Installation issues

[Roma_Victrix]

There's no sub-forum or thread for tech help or bugs in this Flagellum Dei forum, so I'll just post this here. I originally posted it here. Any help would be appreciated, since I would not like to have two worthless versions of RTW (Steam and an old online copy from Direct2Drive). If worse comes to worse, perhaps I should just buy RTW via a hard disc delivery in the mail? Even so, I hear that the old Activision hard disc version has problems with Windows 8, so I'm wary on which one to buy.

Anyways, here's the conversation I had:

"Script Error in SAI/data/descr_sm_factions.txt, at line 18, column 1.

"Horde_min_units": this feature is not supported"

I've got a fresh install.

For some reason, there is a gap between line 17 and line 18 causing the error. My original file doesn't show this so I don't know how yours happened. Anyway, simply open the file and delete the space between lines 17 and 18, then save and close. It should fix the problem.

It's not fixed the problem. Is there anything else it could be?

Edit: Turns out I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. It fixed the problem, I just wasn't launching it with Barbarian Invasion afterwards! All's well now.

Well that's bizarre, because my descr_sm_factions.txt file HAS NO GAP IN IT! I checked, no gap like in St. Imperator's file. Yet I still get this exact same error message, over and over, while trying to launch the game from either STEAM itself or from the desktop icon. WTF?

I'm playing Flagellum Dei, by the way, not SAI. It's so frustrating, because I've done so much to get to this damn point, the glorious image of the initial loading screen appears for the game, and then suddenly it CTDs with this message. I am distraught.

There is a problem tha causes it with the Steam.
To fix it you must run the game via Steam.

Really? That didn't fix it for me. I'm using Windows 8.1, by the way. I wonder if my case is just special because of that.

I'm having the same problem as St.Imperator. When I start up the mod it crashes to desktop shortly after and gives me an error message saying:

"Script Error in SAI/data/descr_sm_factions.txt, at line 18, column 1.

"Horde_min_units": this feature is not supported"

I included the descr_sm_factions.txt of the mod in this post.

EDIT: okay, apparantly it had to do something with the steam version. the mod works perfectly with my cd version.

Thank God I just remembered that I have an extremely old online purchase of RTW on Direct2Drive.com (recently rebooted by GameFly after years of hiatus and a buyout). I am downloading that RTW now and will see if the mod works fine with that instead. If this is the sort of thing Steam does on a regular basis I WILL NEVER USE STEAM AGAIN. I'm getting the impression that it completely sucks and is not usable when it comes to mods.

EDIT: OKAY. NOW I REALLY FEEL LIKE THROWING MY HP PAVILION NOTEBOOK OUT OF THE NEAREST WINDOW. Apparently I am unable to play the old RTW I had with Direct2Drive.com, because Windows 8 (64-bit OS) not only doesn't have a tiny stupid DirectX sound file called mss32.dll (made for a 32-bit OS), but it won't even allow me to extract or copy that missing file into C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ where it needs to be, according to Direct2Drive's instructions on missing DLL files. Could someone, please, anyone help me here?

It keeps saying "can not output file C:\mss32.dll" as an error message in the 7zip. It appears that other people get similar messages as I do because of UAC. Is there any way around UAC?

[Gäiten]

Hi,

what is the exact error message you have got?
Have you deleted the map.rwm file?

[Joar]

Is there any way around UAC?

I never install RTW inside Program to avoid issues with the UAC. I create a new folder ( name it what you want ) in Windows C: and install the game there.

It works for me.

[Roma_Victrix]

I never install RTW inside Program to avoid issues with the UAC. I create a new folder ( name it what you want ) in Windows C: and install the game there.

It works for me.

Well that's the thing, I haven't even gotten it out of 7zip yet! When I download the game from Direct2Drive.com (NOT STEAM), without my consent, it places the pre-installed zipped game immediately in the pathway C:\Users\Eric\AppData\Local\Temp\Rome_TotalWar_GoldEdition_v1.5_d2d.zip. In there, whenever I try to click on the RomeTW.exe file to start the installation window, it gives me the error message that "the program can't start because mss32.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem."

Yet that wouldn't solve anything, from what I can tell, because it's a stupid roundabout. And as I said, when I tried to remedy this by adding a downloaded mss32.dll file to my Windows systems folder, 7zip gives me a bunch of error messages saying it cannot output the file there (which I've been led to believe has to do with UAC). My problem with UAC is not installing the game outside of the programs folder, it is simply trying to add a DLL file that does not exist for Windows 8!

In either case, I purchased a hard copy disc that should arrive in the mail, and hopefully it will not have the same problem of requiring this DLL file. Again, this is a very old online purchase of RTW from Direct2Drive.com, back in the summer of 2010 (and I'm sure the version I bought on their website was released earlier than that). I just bought a brand new copy of the game that should arrive in the mail and be fully compatible with Windows 8's 64-bit OS and updated DirectX.

Steam on the other hand presents an entirely different issue. As I said above, it gives me the error message for the descr_sm_factions.txt file, yet an examination of the file shows me that there's not a thing wrong with it! There's no gap as Julianus Heraclius mentioned and as St. Imperator demonstrated. Why then would I receive the exact same type of error message that he does? The Steam version of vanilla RTW works fine, but with this mod unable to work, I consider it useless since I don't play vanilla RTW, only mods.

Hi,

what is the exact error message you have got?
Have you deleted the map.rwm file?

Hi. No I have not. What is this in reference to? My copy from Steam, or my copy from Direct2Drive.com? In my post above, I talk about the Steam version of RTW I have first, then I talk about the online copy I purchased from Direct2Drive.com long ago and just recently downloaded due to the failure of the Steam version to work with this mod.

[Gäiten]

Is the problem solved?

[Roma_Victrix]

Is the problem solved?

No, I won't be receiving that hard disc copy of RTW in the mail until Tuesday. When it arrives, I'll let you know if it has problems or works just fine with Windows 8. I'm sure it will be fine, since plenty of Windows 8 users don't seem to have problems with the hard disc copy of the game.

Steam downloads and old ones from Direct2Drive, on the other hand, I would advise EVERYONE to avoid on Windows 8 platforms.

[Gäiten]

Allright.

I am curious how the game will work for Windows 10.

[Roma_Victrix]

Allright.

I am curious how the game will work for Windows 10.

Steam versions of RTW and old versions from Direct2Drive will no doubt have the same exact problem for Windows 10, the former for God knows what reason, the latter because of outdated DirectX DLL files. I just hope the physical hard copy disc version (i.e. DVD ROM) of RTW remains compatible with every new generation of Windows operating systems. Yet I don't have to worry for quite a while, considering how this is a brand new laptop and I don't replace them very often. Besides, I probably won't even be a gamer when I finish my PhD and get up there into my 30s and God forbid start having kids.

[the new username]

I have the same issue, to make it work you will have to eliminate those lines
Sad thing is that it automatically destroys Visigoths and Burgundi since they're horde factions

[Vhaelor]

Well I'm having this exact issue now that Roma_Victrix has. Getting the "Script Error in SAI/data/descr_sm_factions.txt, at line 18, column 1.

"Horde_min_units": this feature is not supported"


Oddly enough the mod works just fine on my SAI which I installed on win7 Ultimate edition back in the day....not so much with win10.

Now it doesn't work any longer at all :/ *sighs*