CW2. Will it run on my computer?

[Corugi]

Greetings

I would like to purchase CW2 but have doubts that it would run on my laptop.

I note from your store the specs required to run CW2:

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Windows XP/Vista/7/8
Pentium 4 or higher
RAM: 2 GB
VIDEO: 1024Mb video card
3Gb HD space
SCREEN: 1024 x 768 or higher

I have a HP Presario C700 running Vista and 2.5 GB of ram. The screen resolution is 1280x800. Sufficient HD space. So there are no problems in these areas.

However when I check my laptop's system information the only information given about my processor is:

Processor: Intel Celeron M CPU 530 @ 1.73 GHz

I have no idea how this compares to your "Pentium 4 or higher" requirement.

With respects to graphics, all my system information gives me is a "windows experience of 3.3" .

I searched the internet for Presario C700 specifications and the only relevant information I could find find about the graphics is:

Graphics Controller: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
Graphics Memory: 384MB

I have no idea how "graphics memory" specifications relates to "video card" specifications, but I am guessing they mean the same thing. In which case it appears I do not have enough graphics memory to run CW2. That seems strange as it appears that CW2 is not a graphics hungry sort of game.

Are you able to assist me?

Is my processor powerful enough to run CW2?
Would my graphics be able to run CW2?

I can run "Hearts of Iron 3" and "Europa Universalis 3" from Paradox games without any problems, if that helps you in answering my questions.

Thanking you.

Corugi.

[Ace]

1024 MB video card requirement is a little bit on the safe side, possibly to avoid complaints for scrolling hiccups. I run it on my computer which is now >8 years old without too much problems (small hiccups (delays) when I jump to regions not loaded at startup). I have 512 MB graphic card.
The same computer had troubles running HOI3 game. It did run on it, but very slowly.

So, I think you should be fine, but I can't guarantee anything.

Your processor is more than enough.

Hope this helps.

[Corugi]

Thank you Ace.

In the end I may just have to gamble on it working.

I did some digging around, and saw that there is a free demo of Alea Jacta Est. (Roman Civil War? Oh yeah! Drools.) The specs are:

OS: Windows XP SP2+/Vista/Win7
DirectX 9.0c or more
Processor: Pentium IV 1800+ MHz
4GB free on hard disk - 1024 Mo RAM
Video card: 128 MB
DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card.

Okay, so I thought this should work without any problem, and if it does then I will buy the full version in the event that ACW2 does not.

After unsuccessfully attempting two downloads from the AEGOD site ( corrupt files ) I successfully downloaded it from the Matrix site and installed. But now it will not run, it hangs up at "loading textures 66%". Curiously, on the Matrix forum, I found that there was another guy who experienced exactly the same problem, but since he got the AJE demo to run on another computer he didn't bother following through with resolving the problem.

So I am now guessing that the problem lies with my computer. If it wont run the AJE demo then I doubt it will run CW2. Which is a shame because I was looking forward to teaching those damned Yankees the meaning of Southern Hospitality.

I will follow through on the Matrix site with respect to the problem of getting the AJE demo fixed and let you know how I got on.

[Ace]

The problem is in your video card memory, it is rather small.

By the way, I have AJE. It is more demanding than the CW2, minimum requirements are misleading.

You could try to edit file general.opt located in the settings folder.

Change this line TexAtStart = 1 to TexAtStart = 0.

It will not try to loadup graphics on the game startup - you stalled at 66%. Expect slower graphic responding if you do that.

[Corugi]

Thanks for your advice Ace. Will try that.

Update.

This is fascinating. Its like going down the rabbit hole. So I try to open the general.opt file and find I cant, getting a popup asking me if I would like windows to find me the program to open it on the net. So I do that and download a program called REGSERVO. I run that and its telling me that I have 200 system errors, 43 com/active-X errors, and a dozen user errors. ( Seriously? User errors? I did something wrong? ).

This is on my laptop that I restored to factory settings just a few days before and has since seen very little use except for internet browsing and a plethora of Norton, Hewlett Packard and Windows updates.

Man,

Not complaining, but this is blowing my computer-illiterate mind. Still, I am sure I will learn something from this.

Update: Whoah! Nearly got suckered in there. Removed REGSERVO from my computer after I did a bit of background checking. Hmmm. Might be an idea to reset to factory again.

[Ace]

I do not know what program you have downloaded, but remove it at once - it does not look nice messing with the system like that. It would be good to do virus check to see if you have removed it completely.

After that, you can go back to cw.
For opening an opt file, click with your right mouse on the file and select "open it with notepad". It will open multiple lines of text. Do not touch anything except the line I have told you.

[Corugi]

Thanks Ace.

I followed your instructions and yes, I can now run the AJE demo. Awesome. Its a bit slow, as one might expect, especially on my old budget laptop, but it is playable. It may well be time for me to look at purchasing some hardware that is more powerful and up to date.

How on earth did you know that changing that one value ("Change this line TexAtStart = 1 to TexAtStart = 0) would work?

I was telling my gf about it. "Its like me telling you to look in a phone book for this name and the phone number will be the answer". Amazing.

Anyways, thanks again.

Corugi.

[Ace]

Actually, AGEod guys have told me that in the early cw2 testing when the resources were more demanding than now. The line tells the game not to preload graphics. Much shorter game load time also this way, but some scrolling hiccups as I said above.