UNSOLVED
driver problems
I have had my Dell dimension 2400 for 3-4 years. I use windows XP. I use my pc mainly for internet and gaming. The problem I have is trying to play a game called Medieval Total War. Up until a year ago the game played fine a bit of slowdown now and again but nothing too bad. Then when I played a campaign the game would start to load and just as the game was about to start I would be thrown back out to the start menu. I have contacted the game makers (Sega) and they asked for a DXDIAG report which I sent. They replied that they believe I needed to update my drivers so I went to the Dell Solution center and downloaded and applied all the drivers relevant but that hasn't worked.Most of the downloads for drivers were older than the drivers I already had. I have tried all sorts of patches just about everything that may help but i still have the same problem. If anyone can help it would be much appreciated as I do enjoy playing this game.
- thanks for the advice but I'm still having the same problems. I checked the specifications against my pc and all seems fine and the game used to work fine. I tried the 640 x 480 resolution and turning the sound off and the same problem occurred To be honest I'm not too good with problem solving on a pc and I don't know what you mean by shell to dos. The game has several types of game play ie custom battle, historical battle and historical campaign and all of those work fine. It's just when I play a campaign that the problem occurs and the campaign mode is the best bit. As for the video card like I said earlier the game used to work in all aspects and I haven't changed my video card. Please keep offering solutions and I will keep trying them. Thanks Matt
- Well shelling to dos would be if this is a dos based game and not a windows game. We I suggested turning off the sound I meant under the game options menu and I assume that is what you tried. When you play campaign is it just another game or do you move to that level from another level? Meaning you finish one part of the game and move to campaign? If that is so I have seen problems like this from the saved game being corrupted from the last level. That is why I am asking. But if you played this game fine before then your drivers should be fine and your video card. I will have to look back but not sure if you said you uninstalled the entire game and started over from a fresh installation. Have you done that? You also should install all patches before playing the game and saving. So it may be you need to remove the game completely and then reinstall it. Then apply all game patches before playing. I could maybe help more if I knew all specifications for the game. Does the game box say it will play under XP? I know my wife has some older games that won't play with XP and others will. Maybe you can post the game maker and site so I can read all the game requirements and look under FAQ's to see if anyone else has had this problem.Is this Medieval 2 Total War? Are you playing it online or do you have the DVD?
Message Edited by dbramlet on 09-18-2007 09:42 AM - Select start>run and type in dxdiag and hit enter. On that page you should see your version of directx. Hopefully it isn't directx 10. Your game would not work if your version is above 9.0c.There is a post on the site and not sure if it was you. But same problem and no replies. Here:
- Thanks for the reply yes i did adjust the settings in the game Medieval Total War options menu. With regards the campaign it crashes as soon as you start a new campaign I can't go to a saved game because I deleted the game then reinstalled it, so I have uninstalled it reinstalled it and added the patches with no joy. The game specifications are as follows: 3D hardware accelerator Card 100% Direct 8.1 compatible 16MB video card & drivers, Pentium11 340 or Athlon processor or higher, Microsoft windows 98/2000/ME/XP, 128 MB of Ram, Quad speed CD-ROM drive (600 k/sec substained transfer rate) and drivers, 1.7 GB of uncompressed free hard disk space (plus 200MB for windows swap file) 100% DirectX 8.1 compatible 16 bit sound card and drivers, 100% DirectX 8.1 compatible 16 MB video card & drivers, 100% Windows 98/2000/ME/XP compatible mouse keyboard and drivers, DirectX 8.1 (included). Phew!!! The game was originally made by Activision but were bought out by Sega/Europe who I have been dealing with and it was them that sujested that I need to update my drivers which I tried to do by going to the driver section at Dell support. I downloaded the relevant drivers but when I tried to install them a message popped up saying that the version I was trying to install was older than the one already installed on my computer. Thanks for your continued help. Thanks Matt
- I checked the report I have directx 9.0C so its not that I take it you are in N.America as the sega website I have been using is Sega Europe there are lots of posts on there regarding simular issues and most of the solutions seem to be driver issues but like I said I have downloaded all the relevant drivers from Dell but that didn't help so I'm still stuck with the same problem. Thanks Matt
- Ok, well now I am lost. Mainly because it seems the game should run now if it did before. If it is a driver problem for the video card then you cannot get any newer driver for the card you have installed. Now you can buy a better video card and install it in your computer but make sure the one you are buying will work in your system. You can install a card in a PCI slot unless you have an AGP slot which I doubt. You say the game use to work so one option would be to go to system restore and restore back to a date before the game stopped working. Might work. If you have an antivirus program running then maybe turn it off before running the game. Wife has one game that will not run and does what yours is doing until I close the antivirus program, then it will run. You could try rolling the driver back to the older version and see if that works also. Maybe the game will not run with directx 9.0c and you need to go back to 8.1 but I have never had that happen with other games. Basically I am running out of options to offer. But I will say it can be one setting like the antivirus that can cause your problem. If you have one installed give this a try and see then if the game will run. I assume you have the cd in the drive in case it needs it?
- Well I've tried it all now. I deleted the game reinstalled it applied the patch disabled all running processes disabled norton anti virus disconnected the internet and tried again but it didn't work. I think like you said a new graphic card will work so I think I will go down that route.Anyway thanks for your help on this matter and if you get any other ideas that may help please let me know. Once again thanks Matt
- Matt,I didn't help much but you are welcome anyway. Just be sure you know what card will work for you for the 2400. There may have been some issues with this model and adding video cards. Maybe you can post under desktop/video and ask for opinions on what card will work for you in this system. I like ATI cards. Others don't. Just ask around first. I believe you will need to disable the onboard card but find all that out before buying. I have seem some people add a card and disable the onboard card and could not boot to windows again and re-enable it. I would not disable onboard from device manager unless someone knows for sure it will work. Good luck.
- oh no its me again!!!!! Just a bit of advice if thats ok. I don't give up that easy so I've visited many sites dedicated to Medieval Total War and there are hundreds of posts saying the same thing and all the usual advice ie: update your drivers, download this patch and so on. But something else kept coming up and that was the need to revert to the original drivers as METW is quite an old game and in a way that makes sense. As you now Microsoft update your pc automatically METW worked perfectly before I had the internet. Some people posted that they have installed new graphic cards and they still had the same problem. Now here's where I need your help, if I had half a brain I would of made a few system restore points but I have only recently found out about them so I need to find out how I can restore my original drivers and is it safe and wise to do so. Thanks again Matt
dbramlet
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Posted September 17th, 2007 19:00