German site:
http://www.4players.de/4players.php/download_info/PC-CDROM/Download/45610.html

639 MB

It's in English, don't worry and it's...legal.

Gamespot released it late last night after the german site:

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/medieval2totalwar/download.html?sid=6160580

Does this one work for AMD processors?

*I know some types do work.

Yes it does, this time round. Supports SSE2.

Wasn't SSE2 the problem last time so is that still required?

They fixed it for this second demo IIRC.

:woohoo:
Can't wait to test it, though downloading may take somem time.

The second demo is great.

I just lost Agincourt for the first time. In the first demo if you left the English where they were initially deployed you won 4/5 times.

In the second demo I've lost in doing this even preparing in advance for the French cavalry attack in my rearguard !! The french heavy cavalry lasted much, much longer and actually killed king Henry.

The aztec battle (Otumba) was fearsome. This battle portrays the taking over by Spanish conquistadors of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán in 1520 which reportedly had over a million souls living in it. You actually get to see the city which history goes was on a lake.

Spanish conquistadors plus allied indians, 1064 men, against an overwhelming Aztec force of approx 2700 men with 4 generals.

They actually killed Hernán Cortés (Spanish general) twice !!

Pretty hard, very challenging.

Much smoother than the first demo, things were slower, not so fast. The AI has definately been toned up.

My ATI X700 seemed to offer sluggish frame rates at times, though still much better than the first demo. I could run everything at the highest settings but the frame rates slowed down, still a beautiful game.

The second demo is identical to the first demo but it adds the extra battle Spanish vs. Aztecs. And certainly modifies the AI for the other two battles, Pavia and Agincourt of the first demo making them much harder to win IMHO.

Really worthwile downloading and playing it.

That internal download program the site offers is quite confusing to one not fluent in German, especially the error pop up. :confused:

Well I know German so I kinda didn't realize it would be such a problem.

Download Gamespot´s then, it also came out yesterday after the german sites':

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/medieval2totalwar/download.html?sid=6160580

The second demo is great.

I just lost Agincourt for the first time. In the first demo if you left the English where they were initially deployed you won 4/5 times.

In the second demo I've lost in doing this even preparing in advance for the French cavalry attack in my rearguard !! The french heavy cavalry lasted much, much longer and actually killed king Henry.

The aztec battle (Otumba) was fearsome. This battle portrays the taking over by Spanish conquistadors of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán in 1520 which reportedly had over a million souls living in it. You actually get to see the city which history goes was on a lake.

Spanish conquistadors plus allied indians, 1064 men, against an overwhelming Aztec force of approx 2700 men with 4 generals.

They actually killed Hernán Cortés (Spanish general) twice !!

Pretty hard, very challenging.

Much smoother than the first demo, things were slower, not so fast. The AI has definately been toned up.

My ATI X700 seemed to offer sluggish frame rates at times, though still much better than the first demo. I could run everything at the highest settings but the frame rates slowed down, still a beautiful game.

The second demo is identical to the first demo but it adds the extra battle Spanish vs. Aztecs. And certainly modifies the AI for the other two battles, Pavia and Agincourt of the first demo making them much harder to win IMHO.


Really worthwile downloading and playing it.

Is the demo available publicly now?

NOOO!!!

It doesn't work. When I select a battle, it goes to the loading screen, loads the bar full and then freezes. The cursor goes invisible and like I said, it completely freezes. Maybe the graphic driver is not good enough, but it can't be replaced, it is integrated or whatever in the laptop.

I like better the new demo.

I have only played two battles: Agincourt and Otumba.

In Agincourt the french didn't rout at all. the French heavy cavalry was deadly and actually lasted a long time, they actually killed king Henry. I just couldn't sit there like in the first demo and win. I was totally obliterated despite reinforcing my rearguard in preparation for the french cavalry attack. Much mcuh better than the first demo which was not good IMHO.

In Otumba I lost both times, in both the Aztecs killed Hernán Cortés. I found the scenary beautiful. The aztecs overwhelmed my forces. I was really impressed. They kept outflanking me seeking weak spots in my lines and attacking there. They opened many fronts. They kept thier best units at bay whilst the inferior ones wore me off, that was very neat. I really felt anxious by the attack -both attacks-.

In the second demo it seemed that:

- AI units didn't insta rout (excellent)
- Good at flanking (good)
- battles lasted much longer (excellent)
- the AI seems to have been toned up quite abit for Otumba and Agincourt. Haven't played yet Pavia on the second demo. (excellent)
- all in all the battle seemed slower, which is good, and not so chaotic and fast as the first demo.
- the AI went straight to kill my general in both battles (absolutely excellent) whereas in the first demo my generals never died or were never killed, it didn't seem a priority for the AI.
- framerate is slow and at times somewhat choppy as in the first demo. I'm worried about my grfx card ATI X700 (AMD 64 3000, so that's ok). Can anyone please confirm if i'll have to upgrade it ? Thanks. :\:
- too many unit banners, slightly confusing, but there's a button for your faction which turns all your units green and the enemys red. (good idea)
- smileys: WTF ??? :eek: Who had that idea ? (very very bad idea)

All in all I disliked the first demo but my hat is off to the changes done in this second one. The battles seemed more "realistic" lasting longer. I had already preordered.

Is the demo available publicly now?

Yes, I posted Gamespot's link in my first post up above. ;)

Smiles are a good idea. It shows unit mood/health at a glance. That is, if the little images change...

No SSE support guys. only SSE2 processors supported.
Though posted that the demo is 3 months old code and the final game will supprt SSE.

Well the demo wouldn't download anyway...

No SSE support guys. only SSE2 processors supported.
Though posted that the demo is 3 months old code and the final game will supprt SSE.
That's the old demo, the SE version. The new demo, or gold version, does have SSE support. I know because I just played the demo on my Athlon XP. My videocard is junk though so it looks about as good as Rome on my comp.

The second demo is great.

I just lost Agincourt for the first time. In the first demo if you left the English where they were initially deployed you won 4/5 times.

In the second demo I've lost in doing this even preparing in advance for the French cavalry attack in my rearguard !! The french heavy cavalry lasted much, much longer and actually killed king Henry.

The aztec battle (Otumba) was fearsome. This battle portrays the taking over by Spanish conquistadors of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán in 1520 which reportedly had over a million souls living in it. You actually get to see the city which history goes was on a lake.

Spanish conquistadors plus allied indians, 1064 men, against an overwhelming Aztec force of approx 2700 men with 4 generals.

They actually killed Hernán Cortés (Spanish general) twice !!

Pretty hard, very challenging.

Much smoother than the first demo, things were slower, not so fast. The AI has definately been toned up.

My ATI X700 seemed to offer sluggish frame rates at times, though still much better than the first demo. I could run everything at the highest settings but the frame rates slowed down, still a beautiful game.

The second demo is identical to the first demo but it adds the extra battle Spanish vs. Aztecs. And certainly modifies the AI for the other two battles, Pavia and Agincourt of the first demo making them much harder to win IMHO.

Really worthwile downloading and playing it.
Otumba was pretty awesome. I beat it the first time, but only because I got lucky and killed their main warcheif with a crossbow bolt.

The city of Tenochtitlan was massive. I can't wait to try taking it by siege.

Yup, either in Pavía or in Otumba if you kill the main AI general the troops soon rout. This is a classic since RTW IRRC.

This game promises a lot.

NOTICE: people are already MODDING the demo
By editing the ini files and such several mods are flooting around which have custom battles and unlock more units.

NOTICE: people are already MODDING the demo
By editing the ini files and such several mods are flooting around which have custom battles and unlock more units.

There is a mod out that has custom battles. I found it at Totalwarforums.

It involved really huge battles, that although dont make much historical sense, are quite fun and a change of pace from the 3 battles in the demo.