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  • #2140404

    “CDT problems”

    by rljl2006 ·

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    I am trying to run a pc game issued originally by Creative Assembly for Windows XP named “Medieval Total War.” It runs fine on my old HP desktop running Windows XP. A forum on a website for the Total War games had a fix to the “resolution” which is supposed to fix the graphics issues encountered with the newer pc’s, like my series 6 64bit Acer laptop running Win 7. One can run the game in Win 7 with the corrected graphics. Anyway, the game did run with the fix, up until just after I choose all the main menu options, (I had compatibility for Win XP Sp3 plus run in 650…. So, the screen suddenly pops back to the Main Menu, and there are multiple mouse pointers all over the bottom of the screen, and shading in the upper third of the menu screen, and other graphics anomalies. Some other gamer posted a comment about there being “multiple CDT” problems with this game. Does CDT mean graphics problems? I have both the original Intel graphics plus Nividia, but of course I have no idea if Nivida is running any applications on this laptop nor how to tweak it if I needed to. You know I post questions on the Org Medieval Total War forum, but it takes forever to get responses because the game was the second issued in the many they have sold since.

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    • #2414285
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      That other forum.

      by rproffitt ·

      In reply to “CDT problems”

      https://forums.totalwar.com/categories/medieval-total-war

      That said I see so many fixes, patches, workarounds that you have to try.

      Frankly this may be one that you should install VirtualBox, then XP SP3 in a VM just to run this old title.

      • #2414282

        Video problems with MTW

        by rljl2006 ·

        In reply to That other forum.

        Thank you for taking the time to respond. I will try what you recommend.

      • #2413470

        A couple of followup questions

        by rljl2006 ·

        In reply to That other forum.

        Thanks for the tip about Virtual Box. I have no idea what VM is though, so please if you would explain that. (By the way, a couple of different techs had no luck getting DosBox or the latest version of that to work for my DOS games.)

        My main question is though, the SEGA gamesite tech advised me to download and install 3 executable files from Visual Suite to add 2017, 2018 and 2019 “v” files to add them to the 3 already had in the system. When I did download that suite it asked me questions which I had no idea about, and it lied about including the 2019 “v” file because I saw it nowhere; yet the suite said that 2019 included this that and the other, implying I wouldn’t need 2017 and 2018. All very murky for a layman. Then after download it failed to install after 5 hours of “installing” indicated, and Task Manager saying it was “Running.” The tech guy wrote back my system must be corrupted and to run the game in my other older laptop which recently had a clean install of Windows 7. Somehow this all kind of feels like one oar in the water to me.
        Do you have any idea what happened with this failed installation of the 3 newest “v” executable files.” Maybe I can get them elsewhere on the web besides Virtual Suite? But even if I downloaded them I wouldn’t know where to install them, (into which folder I mean); or perhaps they would automatically install in the correct system folder and work automatically?

        You have been kind answering me previously, and perhaps you might explain what this is all about and what I could do? Thanks.

    • #2414284
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      Re: video problems

      by kees_b ·

      In reply to “CDT problems”

      CDT seems to mean the Continental Divide Trail or Carbohydrate Deficient Transferrin, and both are utterly inapplicable.

      I assume your PC has an Intel video on the motherboard and a separate video card. Try disabling the video card in Device Manager (you can always enable it again) and see what happens then.

      Alas, it’s quite common that XP games are incompatible with Windows 7 or Windows 10. Two things you can try:
      – install the virtual XP mode that is available for Windows 7 Pro and Ultimate and run the game in the virtual machine it creates.
      – try the 32-bit version of Windows 7 if you now run the 64-bit version of Windows 7 (not clear from your post if you mean the hardware or the OS, when you say 64 bit).

      • #2414281

        Video problems with MTW

        by rljl2006 ·

        In reply to Re: video problems

        Thank you for your response. I tried to tell the tech shop guys who recently did a clean install of Win 7 on another of my laptops! I asked specifically for installation of Win 7 Professional and they poo-pooed the difference. I KNEW I should have insisted. They were so cavalier about it and I really disliked that. Unless one is a business client they practically yawn in one’s face.

        Anyway, I am intrigued about disabling the Nivida card and using only the built-in Intel graphics. I am going to try it because it is simple for me. I have no idea how to get a Windows 7 Pro installed on either of my two Win 7 laptops. I guess I’ll call a local tech and ask him about that, and installation.

        • #2414280
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          Small world.

          by rproffitt ·

          In reply to Video problems with MTW

          Just last week I had a laptop that absolutely could not run W10 (rare but happens.) The install of Windows 7 went smooth enough but I was not surprised by it’s outright refusal to go to hardly any web sites. More patches from Microsoft and finally a Chrome went in and more progress.

          I can’t guess why there would be any other reason to run W7 or older today.

          -> About the Virtual PC, this is where VirtualBox may be the answer. of course you may have more work ahead with a possible BIOS setting and digging up your old XP SP3 install media.

        • #2414273
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          Re: install Windows XP

          by kees_b ·

          In reply to Small world.

          About a year ago I tried installing Windows XP on an old PC, but I couldn’t activate it anymore. Maybe Microsoft disabled the activation by now. So after a while XP started to partially disable itself, resulting in reduced functionality.

          There are programs to make a virtual OS file from a working and activated OS. I never used them, and I don’t know if what exists still supports XP.

        • #2414266
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          Thanks for this.

          by rproffitt ·

          In reply to Re: install Windows XP

          I did use the app to make a virtual drive from a working installed XP and the result was the OS deactivated when run in Virtual Box so not a success in my book.

          What did work was an install to a machine in Virtual Box but that was over 2 years ago so I haven’t had the need since.

          -> Beyond all that I’m finding this sort of work (installing old XP and 7) to be very broken now as the default browser can’t navigate the web. Let’s just call such an expert install and since we did it so rarely with no future installs we know on the horizon we didn’t bother to write down the process.

          All this feels like what we do to play old PS2 games. We plug in the PS2.

        • #2414265

          Why I use Win 7

          by rljl2006 ·

          In reply to Small world.

          The main reason is that I play a lot of games which were sold in the late 1990’s and up to about 2012. Almost all of them, except the DOS ones, and one XP game–Medieval Total War, run in Win 7 with minimal compatibility and graphics tweaking.

          There are four at least other reasons:
          1. I dislike MicroSoft for continually changing their operating systems in ways which negatively affect users, one of which is having to pay for upgrades one way or another, (for example I had to hire a tech to re-configure my wife’s pc because she was so used to Win 7 she had no idea what was where and how Win 10 worked. Win 10 is so different from Win 7 it sucked trying to learn it and shutting off all the spyware they put into it.) Look at all the businesses who got screwed when they abandoned support for Win 7. They force you to spend money.
          2. Another reason is that no company should be so very large it monopolizes the industry. (Apple is not a big factor, and Linux is still thought outre.)
          3. I do not like the current emphasis on using hardware and software resources for optimizing graphics. I have no sense of even the difference between HD TV and the regular type, so there…The emphasis upon graphics rather than the ability to run many different operating systems and be accomodating to older application programs is childish. (
          4. Back about 5 years ago MicroSoft released a Windows Update for Win 7 which blew up the file allowing Authentication Codes for all the older pc games (non-steam ones.) I had to find the problem, delete the update, and reinstall all the games requiring the authentication codes. I also posted the fix on the various game forum websites because other gamers went nuts trying to find out how their games suddenly couldn’t be used. MicroSoft did nothing to prepare the gaming world for this bomb, they didn’t explain anything, they focused only upon eliminating a vulnerability to malware. They are linear thinkers. who simply dropped the bomb and to **** with you if you didn’t know it would harm you, “because we know better than you whether to seal a vulnerability or allow you to decide if you value the games more.”

          I could go on with my rant but those are major reasons I still use Win 7. ((Plus I have no idea if Win 10 will run all my games.)

        • #2414261
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          While one can debate all that.

          by rproffitt ·

          In reply to Why I use Win 7

          We found we had to keep a few old laptops around on XP SP3 just for one of our clients. They paid us for the service so heck, why not?

          Later we moved to Virtual Machines to be sure we could keep going if the over decade old gear died.

          The machines that we kept around cost about 50 to 100 bucks today used on ebay so we don’t worry too much since we have the virtual machines plus the old laptops in mothballs and full backups so we could rebuild if need be.

          -> The pressure to make all the OSes more secure has broken many old apps and games. Microsoft has no monopoly there.

        • #2417271

          Update on Win 7 and CDT problem

          by rljl2006 ·

          In reply to While one can debate all that.

          I had a tech company do a clean install of Win 7 on an older laptop which had a corrupted Win 7 on it, (they said.) It runs without a battery being installed because I spilled coffee in it a few years back and it shorted the charger circuit or something.

          Anyway, after I got it home from the clean install, I did nothing with it until a few weeks ago. When I tried to install an XP game it said I lacked “Direct3D.” I also could not choose a Win 7 screen saver because “no Direct3D.”

          Now what? I did search for Direct3D on the web and there was a link to DirectX 12 if I remember correctly, so I tried to download that onto a thumbdrive on my never laptop so I could transfer the file into the “clean install” one. No success.

          Any ideas? Why is Direct3D lacking anyway since the alleged corrupted Win 7 was supposedly replaced with another Win 7 by the techie? Would it be because the Win 7 installed was not legit? But why lack specifically Direct3D and what do I do now?

        • #2417270
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          What I’d try for Windows 7.

          by rproffitt ·

          In reply to Update on Win 7 and CDT problem

          Get the update from https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35 and install it.

          Best of luck since this may require you to have the last/latest audio and video drivers.

          Remember that I consider a clean W7 install one for the experts and while I can do such I only can do this when I have the PC at the office or shop. I make no claims I can fix this with a step by step (sorry, I can only guide) here or anywhere other than the office of shop.

          [b]My bet is the folk that installed Windows 7 for you didn’t finish the install with drivers and more.[/b]

        • #2417265

          Update on Win 7 and CDT problem

          by rljl2006 ·

          In reply to What I’d try for Windows 7.

          Thank you. I have downloaded the dwsetup file you recommend and will try it on the other laptop.

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