I just purchased a new computer running Windows XP. I installed basic Civ III first and tried running it just as a test. The intro played, but then screen went dark and I couldn't do anything, although music was playing. I shut down the computer and after booting up installed Conquests hoping that the newer version would not have the same problem. Installation went fine, and upon starting game the intro played fine. But, again, after intro finished I got a dark screen with music in the background.

I went to the FAQ's of this forum and saw a posting from 2001 (I believe) describing my exact problem and suggesting setting the monitor Refresh rate in the .ini file. Did as suggested: went to my monitor properties, saw a refresh rate of 60. I then searched for the appropriate .ini file and could only find one in the Conquest folder of Civ III. Opened that file and typed at the bottom "Refresh=60" (without quotes) and saved the file. I then went to launch Conquests but again after the intro got the dard screen with music.

Any suggestions for a fix? Thanks in advance

In case anyone follows up on this, I was able to solve my problem by updating the driver for my video controller. It was an Intel chipset that I updated, so those who have the same problem and have an Intel controller, they may want to download the newest driver.