Rome Total War

[Keith Heitmann]

Download and try the demo for RTW. That way you can tell for sure before you spend the money.

[Keith Heitmann]

For those of you looking for tools for the various files for this game you should visit the Total War Center. They got some interesting stuff in their downloads Tool Section.

I found a sound file extractor program there that allowed me to extract all the music, sound effects, and voices in to seperate folders of their own in standard MP3 and WAV format.

Speaking of which, the music for RTW is quite extensive and it has a couple of real nice pieces that are worth listenting to again and again. The two most popular music tracks of the game are "Divinitus", which is usually heard while playing a campaign while on the campaign map. The other is "Forever" which is played during the credits of the game. I found this last piece to be very nicely done. It's got a sort of modern James Bond-ish sort of beat to it and the lyrics are sung by the wife of the composer Jeff van Dyck, who also composed the music for Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom. You can find the lyrics for these two songs at the official Rome Total War website.

The extractor program for these sound files is at TWC under the name of xidx.zip. There is one other program by the same person that will let you extract the PAK files found in the games Pack folder. I haven't played with that yet.

Your lucky day! You can download the "Forever" track and a few others from RTW at the composer's DNA Multimedia Audio.

[Phil Walker]

Going back to your post above the one above this post. I do appreciate the thoughts and know what you are saying. However, I have the other 2, so I know what to expect as far as being able to see things. I just adjust the resolution as I did with the other 2 to suit me, so it isn't a problem. Spending the money isn't so much the issue as getting it "rounded up" and THEN I will get my copy. It comes down to WHERE it is on my list of priorities! ;D

Sincerely,
Phil

[PUFF88]

ive played the demo several times and like it a lot. I had the original medievil total war and liked that alot. never got to try the viking expansion though. Ive been broke pretty much lately. been waiting for Rome to drop in price before i pick it up.

[Phil Walker]

A LITTLE FYI Puff!

Don't mess with the Medieval Total War expansion. WHEN or if you try to install it, you WILL get a warning. The two are NOT truly compatible. If you install the expansion many things in the original won't work anymore. First hand experience speaking this!

Sincerely,
Phil

[Phil Walker]

Well, I have it now AND installed. All does look good so far. One thing though Keith. WITHOUT messing with the settings on my monitor, is there a way to "lighten" things up? It IS a bit dark. Unlike many games I have there seems to be no brightness, contrast, or other such settings in the game. Just detail being low, medium or high for specific aspects. So, any suggestions?

Sincerely,
Phil

[Keith Heitmann]

Hmmm...odd. It looks fine on my system. This may be a driver issue or you may have to adjust your video card setup from its control panel program. You probably have one somewhere. You need to UP the Gamma setting to lighten the picture.

BTW, you do know that under the game's Advanced video options settings menu you can make the units scale larger and easier to see for yourself.

[Phil Walker]

Well, as to the gamma settings, all else on my system is as desired. I just know some games are darker than others is why I asked. In the case of Shogun Total War it was just the opposite being TOO light, so had to ask anyway.

As to the unit sizes in the advanced, already done ! It's just they "blend in" with the background with it being so dark ! OH WELL!!!


Sincerely,
Phil

[Keith Heitmann]

Well, after a long long long respit, I finally put in the RTW CD again and played my on-going campaign as the Julii further. I have been struggling to keep my provinces inline and have had to retake several of them from rebels, only two remain in rebellion right now, but not for long. It's not easy ruling some 50 plus provinces, all of europe down to the Balkans, England, Ireland, all of Russia, and plus three provinces in north Africa and one in the midst of Persia cut off from the rest. The sente keeps demanding my leaders commit suicide, my popularity with the people of Rome skyrockets above the the other two houses, yet I lack the forces in the area to take Rome itself.

I finally decided on a new tack last night. I had been governing each province manually, but it was just becoming too tedious to keep checking through them for new problems that were arising. So, I put them all on automanage. I retained manual recruitment control in the areas where I was still having rebellion problems but the taxation and administration of those cities are now being handled by the computer AI for me. Sacking and enslaving or exterminating rebellious populations have given me some funds to allow the AI to make improvements in cities throughout the Julii empire, but there is still some unrest.

I'm now able to slowly start building up my legions in each city, something that was very difficult to do while handling things manually. I'd get some forces put together then have to use them to put down a rebellion which weakened my victorious troops. I spent a lot of time just rebuilding each legion this way. Hopefully, soon, I'll have enough forces to move on Rome itself and put an end to this endless campaign.