I hope this is a simple problem.

I installed the game just fine, it asked if i wanted to install the latest the driverx 9.3 thing and i clicked yes and installed it. When I press on the shortcut, the startmenu button, or the auto-startup screen's play button, it shows the game loading screen. then it gotes the the screen where a bar is loading. about 1/5 of the way, it says "Checking XML" and then the screen exits and nothing happens.

Does anyone know what the problem is? I went SRTest.com and I passed the minimum requirement test. I passed everything in the recommended setting except for my video card which is slightly weaker than what they recommend. It also says my video/audio driver needs updating. but when i downloaded the update and installed and checked my specs, it still says my vid driver is a GeForce 5200 FX.

Does anyone know what is going or help me? Please tell me the problem. I downloaded the video driver from the nvidia site where it had the 3 columns. I chose Video driver - Geforce and TNT 2 - window xp/2000.

I have the same exact issue...

Anyone know what this is about yet?

An idea from left field: Do you have The Gimp installed? Or perhaps another free program that needs GTK installed? Last time I installed Gimp/GTK I noticed they wanted to disable the Windows XML DLLs to avoid conflict.

If you do have Gimp and/or GTK isnstalled maybe we can figure out which files to restore or rename, but it may break the Gimp.

(Off topic whine: I built a machine with Civ IV in mind a few months ago, but I have no time to play it now that it's released, so I didn't even buy it. I'll have to read about others playing it until I move and get settled.)

EDIT: I believe the renamed files are in C:\windows\system32 (on a default WinXP install) and are originally named XMLPARSE.DLL and xmltok.dll ... I'm don't yet know what GTK/Gimp renames them to.

EDIT 2: From other comments, this probably has nothing to do with the XML problem. Upon further investigation it is unlikely the two file mentioned in this post have anything to do with MS XML or Civ4...they just have name or function collisions with GTK+. Ignore this post :) . Sorry for the wild goose chase.

Yes, I have exactly the same problem. In the log I get only this:

[423.546] DBG: FILE Cat Init
[423.781] DBG: NOT Using XML cache, failed to find crc.dat file
[423.796] DBG: Game Init
[423.796] DBG: Multiplayer Init

Does anyone know what a crc.dat file is?

I had this same problem. I tried disabling, and even uninstalling, a virtual drive I had (suggestion from another thread), but still had no luck.

I then uninstalled and then reinstalled the game. The first time I installed, I chose Custom install, and specified a different drive and directory name to install in. When I reinstalled, I chose the express install option, and let it install in its default location.

Now it works. Not sure whether or not using the default location was necessary, or the reinstallation by itself was enough. But it worked for me..

BTW, if you need to uninstall, there's no uninstaller listed, but if you go to Control Panel >> Add/Remove Programs, you can uninstall it from there, and it launches the Civ IV uninstaller.

Hope it helps others,
-Baldric

I have the same problem:
The program just stops loading when it gets to Checking XML.
I uninstalled both the gimp, gtk, and civ iv. It didn't work.

Im really mad about this. I got the same problem where it just shuts off when the loader reads "Checking XML" or something and it just quits out. I have no Gimp or GTK and i reinstalled... im wondering if im gonna have to purge my computer. I am going madly insane not being able to play Civ4 :mad: ! I also took a peek in the folder "system32" and out of the 2200 files I couldn't find a XMLPARSE.DLL. Does anyone know what i can do to fix this problem, who to call, or where to look for an answer?
Sys Specs - radeon 9800PRO 256mb - 2ghz - 1mb RAM

I've had the same exact problem and don't know what to do :(
I'm running a 9600XT, 1gb ram, 2+Ghz etc.

I'm having the same problem as well. I've checked my system32 xml files and they seem to be all there(?) according to the sniffer website I went to. It's bloody frustrating...

WXPSP2, IP4 3G, 1G RAM, FX 5600 Go

This problem must be machine specific...I was able to install Civ4 on my other (older and crappier) machine, but not my Alienware Laptop(!?!) WTF? I will look to see what is different, if anything between the two...

I have a similar problem, except the game doesn't just quit when it reaches the Check XML point, but it reboots the whole machine. When the computer restarts I get a Error message: STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER (Q293078), which seems to be video driver. I think this is in conflict with an XML .ini file somewhere while it's trying to load the game. I don't seem to be getting the same kind of errors that other people are having with pure video driver issues.

My specs:
ATI Sapphire Radeon 9200 SE Atlantis AGP (using the latest Catalyst driver)
Intel Pentium 4 3.00 GHz
1.00 GB of RAM
Win XP SP2

All this stuff about video cards and I still can't get the game to load.

It just dies at the secondsplash screen as described by others and I can't even find an XML file folder.

At this point I'm waiting for a heads up from Firaxis.

I don't think this amount of trouble or these issues are acceptable nowadays but what are you going to do? Give up?

Never.

If anyone figures this out please post how you got around it:(

Same problem here. I called their Tech Support, but the british lady that answered said that "their systems were down and that they could not help me."

Bahhh

But she called me honey:rolleyes:

I'm having the same problem. I'm running XP with a Pentium 4, 2.8GHz, 504MB, a GeForce 5500. I actually did get through to someone at tech support, but after downloading new drivers from NVidia, and uninstalling and reinstalling the game, nothing worked. He simply suggested calling back in the morning because they were working on the problem. Hopefully, it'll get fixed soon.

Just wanted to add my name to this list.

I am using a P4 3.4 GHZ with 2 gigs of RAM and an ATI Radeon X850 XT 256MB PCIE. Window XP with SP2. I have tired updating my video drivers to the lastest version. Despite this the game just "quits" at the "checking XML" part of the loading screen. I get no error message and am right back at the desktop.

Does anyone think this is somehow related to the pervasive "rendering error" that so many people with ATI cards are having? Or is this a completely different issue?

I'm not very computer savy, but I willing to try any suggestions.

Try the suggestions in this thread (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=132992).

If they work, then please let us know. :)

Did not work. I have a us English version of the game, and all of my settings in lang control panel were a o.k. If you look at the description of the problem in that post it is quite different.

Still have the same problems. I have English US settings.

Originally Posted by cgoggles
I'm trying to install civ4 and having a reaccuring feature transfer error:
Feature: DefaultFeature
Component: Civ4Component
File: D\data2.cab
Error: Data error (cyclic redundancy check).

I removed all civ4 files, and retried. I got the same error. Then I removed all civ4 files, civ3 files, and alpha centauri files. Still the same.

Anyone else getting this issue, or anyone else know what's up?

After trying picilly's idea of using a new account to get by the XML thing I now get this. I'm wondering if they are related...I get this when trying to install the game on the new user account (the winxp feature). I think this is about as bad as it gets startup wise.

Hey, I found that just creating a new user with xp and loading the game from that new user profile got the game to work fine! i know it isn't a perfect fix, but it gets you playing the game (which i may add is awesome!).
Good luck!

Well that seems like a pretty good idea. Well no matter, im using my parents machine and think im gettting a new comp anywase. I think it has something to do with some files being missing relating to some download. I suspect that's why only so few people experiance the problem. Im sure a wipe of your hard-drive(yea i know its crazy) will work. I say this because my rents comp is brand new and they have a clean hard-drive so it retains all the needed files for Civ4. I really hope the rest of you solve the problem(the game is great, just keep trying. it'll be worth it:) ).

I would like to add that this worked for me!!! Thank you all for posting here with your ideas!!!

I came home today so frustrated after spending all of last night with no success reinstalling the game and drivers etc. You can imagine my... jubilation... when I finally got to see the intro movie for real!

Here's what I did:
Last night-
install game, doesn't work
update video drivers, doesn't work
uninstall/reinstall game, doesn't work
uninstall/reinstall video drivers, doesn't work
uninstall/reinstall game (again), doesn't work

Today-
uninstall game from my normal XP user account
create a new account and install the game for that account only
log in and rejoice!

I hope this helps everyone out there with the XML problem to get in and play until they get around to fixing it for real.

Thank you guys again, I'm off to play!

I'm having this problem as well, but none of the fixes suggested have helped me. I've tried creating new accounts several times but it's not worked at all. If the problem is due to something I have installed creating a new account doesn't help since I have basically everything installed on all accounts.

The only thing I haven't tried is a re-format but that's not a viable option at this time. Hopefully Firaxis will be able to post a fix for this issue as well as they did with the ATI-renderer thing (although this is affecting much fewer users I guess).

still doesn't work for me :aargh:

I've reinstalled game and drivers in a test account and its still not working. only option now is a windows reinstall....guess I was due anyways!

Just want to say, mine is not working either. Check XML error.

Tech told me to update firmware :rolleyes:

Here is what I did to resolve this problem. Apparently I was getting this error due to a sound driver. I have an onboard Realtek ALC880 HD Audio card. I downloaded and installed the new driver from www.realtek.com.tw and voila I am playing Civ IV. Let me know if this works for you.