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Hi, I really hope someone can help/assist me. I would respectfully request that you read the full post before commenting, thank you. Monetary reward of £50.00 donation to this website - PC Gaming Wiki if a member of PC GAMING WIKI can resolve this problem or; STEAM GAME or combination of games of your choice worth up to £50.00 to the person who provides with with a guaranteed tested working fix to this problem. I have a long running problem with the following total war games crashing: Empire Total War Napoleon Total War Shogun 2: Total War The issue is always the same - the games crash randomly and somewhat frequently when playing a battle on the battle map. The error reports generated by windows state that the problem is almost always caused by a fault module with mss32.dll as well as others, sometimes including ndll.dll. The issue is not exclusive to this machine, operating system, OS version, or specific hardware. I have had 3 different computers, all with different hardware and OS versions at some point and the problem persists/has persisted no matter what the hardware or OS setup. For example, the first machine I had this problem with was a Intel core 2 duo 3.00ghz, 2 GB RAM, a ATI 4870 video card, Windows XP (upgraded to vista and then 7 - 32bit and 64 bit versions as the system was 64bit ready.); the latest system is a Intel quad core 3.60 GHZ overclocked to 3.9GHZ, 16 GB RAM @ 1600 frequency, Nvidia 980TI 6 GB video card Windows 7 64bit / Windows 10 64 bit dual boot. Sound cards used have mostly been onboard sound provided by realtek, but have also used a high end Creative sound card and have suffered exactly the same issue. My drivers have always been and remain constantly up to date wherever possible, especially video and sound drivers. My motherboard has the latest BIOS version installed. I have tried every solution I have come across to tackle this problem and NONE have fixed the issue despite hours of searching for help on forums and the internet at large, including youtube. My main concern is finding a solution to shogun 2 as it is my favourite total war game with the exception of Atilla and Warhammer. I realised that the problem is the same with the 3 games listed at the top of the post as opposed to the latest total war games because they all have Miles Sound system as part of the software, whereas, Rome 2, Atilla and Warhammer total war titles do not, and I therefore do not have this issue with the latest titles crashing. MSS32.DLL is the file associated with the fault 99% of the time. I have asked several forums for extensive assistance with this issue only to find no solution in the end, despite some really helpful people and suggestions, usually moderators. I have contacted both Sega (useless and pointless at the same time - the techical support they offered on several occasions was laughable at best, they truly are clueless), Creative Assembly (no reply) and also the creators of the miles sound system programme (no reply). Below are the methods and attempts I have made to fix the issue - please read as most people seem to overlook this when raising the issue: *Deleted specific files in the userapp folders, data folders, scripts, preferences etc (they get regenerated during a "verify integrity of game files" approach via steam.) *Deleted dll files (they get regenerated during a "verify integrity of game files" approach via steam also, this includes files such as mss32.dll, shogun2.dll etc. *Verify integrity of game files via steam (have lost count how many times I have done this) *place certain folders i.e. mss32.dll into windows 32 folder and WOW 64 folders (no difference made in the end) *Uninstall and reinstall game, by completely deleting all files associated with the game. *Install/reformat/reinstall windows and different operating systems (have used windows xp 32 bit, windows vista 32 bit, windows 7 64 bit, windows 8.1 64 bit and currently windows 10 64 bit) - at the moment I have a dual boot option with the same issue occurring on both operating systems. *Delete programmes which may interfere with mss32 such as itunes for example. *Played the game offline and online through steam *have used ccleaner to clean and fix registry problems in windows *Uninstalled Norton Security *updated windows (which for windows 7 is virtually impossible these days due to the push to get people on windows 10 *check constantly for viruses and malware (NEVER any found no matter what security program I use, system always appears to be virus and malware free) *tired playing the game in both directx9, directx10 and currently direcx11 and 12. (no difference in the frequency or kind of crash) *updated/reinstalled/clean reinstall of drivers *changed graphics settings for all 3 games, using both maximum and minimum settings, crash still occurs no matter the graphics option. my most recent systems have had no problem with lag on these games when max graphics applied anyway. *tried using different mss32.dll files with the game (as a result the game refuses to start and then reacquires the correct version anyway upon verify integrity option. *use scandisk/checkdisk for errors with hardware (none found) *used many different tools for stressing and testing hardware components to check that hardware is not the problem (which never it has never come back with any problems hardware related *Disconnect the internet pfft? no change. *I do not use any mods for ANY total war game with the exception of Rome 2 and this is therefore not mod related problem and never has been. There are other things I have tried but at this moment in time cannot think of them. Needless to say, I have tried just about everything I have come across - the issue remains. I have even specifically purchased new computers and hardware to combat this particular problem - same issue, every time. For clarification - this problem only happens with total war games that use the miles sound system and therefore mss32.dll and other related files and the warscape engine (meaning I do not have this issue with the likes of Medieval 2 total war and Rome 1 total war). Since Creative Assembly (thankfully and mercifully) stopped using Miles Sound System with the warscape engine, the issue does not affect Total war Rome 2, Total war Atilla or Total war: Warhammer - which I CAN play with no problem at all with slight driver exceptions which are easily fixed. Following this, I can play the latest total war games on full settings with no problem, and can therefore only come to the conclusion that this is definitely NOT a hardware problem and that it points to either a general software problem, a problem with the actual games using miles software (which doesn't explain how some people can play with no issue at all whilst others cannot?) or a software issue in general (help required, patch required, anything really?) Why do I bother? I have spent a great deal of money, time and effort trying to find a fix for this with no solution. The reason I do this is because I love the total war games, especially Shogun 2 and have done since the days of medieval 1. to some, it's too much effort and not worth bothering about. To me, it means a great deal, and as I have come across many people via forums and internet searches with this and similar issues, I can only assume it means a great deal to others as well. Whilst I would suggest that the issue remains a problem with Creative Assembly and Sega and that they should be the ones to fix the problem, I doubt very much this is going to happen after 6 years+. Trying to get help with the problem via SEGA support simply proves that some departments are not worth having and that certain tech support people should be out of a job! Harsh as it seems, but they are not the only video game publisher who have this particular approach. I am therefore asking ANYONE who have any idea what the problem is and how to fix it to help me (and others). If a patch could be created, officially or unofficially it would be welcomed. I am more than willing to troubleshoot the issue again, though would request guidance when doing so this time around in case I am doing something wrong? I will post error reports (I have plenty) and a dxdiag from both win 7 and 10 if needed. ALL games have been purchased legitimately via certain retailers and have all been installed via steam (as well as a multitude of all additional DLC) and so this isn't a pirate software issue. As stated at the top of the post, I am willing to offer a financial reward/incentive for a permanent and TESTED fix or work-around for the problem, as well of my eternal gratitude. All help is appreciated. All suggestions are welcomed. Thank you in advance. p2. 1. dxdiag provided via attachment - update - failed to upload, tried twice? any suggestions? ps. 2.example of latest error reports (mss32 & ntdll) Description Faulting Application Path: E:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Total War SHOGUN 2\Shogun2.exe Problem signature Problem Event Name: APPCRASH Application Name: Shogun2.exe Application Version: 1.1.0.0 Application Timestamp: 507716b8 Fault Module Name: mss32.dll Fault Module Version: 8.0.3.0 Fault Module Timestamp: 4bf2900c Exception Code: c0000005 Exception Offset: 00016eb9 OS Version: 10.0.14393.2.0.0.768.101 Locale ID: 1033 Additional Information 1: 2beb Additional Information 2: 2beba6fb4680d73a8c78ca7c24ccdb46 Additional Information 3: 1055 Additional Information 4: 10551cc64bcfba7d2297b81a9c0092f2 Description Faulting Application Path: E:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Total War SHOGUN 2\Shogun2.exe Problem signature Problem Event Name: APPCRASH Application Name: Shogun2.exe Application Version: 1.1.0.0 Application Timestamp: 507716b8 Fault Module Name: ntdll.dll Fault Module Version: 10.0.14393.479 Fault Module Timestamp: 58256ca0 Exception Code: c0000005 Exception Offset: 0003ff33 OS Version: 10.0.14393.2.0.0.768.101 Locale ID: 1033 Additional Information 1: e2a5 Additional Information 2: e2a5934c14e66921972cbe137a4819ff Additional Information 3: 3779 Additional Information 4: 3779a10c3ea533989b4f726af0a4a6f0 Thank you kindly.