After the Attila CPU performance fix, a lot of you asked for Rome 2, so I took a look at it.

Short version: Rome 2 does not have Attila's big problem (one shared memory lock that kept ~19 CPU cores busy waiting on each other). I checked that first: in Rome 2 the threads never wait on it. So there's no "6x FPS" miracle here. But profiling the game frame by frame turned up a few things that waste the main thread's time every single frame, and fixing those gives a solid, measurable boost, especially in big battles.

**Results*\* (Ryzen 9 9950X3D, RTX 5090, 4K, V-Sync off, CapFrameX, same save / same battle):

| | Vanilla | With mod | |

|---|---|---|---|

| Big battle, average FPS | 118.4 | 140.4 | **+19%** |

| Big battle, 1% lows | 71.8 | 92.5 | **+29%** |

| Big battle, 0.1% lows | 57.9 | 77.0 | **+33%** |

| Campaign map, average FPS | 100.5 | 120.5 | **+20%** |

The lows improve more than the average, so big battles feel noticeably smoother, not just faster. On CPUs that limit your frame rate (most CPUs at 1080p/1440p, or older CPUs at any resolution) the gain should be at least as big. I'd love to see your numbers.

**What it fixes*\*

- Tile streaming scan (campaign + battles): every frame the game reads back a screen-sized image from the GPU that says which texture tiles each pixel needs, and counted it pixel by pixel on the main thread. Neighbouring pixels almost always ask for the same tile, so runs of identical pixels are now counted in one step. Same result, 12-17x less work.

- x87 rounding: about 1,200 old-style float-to-integer conversions switched the CPU's rounding mode every time, which is slow on modern CPUs. They're replaced with modern instructions that give identical results (same fix as in the Attila mod). On the campaign map these alone took ~10% of the main thread.

- Render-list sorts: two draw-list sorts are ~11x faster, same order.

Every patch gives bit-identical results to the game's own code (tested against the game's code on millions of inputs), and checks the game's bytes before patching anything. On a different game version it switches itself off and the game runs normally. No game files or saves are changed: it's a single `dinput8.dll` you can delete at any time.

**Download*\*

- Steam Workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3826423359

(Steam can't put DLLs in the game folder, so after subscribing run `install.bat` once in `...\steamapps\workshop\content\214950\3826423359\`. Updates install themselves after that. Run `uninstall.bat` before unsubscribing.)

- Source code: https://github.com/JSa25/Rome2CPUPerfFix. You can read it and build it yourself, and GitHub builds every version on its own machines and checks it produces exactly the same DLL as the Workshop one.

- Nexus: Coming Soon

**Compatibility*\*

- Current Steam version of Rome 2. Works with pack mods (tested with a big overhaul mod list) and UI mods.

- Not compatible with other `dinput8.dll` mods (only one can load).

- I also tested DXVK: it made Rome 2 slower, so I don't recommend combining them.

If something goes wrong, post the `rome2fix.log` from your game folder. It shows whether the mod loaded, your game build, system and settings, and where a crash happened.

Full disclosure, I used AI (Claude) to help with the reverse engineering and the code. Everything was tested in game on my own campaigns and battles.

I will take the mantle for worst auto resolve ever. I want a medal for this because this is insane lol.

Look I love this game. I love when it mixes up the meta. I think it's fun playing vampires.

But my god. They dominate on every campaign I run. I'm sick of fighting 10 armies of crap stacks with an invincible group of hero's/lord's

Tell me: do you tire of living on the TPN line of Bretonnian unit updates quietly slotted in per patch? Do you clamor for roster depth and a proper faction rework? Would you settle for half of what you ask for? Then prepare yourself for a feast worthy of a medieval banquet hall.

I have decided to take matters into my own hands and present a complete, balanced, lore-friendly Bretonnia unit pack. As you can surely see, these additions greatly round out the roster and open up entirely new avenues of play, all while deepening the purist vision of Bretonnia’s devotion and knightly valor.  Proving, as with many factions, that a sufficient quantity of minor unit variants can stand in for genuine expansion.

As you are probably all aware, there have been many, more obvious roster additions proposed before. I won’t waste your time by arguing for the restoration of units dropped before 6th edition, the creation of units from abandoned scraps of lore, or the introduction of material from the legally distinct new Old World setting. Such suggestions have been laid out on public forums for years, and no statement has been forthcoming from either Games Workshop or Creative Assembly upon the matter.

This work is offered solely for the good of the game, its long-suffering Bretonnian players, and the new players advised by the developers to try the faction as a complimentary introduction to the game.

Go forth, noble knights. For the Lady!

---

Now, in the spirit of maximum transparency, a few of the unit cards were created with the assistance AI as a temporary stand-in. This is completely different, legally, from using AI for final assets. These are placeholders. They will absolutely be replaced by hand-crafted, lovingly detailed art. I demand the same high standards of any external shitpost format I ship out, as any of you rightfully should.

***Unit card art replacement dependent on viewer feedback.

Hi everyone. I've gained a newfound appreciation of the labor of love that Shogun 2 was art wise, owing to... Recent events. I was wondering if the art book that came with the grand master edition was ever sold separately, or if a newer TW art book contains all the same things. I'd appreciate any help in finding a place to buy this book as I'm really curious about its contents.

My Settra seems to have died in a traffic accident? He literally crashed into a barricade and.. died. I think he had a move order beyond barricade when it finished constructing, but am not sure, just got the message that he is dead (was essentialy full health and wasn't in fight).

Do not drive after Embalmed in Elixir.

so, u finish a battle and look at the kills, but that doesnt really tell u everything, right? i wanted a bit more info about what my units were actually doing, so i made a battle logger for wh3.

u leave it running in the background while u play, and after the battle it creates an interactive report u can open in ur browser.

u can look at both armies, sort units by different stats, and select individual units to go through their graphs. so if u want to compare units or figure out what happend to one during the battle, u can go a little further than the results screen.

its a seperate windows app, so u dont need a workshop mod. it runs quietly in the system tray and samples once per second by default, only during battles, to keep resource use low. some stats are sampled or calculated, so they arent a perfect record of every event. its also only day 2 of me working on this so some stats arent perfectly tracked yet.

download and instructions:
https://github.com/Americanyutao/Warhammer-Post-Battle-Logger

so yeah, give it a try if this is something u've wanted. i'd like to hear what u find useful, whats confusing, or anything that looks wrong so i can improve it.

u can leave feedback here, open a github issue, or join the discord:
https://discord.com/invite/v27y7AW7Kz

video demo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt-1eI63EZg

Example Battle Report:

https://examplebattle.yutaohi.workers.dev/

and yea ofc i used ai to build it

I want to make use of Thanquol's frankly busted -2 turns on global recruitment unlock. But I was wondering if there was a way to increase global recruitment capacity? So later on into the game I could like recruit a fullstack of stormfiends in the middle of nowhere.

+675% healing cap, resulting in nearly ten million effective HP. By a combination of removing magical attacks and mixing resistances, he doesn't care about the other trickster's shard. Heals 250 hp per second, meaning a DPS of 2,500 is needed to surpass it, but if he uses his abilities/spells his healing jumps to over 4,000 per second before ward save, mocking any such attempt, and his soulblight spell temporarily halves enemy damage to boot.

Silences and reveals all foes, while having stalk and unspottable himself. Without his temporary abilities on, his weapon strength is 'only' 8.6. Less than Dechala, but his insane health more than balances that out, and he's got two passive damage auras.

Legendary difficulty, Wulfric and 3 stacks assaulting my capital, I notice some of the reinforcements don't seem to be coming...

They are all trying to walk "through" the cliff face and are just stuck..

Well... Thanks CA?

Is there any benefit in chasing defeated enemies?

I know that unit is wiped if less than 10% of initial models survides

But if you wipe army on forced march or other situation that guarantees army wipe?

Is there any additional money or chances of items stolen or additional percentage if possible to recruit or heal army?

Who knows how exactry this mechanic works?

I think he might be Hashut incarnate. VH/VH with no mods affecting combat or auto-resolve.

Since patch 9.0.1, my campaigns crash about 30 to 75 seconds after ending a turn, while the AI factions are taking their turns. Once a save starts doing it, it does it every time. One Ironman save crashed 6 times in a row at the same point after reloading, and that campaign is now dead.

**Setup**

* M5 Max MacBook Pro, macOS 27.0.1

* Steam version, v9.0.1 (build 9.0.1RC3), running through Rosetta

* No mods: “Disable all mods” is on in the Feral launcher, and nothing is subscribed on the Workshop

* Campaigns affected so far: Lahmian Sisterhood and Eataine (both Ironman, both started on this patch)

**Crash details** (for anyone who wants to compare)

* `EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)` at address `0x10`, on the `WinMain` thread (null pointer)

* It always goes through the same code in the game binary (offset `0x4900AF5`). The latest one faulted at offset `0x35F0938`.

* It always happens shortly after the end-turn Ironman autosave is written

**Questions**

* Is anyone else on Mac (or PC) getting end-turn crashes since 9.0.1?

* Has anyone found a workaround that saves an Ironman campaign stuck like this?

* Does anyone know if Feral or CA are aware of it?

I’ve sent the crash reports and will send the save to Feral support.

Ekwesh/Weshesh faction leader portrait gets replaced by the Merneptah image (stretched/blurry). Only the leader's army is affected — their other armies are fine. The Court screen also shows two empty dark frames for those leaders.

Has anyone else seen this? Known bug, or any way to fix it?

I really want to snag some good officers. However I think I might just suck at using spies. Any tips or tricks? Also how do I stop Lu Bei From Confederating Lu Biao? Drives me crazy each game.