Rome: Total War Crashing - Help Requested [Archive]

Archpaladin Zousha

2012-01-08, 07:36 PM

I'm having trouble with Rome: Total War. The game has been consistently crashing each time I try to load my current campaign (Julii), and I had a similar problem with my first one (Scipii). I've noticed that this seems to start happening once I hit 245 BC. What's going on? How do I fix it?

Ninjabob

2012-01-08, 09:57 PM

You've probably got an event file is corrupted. I'd uninstal and reinstal the game.

Archpaladin Zousha

2012-01-08, 10:05 PM

This is what I get for buying a PC game at the local Goodwill, I suppose. :smallsigh:

sucatraps

2012-01-09, 10:38 AM

Unless the disc itself is physically damaged (and in a very specific way so as to not cause a failed installation), I don't think it's the fault of Goodwill.

Archpaladin Zousha

2012-01-09, 01:14 PM

Unless the disc itself is physically damaged (and in a very specific way so as to not cause a failed installation), I don't think it's the fault of Goodwill.

You misunderstood me. I think it's the fault of the previous owner, not the store. Store had no way of knowing, the game was in its original packaging!

Driderman

2012-01-09, 02:01 PM

You misunderstood me. I think it's the fault of the previous owner, not the store. Store had no way of knowing, the game was in its original packaging!

Unless the disc itself is physically damaged (and in a very specific way so as to not cause a failed installation), I don't think it's the fault of the previous owner

Archpaladin Zousha

2012-01-09, 02:35 PM

Then why is this happening?

Brother Oni

2012-01-09, 02:46 PM

As mentioned, you probably got a file that was corrupted during the installation procedure. It could range from a bad sector on your HD, a small power spike while that file was copying/expanding, dust on the CD or in the drive, or you're just simply unlucky.

Have you tried un-installing and re-installing or updating the game?

There's no need to delete your save games when un-installing as it's the game files that's most likely corrupt, rather than your save game.

Archpaladin Zousha

2012-01-09, 03:15 PM

Haven't yet, but it's the first thing I'm going try. What if it doesnt' fix the problem. And what exactly happens in 245 BC that could be the cause? I know in my Julii game the Marian Reforms hadn't occured yet, despite me managing to conquer Rome with a force of pre-Marian units.

EDIT: For some reason I can't uninstall the game. There's no option to do so on the launch screen. :smallconfused:

Archpaladin Zousha

2012-01-10, 12:51 AM

To make things more clear, I was able to uninstall Barbarian Invasion without any trouble, but there doesn't seem to be an option to uninstall the original game.

sucatraps

2012-01-10, 02:51 AM

Try going into Add/Remove programs and doing it through Windows.

Archpaladin Zousha

2012-01-10, 09:42 AM

That worked. And it revealed what's going on. The battlefield maps were corrupted. All of them. My father suggested that the copy of the game I have was just a bad copy, and that's how it ended up at Goodwill: returned to the store by a purchaser, and they couldn't return it to the company so they donated it, whereupon I found and purchased it. Might this be the case? Reinstalling it likely won't help if it is.

Shadowleaf

2012-01-10, 09:56 AM

It's very unlikely to be a fault with the CD. It's much more likely to be an issue with the installation.

Archpaladin Zousha

2012-01-10, 10:28 AM

Well, attempting to reinstall it has confirmed my fears. As it was installing a notice appeared that said a file was corrupted and unreadable. What am I to do now? :smallsigh:

Brother Oni

2012-01-10, 10:40 AM

Check for CD damage or dirt first.

I'd then check the hard drive for bad sectors - if all your battlefield maps are corrupt, how were you even playing the battles in the first instance?

There may be a way to install a clean version of the game via Steam and registering the CD key on that, but it'd depend on what the previous owner did with the key.

Archpaladin Zousha

2012-01-10, 10:56 AM

CDs are completely clean.

And I don't know. Like I said, they seemed to happen when I'd hit 245 BC, so maybe an event triggered them or something.

And I have a CD key. Came with the Battle Pack. It's how I registered the game to start with, as well as the copy of Medieval II: Total War - Gold that came with it (which works fine).

sucatraps

2012-01-11, 12:33 AM

I would attempt to register the keys on Steam, then, and try installing via that.

Archpaladin Zousha

2012-01-11, 12:58 PM

It'll have to wait. Almost immediately after I uninstalled it my hard drive started to die. I'm getting a new one.

Brother Oni

2012-01-11, 06:56 PM

It'll have to wait. Almost immediately after I uninstalled it my hard drive started to die. I'm getting a new one.

This is probably why your game files were corrupt. :smalltongue:

Archpaladin Zousha

2012-01-12, 12:16 AM

Actually it turns out my hard drive was fine. My computer's just deciding to be a jerk, since after I uninstalled the game and shut down the computer, Vista didn't want to start back up. My dad's in the process of putting Windows 7 on it, but now the computer's acting like its DVD drive isn't there, forcing us to use an external drive.

Brother Oni

2012-01-12, 03:01 AM

...Vista...

Say no more, I now understand completely.

Driderman

2012-01-12, 05:16 AM

...Vista...

Well that's your problem right there, buddy :smallamused:

Archpaladin Zousha

2012-01-12, 12:20 PM

But it's no longer a problem. So how would I go about using the CD-key I have on Steam? It's not illegal, is it?

Weezer

2012-01-12, 02:44 PM

But it's no longer a problem. So how would I go about using the CD-key I have on Steam? It's not illegal, is it?

It's perfectly legal. If you start up steam, click on the "games" dropdown menu and then select "activate a game on steam". It should then prompt you for your CD key. This may or may not work, it all depends on what the previous owner did, but it's worth a try.

warty goblin

2012-01-12, 03:04 PM

Starwulf

2012-01-12, 04:46 PM

And even if it doesn't, you can snag a copy of Rome: Total War for not very much money (http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-ROMETW/rome-total-war-gold-edition) online anymore. 'Cides which, online is pretty much totally the way to go if you're a PC gamer anymore, the prices are usually better and the selection blows any brick and mortar store I've ever seen out of the water.

Sure, unless you, ya know, LIKE having physical copies of games + manuals and boxes. Even after I get faster internet(whenever that day may come), the amount of games I'll buy online and download will be extremely small. Some people actually prefer having hard copies. Just throwing that out there ^^ I know some people don't like the clutter, but it's not always the case.

Renegade Paladin

2012-01-12, 04:49 PM

Then why is this happening?
Because it was programmed in a craptastic manner. Mine does the same thing.

warty goblin

2012-01-12, 05:00 PM

Sure, unless you, ya know, LIKE having physical copies of games + manuals and boxes. Even after I get faster internet(whenever that day may come), the amount of games I'll buy online and download will be extremely small. Some people actually prefer having hard copies. Just throwing that out there ^^ I know some people don't like the clutter, but it's not always the case.

In some ways I prefer having physical copies, for very large games I still consider it very handy. However there's a lot of games that either aren't available in hard copy, or are much more expensive that way. The holiday sales anymore are pretty crazy, in the beginning of January for instance GamersGate had something like 1,500 games on sale. I value the physical copy, but there's no way it's worth more than, oh, $10 at the very outside even for a collector's edition.