ROME 2 Not Working

[Anakin]

I think Rome 2 stopped working because of the windows update.

I could be wrong though, i had some freezes loading into battles in the few days prior, however now, I cant even get the game to work. Sure I can load in to the game itself, but if i wanted to run a battle of any sorts, the unit roster wont even show up, and loading into a campaign battle doesn't work in general now, either in vanilla or with mods.

I can load into the game itself, I was playing just yesterday and everything was fine, however today it wasn't. I've uninstalled and done a fresh install several times but still it is not working.

Is anyone else having this problem? Does anyone have a solution?

[Mr.Sinister]

Greetings,

Have a look here:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/214950/discussions/0/598513524566721878/?ctp=2

If the above link doesn't solve the problem,here's a few basic troubleshooting steps you could try:

#1.Steam-->library-->RTW2-->settings(cog icon)-->properties-->installed files-->verify integrity.

if the integrity check fails you could:

#2.Steam-->settings-->downloads-->clear download cache(you will need to log back into steam).

#3.Manually delete the following folders:
%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Steam\steamapps\common\Total War Rome II %AppData%\Roaming\The Creative Assembly

#4.Re-download and re-install RTW2:

#5.Steam-->library-->RTW2-->settings(cog icon)-->properties-->installed files-->verify integrity.

If intergity check at #1 or #5 is succesfull then i suggest for testing purposes you try running RTW2 without any mods/loaders or any other 3rd party tools installed/running.

Regards,

[Quinn The Hellblazer]

If you have Windows 11 24H2 update, then your game won't work. The latest big windows update broke the game. The devs are quiet so far.

[Stix_09]

broken by windows , needs to be fixed by windows , imo its windows 11 a bug
plus there is work around to fix it yourself

Workaround (Then use shortcut to run R2 after this)

do this for the launcher.exe in R2's folder

make shortcut to launcher.exe (anywhere (pin to start menu if u want))
rename the shortcut Rome2 (you can even give it rome's icon)

open Shortcut properties (Shotrcut Tab)

set "Target" to
cmd.exe /C start /affinity XXX  .\launcher.exe

set "Start in" to the folder location of launcher.exe
For me for example this is

D:\Steam\steamapps\common\Total War Rome II\launcher

Affinity XXX above can be any of these values for dif cores

For example to use cpus 0-7:

cmd.exe /C start /affinity FF .\launcher.exe

This will start any child processes (ie Rome2.exe) with same affinity

CPU - HEX
0 ---- 1
1 ---- 3
2 ---- 7
3 ---- F
4 ---- 1F
5 ---- 3F
6 ---- 7F
7 ---- FF
8 ---- 1FF
9 ---- 3FF
10 --- 7FF
11 --- FFF
12 --- 1FFF
13 --- 3FFF
14 --- 7FFF
15 --- FFFF

[TheVoidstarTY]

Originally posted by Stix_09:

broken by windows , needs to be fixed by windows , imo its windows 11 a bug
plus there is work around to fix it yourself

Workaround (Then use shortcut to run R2 after this)

do this for the launcher.exe in R2's folder

make shortcut to launcher.exe (anywhere (pin to start menu if u want))
rename the shortcut Rome2 (you can even give it rome's icon)

open Shortcut properties (Shotrcut Tab)

set "Target" to
cmd.exe /C start /affinity XXX  .\launcher.exe

set "Start in" to the folder location of launcher.exe
For me for example this is

D:\Steam\steamapps\common\Total War Rome II\launcher

Affinity XXX above can be any of these values for dif cores

For example to use cpus 0-7:

cmd.exe /C start /affinity FF .\launcher.exe

This will start any child processes (ie Rome2.exe) with same affinity

CPU - HEX
0 ---- 1
1 ---- 3
2 ---- 7
3 ---- F
4 ---- 1F
5 ---- 3F
6 ---- 7F
7 ---- FF
8 ---- 1FF
9 ---- 3FF
10 --- 7FF
11 --- FFF
12 --- 1FFF
13 --- 3FFF
14 --- 7FFF
15 --- FFFF

Tried this, and Steam is coming back with a message that says "No License" when attempting to launch through the shortcut

[Mr.Sinister]

Originally posted by Stix_09:

broken by windows , needs to be fixed by windows , imo its windows 11 a bug
plus there is work around to fix it yourself

Workaround (Then use shortcut to run R2 after this)

do this for the launcher.exe in R2's folder

make shortcut to launcher.exe (anywhere (pin to start menu if u want))
rename the shortcut Rome2 (you can even give it rome's icon)

open Shortcut properties (Shotrcut Tab)

set "Target" to
cmd.exe /C start /affinity XXX  .\launcher.exe

set "Start in" to the folder location of launcher.exe
For me for example this is

D:\Steam\steamapps\common\Total War Rome II\launcher

Affinity XXX above can be any of these values for dif cores

For example to use cpus 0-7:

cmd.exe /C start /affinity FF .\launcher.exe

This will start any child processes (ie Rome2.exe) with same affinity

CPU - HEX
0 ---- 1
1 ---- 3
2 ---- 7
3 ---- F
4 ---- 1F
5 ---- 3F
6 ---- 7F
7 ---- FF
8 ---- 1FF
9 ---- 3FF
10 --- 7FF
11 --- FFF
12 --- 1FFF
13 --- 3FFF
14 --- 7FFF
15 --- FFFF

This is esentially a modern multi CPU bug effecting some older games.

There is no conclusive evidence this is bug is restricted to either RTW2 or certain AMD CPU's or WIN 11 24H2.

My compliments!,this is a clever/creative and fairly elegant attempt at a workaround,unfortunatly this will not work.

This workaround basically tries to execute a launcher shortcut renamed to RTW2 with specific parameters outside of steam's sight/control,this is from steam's point of view a potential attempt to circumvent or negate DRM/emulation/protection/anti-cheat or a possible attempt at reverse engineering/debugging,hence you will receive an error.

As an example the shortcuts for games installed under steam have a different format
in this case URL:steam://rungameid/27159 (GTA V Legacy) e.g they're tied to steam and cannot be executed with CMD/PS or with any other script/console host for that matter.

The manual workaround is the only viable one,at least for now afaik:

steam://openurl/https://steamcommunity.com/app/214950/discussions/0/598513524566721878/?ctp=2

This is a multifaceted bug but is essentially hardcoded into RTW2,CA and any other devs of games that are effected by this bug can't fix this,at least not by themselves,it will ultimately have to be resolved in conjuction with AMD/Intel updating their chipset drivers to provide backward compatibility and also cooperation from/communication with MS.

The problem is that updates from MS could potentially exacerbate the issue,while game devs/chipset manufacturers attempt tp analyze/fix the problem,never mind even more old games running into problems running on modern CPU's/chipsets,because of a lack of backward compat. or future MS updates.

High Regards,

  Sir,
I had little hopes on Monday last but to have supped in your cabin: but it pleased God to order it otherwise. I am thankful for it. As for those cowardly captains who deserted you, hang them up, for by God they deserve it.
Yours,
Du Casse.  

[oJy]

Same here, came back after a few years and now this. ♥♥♥♥ my life.

[Stix_09]

Originally posted by Mr.Sinister:

Tried this, and Steam is coming back with a message that says "No License" when attempting to launch through the shortcut

Ok not true , u still need to have steam client running it does not circumvent DRM

I forgot about this required step

What you need to do is put a steam_appid.txt text file file in the folder with the launcher.exe with Rome2's game steam ID 214950

"steamapps\common\Total War Rome II\launcher\steam_appid.txt"

the R2 Steam game ID is 214950

See REF link
https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/api/steam_api

The Steam client couldn't determine the App ID of game. If you're running your application from the executable or debugger directly then you must have a steam_appid.txt in your game directory next to the executable, with your app ID in it and nothing else. Steam will look for this file in the current working directory. If you are running your executable from a different directory you may need to relocate the steam_appid.txt file.

For example you can even see this ID in this discussion topics URL above.
"https://steamcommunity.com/app/214950/discussions/0/598523446215870535/"
214950 = game  and 598523446215870535 is the article steam ID

[TheVoidstarTY]

Originally posted by Stix_09:

Originally posted by Mr.Sinister:

Tried this, and Steam is coming back with a message that says "No License" when attempting to launch through the shortcut

Ok not true , u still need to have steam client running it does not circumvent DRM

what you may need to do is put a steam_appid.txt text file file in the folder with the launcher.exe with Rome2's game steam ID 214950

"steamapps\common\Total War Rome II\launcher\steam_appid.txt"

the R2 Steam game ID is (just put this number in the txt file)

214950

This steam application ID tells steam client what game is associated to EXE for DRM/DLC purposes.

See
https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/api/steam_api

Just tested this and it works after adding that text file with the ID like you said. I was able to load into a battle within less than 30 seconds on Campaign. Nice one, thank you for that :)

Only thing is, it just freezes when you exit to desktop. So you have to throw the game into a different desktop to task manager it. But that's not really an issue, since it still saves prior.

[Stix_09]

Originally posted by TheVoidstarTY:

Only thing is, it just freezes when you exit to desktop. So you have to throw the game into a different desktop to task manager it. But that's not really an issue, since it still saves prior.

Try exit to main menu in game first THEN exit the game.

R2 also does this "freeze" with mods sometimes even if you just run game without this method, its another R2 issue.

[Mr.Sinister]

Originally posted by Mr.Sinister:

Tried this, and Steam is coming back with a message that says "No License" when attempting to launch through the shortcut

LOL,you mean:

Originally posted by TheVoidstarTY:

Tried this, and Steam is coming back with a message that says "No License" when attempting to launch through the shortcut

Originally posted by Stix_09:

Ok not true ,u still need to have steam client running it does not circumvent DRM

I forgot about this required step

What you need to do is put a steam_appid.txt text file file in the folder with the launcher.exe with Rome2's game steam ID 214950

"steamapps\common\Total War Rome II\launcher\steam_appid.txt"

the R2 Steam game ID is 214950

Yes i was already wondering if there was something missing.....

To be clear your first post was essentially attempting to run RTW2 outside of steam and thereby circumventing DRM hence my comments,although i must admit i didn't think steam would even allow a game to be run through the CLI.

Anyway my compliments for a functional workaround with clear instructions!

Although be advised that this workaround has a minor drawback:

steam://run/<appid>//<command line>/. This method is preferable to launching with a command line via the operating system, which can be a security risk 

https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/api/ISteamApps

There's another workaround through WMIC but it has the same downside.

You are a well-read,highly knowledgeable and very competent individual,my compliments good sir!

HIghest regards,