't deleted the two files that need deletion after unpacking, I got their names from TWC, and set out looking for them. I couldn't find them. I looked in the data folder where they're supposed to be, then I searched my computer system as a whole. No luck. I read of some other members struggling to locate them as well, with tips of folders to check leading to them finding the two files in question. No luck for me though. So I figured it must be some sort of faulty install, and figured I might as well save myself some trouble, and just re-install the whole lot. So, I uninstalled everything, deleted all remaining SEGA, and CA files I could find, emptying my recycling bin, and started over. I installed Medieval 2 vanilla, and ran the game to see if it would work.
Again, the campaign worked perfectly, but the same CTD when running a battle occurred. I could see several units, but the ground was half black (it seemed like the ground wasn't rendered) and it crashed. Frustrated, I went to the preference.cfg file to turn my log on, so I could perhaps see where the issue was. Well, the CFG was all messed up, giving me only two things, io, and video, instead of the litany of other commands the preference file (should) have. Again, I did some research, found some blokes with similar issues as me, though I didn't really find any solutions. Getting a bit frustrated, but undaunted, I uninstalled the vanilla game again, going to great degrees to insure that every associated file was off my computer. I checked as many files as possible, and followed a couple tutorials on how to completely wipe the game off of my system. Confident that I did so, for the third time, I re-installed the game.
It loaded up, I opened the same English campaign, and it worked perfectly. Shaking with excitement (hyperbole to come) I attempted the same battle that had been crashing before. The loading screen took what seemed like an eternity but alas, it was a battle! I could fight! I could continue on with what has been my long journey towards modding! Needless to say I was thrilled. Not as much interested in going through the whole Kingdom's shenanigans again, I did want to update my game to 1.2, after all, that is the mother-of-all-patches, and I figured should I actually figure out how to modify something in the game, I'd at least want it on a playable patch. So I went through the download again, the installation of the patch took a bit, but ultimately seemed to go flawlessly. At this point, I had broken out the champagne, put on a party hat, and began researching how to make a mod folder (very useful tutorials were found, of course). The patch was done updating, I ran Medieval 2, and checked on the setting's screen. It said that I was running patch 1.02. Sweet, sweet, justification. I eagerly clicked the campaign, selected England, automatically by force of habit, and attempted the rebel battle. It crashed.
It crashed. The same crash as before. Almost like it was teasing me, the game flashed the battlefield, my army standing at attention, gloriously. But almost like a prank, the ground was again black and unrendered, and I knew before the pop-up even dinged that the game crashed. I cried for what was a period of 10 minutes - 3 hours, and attempted to rationalize it. I made a mistake. I know it, something I did, in that rather simple process, was messed up. After some more tears, even more rationalizing, and a few buckets of ice cream, I sat determined to go step-by-step once more and not make whatever silly mistake I could have possibly made before. I purified my system of the infestation. Any and all traces of "SEGA" or "Creative Assembly" once again, wiped from my computer. I took it a step further. I turned off all virus protection that could possible tamper with the install. I honestly didn't even know if that made sense, but I got rid of everything. I restarted my computer. I turned off all non-essential programs. I downloaded the vanilla version again, it's dramatic soundtrack taunting me for the several minutes it took to upload. I clicked the little Knight's icon, preparing myself for what would surely be a triumph of the human will. The vanilla unpatched game worked last time; surely it could work this time.
The loading screen popped up, Hungarian knights charging at Polish peasants. So close to satisfaction. In a blur, when the main screen finally came up, I quickly selected my faction, this time, deciding to go with the lucky Venetians. The campaign opened up, and it was glorious. Wanting to test a battle, I grabbed my Italian armies and marched towards the German city of Bologna. The loading screen appeared, with the music continuing un-stifled. I sat there, with a grin on my face, waiting to see my maroon-clad warriors staring at their German foes.
The music paused for a second, and I could hear the battle tune slowly creep through the speakers, all while the loading screen was still up (as it often happened). My computer screen flashed. I saw my army standing at attention. Yet, the cruel joke continued. They were standing, sure, but on top of that black abyss. All was lost. The pop-up appeared, and it probably made it's menacing little sound, but I wouldn't know. My brain shut off. I stared at my crashed desktop, still smiling, unsure of what to do with my rage, sadness and exhaustion. I probably sat there for a few good hours, staring. It was a dream, surely. Surely just installing the vanilla version of the game couldn't be this complicated. I started to laugh. I laughed, and laughed and laughed. While I was laughing, mechanically, I opened up the preference.cfg file to add the bit about a log. The silver lining was at least present; the full list of preference's were present, and I could foresee myself simply adding the relevant log lines, and getting to the bottom of this mess once and for all. I added it in, but then was informed that my access was denied. HAL, you malevolent beast! So I began giving permission of all sorts to all users on my computer, administrators and users alike. The repercussions of such a move meaningless to me. I messed around with that for a short while, before attempting to add the log bit again. I did it. It saved.
IT SAVED!
I smiled, but not the blank empty smile again. A genuine smile. I loaded up the game, selected the basic English campaign again, and went to battle. It crashed. Well computer, it seems as though you've fallen into my trap. I exited out of the crash, hopped into my SEGA folder, hit the logs file, and... nothing. It was empty. It was completely empty. No hidden files, no read only files. Nothing but emptiness. My heart felt like the folder.
So TWC tech genuises, I am at your mercy. Please, help me figure something out. I am not opposed to just buying the Steam version of the game, but my fears for that come from my potential modding perspective, and not wanting to waste $15-$20 on something that may not work. As stated above, I have no logs to show you, but in spoilers below, you will find my system specifications. I will be sitting here, fighting back the urge to throw my computer or myself out the window, and will hopefully be able to answer any questions you may have. Any input or solutions are obviously greatly appreciated.
Also, for whatever it's worth, it's a newer computer (compared to the game), so I have no issues running it on High graphics.
Re: Help me Total War Center, you're my only hope.
Ah yes, that was one of the tutorials I checked out. I passed on options 1 and 2, and went for option 3. I made sure that myself as the administrator and the other users available had those little boxes checked. Alas, it was of no help. Should I try doing the second option, with the first one seeming to be toxic?
Re: Help me Total War Center, you're my only hope.
Well my friend irishron, it seems like your shamefully obvious answer has worked out for me! I got to 1.2 with no issues. Now I await responses to my modding-questions, and I can begin my work.
Help me Total War Center, you're my only hope.
Reply With Quote
