Medieval 2 Total War: Gold Edition

[Demonweed]

I just picked up Medieval 2 Total War: Gold Edition, and I'm pleased with how it performs on my new system (being Vista, investing in a game is often risky.) However, I haven't found a no-cd fix, and I have a long history of burning out optical drives -- best to avoid utilizing them for entirely unproductive purposes. As far as I can tell, the executable in that package is different from those in any previous M2TW release. It's listed as v1.0.0.0 of Medieval_TW in properties, and patches for other M2TW releases do not apply.

I thought this one had been around for a few months, but I suppose I could be mistaken. Anyway, I was just curious if anyone who knows more than me could offer a prognosis about getting this one fixed. As always, thanks to all the people out there helping to make PC gaming as hassle-free as it would be in an ideal world.

Regards,
Demonweed

[wolfsrain]

There is an update that removes the copy protection:
http://www.totalwar.com/index.html?page=/us/support/supportmedievalii.html&nav=/us/7/2/
Choose the gold edition you own(US, UK, FR or DE), apply the patch and it should work fine.

A crack for Kingdoms v1.5(just in the case that the update for the gold edition which removes the copy protection was pulled out from the site and replaced with an update with a protected exe in it). The normal edition still has the update with the protection on it
http://www.gameburnworld.com/gp/gamefixes/medieval2totalwarkingdoms.shtml

And a crack for MTW v1.3:
http://www.gameburnworld.com/gp/gamefixes/medieval2totalwar.shtml

[Demonweed]

Ack! I made a rookie mistake and just assumed you could apply the 1.3 patch onto a fresh installation. Download sites don't often mention this, but the support site does state clearly that you must upgrade to 1.2 before applying the 1.3 patch. I expect in a few minutes I'll be playing without unnecessary drive activity. Thanks again to the people involved in fixing the games that need it, and to the people who decided this product would be best without a the little built-in nuisance factor so many others retain.

Regards,
Demonweed

[Demonweed]

I provisionally retract my Ack! After a bunch of struggle, I've found that even with the least secure possible settings (as Vista features can prevent . . . or worse yet render incomplete without any mention of a problem . . . the installation of many commercial aps) I can't get any patch to take on this installation. Perhaps the Gold bundle does come with a different executable, or perhaps there is some Vista nastiness that did not actually deactivate after my painstaking efforts to temporarily neutralize all that badly-designed security stuff. In any case, I guess I'm stuck using the drive for this one. If others have success getting the Gold bundle to run no-cd, please do share specifics.

Regards,
Demonweed