Empire: Total War still crashy

[Shoosh Malooka]

Is it wrong to still have hopes for Empire: Total War? A year after release we are at patch 1.6. This marked my attempt to give it another chance, as well as try out Darthmod Ultimate Campaign 6.0. So I re-installed it, along with Steam, and everything necessary for a new, exciting experience. Three of them in a row, actually. A rude crashing to desktop from the battle map, each time with no warning leaving me speechless and feeling very foolish.

Perhaps it is my ATI Radeon 4890, or my Soundblaster Audigy 2? Is Empire: Total War hopeless? How do you feel about it?

Btw, since I reinstalled Steam I discovered that they are offering Portal as a free download until May 24th. Maybe I'll try that.

[Elyasis]

Do. It was well worth a buy and is totally a steal when it's free.

Don't know much about Empire: Total War, sorry.

[J. M. Pescado]

I find that a bottle of vodka can accomplish all of the effects you would want out of anti-aliasing without consuming your computer hardware to do.

[HystearicalParoxysm]

Try playing with the graphics options in the ATI controls as well as in-game, especially regarding antialiasing. Forcing antialiasing in the ATI controls can cause major graphics issues and crashes.

[Shoosh Malooka]

Portal download is at 40%, just in case. Grey Goose or Smirnoff?

I'm at it again, I'll explain why I'm so disposed to get ETW working: General consensus in the twcenter board claims DMUC has improved the AI to surpass NTW BAI. What I've seen ( before crashing ) is a fairly competent opponent that keeps formation and sends cavalry raids, and is somewhat comparable to a newbie player. They gave the BAI more aggression by letting it value its troops more ( has more confidence in its units ) rather than do the melee chicken dance it once did. If ETW were stable it would be the better game over NTW because it gives you three maps to play simultaneously, doesn't limit you to a paltry five factions, and there is plenty of lesser things to keep one occupied who has ADD. I've had a small taste in the form of two non-crashing battles and it grew a full appetite. This dumping me to desktop makes me wonder if there is a video game demon that is toying with me.

I'll try again with AA off, with low res, with everything off if need be, and report back.

[Synthesis]

Empire is pretty infamous for its crashiness (I've heard cases that it inevitably crashes after a certain number of turns or the like).

And since it's no longer being patched, there isn't really a solution that I'm aware of. I'm fortunate that I waited for Napoleon: Total War.

[Shoosh Malooka]

I've seen videos of NTW. The graphics look the same to me, but the artillery effects are very nice. But... five factions only? And no modding tools because they specifically want to sidestep modders so they alone can rule with their dlc. Shame, shame, CA :(

Update: It's not crashing anymore since I turned on sound caching and deleted the drum and fife mod. I'm on turn 4 new campaign as Great Britain and already at war with 4 nations including France, Prussia, the Ottoman Empire, and the Hurons who immediately took my region in North America. I'm quite sure the Mughal Empire will declare war next, and probably Spain. And yet, on the horizon I will have to tackle the Cherokee so that the 13 colonies will join me. I can play with ultra unit size on high settings smoothly with 2 armies on the battlemap.

And I'm going to save every 20 turns in case of game corruption. DMUC will tide me over until the price of NTW comes down. CA did make claims that they are still patching Empire, only time will tell.

[ElPresidente]

Napoleon is not as expansive as Empire. I'd stick with the prior game myself.

[Shoosh Malooka]

Right! Apart from stability and optimization, it is not Empire that should be more like Napoleon, it is Napoleon that should be more like Empire. If only they would make an expansion to include a Europe map, an Americas map, and a Hindi map, and give it a proper title that gives the essence of 'this expansion covers the world during the times of Napoleonic warfare' then that would be win win for CA and the fans of the TW series.

[Synthesis]

Napoleon is not as expansive as Empire. I'd stick with the prior game myself.

NTW is much less expansive, but at least from what I've heard, far less buggy and much better optimized. NTW also has each turn take two weeks.

The factions are less numerous and the world is smaller, yes, but the individual attention paid to the factions is higher, I think. I also think that modding will get around this--there are already mods coming out to make other factions, like the Irish or other small nations, playable.

I wouldn't mind NTW having ETW's world, but I wouldn't trade stability and optimization (not to mention patches--I don't think ETW is being patched anymore?) for either.

[Shoosh Malooka]

I take back what I said about modding. Some digging reveals that CA didn't release modding tools for Empire, either. Shame, shame, CA. The NTW modders will get around it, and I'll get around to Napoleon eventually. Darth Vader states that he will not make Darthmod for Napoleon unless there are modding tools. The entertainment value for ETW's scope is the array of options. This means that you can play India and invade Great Britain! Pit the Thirteen Colonies against the USA! Take Great Britain and slaughter the Huron-Wyandots to unite Canada! CA released the 1.6 patch after NTW, but savegame corruption is still possible, perhaps there is a logic malfunction in the quicksave.