Hello,

This thread was born out of my initial thread reporting issues with my initial MTW2 installation. I've decided to move the installation guide and bug/issue notes into a dedicated thread to get straight to the point. I'll continue to update this with my findings, good and bad. Good luck! :)

INSTALLATION GUIDE

Okay, here is the exact, step-by-step guide to getting the game working as I have. I am on a Macbook Pro 2.4Ghz, 2GB RAM, 256MB video card with Leopard fully patched and up-to-date, using Crossover Games 7.1.

1) Go to 'Install Software'.

2) Go to 'Install Unsupported Software".

3) Choose 'New Bottle', select 'Windows XP' as the bottle type and name it whatever you like (I used 'MTW2'), then continue with installation.

4) Follow the on-screen prompts given to you by the MTW2 launcher, including CD-key etc. Make sure that you leave the option to install DirectX selected as part of this process. Go through the motions, load the second CD upon request, etc.

5) Once the MTW2 installer has finished, say yes to the reboot and finish the install in the Crossover Games installer window.

Steps 6-8 have been removed as discussing how to defeat a copy protection system is prohibited under the DMCA which this website is under the jurisdiction of.

9) The game will now run, in full screen mode. However it needs to run in windowed mode to avoid the "no land texture" bug in the campaign map, until further testing/changes get around this. So, go into your video options and select 1280 x 800 for your campaign and battle map, and make any other relevant changes you wish.

10) Now, you need to go back to the finder window you used a moment ago and right click on 'medieval2.preference.cfg', then in the menu select 'Open With' and find/select 'TextEdit' which is in your 'Applications' folder in Mac OSX. In this file you'll need to add the following text to the very bottom on a new line:

windowed=1
Now File --> Save and exit 'TextEdit'.

At this stage, you should have a copy of MTW2 installed at version v.1.00, that launches in a window at a resolution of 1280 x 800.

PATCHING - BE WARNED

Having attempted the v.1.2 patch myself several times, I have found that the patching process produces an error approximately half way through, during the point in which it is patching one of the .pack files (data1.pack in my case, IIRC). I would urge others to attempt the patching process once, in order to see if I have an esoteric problem or if it's a wider problem with the patch process. The failed patching process will render the vanilla v.1.00 installation half-baked, so you'll need to clear out your MTW2 bottle + install and start all over again. You have been warned. 😉 When patching, ensure you install into the same bottle as your MTW2 installation!

BUGS WITH A WORK AROUND

MTW2 will remove any changes you make to the 'medieval2.preference.cfg' file, thus meaning the game launches in full screen mode the next time you load the game after your most recent play session. If this happens, open 'TextEdit' and select the file to edit from the File --> Open Recent menu, or search for and open it.

UPDATE: There is actually a permanent solution available to the problem of the .cfg file being re-written, however as Crossover Games doesn't appear to use/support .bat files to launch the game, this solution looks like it cannot be applied. For the record, the solution is to duplicate and rename the .cfg file to whateveryoulike.cfg, and then create a .bat file containing the following text before saving it in the main MTW2 directory containing the medieval2.exe file:

medieval2.exe @ whateveryoulike.cfg
Under Windows, you would simply launch the game by double clicking the bat file, which would then ignore the standard .cfg and open your own, custom file. Unfortunately .bat launching of MTW2 isn't possible using Crossover as I see it. :(

KNOWN BUGS/ISSUES

• The game will not launch in its default state without [legally circumventing the DRM - see http://www.codeweavers.com/support/wiki/dmca --admin]

• In full screen mode, the campaign map texture for the land mass does not display, which means the sea texture is displayed everywhere. I have tested this in the four available resolutions whilst in full screen mode: 1024x768, 1280x800, 1440x879, 1440x900 and this bug/issue is still present.

• You cannot change to a resolution higher than 1280x800 when in windowed mode without crashing.

• You cannot minimize the game to the Mac OSX dock without the game crashing. This has been tested in the menu, campaign & battle maps.

• The 'system.log.txt' file reports a large number of data files missing when you start the game, this is responsible for the distorted cursor that is visible throughout the MTW2 experience, and no doubt other issues yet to be seen. I speculate that the game is struggling to read all of the data from the .pack files. Example log file with the errors can be viewed at: http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dgth3prn_16cphdqtdq

• The file 'medieval2.preference.cfg' looses any player made changes on a regular basis after starting the game again, and due to the lack of .bat file launching support, the permanent workaround isn't possible.

• Patching process fails repeatedly at the same point whilst patching data.pack files, all attempts to patch to v.1.2 have failed at the same point.

PERFORMANCE

The campaign map is slow and jittery, but IS playable. I've found a way to boost this performance somewhat (see my second post), but have not found a way to restore it to the full performance you would see in Windows XP.

Cheers,
David Green
MTW2 Advocate

In regards to the poor performance I have mentioned, I have enabled hardware DirectX 9 support for the MTW2 bottle I currently have, and scrolling the campaign map has improved somewhat. It's still a little jittery, but certainly better. To get this improved performance, which I should stress is still in windowed mode and is only at 1280 x 800 (any higher resolution seems to force a crash) I did the following:

From the top menu-bar in Mac OSX, select Programs --> Run Command

Then ensure you have the relevant MTW2 bottle selected, and enter:

regedit

The regedit window will then open. Now, navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
--SOFTWARE
----WINE
------DIRECT3D

You'll see a line with 'useGLSL' in the name, double click on the data field that should read 'disabled' and change it to ANYTHING else. I changed it to 'enabled'. Close the regedit window.

Now, next time you run MTW2 (remember to put it into windowed mode as described in the original post) and go to video options, you can either auto-detect your settings or manually set them. Select 'Shader 2', and set all the various other settings accordingly.

I'd say that gives a perceived campaign map performance bonus whilst scrolling of around 50%.

Cheers,
David

Tested and working - as described above - on iMac 24" 2.16GHz 2GB memory with Crossover Games 7.1.1. Fantastic!

Just to say thank you for the walkthrough it was very helpful and to mention that I just also wondering if I was the only person suffering from crazy text in-game. The text such as the faction names or the option menus are illegible. Not a major issue in terms of gameplay or general game enjoyment but I was wondering if anyone knew of a way to fix it. If only for aesthetical reasons.

Hi, thanks for your help. I've a MacBook Pro with 4Gb of Ram, Core 2 Duo processor and GeForce 8600 M GT NVIDIA with 256 MB of SDRAM, I think that is enough computer to move this game but with Crossover games I've a problem, I read all your steps, and made it, but I can't see the land, I have the "no land texture" problem, well no land and no armys, and some letters are unreadable.
How can I resolve it?, I think the problem is the Graphical card, Can I put drivers on Crossover Games?, I'm waiting for your answers, thanks for all, good job, bye.

this looks like it works but at the steps where the RAR files had to be used to expand files and save them i am a bit confused. can you help

Hi, when I download the patch on step #7, it ends up as Medieval_TW.exe and the picture above looks like the crossover gaming to run the programs you've installed icon. Then, when I open up RAR Expander, it says Files with extension 'exe' may contain 'self-extracting' RAR archives, but in general contain Windows applications. Try opening the file on a computer running Windows. I was wondering how to fix it.
Thank you sooo much in advance
Reed

Update for MTW2 - bought from Direct2Drive.com

I just bought the downloadable version from direct2drive - the installation is like David specifies above, but be aware that the version is pre-patched to v1.3

You can find out which version you have by opening up the readme.txt file - this is important when you [sorry for edits - admin]. Make sure you download the correct version.

(BTW: There is no CD check when buying form Direct2Drive, but there IS some kind of check going on - whatever it is, it isnt working, but [sorry, again - admin] does bypass the problem.)

Video Issues / Work around: I did not have "1280x800" available to me in the configuration menu - and the auto-detect crashed hard (probably cause it detected my screen as 1440x879) - but once you do run the autodetect the .cfg file is populated with ton of data - find the following two entries and enter the resolution manaully worked:

battle_resolution = 1280 800
campaign_resolution = 1280 800

This resolution also fixed "most" of the garbled text issues I had - I am guessing it just needs to be stretched right 😉

Just the cursor and all headers messed up now, very playable - Thanks David!!

Martin

I also bought the game on d2d. I followed all the steps, and had the same grass/texture problem with the game. I put the game into windowed mode, but now when i attempt to open the game in windowed mode I get a message that says medieval 2: total war encountered an unspecified error and will now exit. If anyone could help me with this it would be greatly appreciated.

for some reason i cannot get the game to run windowed. It lets me install and run it, but all of the ground looks like water. I wouldent really mind this if i were able to see my troops on the battlefield. In the tutorial above you say that running it in windowed mode will fix this issue. I have tried many different things including

windowed = 1
windowed = true
so on...

please help i would really like to do more than just move the troops around like pieces on a chess board.

thanks in advance!

btw i get the same error when i tell the game to run in windowed mode, it says " medieval 2 has encountered and unspecified error and will now exit"

Instead of configuring the game to run in its windowed mode, you might try setting the entire bottle to use a virtual desktop window. Launch the winecfg control panel, select its Graphics tab, and enable "Emulate a virtual desktop". OK all the way out of winecfg and then try the game (configured for full-screen).

Has anyone gotten Kingdoms to work?

Ken, I have tried what you suggested and have found that this does not fix the solution. The ground is still water, and there are still no troops on the battlefield. I have also tried running it in windowed mode while in a virtual desktop and received the same message as before. If you could help me with this problem I would greatly appreciate it. I have been trying for over half a year now to get this game to work, and have all but given up on it.

Hi there. I was filled with joy when I found this guide to get MTW2 (Gold Edition) installed on my Mac (Macbook 2Ghz, 2 GB Ram, 256Mb Video card). However, this joy now turns to frustration as I seem unable to make it work.

First of, when trying [really sorry, but to make sure we're in compliance with the dmca we had to remove quite a bit of this post - admin]
Apparently I should be able to play by now. But when i hit the MTW2 launcher icon, the icon appears in my dock as if it is about to open. But nothing happens after that. The icon just stays in the dock like the game is running, but it isn't.

Am i trying to open the game the wrong way? Or have I not patched right? Do I need to put ALL the extracted medieval2.exe files into the MTW2 map with the original one?

I hope this makes sense to someone, I could really use the help. I guess I'm quite noobish at dealing with this sort of problems, so I might sound like a total retard. If so, sorry for that. You've had your laugh now, and can proceed to helping me out :)

Thanks in advance
Jonatan

I followed the OP's instructions, as well as these, and I'm still getting the "medieval 2 has encountered and unspecified error and will now exit" problem.

Jonatan Løve Nielsen wrote:

Hi there. I was filled with joy when I found this guide to get MTW2
(Gold Edition) installed on my Mac (Macbook 2Ghz, 2 GB Ram, 256Mb
Video card). However, this joy now turns to frustration as I seem
unable to make it work.

First of, when trying
[link=https://www.codeweavers.com/support/wiki/dmca][really sorry,
but to make sure we're in compliance with the dmca we had to remove
quite a bit of this post - admin][/link]
Apparently I should be able to play by now. But when i hit the MTW2
launcher icon, the icon appears in my dock as if it is about to
open. But nothing happens after that. The icon just stays in the
dock like the game is running, but it isn't.

Am i trying to open the game the wrong way? Or have I not patched
right? Do I need to put ALL the extracted medieval2.exe files into
the MTW2 map with the original one?

I hope this makes sense to someone, I could really use the help. I
guess I'm quite noobish at dealing with this sort of problems, so I
might sound like a total retard. If so, sorry for that. You've had
your laugh now, and can proceed to helping me out :)

Thanks in advance
Jonatan

[b]
i had the same problem dude, but i didnt follow the steps "to a tee" as they say. The first i did not reboot because i fought it would of asked me and it didnt launch but i did it again with a reboot and it worked, keep trying dude it will all be worth it :)[/b]

Chris Langwell wrote:

Has anyone gotten Kingdoms to work?

no dude I am trying but failling i am getting installed but it will not start up, i think i need DMCA. but aint got a clue what to do with it. I asked the computer guys on here but they aint got back to me yet.

we need a fix for the "Medieval War II has encountered an unexpected error and will now quit"

happens every time I try to open it, and there are several replies to this about it. Can we get some help please? =D

Has anyone solved the patching issue yet? Or is the only solution to make sure you buy the game already patched at 1.3?

Oh and I don't see the DIRECT3D key that David mentioned in his second post in regedit.

Hi there, i got the game to work and its fantastic, However i seem to get some of the head lining text as this unreadable text. Can you help?

First off, thanks a million for the post.

So I've gotten the game to work up until the point just after choosing my faction. At the point where just prior to when the campaign map would normally launch -- Black Screen with the blue hour glass and light blue progress emblem at the bottom of the screen -- the game just permanently stays there until the music fades out and never launches the campaign map. It doesn't crash or freeze (the gregorian chant music is still playing) -- just doesn't launch the map. I'm using the 30-day free trial version of CrossOver with Tiger 10.4.11 OSX (2.16 Ghz, 2 GB 667 MHz RAM). Any thoughts/suggestions?

(Obviously upgrading to Snow Leopard may fix the issue, but figured I'd see if any of you had been successful with Tiger or experienced a similar issue).

Hi, i dont appear to have the Direct3D you mentioned in your second post??

You can create it by selecting the parent key and selecting Edit > New > Key.

Nik wrote:

First off, thanks a million for the post.

So I've gotten the game to work up until the point just after
choosing my faction. At the point where just prior to when the
campaign map would normally launch -- Black Screen with the blue
hour glass and light blue progress emblem at the bottom of the
screen -- the game just permanently stays there until the music
fades out and never launches the campaign map. It doesn't crash or
freeze (the gregorian chant music is still playing) -- just doesn't
launch the map. I'm using the 30-day free trial version of CrossOver
with Tiger 10.4.11 OSX (2.16 Ghz, 2 GB 667 MHz RAM). Any
thoughts/suggestions?

(Obviously upgrading to Snow Leopard may fix the issue, but figured
I'd see if any of you had been successful with Tiger or experienced
a similar issue).

Can anyone help with this question? I am having the same issue. Interestingly, I did have this game installed on Crossover Games, at which point it was working perfectly. However, when I switched to Crossover Mac Pro, it started giving me this same problem.

DerekG wrote:

Can anyone help with this question? I am having the same issue.
Interestingly, I did have this game installed on Crossover Games, at
which point it was working perfectly. However, when I switched to
Crossover Mac Pro, it started giving me this same problem.

Hi,

This software title is a game, not a productivity app.. As such,
you should really be using Crossover Games to run this title, not
Crossover Std/Pro. Crossover Games contains patches and optimizations
for playing games, that the Std/Pro versions do not. This is likely the
problem here (as observed by your own words ;) - basically you switched
to using the wrong Crossover product to run this win32 title...you would
need to go back the Crossover Games...

Cheers!

Hi Andrew,
Your thread is really useful, but your points 6-8 have been deleted. Would you be able to email me those directly if I send you my email address?
Thanks for your help,
Gordon

Hi..
I've installed MTW2 without problems but it won't start.
I'm only getting a message that theres a problem and it will now close.
What could be the problem here?
Does anyone know?

Gordon Wallace wrote:

Hi Andrew,
Your thread is really useful, but your points 6-8 have been deleted.
Would you be able to email me those directly if I send you my email
address?
Thanks for your help,
Gordon

Yeah, we're really sorry, but any information on our public forums that references circumventions to the DMCA must be removed, even if you live in a place where it's legal to do so.

Feel free to privately help each other! As long as doing so is legal where you live. Sorry to be a buzzkill.

Hello,

I would appreciate it if someone sent me a message with steps 6-8 to me, as I am getting the "Please Insert original MED2GOLD disc" error.

I have a Macbook Pro with a 2.66 GHz Intel Core i7 processor and 4 GB of memory. I have downloaded medieval II and used crossover to install the game but when i try to run it, it says that a serious problem has occurred and it wont open. I am generally competent with computers but i am not a whiz. If anybody could help me i would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

hey guys, i have currently have medieval 2: total war & the expansion pack kingdoms. I used to play it on my dads pc but he had to remove it so he could download something else. But my question is when I put the first disk in and download it with crossover games (DMCA) i get halfway through and I put in disk 2. I continue to download it until it is done and the 'installation is complete' page comes up. It has a few boxes you can check one i believe is it asks you if you would like to view the 'readme' file. I uncheck that. The other box is weather I would like to launch Medieval 2:total war or not. On one occasion i didn't check it and ran it manually through the run command and another time I left it checked and launched it right after the installation. On both occasions a screen popped up saying "something blah blah has encountered a serious problem we are sorry for this inconvenience' or something like that. Is anyone able to tell me how I play this game? I have all the disks and they are in perfect condition. If you are able to tell me how to do it from the start I will uninstall the thing and start over. But if you can explain from only where my problem occurs that would be great too.
I also read that I may have to rename it and that may be the problem can anyone please help me with this problem? And if it is an easy fix can you also tell my how I could possibly also install the expansion pack kingdoms too?

P.S. If all you do is provide a link that gives me a step by step way to do it would work too.