mios: please start your own fresh thread, as you have a different problem and a different OS.
legatus123: Please run DXDIAG, Save All Info, and post dxdiag.txt here (first delete everything after the Sound Devices section so it will fit). Also post your Rome/settings.txt and Rome/logs/system.log files. Note that if you use Vista and have installed the game in the suggested folder
c:\Program Files\Paradox Interactive\Rome\, the active versions of these last two files will have been redirected by Vista to a non-system directory, like
c:\users\[name]\appdata\local\virtualstore\Program Files\Paradox Interactive\Rome\. You may have to search your C: drive for them.
For your inability to download VV from GG, please post in the GG help forum
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=332