Two ambitious fan projects are sure to make the wait for the release of Total War: Medieval III more enjoyable for fans. Thanks to these projects, Creative Assembly’s iconic strategy games have received a number of modern improvements.
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:
- Lightning-fast AI turn processing.
- Elimination of crashes caused by using Alt+Tab.
- A true borderless windowed mode.
- Significantly shorter battle and campaign loading times.
- Native support for Steam Deck.
- 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.
- 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:
- Visually enhanced campaign maps and minimap.
- Reworked battle AI that is resistant to many of the exploits found in the original game.
- Freely customizable unit card positioning.
- Accurate movement range previews for generals.
- 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.
- Download the REX mod
