problem with video card running Rome Total War

I had this game working fine after the first time I installed it. I recently reinstalled it to start playing again. Every time my archers start shooting flaming arrows, the game lags and slows to a crawl. I am using a radeon 9800 pro. I tried lowering the detail on units,terrain,effects. I tried setting the screen resolution lower and higher. I cant seem to get my pc to handle this game now. Has anyone had a problem like this?
thx

 

Has it ever ran OK, and if so when did this start? Is it in the one spot or randomly?

What operating system do you have and how much free space is there etc?

Also, what versions of DirectX and video card drivers do you have? (You can post an Everest log as an attachment if it's easier, just don't copy and paste it)

 

Yes I had it running fine after i installed it the 1st time. I reinstalled it after reformatting my HDD and reinstalling win XP pro. Thats when i started having problems. The game runs fine until my archers start shooting flaming arrows.

I am running Win XP pro. My 240 gig HDD is 94% free. I have 1gig PC3200 and 569 MB of that is free. I am not sure how to find the version of directx I am running but I know that I let the game install the version that came with it. I have not updated the video card drivers but the game worked fine with the ones I have that came with the card.

 

Sounds like when you got no/improper drivers intalled...

 

You could download and install the latest catalyst drivers or go back to the last ones the game worked fine with.