Someone has remastered Medieval 2: Total War and Rome: Total War so well that the AI's moves are now calculated in a matter of seconds [Updated]

Update

The mods have received major updates. Both are labeled 17/08 and include dozens of changes and fixes. The most important ones are:

1. The engines’ graphics renderers have been switched from DirectX 9 to DirectX 11, so the highest graphics settings no longer cause severe frame rate drops.
2. HDR has been added.
3. The texture rendering and shading system has been improved.
4. A smooth LOD transition effect has been added to most elements to minimize the sudden appearance of objects.
5. Dynamic lighting effects have been implemented (e.g., for torches or burning arrows).
6. Introduced highlighted outlines for unit silhouettes that appear when they are out of sight, making it easy to see when, for example, a unit is in the forest.
7. Opponents’ artificial intelligence has been significantly improved.
8. More options for speeding up and slowing down battles have been implemented (from 0.5x to 2x).
9. Camera and mouse behavior have been updated.
10. Performance has been significantly improved, and many technical bugs have been fixed.

Previous version of the article (July 2, 2026)

Rome: Total War and Medieval II: Total War are widely regarded as two of the finest entries in Creative Assembly's iconic strategy series. Although both titles are now quite old—the first launched in 2004 and the second in 2006—the community has no intention of letting them fade into obscurity. Thanks to two ambitious modding projects, these classic strategy games have received unofficial "remasters" that significantly improve their performance, stability, and overall gameplay experience.

Medieval II Like a Modern Strategy Game

The M2EX project is being developed by a team of modders who, since March 2026, have been working on a new executable for Medieval II: Total War. The update upgrades the game to a 64-bit architecture, eliminating many of the issues that have plagued the strategy game on modern PCs.

The most important improvements include:

1. Lightning-fast AI turn processing.
2. Elimination of crashes caused by using Alt+Tab.
3. A true borderless windowed mode.
4. Significantly shorter battle and campaign loading times.
5. Native support for Steam Deck.
6. Removal of engine limitations on the number of factions, regions, cultures, and religions.

Dozens of Fixes and New Features

The M2EX developers have also addressed numerous bugs that have existed since the game's original release. Units wielding two-handed weapons and pikemen now behave as Creative Assembly originally intended, while arquebusiers and crossbowmen no longer lose their line of fire because of obstacles.

Players also gain a variety of quality-of-life improvements inspired by newer Total War titles. Entire formations can be moved and rotated with ease, a modern camera with a much greater zoom-out distance is available, and heirs to the throne can be assigned manually within the family tree.

The interface has also been enhanced with enemy kill counters, character movement range indicators, and campaign map overlays showing public order and settlement population at a glance.

The developers have even restored the classic city view, allowing players to once again walk through their own settlements. In addition, the modders have improved the campaign AI's overall behavior.

1. Download the M2EX mod

Rome: Total War Also Receives Major Upgrades

The second project, REX, is designed for the original Rome: Total War, rather than the 2021 remastered edition. Like M2EX, it upgrades the game to a 64-bit architecture. As a result, the game can reach up to 280 FPS, even during massive battles.

Other notable improvements include:

1. Visually enhanced campaign maps and minimap.
2. Reworked battle AI that is resistant to many of the exploits found in the original game.
3. Freely customizable unit card positioning.
4. Accurate movement range previews for generals.
5. Real-time enemy kill counters displayed directly on unit cards.

Overall, REX is currently the best way to experience the original version of Rome: Total War.

1. Download the REX mod

Total War: Medieval II

November 10, 2006

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• Overview

• Creative Assembly
• Total War (franchise)
• turn-based strategies
• mods / fan projects (games)
• FTP