Several hours ago we reported about the leaking of Empire : Total War on BitTorrent. Although the game is undoubtedly a great hit, it isn’t without its share of issues. A lot of people who are using the pirated (cracked) version of the game by Razor1911 seem to be having problems. Those who actually purchased the game on Steam have reportedly run into a few problems as well. Given below are some of the issues reported by users of both the cracked and legitimate versions of Empire : Total War.
UPDATE: An update patch has been released for this game. Before you try any of the fixes mentioned in this article, update your game to the latest build and check if the problems are fixed. If you are using the pirated version, a cracked patch has been released by RazorDox – read all about it here.
Note that you may not encounter none, some or all of the problems mentioned below – user experience seem to vary from each installation. Also, not that some of these problems may exist in the legitimate version of the game as well. We cannot guarantee that the fixes mentioned in the article will solve all your problems – sometimes they will and sometimes they won’t.
Sound issues, missing sounds and other audio related problems
Problem: Missing sound effects. You may encounter missing or no sound effects with Empire : Total War. For example, when you give the command for a unit to march, you may not hear the corresponding sound effect. Some have reported missing sounds from horses, swords, cannons, etc as well.
UPDATE 8/03 (Working Solution): Search TPB for "etw_sounds_sfx.pack", download it and replace the sounds_sfx.pack file in the game's installation folder.
Solution 1 (Untested): Note that I have not tested this solution myself. Backup all replaced files before testing his method.
- Download the Empire : Total War Demo and install it (It’s a free Steam download).
- In the Demo installation directory, locate the file demo3.pack. Rename the file to sounds_sfx.pack
- Browse to the installation directory of the full game (not the demo). Replace the sounds_sfx.pack file located in the full install dir using the renamed filed created at step 2.
- Run the game
Solution 2 (New/Updated) : Download the “Empire: Total War sound fix for all releases” which can be found on public BitTorrent trackers.
Problem: Missing voice acting and missing/skipping advisor messages
Solution: See solution 2 for Missing sound effects problem (above)
Crash to desktop (CTD), freezes, installer issues and hangs
Problem: Some users (both pirated and legitimate) have experienced crashes with the game when trying to start a new campaign (for example when trying to start the road to independence campaign) while some have reported crashes after the first battle. Some others have experienced the game crashing or freezing at the loading screen or just randomly.
Solution: No direct solution yet. Keep in mind that updating DirectX, Microsoft .NET Framework and your system drivers will always help at least minimize the chances of random crashes.
UPDATED Alternative Solution: Here is something you can try to avoid the crash at road to independence campaign as well as maybe installer crashes. This is for the pirated version of the game. No guarantee that this’ll work – worth a shot anyways.
- Uninstall the game if you have already installed it. Delete all copied cracks or any other modified files.
- Create a new folder for the game to be installed. Copy all modified/cracked files to this location before installing the game.
- Install the game to the folder created at step 2. When the installer prompts for files on disk 2, point to them in the following order: 1. _0.sid 2. _1.sid 3. _2.sid 4. _2.sid
- Rename and Replace the sounds_sfx file with the one in demo as per instructions given in the sound issues section above.
Problem: Installer crashes before completion. If you are using Windows 7 Beta (and even on Vista and XP in some instances), you might experience crashes with the ETW installer, specially at the end of disk1 or disk2 installation.
Solution: When the installer prompts you for the installation disk, make sure you type the full path (Ex- X:\Empire Total War_disk1_0.sid). If you press the browse button or type and incomplete path, the installer will crash. May or may not work for OS versions other than Windows 7 as well. Keep in mind that the installer may take a long time to complete – this is normal.
Steam related errors and issues
It’s not only pirates who are suffering from ETW glitches. Legitimate buyers who downloaded the game from Steam have had their share of problems as well.
Problem: Missing textures, cannot launch the game from Steam, error messages ‘empire.exe caused an error….’, etc
Solution: The above problems may have something to do with Steam not downloading all of the game files correctly. Launch Steam, Right click on Empire: Total War, go to properties. Open the ‘local files’ tab and verify the integrity of game cache. Re-Download any files if required.
Performance enhancements and software/drivers for error free Empire : Total War game experience
Make sure you have the following software installed on your system for optimal game experience
NVIDIA Drivers: NVIDIA have released 182.08 drivers which are recommended from Empire : Total War. Direct download links are given below:
ATI Drivers: Download the latest ATI Catalyst 9.2 drivers from this link: http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx
Motherboard and sound card drivers: [Click Here] to download 3DP Chip for Windows Vista/XP – This program will automatically detect your hardware (video card, sound card and motherboard) and find available driver updates.
Latest Microsoft .NET Framework: Download the latest .NET Framework from http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/default.aspx
Latest Microsoft DirectX Runtime: This is very important if you are using Windows XP, download the latest DirectX runtimes from this link.
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