Empire: Total War trouble

[Markruh]

 I have just bought Empire: Total War. I installed it, and then launched the game. Immediately, the screen goes black, and all I can see is the cursor. I can hear the game music in the background, and I can click on stuff, but I get no picture. The game is running, but I'm playing without seeing!

 I have tried a complete uninstall and reinstall, but that didn't work.

 I have Windows XP 32 bit, with a ATI Radeon 9250 Video Card, up-to-date drivers, 1 GB of RAM, 2.4 Ghz, and 80 GB of memory.

[Mulreay]

Minimum System Requirements

OS: Windows XP/Vista
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 @ 2.6 GHz / AMD Athlon XP 2800+
Memory: 1 Gb
Hard Drive: 15 Gb free
Video Memory: 256 Mb
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 6600 / ATI Radeon X1300
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
Network: Broadband Internet Connection for Online Multiplayer
DirectX: 9.0c
Keyboard
Mouse
DVD Rom Drive

Recommended System Requirements

OS: Windows XP/Vista
Processor: Intel Core 2 DUO @ 2.2 GHz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
Memory: 2 Gb
Hard Drive: 15 Gb free
Video Memory: 768 Mb
Video Card: nVidia GeForce 8800 / ATI Radeon HD 3800
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
Network: Broadband Internet Connection for Online Multiplayer
DirectX: 9.0c
Keyboard
Mouse
DVD Rom Drive



Seems like your RAM is letting you down.
You have to remember this is FREE RAM not just a bit of 1gb

[quaxo]

Seems like your RAM is letting you down.
You have to remember this is FREE RAM not just a bit of 1gb

Also that processor if it's a single core processor. That along with the memory issue.

[Markruh]

 So not having enough RAM would let the game run fine but with no picture?

[Mulreay]

That and the fact your CPU is not good enough.

[BC_Programmer]

The CPU is single core <and> not fast enough. in order to get something that meets the minimum, you'd need a new processor. to get to recommended (which is a alias for "playable") you would need a newer generation CPU, (a Core Duo, for example) which will not be usable in the same socket as a P4.

Next, as has been stated, you don't have nearly enough RAM to run it. Remember they are Minimums. The minimum requirement for windows XP is 64MB, for example.

Lastly, your GPU is 2 years too old. a 9250  comes in PCI and AGP variants. the X1300 is not only a newer graphics card, with a newer generation GPU as well as faster RAM, but it operates on the much faster PCI-Express bus.

so that's RAM, Graphics Card, and CPU you need to upgrade, the CPU will probably need a newer motherboard, and so would the graphics card, which means that your basically building a PC from scratch.