We know how impactful it can be, when you encounter technical issues, while all you want to do is start your conquest or defend the world from falling into chaos.
This guide will help you to get back into the game as quickly as possible.
Troubleshooting steps for your game client or OS
These are steps are related to Steam or your operating system that can help when you experience technical issues like crashing, graphical glitches or similar occurences
Verify the game cache
- From the Library section, right-click on the game and select Properties from the menu,
- Select Installed Files and click the Verify integrity of game files... button,
- Steam will verify the game's files.
Add Steam/ game to your Antivirus & Firewall exceptions
Your anti-virus/firewall programs could be stopping STEAM/the game from functioning correctly.
A quick and simple test to help rule out your Anti-virus & Firewall software as a possible cause is to temporarily disable them to check whether that resolves your issue.
Further to this, you should ensure that both STEAM (including your game) has been added to the exclusion list of your Anti-virus & Firewall programs to help minimise the potential for any issues.
Turn off Steam Overlay
It may be the case that STEAM services is could be stopping the game from functioning correctly.
- Go to your library,
- Open the properties of your Total War game (right-click on game title or image),
- Under General disable Steam Overlay.
Install the necessary Visual C++ components
You could be missing Visual C++ components as required in order to run your Total War game. These important components can be found and installed from the vcredist folder as located within STEAM's common shared folder.
Program path/directory:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Steamworks Shared\_CommonRedist\vcredist
Update your Windows operating system
Your operating system could be missing important modules/files as required for both the game client and your game to function correctly. Please see instructions below on how to check for updates:
-
Windows® 11
Start Menu > Settings >Windows Update> Check for updates
-
Windows® 10
Start Menu > Settings > Update & Security settings > Windows Update > Check for updates
Update your graphics drivers
Some of the most common game crashing and bugs are a result of old or incompatible drivers.
The lack of an up-to-date system can lead to lag, system errors or even a system crash (BSOD).
To check whether you are using the latest graphics drivers (including sound), please refer to our driver support article.
Check the power settings for your GPU
Your Total War game may not be functioning correctly due to the power settings of your computer system i.e. set to eco/power saving mode, as such your Total War game may not be using your dedicated graphics card!
Please see out support article on configuring the power setting of your graphics card for Windows.
For a instructions on how to configure your computer system to use your dedicated graphics card, click here for Nvidia Graphics cards and click here for AMD graphics cards.
Try the game under another Windows account
It's possible that a third-party software/applications could be stopping the game from functioning correctly. A quick & effective way to check on whether this is the case is by creating/installing on a different Windows account with administrator rights:
-
Windows®11
- Select Start > Settings > Accounts and then select Family & other users. (In some versions of Windows you'll see Other users.)
- Next to Add other user, select Add account.
- Select I don't have this person's sign-in information, and on the next page, select Add a user without a Microsoft account.
- Enter a user name, password, or password hint—or choose security questions—and then select Next.
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Windows® 10
- Click on Start Menu,
- Click on Settings,
- Click on Accounts
- Select Family & other users,
- Select Add someone else to this PC,
- Ignore the prompt to provide an email or phone number. Instead click on the link at the bottom that reads The person I want to add doesn’t have an email address
- Ignore the information that informs you to setup a new email address through @outlook.com and click on the link at the bottom Add a user without a Microsoft account.
If this works, you will have narrowed it down to a software conflict in your other account and can proceed to eliminate variables.
Troubleshooting for your game
These are steps are related directly to your game and it´s files that can help you improve situations of crashing, graphic glitches or similar occurences.
Launch your game as admin
In some cases, an operating system may not give your Total War game the necessary permissions to work as it should. This might result in the game not starting or running properly. Try enabling the option to run the game as administrator to see if this resolves your issue.
- Go to Steam Library and right-click on your Total War game
- Go to Properties
- Go to tab "Installed files"
- Click on "Browse"
- Right click on the Total War (game logo) executable
- Open the 'Properties'
- Go to the "Compatibility" tab
- Look for the privilege level at the bottom and select "Run this program as administrator"
- Click on Apply.
Opt out of past BETA versions
Using a past version of the game may be stopping you from being able to launch the game as it has not been updated to take into account any changes made by system/component vendors i.e. updates to Microsoft Windows and/or STEAM itself.
- Open Steam
- Go to Steam library and right-click on your Total War game,
- Choose 'Properties'
- Click on 'Game Versions & Betas'
- Make sure that you have selected the option 'Default Public Version'
Remove all mods and related files
STEAM Workshop Mods and/or changes for program files could be stopping the game functioning correctly for instance, the developer of the mod has not updated their mod for the new/updated version of the game.
Try deactivating/deleting mods to see if this resolves your issue.
Delete preferences and game files
Your game's preferences & cached data may be corrupt and/or have an incorrect system that is stopping your game from functioning correctly. Making a backup of your preferences & caches files and try the game to see if it now loads without any issues.
By default this folder is hidden, so to access you need to do as follows:
For Windows® 10 & 11
1. In the search box on the taskbar, type control panel, and then select Control Panel.
2. Choose Folder Options under Appearance and Personalization.
3. Click the Options icon on the right of the ribbon.
4. In the Folder Options dialog box, select the View tab.
5. Select Show hidden files, folders, and drives.
6. Deselect Hide extensions for known file types and click OK.
Once you have enabled this, do the following:
Right-click on your blank space on your desktop screen and select 'New' -> 'Folder'.
Create a folder and name it something to distinguish it i.e. TW backup.
- Once you've done this go to your Creative Assembly folder which by default can be accessed at the following location on PC:
C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\AppData\Roaming\The Creative Assembly
This should contain folders for all the TW games. Please move the entire game folder from here and place them into the folder you've created on your desktop.
Once you've done this and the Creative Assembly folder is not at the Roaming folder anymore, start the game.
If it works, you can copy back the save folder from the desktop folder to recover your saves.