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Support Forum FAQ and Self-Help Guide

Overview

With EU2 v1.07 now released, most technical issues have been successfully fixed to the satisfaction of most users so the majority of the remaining support issues are now system-specific. While we are here to try to help you resolve any problems might have, this FAQ and Self-Help Guide has been assembled to help you diagnose and correct them right away instead of having to wait for us to respond to your thread. Spending a little time here can get most people up and running rapidly, allowing you to do what you really want to do: play Europa Universalis. :)

This read-only thread has been organized in sections to help you find common solutions to many issues as quickly as possible. Read the table of contents in this post and then follow the link to the section that seems closest to the problem you’re experiencing. If you follow the instructions but are unable to find a solution on your own, make sure you read this thread first and then post your question.

Table of Contents

Game Installation Issues
  • “Drive not found” error
  • Crashes in the middle of installation
  • “Insufficient Room” error or lack of a “Minimum installation” option
Patch Installation Issues
  • ”Game not found” or “Patch not installed” error
  • Special Win2000/WinXP Issues
  • Scandinavian patch installation problem
  • Italian patch installation problem
  • Spanish patch installation problem
  • Custom Scenarios/Mods/Events/etc.
Step by Step Uninstall
  • Win9x/WinME
  • Win2000
  • WinXP
Crashes to Desktop
  • CTD on Initialization
  • CTD on load
  • CTD during game play
  • CTD caused by ATI Taskbar Manager
  • CTD with old patch
  • CTD when loading old save game with new patch
  • CTD with Italian patch
  • CTD with Spanish patch
  • CTD when using the Scenario Editor
Sound Issues
  • “No sound” error
  • “Strange sound/pops/crackles/jerky sounds/etc.” error
  • How to disable in game music
Graphics Issues
  • “Strange video effects/artefacts/flickering/etc.” error
  • How to change screen resolution
Other Common Issues and FAQs
  • ”When will the next patch be out?”
  • “Clock stops” error
  • How to use the new “moddir” feature
  • How to add/change the in game music
  • Detailed instructions to solve MP Firewall issues
  • Useful Resources/Tools/Sites
  • The AI peace offer message box is not large enough (Affects the French version only)


Very special thanks to viper37 who supplied much of the information through hard work and a ton of patience. Some of the items below can also be found in other threads in this forum (and/or in other forums) but I thought it might be helpful to assemble it all into one monster thread. If I forget to give you proper attribution then please PM me and I'll make the correction.

Thanks also to the people who have taken a moment to post back in this forum to let us know that a particular suggested fix worked. It's feedback like that which will enable us to help you better and lead to improvements in future patches and games from Paradox.


Note: I have now updated the FAQ to reflect the release of the 1.06 patch. If you happen to notice any errors or omissions, please PM and let me know so I can fix them.
 
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Game Installation Issues

Game Installation Issues

The following section addresses some of the occasional issues people may have with the initial installation of the game from its CD.

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“Drive not found” error

Start by confirming the usual stuff…is your hard drive and CD-ROM functioning normally otherwise? Is the EU2 CD in upside down? Are there any obvious defects on the surface of the CD (i.e. has your cat been nibbling on it?) Is the drive plugged in if it's removeable? If all the usual is okay, here are some suggested fixes:
  • In a few cases the "autoplay" function on your CD-ROM may cause a problem.
    FIX: Disable autoplay on the CD-ROM may help in some installations.
  • Some people have unusual drive allocations or very high drive letters assigned to their hard drive or CD-ROM. On occasion this can result in the setup not recognising the drive and aborting the installation.
    FIX: Try installing EU2 to a lower-lettered hard drive...preferably the default C:\ drive and/or remap your CD-ROM to D:\ or E:\.
  • An illegal copy of the CD may cause the drive not to recognise that it’s there at all. Since the various publishers who distribute EU2 all apply copy protection to the software, you must have a legitimate copy to install EU2.
    NO FIX: Pirated software is not supported.
  • If you have a legitimate copy but you suspect that there's a problem with its manufacture, please contact the publisher directly or take it back to the store where you purchased it and ask for an exchange. Don't forget to take your original sales receipt with you.


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Crashes in the middle of installation

This is a highly unusual occurence.
  • Your CD may be damaged. Have a look at it and if you suspect that there's a problem with its manufacture, please contact the publisher directly or take it back to the store where you purchased it and ask for an exchange. Don't forget to take your original sales receipt with you.
  • The other likely cause is a copy protection failure which is the result of trying to install pirated software (remember, we're talking about the initial game installation here, not patching).
    NO FIX: Pirated software is not supported.
  • A recent issue with an HoI installation came from someone with a Chinese Windows OS installation and caused a fatal error when copying a file whose name included a special European character (the file name was André Marty.bmp and the customer’s OS attempted to replace it with a special Chinese character). This will likely be the case with any unusual OS character set but AFAIK there are no problem file names in the EU2 installation.
    NO FIX: To date we have no confirmed fix for this.
  • If you run into this problem and none of the above apply, please post as many details in this forum as you can and we'll try to sort it out


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“Insufficient Room” error or lack of a “Minimum installation” option

This is a message telling you that there's not enough room on your hard drive for the installation to proceed.
  • The obvious solutions include...
    FIXES:compress or remove any unused files, empty your Windows and Internet Temp folders, clear out old (and bulky) e-mails, uninstall any unused software, defragment your hard drive, repartition your hard drive, install to a different hard drive that has more space, upgrade your hard drive to a larger one, etc...(i.e. standard drive maintenance and optimization practices).
  • Although Paradox scripted a "minimum install" feature, not all publishers included this with their release.
    NO FIX: At this time, I know that Strategy First ships their copies with an installer that only does full install. I am not sure about other publishers.
    POSSIBLE WORK-AROUND: You might be able to make enough room (briefly) to do the full install and then remove the music files and play without them which would, at least, save some space. Keep in mind, though, that save game files will begin eating up that space fairly soon (at ~4Mb per save). If you have the ability to burn a CD and have two CD-ROMs then you could place the music files on a separate CD, put it into one of your drives and then point to it for music (or play it with any MPEG software in the background). You will have to have the EU2 CD in a drive to play, though (due to copy protection).
 
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Patch Installation Issues

Patch Installation Issues

This addresses issues where a patch cannot be installed correctly either by crashing during setup of the patch, or by not being applied correctly. Nine times out of ten the issue relates to the incorrect publisher’s patch being downloaded or to the installation attempt being made to the wrong directory.

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"Game not found" or "Patch not installed" error

There are several possible solutions:
  • Is the patch the right country version?
    FIX: Confirm that you are installing the correct patch for the country version you have. The current patch is 1.05 and distribution is as follows:

    Paradox Plaza Download Page
    Italian 1.06 - works with Leader version only
    Spanish 1.06 - works only with Ubi Soft Spanish version only
    UK 1.06 - works with Ubi Soft UK version only (note...this is the correct patch now)
    German 1.06 - works only with Ubi Soft German version only
    French 1.06 - works only with Ubi Soft French version only
    North American 1.06 - works with Strategy First version only
    Early reports are that this patch also works for Australia/New Zealand SF customers.
    Scandinavian Version - works with Vision Park version only
    The Paradox download page is here.

    For best performance, we recommend that you uninstall the game completely (see Uninstall section), clean up and defragment your hard drive, and then re-install from scratch and apply the (correct) downloaded patch.
  • Did you download to your local drive and then install or did you try to run installation from the website?
    FIX: We very strongly recommend downloading the patch from the website first and then running it. With the amount of data being transferred, it’s possible that the installation could fail if being run remotely.
  • Are you installing the patch to the correct directory?
    FIX: Confirm that you are installing the patch to the same directory as the original game installation.
  • Does your HDD have an unusual drive letter designation?
    FIX: There have been occasional problems installing to hard drive with an unusual drive letter designation. Try installing to a C drive or D drive instead. This is a very rare issue and if the game originally installed to your drive you should have no problem patching to the same drive.
  • (EU2 v1.04 or earlier ONLY) Are you installing over a version with any file modifications?
    FIX: Some of the older patches for EU2 would not install correctly if the user had edited any of the files being replaced in the patch. This issue was corrected with the 1.05 patch and should no longer exist. Those who wish to apply an older patch will have to do a complete uninstall and then reinstall if they've edited any main game files or the patch will not install correctly.
  • Is there a general recommendation?
    FIX: Yes. Uninstall completely and then reinstall and apply the latest patch. You might want to download another compy in case some data somehow got lost when you downloaded the first time. Also remember to back up any saved games or custom files and decide what to do with them later.
  • Still not working? Is the software a legal copy?
    NO FIX: Obviously a ‘warezed’ (pirated) version will have problems and cannot be expected to perform correctly. Technical support is not available from illegal copies.



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Special Win2000/WinXP Issues
  • If you are having a problem installing a patch and you are running under 2000 or XP, it is possible that the original installation was done under a different user name than the patch is being done under.
    FIX: Generally recommended to do a complete uninstall and then reinstall both the game and the patch while logged as the administrator.
  • Installations on a network client may prohibit patching to that client without the network administrator’s permission.
    FIX: Consult your network administrator.



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Scandinavian patch installation problem

FIX Part 1: originally posted by Patric
Scandinavian EU2 installation problem (setup.inx)

This is a compatibility issue with some CD readers and the copy protection.

You can download a working file here:
http://www.paradoxplaza.com/files/patches/setup_inx.zip
No Longer available there, you can get it here:
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showpost.php?p=3785541&postcount=14

Try to copy the whole installation to the hd and install from there. Put the downloaded setup.inx in the same folder and off you go. I just tested it and it works like a charm.

Don't copy the *.vpp files though

If you choose to make a custom installation and play music from the CD you will have to edit the music.ini file after installation. Just change as follows:

####My installation####

[Common]
music=c:\Program Files\Europa Universalis 2\MUSIC

####Change to####

[Common]
music=X:\MUSIC

Where X is the drive letter for your CD rom drive. After that you can delete all the installation files you copied manually from the CD.

Patric

FIX Part 2: originally posted by viper37
The Danish version...had the reputation to be extremely crashy because of the translation. There is a file called text.csv that contains all texts in the game. In this file, some mistakes were done wich leads to CTDs.

Your best bet is to apply the 1.10 patch and then apply this patch:
http://www.paradoxplaza.com/files/EU-English.exe (which will fix it but) your game will be in English though :eek:



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Italian patch installation problem

The Italian 1.05 patch has errors in the text.csv file.


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Spanish patch installation problem

The Spanish 1.04 patch had errors in the text.csv file.


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Custom Scenarios/Mods/Events/etc.
  • Many people write their own custom scenarios, modifications to the game files and events. It is your responsibility to determine whether these custom creations are compatible with the latest release of the game and you should consult the Scenario forum for possible fixes.


More items will be added as needed
 
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Step by Step Uninstall

Step by Step Uninstall

The following procedures are to be used to ensure that all files are removed during an uninstall (to be used prior to reinstall).

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Win9x/WinME

The following procedure was provided by Uglyduck
  • This info applies to Windows 9x or ME. It hasn't been verified with Windows 2000 or Windows XP but it should be the same. Just be careful and remember to do a backup before editing the registry (Registry menu, Export registry file, name it backup_ddmmyy.reg, check the box "ALL" in Export range). If you delete something by accident, all you have to do is to double-click on the file to restore you registry to its previous state.

    If this is done then it is difficult to reinstall the game as "bits" are left everywhere and the Game Installation is fooled into thinking that the game is still installed. If this has happened to you then try this:-
  • You have to manually delete a key in your registry. You do that by starting regedit (Start => Run => regedit => Enter) and navigate to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Paradox Entertainment" and delete the Europa Universalis key. It looks like a folder in regedit.(If you have applied more than one Patch then there might be more than one key).

    Castellon EDIT: Note: If you have the Strategy First version, you may have to substitute "Strategy First" for "Paradox Entertainment" both in the above registry path and below in the path to the files.

    If you are nervous about editing the Registry then get someone to do it for you. However if you only delete the above key(s) no harm will be done.

    Also delete the directory C:\Program Files\Paradox Entertainment\Europa Universalis (or Europa Universalis 2).
    Castellon EDIT: or if you did not use the default directory, then what ever directory you installed the game to.


    Note: This part has proven to be unnecessary with the latest patches, but I left it there, just in case.
  • You also have to delete some installation files.

    InstallShield creates a directory where it keeps all the information on installed software. On my machine it is 'C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information'

    'InstallShield Installation Information' is marked as hidden so to be able to find it you have to change folder options on you PC to show hidden files. Search for files containing 'Europa' in this directory and you will find a file called 'setup.ini' with the following content:

    [Startup]
    AppName=Europa Universalis
    Engine=0
    Copy=1
    Source=0
    [Languages]
    Default=0x0009
    count=1
    key0=0x0009

    On my PC this resides in: 'C:\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{A6F1BDF7-53A7-4AF6-84B9-0C51C722BC91}'. I'm not sure if the last directory name will be the same on all machines but I think so. Delete that directory and you will be able to make a clean install.
  • Empty your C:\WINDOWS\TEMP directory. It is a temporary directory and therefore its content can be safely deleted.
  • Run Scandisk and defrag (or equivalent applications) on the drive you are installing to.
  • If you have a CD Writer or a DVD drive as your first CD drive letter and a standard CD drive then I suggest that you reconfigure your machine so that your standard CD drive is the first drive letter and the CD Writer or DVD drive is the second CD drive letter. This is easily changed in Device Manager.
  • Make sure you have the latest Drivers. If you have installed a new DirectX then reinstall the drivers again - DirectX knows they are there then! - If you are experiencing difficulties to find your drivers, have a look at this page:
    Drivers HQ http://www.drivershq.com/main_home.html Note: this URL doesn’t seem to be active any more so use the utility found in the Resources section of this thread.
  • Run DX Diag (Start Menu, Run, C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DXDIAG.EXE) and run all the tests included. If there is a problem, try to solve it first before going to the next step.
  • Now reinstall EU.
  • Apply the latest patch for your version.
  • Kill all Apps with Ctrl+Alt+Delete. Just leave Explorer and Systray running (Note: not Win2000/WinXP)
  • Make sure that any Anti Virus, Screensavers or Firewalls are disabled and that there is no Desktop Theme running. (It might be a good idea to change the Pointers back to the Default Windows ones.)
  • Also disable the DMA and Autorun (Auto Insert notification) settings (Control Panel/System/Device Manager/Highlight your CD ROM Drive/Properties/Settings) - this has been known to create problems with the copy protection software
  • In Control Panel/System/Performance/File System Button/CD Rom Tab, change the Cache Size for the CD ROM to 470k (half way along the dial).
  • Now go to Start/Programs/Paradox Entertainment and select the "No Music" icon (with EU 2, run EU Settings and disable the music).
  • Try running the game on slower time settings - especially as the years mount up!
  • If it still doesn't run, try the following:
    1 - Press CTRL+ALT+DEL and select binkplayer.exe then click end process.
    2 - If binkplayer doesn't appear, rename the AVI folder under your Europa Universalis 2 directory to AVI_Backup (or any other name)
    3 - Disable your joystick/gameport. Go to "Settings, Control Panel, System, Device Manager, Sound Video and Game controllers". There will be a mention for your game port (i.e. "Monster Sound II Game Port), select it and click on properties. Check the box called "Disable in this hardware profile". Restart your computer and try again.
    4 - Disable your sound card
  • Try to lower the sound acceleration in Control Panel, Multimedia (or Sounds&Multimedia), Audio, Advanced (on Sound Playback), Performance, Hardware acceleration set to "none" (or to the second step to the left). If the sound is "bumby", reduce the quality to "good". Make sure the correct device is selected if you have more than one and check the box "Use only preferred devices".
  • Unfortunately there will always be some systems it wont run on.
    In some cases your CD ROM Drive will not be compatible with the Copy Protection.


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Win2000

Coming soon...I don't have Win2000 so I can't test the method. Anyone with experience who can let me know?



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WinXP

I have had no problems at all with the uninstall under XP but have only tried it with the SF version 1.05 and 1.06 patches.
  • Back up any save games, etc. that you don’t want to lose because all folders are deleted during the uninstall (I, of course, found this out the hard way).
  • Use the uninstall utility provided by Paradox/SF (Start=>Programs=>Paradox Entertainment=>Europa Universalis II=>uninstall.exe)
  • My recent test of this left nothing on my system except an empty EU2 folder and the Start shortcuts so I expect most users will experience the same. Delete these and you’re ready for the reinstall.
  • Follow the remaining instructions in Uglyduck's method above except for the "Kill All Apps" step since XP needs to run more background. You can find a list of required process here and a good article here.
 
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Crashes to Desktop

Crashes to Desktop

This section addresses CTD issues and is divided into three main subsections: CTD-I, CTD-L and CTD-P. Which one to use is determined by exactly when the crash occurs. CTD-I is for cases where the game freezes or CTDs during the initial launch – anytime up to the first screen where the game type and scenario are selected. CTD-L is for cases where the crash occurs while loading a new scenario or saved game. CTD-P is for crashes during game play itself. There are also some special cases listed at the end.

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CTD on Initialization

Crash occurs as the game is initialising (i.e. you never get to the game selection screen). There are multiple possible fixes depending on exactly when this happens during the initialisation.

Nearly universal fix :It would not be an exaggeration to say that 99% of crashes can be solved by doing the following:
FIX:
  • Uninstall the game (completely!)
  • Perform a Window update to download and install the latest patch to your OS.
  • Update all drivers – sound, video, etc.
  • Download the latest DirectX patch and install. Then run dxdiag and test your sound and graphics to ensure all are working properly.
  • Disable/unplug any unneeded devices.
  • Reinstall the game and apply the most recent patch.
  • Terminate all unnecessary TSRs (the necessary TSRs vary depending on OS)
  • Launch the game…hopefully it will run at this point.
Next step if the “universal fix” doesn’t work: If you’re still having trouble then the next most likely issue is with hardware acceleration:
FIX:
  • Turn off hardware acceleration: Start-->Run: dxdiag.exe then click the Sound tab and adjust the DirectX hardware acceleration slider to the “off” position.
  • Try launching game. If it runs, you could then try adjusting the acceleration up a little to improve performance but you will suffer no ill effects by leaving it “off” while playing.
Next step if the above doesn't work: Some systems seem to have a serious conflict relating to the music. We hope to resolve this in all future patches but for the time being the next most likely fix is to:
FIX:
  • Run the game’s configuration settings utility, located in the game folder, and turn off the sound. To do this, navigate to and then run …\Europa Universalis 2\EU2_Settings.exe then change the music option to off.
  • Note: in some cases this doesn’t seem to update the settings file correctly so if there’s still a problem, open settings.cfg with Notepad and look at the music line. If it reads “MUSIC_ON” then change it to “MUSIC_OFF” and then save the file. Note: only use Notepad or Wordpad to edit this (or any) game file. Using a “fancier” word processor may result in hidden format commands being saved with the document and will cause the game to crash no matter what.
  • Try launching the game. If it works then you can play but you will not have the background music but you will still get the sound effects. In this instance, if you want to listen to the music then you can run any other mp3 player in the background (e.g. Windows Media Player) and choose your playlist from the files found in the \Music folder.
Crash on Video Blink Play - WinXP: This seems to have been corrected with the latest DirectX and Windows patches, but there were many reported issues with previous versions where the intro videos would crash the initialisation. There may still be some lingering instances of blinkplay problems.
  • FIX #1:
    Download the latest Windows critical updates for your OS and the latest DirectX patch (currently 9.0).
  • FIX #2: Rename the \avi subfolder. This results in the loss of the intro videos but may resolve the problem.
Nvidia Driver issues:
  • FIX: Nvidia cards are notorious for causing crashes or problems. If you have one, make sure you have the latest driver. It should be build 40.xx or later.
Illegal Software: This should be obvious but…
  • NO FIX: Yup…maybe you're trying to run a pirated version of the game. Sorry. No help if you are.
CD Not inserted: Another obvious one…CD must be in drive to launch the game.
  • FIX: Yes indeed…some people forget to put the correct CD in their drive. You should get a message to that effect but there were one or two reports of CTD instead. Please put the CD into the drive.
Game Location Error: If you have moved the game folder without reinstalling (i.e. using Windows Explorer) this may cause a crash or create problems with EU2 not being able to find your current folder locations.
  • FIX: Uninstall and reinstall. (some of this will have to be done manually - including editing the registry entries, etc. We highly recommend not moving your EU2 folder except by uninstalling and reinstalling.
Shortcut Error: If the shortcut on your desktop or in your Start menu doesn’t launch the game then it might be set with an incorrect command line and doesn’t point to the exe file.
  • FIX: Check and correct the shortcut’s command line.
Moddir Error (EU2 1.05 or later ONLY): If you are starting the game using the moddir argument there could be an error in your command line syntax.
  • FIX: See the moddir information in the FAQ section.
CD-ROM drive letter assignment: There is a possible issue if the CD-ROM has an unusual drive assignment.
  • FIX: Try re-mapping the CD-ROM to D:\ or E:\
Game Modifications: If you have added one of the Scenarios & Modifications forum’s “products” or have tinkered with the game files in any way then you could have a problem. Some users erroneously use Excel (or similar) to edit a .csv file which will definitely cause problems (though usually not at this stage).
  • FIX: Restore an old (working) .csv file, or uninstall and reinstall
  • FIX: If you're having trouble with a scenrio, try asking in the Scenarios forum for help with it. They'll appreciate hearing about any bug in the existing downloadable scenarios and can probably help you with your own.


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CTD on load

Initialisation works just fine but then a crash occurs when the scenario or game is launched. There are multiple possible fixes depending on when exactly when this happens during the launch.

First suggestions:
  • FIX: Try most/all of the suggestions listed in the above CTD-I section.
SCENARIO EDITOR: Was the scenario editor used to modify the scenario or save game file? The scenario editor introduced with EU2 v1.05 still has known bugs at this time...
  • FIX: Try asking in the Scenrio forum depending on what you were doing. In general it’s safer not to use it at this point. Sorry. If it's a reproducable bug with the scenario editor then you may want to report it in the Bug Reporting forum too.
SCENARIO: Was the scenario file edited manually?
Probably the most common cause of a crash during scenario launch is if you've edited one of the game files – either save game, events, or tables.
  • FIX #1: (Easy way) Restore/reinstall the old (working) file.
  • FIX #2: Edits are your responsibility but the Scenario forum has plenty of information for help with syntax, structure, etc. You’ve probably made an error of this type…missing bracket, incorrect argument or command.
  • FIX #3: People occasionally forget that game files must be edited using Notepad, Wordpad or similar word processor that does not add hidden formatting. The usual culprits are Word (sometimes the default for txt or ini files) or Excel (default for csv files). If you didn’t back up the file before you edited then I'm afraid you're SOL. If you did, restore it.
EVENTS: Was an event file edited? If so then the fix is the same: restore the old file. Additional help on scripting is available in the Scenario forum and on Havard’s web site.

TABLES: Were any of the table files (csv’s) edited?
Same answer as above.

SAVE GAME: Was the save game file edited?
Same as above.



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CTD during game play

The crash occurs sometime during game play (i.e. the scenario or save game loaded correctly and the game crashed while you were playing the game).

General comment: Most of the time a crash that occurs during the game is more likely to be an issue for the Bug Reporting forum since the cause is usually software related rather than technical – particularly if it’s something that is reproducible by taking a specific action or always happens at roughly the same time when you’re playing from a save game file. There are, however, instances where some aspect of your system set-up may cause a problem, and given the millions of possible combinations of hardware and software on the market, it is impossible to forsee all possible causes for crashes.
  • FIX #1: Try most/all of the suggestions listed in the above CTD sections in case there is a corrupt file, old driver, etc. If it’s still happening then…
  • FIX #2: Report as many of the specifics here as you possibly can. Try to remember what you were doing at the exact moment that the game crashed. If you have a save game file and the problem is reproducible, hang on to it since that may help the staff to diagnose the problem (chances are, though, that it will be a bug in this case).
  • FIX #3: Report as many of the specifics in the Bug Reporting forum as you possibly can. If you have a save game file, hang on to it since that may help the staff to diagnose the problem.
TSR Activity: There may be a TSR running that only occasionally causes a conflict or problem.
  • FIX: Terminate all unnecessary TSRs and try again.
MULTIPLAYER: The majority of MP issues have been fixed with the 1.06 patch of each game, but likely not all of them.
  • FIX: Try asking about it in the MP forum since there is a wealth of information there and many users with a great deal of experience dealing with these issues.
  • FIX: There is a known issue with firewalls in multiplayer games. If you have a firewall which you control, try opening up ports 47624 and 23000-24000 and redirect them to your lan-ip. See additional info in the "FAQ..." section below.



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CTD caused by ATI Taskbar Manager

There is a reported issue with the ATI taskbar manager that may cause problems on some systems. If you have the ATI manager running, try disabling it before launching EU2. Note that only a few people have reported this problem and that many others are able to run crash-free with the ATI taskbar manager. This issue is still under investigation.


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CTD with old patch

Every new patch addresses as many known issues as possible. If you aren’t running the current patch of the game then please download and apply it before reporting anything as an error. In many cases a save game started under the previous patch will be fully compatible with the latest release, however this is not always the case. If you are experiencing a problem of this nature you should either finish the game under the previous patch (links to earlier patches are included at the bottom of this thread) or start a new game under the current patch before reporting an issue.



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CTD when loading old save game with new patch

In many cases a save game will work perfectly with newer patches although there could be instances where it will behave oddly. This is particularly the case when new events are added that can require triggers that have already been “missed”.
  • FIX: In general it is recommended that you finish playing your current game under the old patch (or abandon it), then install the new patch and then begin a new game.



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CTD with Italian patch

Earlier Italian patches had errors in the text.csv file. See the following thread for fix: http://www.europa-universalis.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=49226


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CTD with Spanish patch

The Spanish 1.05 and 1.06 patches have an error causing a CTD when selecting a CoT. This is due to a translation error in the Spanish patch. Please see the following thread for fix: http://www.europa-universalis.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=78220



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CTD when using the Scenario Editor

The Scenario Editor first introduced with the EU2 1.05 patch has known issues. Try the above recommendations for game crashes and if that doesn’t work then report it in the Bug Reporting forum if it is a reproducible issue. AFAIK Paradox doesn’t intend to devote a lot of time to fixing and patching the scenario editor and it was included only as a nifty “bonus” with the patch. If you have ongoing issues then I fear you will have to resort to the “old” way of doing it…Notepad/Wordpad and a lot of patience. Sorry.


More items will be added as needed
 
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Sound Issues

Sound Issues

This section assumes that the game launches correctly but that you're having an issue with the sound performance of the game. If you're having one, it probably relates to the background music...


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“No sound” error

I don't think I've seen any complaints that everything else is working but that you have no sound at all after installation. If this happens then the most likely culprit is probably your sound card and/or drivers and/or it's a DirectX version issue of some sort.

FIX:
  • Is your sound card actually enabled? It wouldn't hurt to double check that you (or another application) hasn't turned it off.
  • Are your speakers plugged in? Yeah, I know it's obvious but do take a moment to confirm that they're plugged into your computer and to their power supply (if any). If they run on batteries, when did you last replace them?
  • Is the volume turned off on the sound? Another obvious one but why not check, just to be sure. ;)
  • What sound card and drivers are you using? If they're not current then take a moment to update them.
  • What version of DirectX are you running? You should be using v8.1 or later so if you aren't, update. It doesn't hurt to completely uninstall DirectX first and then do a fresh install. See the Resources section for a handy tool to help you do this. While there were initial problems with DirectX9.0, these seem to have been ironed out. There is a sticky at the top of the forum for reporting any issues you might have with 9.0 so if you have one, please report it so Paradox can investigate.
  • Run DirectX diagnostics on your sound card to confirm that it’s working properly. Start-->Run: dxdiag.exe then Sound-->Test DirectSound
  • Try a complete EU2 game uninstall then reinstall and patch…never hurts to try.
  • Try reducing the hardware acceleration of your sound card or turning it off all together. You can do this easily from the DirectX diagnostic utility. It's located on the Sound tab.
  • Turn off unneeded TSRs. Every little bit helps and you never know when something running in the background might be interfering with your system.

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“Strange sound/pops/crackles/jerky sounds/etc.” error

This is a fairly common complaint but can be described in many different ways. The essence of the problem, though, is that there is some sound but that there is a definite problem with it in terms of performance. This can almost always be traced to out-of-date drivers or hardware acceleration.

FIX:
  • What version of DirectX are you running? If you're not using the 8.1 version or later then update it. It's not a bad idea to completely uninstall DirectX first and then do a fresh install. See the Resources section for a nifty DirectX removal tool.
  • What sound card and drivers are you using? If the drivers aren't current then update them.
  • Run DirectX diagnostics on the sound card to confirm that it’s working properly. Start-->Run: dxdiag.exe then Sound-->Test DirectSound
  • Try reducing the hardware acceleration of your sound card or turning it off all together. You can do this easily from the DirectX diagnostic utility. It's located on the Sound tab.
  • Try physically moving the sound card to a different slot in the motherboard if possible. Ideally this will be as far away from the video card as possible since they can sometimes interfere with one another.
  • Look for IRQ conflicts and resolve them if/where possible.
  • Turn off any unneeded TSRs that may be running since these can and do interfere with performance.
  • If all else fails and you can play the music with another mp3 player (e.g. Winamp) then you could turn off the in game music and run it in the background until another solution can be worked out.


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How to disable in game music

Some people may wish to disable the in-game music. Here’s how:

METHOD:
  • Run the EU2 settings utility, located in the game folder, and turn off the sound by navigating to and then running …\Europa Universalis 2\EU2_Settings.exe. Just change the “music” option to “off” and hey presto, no music.
  • In some cases this doesn’t seem to update the settings file correctly so if music still plays then open navigate to the same folder and open settings.cfg with Notepad and look at the music line. If it reads “MUSIC_ON” then change it to “MUSIC_OFF” and then save the file.

    Note: only use Notepad or Wordpad to edit this (or any) game file. Using a “fancier” word processor may result in hidden format commands being saved with the document and will cause the game to crash no matter what.
  • You will now have disabled the background music but you will still get the sound effects.
  • To undo this change, follow the same instructions but switch to “MUSIC_ON”

More sound items will be added as needed
 
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Graphics Issues

Graphics Issues

This section assumes that your game launches correctly but that you're running into and issue with the graphic performance of the game.

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“Strange video effects/artefacts/flickering/etc.” error

This is a fairly common complaint but can be described by users in many ways (hence the title ;)). The essence is that you're getting some sort of video display but that there is a definite problem with it in terms of performance. This can almost always be traced to out-of-date drivers or hardware acceleration.

FIXES:
  • What version of DirectX are you using? If it isn't fairly current (8.1 or later) then update it. It isn't a bad idea to remove DirectX completely and then reinstall a completely new version. See the Resources section for a nifty uninstall tool if you're running Win9x/WinME/Win2000.
  • What video card and drivers are you using? If they're not current then update them. This is particularly important for owners of Nvidia cards who must be using a v.40.xx driver (or later...current build is Dec. 4, 2002) to avoid issues.
  • Is everything running normally outside of the game? Run DirectX diagnostics on the device to confirm that it’s working properly: Start-->Run: dxdiag.exe then Display-->Test DirectDraw
  • Try turning off the DirectDraw hardware acceleration of your video card (AFAIK the 3D and texture acceleration aren’t used by the game)
  • Try physically moving the video card to a different slot in the motherboard if possible. Ideally this will be as far away from the sound card as possible. Sometimes they emit enough signal noice to cause problems with one another.
  • Look for IRQ conflicts on your system and resolve them if/where possible. The exact method varies considerably depending on your card and OS.


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How to change screen resolution

You must exit the game to change the screen resolution setting in the settings.cfg file. Run the game’s configuration settings utility and change the screen resolution to the desired new level that is supported by your graphics card.

HERE’S HOW:
  • Navigate to and then run …\Europa Universalis 2\EU2_Settings.exe then change the “screen resolution” as desired.
  • Note: in some cases this doesn’t seem to update the settings.cfg file correctly so if the screen resolution does not update when you next play, open settings.cfg with Notepad and manually edit the SCREEN_SIZE_X and SCREEN_SIZE_Y values and then save the file. Supported resolutions are 800 x 600, 1024 x 768 and 1280 x 1024.

    Note: only use Notepad or Wordpad to edit this (or any) game file. Using a “fancier” word processor may result in hidden format commands being saved with the document and will cause the game to crash no matter what.

More graphics items will be added as needed.
 
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Other Common Issues and FAQs

Other Common Issues and FAQs

Other things that crop up from time to time or are FAQs.

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”When will the next patch be out?”

The 1.06 patch was released in late January 2003 so it is reasonable to expect that 1.07 will be some time inthe making. Any official notice regarding this will almost certainly be stickied both in this forum or in the General Discussions forum so have a look there. Please refrain from creating new threads on this subject as they will be immediately closed and/or deleted. As soon as we have somethign to tell you, we will - and until then, pestering will not speed things along.


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“Clock stops” error

The “clock stops” error is a known issue and is fixed in the v1.06 patch. This issue arose in some systems withe earlier patches and was a result of the AI sending infinite merchants to CoTs in some certain circumstances. This caused the game clock to freeze.

TEMPORARY FIXES and/or WORKAROUNDS:
  • Some people have reported that editing the save game file to raise all nations’ trade technology level to 3 (or possibly 4 or higher) will solve the problem.
  • You can edit the save game file to remove all merchants from all CoTs. This process may have to be repeated on occasion, though.
  • One person (morpheus) reported that he was able to work around the problem by declaring war on someone when the clock froze. He says that you can then either play out the war or stop, save the game, edit the file and then restart.

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How to use the new “moddir” feature

The EU2 v1.05 patch included a new feature…the "moddir" command line argument. This is used to launch custom scenarios where you wish to load alternate files but do not wish to edit the regular scenario files. Havard’s web site has detailed instructions that show you how to do this. Briefly, though, here’s the format:
  • Regular launch command<space>Alternate file folder path
This causes EU2 to look for the necessary files in the alternate folder (and subfolder) first, and only if it doesn’t find it will it look in the normal folder for it. For more information, please see this page on Havard's site, or visit the Scenarios and Events forum.

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How to add/change the in game music

The ...\Europa Universalis 2\Music folder contains all the music played during the game. These are in standard mp3 format. Each century has a different play list as found in that century’s txt file in the folder (14.txt, 15.txt, 16.txt, and 17.txt). You can add any mp3 file to this folder and then edit the txt file(s) to include it in your play list, or you can edit the existing lists to change the music that plays during the game.

An alternate method is to disable the game music (see Sound, above) and then run any standard mp3 player in the background with whatever play list you like. This will, of course, effect overall performance.



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Detailed instructions to solve MP Firewall issues

The following instructions were supplied by totalbasscase and help to resolve most Firewall issues that you may experience with multiplayer connections/hosting. The same technique works for both EU2 and HoI at present and I have edited it very slightly to highlight certain points and make it very simple to follow.
I have cracked the nut of making EU2 and HoI work on Valkyrienet and hosting IP games. This is a reference on how to solve problems with your router's firewall.

First, open your router's administration utility.

Go into your web browser and type in the IP address of your router. This should be listed in its manual, but usually it will be http://192.168.0.1/

Log in using whatever the default username/password is (usually admin/NO PASSWORD)

Now navigate the utility till you get to the status page.

Here you're looking for one thing: YOUR COMPUTER's Local IP. This will most likely be 192.168.0.SOMETHING. Make a note of what the something is and continue to the router's firewall options.

Here you want to make two seperate entries. The first will allow all traffic from the internet on TCP ports 23000-24000 to navigate the firewall, and then redirect it to your computer. The options should read:

Enabled
Allow
Source: WAN
IP Range: */* (For all ip addresses)
Destination: LAN
IP Range: YOUR LOCAL IP ADDRESS/(leave this part blank)
Protocol: TCP
Port range: 2300-2400
Schedule: Always

Do this again but change the port range to 47624, and you'll be set. Save the settings and have fun with HoI or EU2 (This works for both.)

The alternate option is to just throw your firewall wide open and take all traffic on any TCP ports and redirect it. This shouldnt be necessary and DOES leave your computer very vulnerable, but if you have a software firewall that is more easily configurable then this shouldn't be a problem. Note that in theory this is a Demilitarized Zone, but I found that activating my router's DMZ didn't help with HoI.

Here are the settings:

Enabled
Allow
Source: WAN
IP Range: *////* (For all ip addresses)
Destination: LAN
IP Range: YOUR LOCAL IP ADDRESS////(leave this part blank)
Protocol: TCP
Port range: *////* (All ports)
Schedule: Always

Again, if you use that last part, PLEASE use a software firewall. I don't want anyone here getting hacked =P

I hope this helps with some of the frustration I was seeing in Valkyrienet. If you have any questions, send me a PM and I'll try to help. Note: address the PM to totalbasscase.

~Sky
ALSO insure you have a network client installed (not just the Dial-up Adaptor and TCP/IP Protocol) in Windows networking.


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“The AI peace offer message box is not large enough” error
This problem affects the French version of the game published by UBI Soft. Therefore, the solution will be in French only :) (why would you use a French version if you can't read the language after all? :D )
La ligne à modifier dans le text.csv de la 1.05 francaise peut facilement être trouvée en recherchant la chaine de carractères INVADD (ou ADDINV je sais plus et la suis pas sur mon PC) C'est en majuscules et il n'existe qu'une ligne dans le fichier avec cette chaine de carractères.

Il suffit alors d'ajouter un espace avant et après le "et" se trouvant sur cette ligne et le tour est joué. Les propositions de paix sont à nouveau lisibles en entier sans les trois petits points.

More items will be added as needed.
 
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Useful Resources/Tools/Sites

Useful Resources/Tools/Sites


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General
  • Registry Editor: Start-->Run: regedit.exe
    The standard Windows registry editor installed with your OS. Use with care and always back up the registry before editing.
  • Direct X Buster: http://www.directxbuster.de/index_e.html
    This tool will let you remove any version of Direct X from version 5 up to 8.1. The tool is in beta version for DX 8.1 but works nonetheless. It doesn't work with Windows XP (and it shouldn't be needed with XP)
  • DirectX Diagnostics: Start-->Run: dxdiag.exe
    Standard DirectX diagnostic window included during DirectX installation.
  • Tweak 3D: http://www.tweak3d.net/
    This is for advanced users only. Contains tips and links to other sites to improve overall computer performance.
  • PC World: http://www.pcworld.com
    Many useful articles and downloads.
  • Keyboard Remapper: http://www.dev-labs.com/kr/A keyboard remapping utility.
  • Microsoft Knowledge Base or MSKB: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo
    De facto place to go to find out just about anything about Windows…as long as you’re willing to wade through hundreds of documents to find what you’re looking for.
  • Creative Labs Knowledge base: http://www.americas.creative.com
    Support site with many drivers, downloads, etc.
  • Havard’s EU Editing Empire: http://home.broadpark.no/~havmoe/EU/
    The complete “How to script EU2 events” resource.

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Drivers
More resources and links coming soon...
 
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