NFT_Noobie
Medieval 2: Total War crashes on Windows 11
- How to FIX -
The year is 2025. Your obligations, work, family have arrived. And so, you push day by day and at some point: "You remember!" Medieval 2: Total War! The one and only (ok, and a million mods, but that's not the point XD). It must have been a decade, if not more, since you last played it. The good memories just come flooding back - oh, what good times those were!
And then you start digging through old CDs, hardly find it, you wipe the dust and install it with great difficulty (because most of today's laptops don't have a CD-ROM), but somehow you succeed. You start it, and the memories are indescribable. You just can't decide which faction to choose! You would play them all !!! Somehow, with great difficulty you choose and start... However, a few minutes into the game, the game crashes - an unexpected error and has to be closed.
Ok, it happens, you try again, when it reports an error again. Sometimes after a few turns, sometimes within the same turn. You start googling: "m2tw crash", "m2tw end turn crash", "m2tw win11 crash", "medieval 2 on win11?", etc. But whatever you try, it doesn't help. And so, weeks, months, maybe even a few years passed, you still remained eager and you are going crazy for not finding a solution.
Well, so that you don't go through all that, like me, I decided to share with you a solution on how to fix Medieval 2: TW crash and play it on a windows 11 computer.
Without further ado, I'm already too much, here's the solution:
The first thing I did was, find the logs of when the game crashed. To do this, I right-clicked on the start button and selected the "Event Viewer" option.
Then we search for the log and its description.
Error description:
Faulting application name: kingdoms.exe, version: 1.3.0.0, time stamp: 0x46b2efb1 Faulting module name: ucrtbase.dll, version: 10.0.26100.4202, time stamp: 0xbd317707 Exception code: 0xc0000409 Fault offset: 0x0002da51 Faulting process id: 0x2DD4 Faulting application start time: 0x1DBEC055E2A131C Faulting application path: E:\M2TW2\kingdoms.exe Faulting module path: C:\WINDOWS\System32\ucrtbase.dll Report Id: c86bbfa5-f7c8-4652-9f81-654bd1c7d82a Faulting package full name: Faulting package-relative application ID:
This error message indicates that the game executable kingdoms.exe (likely from Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms) crashed due to a fault in the Windows system file ucrtbase.dll, which is part of the Universal C Runtime.
⚠️What the Error Means?
- Faulting module: ucrtbase.dll is a core Windows DLL used by applications built with Microsoft C++ tools.
- Exception code 0xc0000409: This typically signals a stack buffer overrun, meaning the application wrote more data to a buffer than it could hold, corrupting the stack and triggering a security exception.
- Fault offset: Points to the location in the DLL where the crash occurred, useful for debugging.
🛠️ Possible Causes
- Corrupted or mismatched Visual C++ Redistributables
- Incompatible mods or game files
- Missing or damaged system files
- Game not properly installed or updated
After eliminating these 3 "easier" possible solutions, I tried Visual C++ Redistributables.
On the link https://www.techpowerup.com/download/visual-c-redistributable-runtime-package-all-in-one/ I downloaded and installed "Visual C++ Redistributable Runtimes All-in-One".
After installing, I restarted my computer. After the reboot, I downloaded the 4GB patch at https://ntcore.com/4gb-patch/ . The 4GB Patch is a small utility that modifies a game's executable file so it can use up to 4GB of RAM on 64-bit systems—especially useful for older games like Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms, which were originally limited to 2GB. This can help reduce crashes and improve performance when using mods or high-resolution textures. - It usually comes as a .zip file. Extract it to a folder using WinRAR or 7-Zip. To run the Patch double-click 4gb_patch.exe.
A file browser will open—navigate to your game’s executable. For Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms, that’s likely:
cd location :\M2TW\kingdoms.exe
Select the .exe and click Open and confirm. The patch will apply and create a backup of the original executable. You’ll get a message confirming success.
Then, on the game icon, right-click, then Properties and then Compatibility. There choose Windows XP SP3 or Windows Vista. And ok. That would be it.
- Launch the Game Normally! The game should run without crashes, I have successfully completed the Britannia and Crusaders campaigns without a single crash until the end (whole map occupied - normal unit size).
I hope that this Medieval 2: Total War game fix helped you and saved you at least a little nerve (at least until the Mongols and Timurids invade XD).
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