M2:TW on Win 8.1: nothing happens

[fearnothing]

So I recently built a new PC and wanted to go back to one of my favourites, Medieval 2. Currently, when I launch the game, nothing appears to happen. Having looked into process explorer, the only thing I can see that DOES happen is that a process called "cleanup" is started and immediately closes when I try to run the game.

Here are the things that I have done:

When I originally installed the game it said that it could not locate the DVD-ROM (even if I used the launcher on the DVD), so I imaged the disk and I'm mounting the image using DaemonTools Lite.
I've tried turning off UAC, including via the registry method. No change.
Running in compatibility mode/as administrator does not have any effect.

There is no log file in the game directory; I would surmise that the app isn't even loading as far as whatever code starts the logging process.

Things I have not done:
Patched the game or the Windows install. I am having internet issues (I hate internet in this country) so can't download patches for a week or so.

Here are the specs:

i5-4670 "Haswell"
ASUS Z87-A
2* 4GB Kingston DDR3 1600
MSI Radeon R9 270X 2GB
Kingston 120GB SSD
Seagate 1TB Barracuda
Windows 8.1

[irishron]

For Win8/8.1,
1. You must be logged in as Administrator.
2. You must disable the UAC preferably in the registry.
3. You must take ownership of C: drive.
4. 90% have found you must install the game any place BUT Program Files or Program Files (x86).

Do you need any help with any of these?

[fearnothing]

For Win8/8.1,
1. You must be logged in as Administrator.
2. You must disable the UAC preferably in the registry.
3. You must take ownership of C: drive.
4. 90% have found you must install the game any place BUT Program Files or Program Files (x86).

Do you need any help with any of these?

1. Already was.
2. Already did.
3. Just did that.
4. Just did that too.

Still doesn't work.

[irishron]

Did you try installing this?

If so, did you get any error messages?

Even if your internet is bad on a good day, you will eventually need to run Windows Update manually and install all software options but Bing and Malicious Software Removal Tool. Too much this and other programs need updates Microsoft does not consider "Important" in its update packages.

[fearnothing]

I have installed DirectX 9.0c and no I did not get any error messages. The internet issue isn't speed, it's that I'm having to use a neighbour's connection - with permission - because I still don't have internet (nearly 3 months now) and I'm being frugal with downloading large amounts of data so as not to hit their download limit.

[fearnothing]

No, I am in Mons, 150km away from Limburg

[irishron]

We have some members from Limberg, Belgium. Are you using this neighbor's connection are you suing to post these if I may ask?

[irishron]

I check the ip at the time and that's where it came up.
It should load faster than my "old" computer even without the 1.5 patch.
Check your permissions through your antivirus, and/or security suite? Dvd should have no bearing on a fiewall but may need to check its permissions, too.

[fearnothing]

My new computer is currently offline and will stay that way until I have my own internet installed (Friday if it isn't delayed yet again). It does not have any AV or other security installed yet. I've been communicating via my laptop.

[irishron]

Is it he same with vanilla and the Kingdoms campaigns?
I just read your first post and there are two things that stick out.
1. This game because of SecuROM will make your life Hell anf imaging software and virtual drives. It's been proven too many times.
2. The game will not start with an image disc. It has to be the original. There is some code buried by SEGA that even Daemon can't copy.

This is odds on your problem(s).

[fearnothing]

OK, I decided to reinstall one more time, and this time it worked - very odd.

I note that each time I've uninstalled, the amount of free space on my drive has decreased by over 4GB. What the hell? Where is all of this data? How do I get rid of it?

[irishron]

Unhide all files, folders, and drives in folder Options, and do a search in Computer. Bet whatever it is is hidden from prying eyes.

Good to hear it finally worked. Enjoy playing.

[GoDong-DK]

Hello! I have basically the same problem, and I've found a lot of stuff concerning the registry and so on - I'd really like to post it here, but it seems like you're spam filter is a bit too effective. No matter what I do, it won't let me post.

How many posts would I have to accumulate in order to post links, registry references, etc.? I understand that this post is not strictly related to the thread topic, but the content I actually wanted to post definitely is, so i hope you will bear with me. Thanks in advance.

[irishron]

You need four posts to get too far past the filter.
SYSWOW6432 types for 64bit systems?
Aware of http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic...l-II-Total-War after Kingdoms was released?

[GoDong-DK]

I'm aware of that uninstall method, but I'm actually lacking among other things the SEGA sub directory in the registry. I actually wrote up a decently sized post about my registry woes before I noticed the filter. Contrary to the original poster, I'm using Steam to install medieval, but the symptoms are exactly the same. It worked a few months ago, even after installing windows 8 1, but it simply refused to load when I tried about a week back. The steam database says that medieval received an update 12 days ago, but as this seems to have affected the original poster with his retail copy as well, I'm not sure that that is the culprit. At that time I supposed reinstalling it would fix it, and thus I did. It didn't work, though, and neither did it the second or third time. I started looking into the more obscure stuff, and noticed two keys in steam's subdirectory in the registry. It was in the folder 4700 which is medieval's steam application identification number. It had to entries installed and direct x setup, and it was at this point that I remembered that the installation process that occurs the first time you start a game on Steam never actually started. Both keys were set to 1. I reasoned that Steam would launch the installation process if I set both to zero, so I did. I tried launching the game in Steam, and the direct x setup actually installed as it should (I had done this manually before, though), but the game itself never launched. The entry for direct x setup now read 1, but Installed still read 0. I'm not a registry whizz, but I assume this means that the installation process itself simply failed for some reason and therefore the entry wasn't changed to zero. I think the whole problem is that my registry is simply messed up - there's some other entries that I seemingly should have that I can't find, and so on. I'll try to make a more comprehensible post after I have the option to include links and other weird stuff in my posts.

[GoDong-DK]

Also, you'll have to excuse the wonky sentence structure and lack of abbreviations. Direct X is actually abbreviated in the registry, but I thought it might be blocked by the filter.

I read the rules sticky, and I understand that I shouldn't make duplicate posts, but as editing is restricted I can't really do that. Are any specific characters restricted by the filter?

[irishron]

If you double post at this point, I can merge them so no worries.
I know of no specific characters and can't get to the filter anymore than you so this part is a crapshoot.
Do your best.

[GoDong-DK]

Well, figured I could post a picture of a post I posted on a different forum:
I don't know whether you have the Steam version or not, but it would be really cool if you could check whether you have those keys or not. I'm currently downloading Kingdoms (along with the necessary Medieval 2 Total War assets) to see whether that fixes it. It'll an hour and a half before it's done, I'm afraid.

[irishron]

You mean like the pic?
I'm running Win 7 Pro 64bit and My medieval2 folder is in D:\Games and the original dvd version. But close.

I don't have the virtual store folder because before I installed the game I disabled the UAC, took ownership of C: drive and then nistalled as far from Program files (x86) as I could get.

I also have my Steam folder on D: with no ill effects.

[GoDong-DK]

Yup, exactly those registry files. Didn't realize I had to go to Wow6432Node - do you think it could be a part of the problem? The contents of the installscript.vdf doesn't refer to Wow6432Node, it simply omits it:

"InstallScript"{
    "Registry"
    {
        "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\SEGA\\Medieval II Total War"
        {
            "string"
            {
                "Language"                "english"
                "DistributionSource"    "steam"
                "Version"                "1.03.000"
                "AppPath"                "%INSTALLDIR%"
            }
        }
        
        "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\SEGA\\Medieval II Total War\\1.00.0000"
        {
        }
        
        "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\SEGA\\Medieval II Total War\\1.02.000"
        {
        }
        "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\SEGA\\Medieval II Total War\\1.02.001"
        {
        }
        "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\SEGA\\Medieval II Total War\\1.03.000"
        {
        }
    }


    "Run Process"
    {
        "DXSetup"
        {
            "HasRunKey"            "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Valve\\Steam\\Apps\\4700"
            "process 1"            "%INSTALLDIR%\\dxsetup\\DXSETUP.exe"
            "NoCleanUp"            "1"
        }
    }
}

Do you think changing that could make it work? The references the right path to the DXSetup.exe file, but not to whatever is in those registry keys? Maybe that's why it changes the key "DXSetup" in "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Valve\\Steam\\Apps\\4700" to 1, but not the "Installed" key?

And I have tried both installing in the default Steam directory (in Program Files (x86)) and on my E drive. I'm currently installing Kingdoms as well as the base game on my E drive, though, maybe it'll work.

And I'd have to disable UAC and take ownership of the C drive before installing for it to make a difference? And why does it make a difference?