Year of issue: 2013
Genre: Strategy (Real-time / Turn-based) / 3D
Developer: The Creative Assembly
Publisher: SEGA
Platform: PC

Take command of the most powerful army of the ancient world, turn your country into a great empire and make your enemies bow to your military, economic and political power. Of course, some will admire your success, while others will envy, it is possible that your closest associates will be among the latter.

Will the traitors be able to stab you in the back, or will you be the first to take on old friends? How much are you willing to sacrifice to make Rome exactly the way you want it to be? Assuming the title of emperor, will you defend the republic, or will you turn into a cruel dictator?

Total War ROME II is supported by major Windows operating systems, which include Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8. Other operating systems are not currently supported by the developers.

The priority graphics API for the Total War ROME II multiplayer game is DirectX 11. The game is distributed through the Steam digital gaming service.

Game engine

Total War ROME II is based on the Warscape game engine. Warscape is a game engine developed by the British company The Creative Assembly for internal use in their games in the Total War series. Warscape is intended for use only on personal computers running Microsoft Windows. The first game to use Warscape was Empire: Total War, the fifth game in the Total War series, and was released on March 3, 2009.

Starting with Rome: Total War in 2004, the games in the Total War series used the Total War engine, which was used until Medieval II: Total War - Kingdoms in 2007. After that, it was decided to create a new engine - "Warscape", the first game on which was "Empire: Total War" in 2009.

During the development of Napoleon: Total War, the engine was "well polished," Craig Laycock of The Creative Assembly said in an interview with Armchair General. However, during the development of Total War: Shogun 2, the engine was further reworked and significantly improved. The main innovation was support for DirectX 11 and some AMD technologies: Eyefinity and CrossFireX.

"Total War: Shogun 2" was promoted by AMD as part of a marketing campaign for HD 6xxx series graphics cards as a game that actively uses the capabilities of DirectX 11. However, a few days before the game's release, it became known that it would not contain DX11 mode. The developers stated that they did not have time to finalize this mode, and it will be released later as a patch. The heavily modified Warscape engine in Total War: Rome 2 allows you to see exotic cities in great detail, and the new camera makes it possible to observe the battlefield from any angle.

Advanced game settings

Total War ROME II has a very wide range of graphics settings. The game has both standard and advanced graphics settings. We can change the graphic settings about t minimum and up to the limiting levels of quality.

Below we have included screenshots of the game at various graphics settings, where our readers can see the difference between the minimum, medium, and maximum graphics quality settings.

Low quality settings

Medium quality settings

Maximum quality settings

The Total War series is a PC exclusive, which means that game graphics from the developers is in one of the first places in the process of implementing the next game. And Total War ROME II was no exception in this regard - the graphics in the game are simply stuffed with all sorts of bells and whistles and details of everything and everything, from which we can say that any modern top-end hardware will “boil” from the game ... Of course, the Total War series has never seen this before: game locations have become thoroughly developed, the game world has acquired more realism, units are more diverse, and battles are simply epoch-making. What is the new mode of combined sea and land battles worth! But we all know that you have to pay for beauty, and then we will go directly to the gaming tests and determine what impact this game has on modern computer hardware. TEST PART Test configuration test stands 011 011 multimedia equipment 3D monitor LG W2363D Monitor LG E2750 Dell U3010 monitor product provided by AMD Software configuration operating system Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Edition x64 SP1 Graphics driver Nvidia GeForce/ION Driver Release 326.80 AMD Catalyst 13.10 Monitoring program MSI Afterburner v 3.0.14 GPU test All video cards were tested at maximum graphics quality by MSI Afterburner. The purpose of the test is to determine how video cards from different manufacturers behave under the same conditions. The average and minimum FPS of the in-game benchmark was taken as the performance indicator. Below is a video of the test segment: Our video cards were tested at 1920x1080 and 2560x1600 resolutions at the maximum graphics quality settings allowed by Total War ROME II. Multi-chip configurations from NVIDIA and AMD have absolutely no support in the game. And if SLI does not react at all to the game, then Cross Fire with new drivers 13.10 it goes into the red, and in the previous version 13.8 it lagged incredibly, which was expressed in screen flickering and disappearing textures. Therefore, we strongly advise you to disable Cross Fire, which was done in all the corresponding video cards in our review - they worked in tests on the same chip. At a resolution of 1920x1080 at maximum settings, video cards of the level Radeon HD 7850 or GeForce GTX 480 showed an acceptable level of performance. Solutions will be optimallike Radeon HD 7950 or GeForce GTX 660 Ti. Testing at maximum quality settings 2560x1600 At a resolution of 2560x1600 at maximum settingsan acceptable level of performance was shown by video cards of the level Radeon HD 7970GE or GeForce GTX 770 . Solutions of the level GeForce GTX 780 and higher will be optimal. VRAM test Testing of the video memory consumed by the game was carried out by the program MSI Afterburner. The results were taken on top video cards from AMD and NVIDIA at resolutions of 1920x1080 and 2560x1600. Testing at maximum memory GPU quality settings The recommended amount of video memory for this game Total War ROME II is about 1536 MB for standard resolutions and at least 2048 MB for ultra-high. Micro Stuttering Test Introducing our testing of FPS output latency on a Micro-Stuttering monitor. The results were taken on video cards from AMD ARES II and NVIDIA GTX 780 at a resolution of 1920x1080 with maximum image quality settings. Testing at maximum quality settings Micro-Stuttering GPU Micro-Stuttering delays for NVIDIA video cards are at an acceptable level, but for AMD things are a little worse... CPU test We tested processor dependence on 15 models of basic configurations that are relevant today. The test in most cases was carried out in those places where the value of the video card for the game is minimal and its load was less than 99%, at a resolution of 1920x1080 with maximum graphics quality settings. Testing at maximum quality settings 1920x1080 As we can see, Total War ROME II leaves no chance for almost anyone. The only more or less comfortable solution is the top six-core model from Intel. All other solutions coped with the game with a big stretch... In the graphics, we presented the overclocked results of top processors from Intel and AMD. Total War ROME II uses all the available resources of the CPU cores, but loads them unevenly, which indicates not very high-quality optimization, because the game requires quite a lot of resources that are literally not demanded by the source code. RAM test Testing of the RAM consumed by the game was carried out by monitoring directly through the Windows Task Manager. The test was conducted on the basic configuration of Core i 7 [email protected] GHz with pre-installed memory 16GB DDR3 2400 MGz. Testing at various quality settings As we can see, with various basic quality settings, the amount of RAM consumed in Total War ROME II is at the level of 1000 megabytes. Thus, for a comfortable game, you must have at least 2 GB of RAM installed in your PC. So, in the conclusion of our review, we want to draw the following conclusion - the performance of the Total War ROME II game is more dependent on the CPU than on the video card. The maximum that the top-end Core I 7 CPU to date can pull [email protected] GHz, these are video cards of the Radeon HD 7950 or GeForce GTX 660 Ti level. The minimum FPS can be raised to a maximum of 38 frames, but if this model is overclocked to almost 5GHz, which is an impracticable solution for the average user. Extreme overclocking of the Core I 5/7 will give you a more or less stable 25 FPS, but again, you overclock at your own risk. We are writing this to what we have already met on the forums of many users who, in the dream of a comfortable game in Total War ROME II, are running for new video cards, but we warn you that the bottleneck of Total War ROME II is precisely the central processor and replacing the video system can give a zero result . So, dear comrades, we are waiting for patches that improve the optimization in the game. With the release of the first beta patch for Total War ROME II and a hotfix for it, the situation in performance has not changed much. AMD has released version 13.10 drivers, the flickering and twitching in Cross Fire mode is gone, but the performance goes down in a strange way, so its activation is not relevant. They also added an overclocked FX 8350 to 4.5 GHz, which did not give it almost any increase in performance... IRONSPONSORS

In this review, a summary test of video cards and processors in the game Total War: Rome II will be carried out. You can read a review of it by clicking on this link.

System requirements

Minimum system requirements:

• Operating system: Windows XP (SP3), Windows Vista (SP2), Windows 7 (SP1) and Windows 8.
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2000 MHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ @ 2600 MHz.
• RAM: 2 GB.
• Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512 MB or AMD Radeon HD 4850 512 MB.

• Operating system: Windows 7 (SP1) and Windows 8.
• Processor: Intel Core i5-3100 @ 2400 MHz or AMD FX-8320 @ 3500 MHz.
• RAM: 4 GB.
• Free HDD space: 35 GB.
• Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2048 MB or AMD Radeon HD 7950 3072 MB.

Summary testing of video cards

Test configuration

The tests were carried out on the following stand:

• CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K (Ivy Bridge, D2, L3 8 MB), 1.0 V, Turbo Boost / Hyper Threading - off - 3500 @ 4600 MHz (1.2 V);
• Motherboard: GigaByte GA-Z77X-UD5H, LGA 1155, BIOS F14;
• CPU cooling system: Corsair Hydro Series H100 (~1300 rpm);
• RAM: 2 x 4096MB DDR3 Geil BLACK DRAGON GB38GB2133C10ADC (Spec: 2133MHz / 10-11-11-30-1t / 1.5V) , X.M.P. - off;
• Disk subsystem: 64 GB ADATA SX900 SSD;
• Power unit: Thermaltake Toughpower 1200 watts (standard fan: 140 mm blowing);
• Frame: open test bench;
• Monitor: 30" DELL 3008WFP (Wide LCD, 2560x1600 / 60Hz).

Video cards:

• Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3072 MB - 1000/1000/6000 @ 1200/1200/7000 MHz (Sapphire);
• Radeon HD 7970 3072 MB - 925/925/5500 @ 1200/1200/7000 MHz (MSI);
• Radeon HD 7950 Boost 3072 MB - 850/5000 @ 1150/7000 MHz (Sapphire);
• Radeon HD 7950 3072 MB - 800/800/5000 @ 1150/1150/7000 MHz (GigaByte);
• Radeon HD 7870 2048 MB - 1000/1000/4800 @ 1200/1200/6000 MHz (Sapphire);
• Radeon HD 7850 2048 MB - 860/860/4800 @ 1100/1100/5800 MHz (GigaByte);
• Radeon HD 7790 2048 MB - 1000/6000 @ 1150/6800 MHz (MSI);
• Radeon HD 7770 1024 MB - 1000/1000/4500 @ 1150/1150/6000 MHz (MSI);
• Radeon HD 7750 1024 MB - 800/800/4500 @ 900/900/5800 MHz (Sapphire);


• GeForce GTX 770 2048 MB - 1046/7000 @ 1260/7800 MHz (Zotac);
• GeForce GTX 760 2048 MB - 980/6008 @ 1200/7000 MHz (ASUS);


• GeForce GTX 680 2048 MB - 1006/1006/6008 @ 1260/1260/7100 MHz (Gainward);
• GeForce GTX 670 2048 MB - 915/915/6008 @ 1200/1200/6800 MHz (Zotac);
• GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2048 MB - 915/6008 @ 1180/6800 MHz (Gainward);
• GeForce GTX 660 2048 MB - 980/6008 @ 1230/6800 MHz (MSI);
• GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost 2048 MB - 980/6008 @ 1180/6800 MHz (MSI);
• GeForce GTX 650 Ti 1024 MB - 925/5400 @ 1160/6600 MHz (Palit);
• GeForce GTX 650 1024 MB - 1058/5000 @ 1180/6000 MHz (ASUS).

Software:

• Operating system: Windows 7 x64 SP1;
• Video card drivers: NVIDIA GeForce 326.80 Beta and AMD Catalyst 13.10 Beta.
• Utilities: FRAPS 3.5.9 Build 15586, AutoHotkey v1.0.48.05, MSI Afterburner 3.0.0 Beta 14.

Testing tools and methodology

For a more visual comparison of video cards and processors, the game used as a test application was launched at 1680x1050, 1920x1080 and 2560x1600 resolutions.

The FRAPS 3.5.9 Build 15586 and AutoHotkey v1.0.48.05 utilities were used as performance measurement tools. Frozen in the game minimal And medium FPS values. vsync disabled during testing.

To avoid errors and minimize measurement errors, all tests were performed three to five times. When calculating the average FPS, the final result was taken as the arithmetic mean of the results of all runs (three not “idle”). As the minimum FPS, the minimum value of the indicator based on the results of three runs was chosen.

Test run video:

Monitoring the use of RAM and video memory

Components were tested with the following graphics settings:

• Version 1.0.6858.
• DirectX 11.
• Full screen anti-aliasing is enabled.
• Anisotropic filtering (AF) - x16.
• Texture quality is ultra high.
• Shadow quality is ultra high.
• Water quality is ultra high.
• Sky quality is ultra high.
• Shader model - 5.
• Particle effects are ultra high.
• Grass transparency is off.
• Squad size is ultra high.
• The quality of the buildings is ultra high.
• Unit detail is ultra high.
• The quality of the trees is ultra high.
• The quality of the grass is ultra high.
• The quality of the terrain is ultra high.
• Image Depth – Off.
• Distortion - off.
• Complex shading (SSAO) - enabled.
• Vignetting is off.
• DRA - off.
• Unlimited video memory - enabled.

Before proceeding to the tests of video cards and processors, we will monitor the use of RAM and video memory in this game.

Video memory and RAM usage

Video memory (standard settings)

RAM

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MB

Test Results: Performance Comparison

Now let's go directly to the tests of graphics accelerators.

Summary charts of test results for single video cards (standard settings)

1920x1080

Denomination

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Overclocking

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2560x1600

Denomination

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Overclocking

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Minimum and average FPS

In this article, we will talk about the graphical features of Total War Rome 2, and the problems that players may experience on weak computers. And of course we will talk about how to solve these problems.

Nothing ruins the gaming experience quite like graphics issues. Developers have long been caught in a vicious circle: on the one hand, they strive to make the most graphically advanced and powerful product possible. On the other hand, they want the game to run smoothly on most computers. The more people can play it, the more money it will bring to its creators.

So we have to balance between those who shout “We want the graphics to be as alive” and those who say “We want to play without brakes”.

Total War Rome 2 has become a new milestone in graphics, in the Total War series. Built on the Warscape+ engine (a modified version of Warscape, the engine that The Creative Assembly developed specifically for the Total War series), it's even more demanding than its voracious predecessors from Shogun 2.

So, let's look at what requirements a computer should have, in addition to 35 gigs of free space, so that it can pull Rome 2.

First, the minimum requirements:

• Windows XP/7/8;
• Dual-core Intel processor with a frequency of 2 GHz or single-core with a frequency of 2.6 GHz;
• 2 gigabytes of RAM;
• DirectX 9.0c-compatible video card with 512 MB of on-board memory;

• Windows 7/8;
• Second generation Intel Core i5 (Sandy Bridge) processor or higher;
• 4 gigabytes of RAM;
• DirectX 11 compatible video card with 1024 MB of onboard memory.

At first glance, everything is not so scary, but on the second and third ... I want to ask the developers what they mean by the term “minimum system requirements”? Just go to Total War Rome 2? Make a few moves and fly out during the battle? Of course, most of the problems occur for those players who rely on the minimum system requirements.

And yet, if even at the minimum system requirements Rome 2 refuses to please you with its presence, can something be done? It turns out you can.

Even before installing Total War Rome 2, no matter what system requirements you expect, you need to complete the task at least:

• Update your video card drivers by installing the latest version.

• Update DirectX.

• Turn off antivirus during installation, since it can inadvertently eat some responsible game file 🙂

• Download required patches. The fact is that developers are trying to quickly respond to technical problems and fix them through patches. Make sure Total War Rome 2 is patched to the latest version or download the patches yourself. For example, one of these developer patches completely eliminated the problem of the “black screen” during the campaign.

In fact, even these simple recommendations are rarely followed. But let's say it's done, the game is installed, but shamelessly slows down. What else can be done to comfortably play Rome 2 on weak machines? Let's start with the basic graphic settings that can be reduced, thereby improving the quality.

With all these sliders, everything seems to be clear. But special attention should be paid to the size of the squad. The fact is that by reducing the size of the detachment, you can thereby reduce the load on the video card by several times. For example, with a high unit size (100 units per squad) in a battle where two armies of 10 units each participate, you will have 2 thousand units on the screen! Halve the squad size and you'll still have two armies of ten squads, but each squad will have 50 soldiers.

Let's look at other parameters that affect the performance of the computer during the game:

• Viruses. If there are viruses in the system, then one can only dream of good performance during the game. Therefore, it is imperative to check the system with a good antivirus program.

• defragmentation. The quality of the defragmentation of the disk on which the Rome 2 files are located also depends a lot. If you rarely defragment a disk or if you hear this word for the first time, you should start this process immediately! Defragmentation puts things in order on your disk, so the system can quickly find the files it needs.

• operating system. If you have a pirated operating system with no one knows what version, no one knows where downloaded / purchased, then this can greatly affect performance.

• Operating system age. If your operating system was installed a year or two ago, then this factor alone is not in favor of performance. The older the system, the more garbage and errors are collected in it, which can only be fixed in one way - a complete reinstallation.

• Multiple video cards. It happens that the system has two video cards. Are you sure that the game will use all their power? If not, then this problem is solved by installing video card drivers.

I hope that these simple tips will save you from dancing with tambourines around the computer and help you enjoy your favorite game.

Last week, the main PC-exclusive of this year was released - Total War: Rome 2. The game received a score of 9.2 and was complimented for its excellent gameplay. However, as is often the case in games from The Creative Assembly, there were Total War: Rome 2 without problems with performance and optimization. We will talk about them in this article.

Before you start searching and solving the problem, make sure that your computer configuration meets the system requirements Total War: Rome 2. Despite the recommended requirements stated by the developers, for a comfortable game you will need a computer of the following configuration:

• OS: Windows XP SP3 / Vista SP2 / 7 SP1 / 8 (x86/x64);
• CPU: Intel Core i7-2600 3.4 GHz or better | AMD FX-8150 3.6 GHz or better;
• RAM: 8 GB;
• Video card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 2 GB | AMD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Editon 3 GB;
• HDD: 20 GB;
• DirectX version: 11
• Sound device: compatible with DirectX 9.0c or higher.

Once again, this configuration is necessary for smooth gameplay in FullHD resolution at the "limit" and "ultra" settings.

Files, drivers and libraries

After that, you need to update the video card drivers NVIDIA GeForce to latest version:

For owners of graphics adapters AMD Radeon Links below: Don't neglect the installation of supporting software, and the game will thank you:

A prerequisite for the successful functioning of any game is the availability of the latest drivers for all devices in the system. Download the utility Driver Updater to easily and quickly download the latest drivers and install them with one click:

• download Driver Updater and run the program;
• scan the system (usually it takes no more than five minutes);
• update outdated drivers with one click.

Helper DLLs:

• (Download )
• (Download )
• (Download )
• (Download )

Black screen appears when launching Total War: Rome 2. Solution

This problem occurs only for a number of users. The developers are aware of it and are working on a solution. You will have to wait for the next patches, in which, as we are promised, the black screen problem will be solved.

Total War: Rome 2 is not updated. Solution

If the Steam client is downloading the patch all the time, or doing so with every launch, then you need to contact Steam Technical Support to resolve this issue.

SLI/CrossFire not working in Total War: Rome 2. Solution

If your system has two or more video cards installed, then you might have noticed that Total War: Rome 2 does not use their power. It's not a game issue, it's a video card driver issue that will get fixed when Nvidia and AMD update the software. At the moment, AMD has already prepared a small update, but the "green camp" is not yet.

Total War: Rome 2 does not recognize the video card or does not load it at 100%. Solution

This is a problem with both the game and the graphics card drivers. For some unknown reason Total War: Rome 2 does not take full advantage of the graphics card on some computers. Some users report that forcing settings in the graphics card control panel helps.

Total War: Rome 2 slows down. Solution

This problem concerns first of all owners of weak computers. Surprisingly, Total War: Rome 2 is more demanding on the processor than on the graphics card. That is, it is very important to have at least a quad-core processor, and it is better to have even more cores.

Try turning off all advanced settings, especially "transparent grass", anti-aliasing and quality effects. If the number of frames per second has not increased, then reset all game settings to the full minimum. Also, the FPS should be increased by enabling the “unlimited video memory” setting (it will work if the video card has 1 GB of memory or more).

If after that the FPS does not exceed 30, then you should wait two or three weeks for the developers to raise the level of optimization and the vendors to release driver updates.

I have problems with localization, nothing is clear

This is the problem of the localizer - the company "1C-SoftKlab". The game is really poorly translated into Russian. You can play the English version or wait for the issue to be fixed. This may take several weeks.

Unable to play online in Total War: Rome 2. Solution

Use the following ports to quickly find an open multiplayer game in Total War: Rome 2. TCP Ports: 3783, 6500, 6515, 6667, 13139, 18321, 27750, 27900, 28900, 29900 and 29901. UDP Ports: 6515, 8871, 13139, 18321, 27750 and 27900.

You should also add the game to the Windows Firewall or other firewall exceptions.

Total War: Rome 2 freezes when loading the prologue or while playing. Solution

First, try lowering the resolution and graphics quality. Perhaps the prologue can only be completed on low settings.

If the game still freezes, then the game save file may be corrupted. In this case, try loading a previous save or start the prologue again. Don't forget to save your progress often as well.

Problems saving progress or loading a saved game in Total War: Rome 2. Solution

This issue occurs because the game conflicts with Windows UAC (User Account Control). To solve it, you need to find the folder with the game, right-click, select "Properties", in the "General" tab, uncheck the "Hidden" and "Read Only" attributes.

After completing these steps, go to the "Security" tab, select a username and check that all the checkboxes in the "Allow" column are checked. Click OK.

Navigate to C:Users%username%AppDataRoamingThe Creative AssemblyRome2. Game saves and other files are stored here, repeat the previous paragraphs.

Lighting not working in Total War: Rome 2. Solution

This issue most commonly occurs on DirectX 10 graphics cards. Try the following. Open the configuration file you will find in C:Users%username%AppDataRoamingThe Creative AssemblyRome2scriptspreferences.script.txt. Make a backup of it and then open it with notepad.

Find the line "gfx_enable_directx11 true; #" and replace it with "gfx_enable_directx11 false; #". Save all changes and close the file. Launch the game and start a random battle. Lighting must work properly.

Where are saves stored in Total War: Rome 2?

Saves are stored in the folder C:Users%username%AppDataRoamingThe Creative AssemblyRome2save_games is a single player game, and a multiplayer game is in the adjacent save_games_multiplayer directory.

After downloading the patch in Total War: Rome 2, a “red sky” appeared, the level of satisfaction of the population fell, etc.

This problem is caused by bugs that were introduced in the first patch. The second patch is already available, which should fix the Martian sky. As for the level of contentment of the population, the developers cannot yet fix it. Wait for new patches.

How do I update DirectX for Total War: Rome 2?

You need to go to the folder with the installed Steam client. Next, go to SteamAppscommonTotal War Rome IIredistdirectx. This folder contains the version of DirectX that comes with the game, which, however, is not installed automatically. You'll have to put it in manually. But if you installed the DirectX files from the link indicated at the very beginning, then you should not have this problem.

If new problems and their solutions appear, we will add them to this article. Thank you for your attention and enjoy the game!

Downloading!

As usual, to download a beta patch, you need to enable beta testing: Right-click and on the game in the Library->properties->Betas->patch10beta and Close

Here is the changelog of the patch.

Thank you for the translation artpirojkov

Performance improvements.

General performance improvements.

Improved support for AMD Crossfire multi-GPU configurations

Improvement of work with the video card and reduction of load on the processor for all configurations.

Improved CPU performance in battles.

Solved the problem with the processor (I did not understand which one)

Added borderless windowed mode when playing in windowed mode with a resolution equal to the screen resolution.

There is no longer a restriction on choosing high settings with weak hardware. Previously, if the game determined that the player did not have a powerful enough computer, it would not allow some high graphics settings to be set. This restriction has been removed. Keep in mind that choosing high settings on weak configurations will result in poor performance.

Improved reflections on shiny surfaces.

"Unlimited video memory" improvements

Unlimited video memory can now be enabled on all integrated graphics cards on 64-bit systems starting with Windows Vista. Integrated video cards always use system memory, since they do not have their own at all. This change allows all system memory to be used as video memory. When unlimited video memory is enabled, discrete graphics cards use system memory as an addition to their onboard memory if there is not enough to play at the selected settings. Keep in mind that in both cases, using system memory as video memory can affect performance, as it is usually not as fast as video memory. Also, if there is little (or no) system memory left, the hard drive will be heavily loaded, which will lower the frame rate.

For owners of an integrated video card and 64-bit Windows (starting with Vista), but who have disabled Unlimited video memory, we have increased the amount of video memory visible by the game from 800 to 1024 MB.

We fixed a bug where it was impossible to enable Unlimited video memory with some discrete graphics cards.

Fixed an issue where unlimited video memory was disabled on some multi-GPU configurations.

Battle performance improvements:

Removed a pathfinding crutch that was causing battles to slow down

Fixed a crash that occurred during sieges on some maps after destroying walls with artillery.

Fixed a crash in the Egyptian Big City caused by map data.

Fixed a crash that occurred when soldiers from the same squad tried to form different formations.

Fixed a UI freeze that occurred when opening the Steam tab while believing the ambush intro movie (while defending).

Gameplay Improvements

Combat AI Improvements:

Fixed a bug due to which the ambush AI was dumb when trying to destroy walls with artillery.

Improved AI coordination when defending a city (both with and without walls) and a port when the defenders are outside the settlement. The behavior of soldiers and reinforcement armies that landed from ships has improved.

Fixed a bug where units that landed from ships became inactive during sieges.

Improved the AI's ability to predict the outcome of combat, allowing it to perform better in battle.

AI during a field battle is more willing to flank earlier if necessary.

General Battle Improvements:

Improved docking of stairs with walls on the Rome map.

Fixed gaps in fort walls caused by buildings, sometimes allowing units to walk through walls.

Prevented siege towers/ladders from being pushed into the wall.

Settlement gates no longer close on friendly units.

Smoothed out the rough terrain in front of the pinnable wall on the Egyptian port map.

Fixed a wall in a large barbarian city.

Fixed floating buildings in some roman cities and some barbarian maps.

General Campaign Improvements:

Improved the simulation of melee infantry in auto-scoring, which corrected the balance of many auto-battles.

In Campaign, when researching the "Organize Cohorts" technology, Garrison Hastati now properly upgrade to Legionnaires.

Slave rebellion leaders will no longer always have Hellenistic general models on the campaign map.

Unit cards will no longer appear outside the unit merge window during a campaign.

The names of cities on the campaign map will now be of different colors depending on the relationship with their owner: Red - war, blue - allied, gray - neutral.

Improvements to unit tooltips during battle.

Cinematic camera button now works for different languages.

Usability improvement:

Fixed many minor audio issues.

There will no longer be a kneeling death animation.