so the installation went smoothly and everything and once i run the game i can hear the sound but only see a black screen and cant do a damn thing. i need some help. thanks.

First of all, install the latest patch: http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/patch/. If you still have trouble, you should provide us some information about your system (e.g., dxdiag).

alright i installed the latest patch and still the black screen and the music plays but kinda skips.
system info:
3.06 ghz pentium 4
512 mb ram
video- ati radeon 9000

any thing else?

Try Windowed mode, and also check the your video card drivers are fully up to date.

my video card drive is up to date. and what is windowed mode.

There is a setting in your options that you can use to make the game start up in a window instead of the full screen (go to advanced -> options -> uncheck the "full screen" box), which would probably make it load up a little easier. However, if you can't get it to simply load up at all, then it would probably make it a little difficult to change that option.

You can set windowed mode in the ini file: Fullscreen = 0.
Here's how to create dxdiag, which will give us some details about your system: http://faq.blizzard-europe.com/en/article.php?id=016. Here's how to enable logging: http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/support_logging.htm.

Attach your dxdiag and init.log to your next post, and we shall see.

Another option in the ini file that you should try: turn off intro movies: NoIntroMovie=1.

139883 here my dxdiag
for some reason it wont let me upload my init.log file

hello i dont no if this is the right thread for this or not but im having trouble with ive only done the demo i havent dared by the game yet but i can play the demo just fine except the screen is all black like i havent been to that tile yet but its black every where till like 100 turns in then i can somewhat see the map and i can see it if i go into globe mode i jsut want this to work cause i play the 3rd 1 and its awsoem so can some 1 help me plz. O and the faces dont show either only the eyes and mouth and any cloths they wear example the aztecs there masks show

i have the same problem with the black screen. Civ4 works fine in window mode though. can try calling the 1-866 number, but when i did they didnt know what was wrong either

hum how do u turn it to window mode on the demo

yeah how do i get it in windowed mode

There's a civ4config.ini file in your Civilization IV folder. When you open that, search for the word "screen". You'll see something like:

; Specify whether to play in fullscreen mode 0/1/ask
FullScreen = 1

Set it to 0 (or ask).

uh hi cheiftess um can u help me i need to no if u play civ 3 to because i kinda need just a smidge of help on ther eto if ya dont mind

uh hi cheiftess um can u help me i need to no if u play civ 3 to because i kinda need just a smidge of help on ther eto if ya dont mind

Yes, but this is the Civ4 forum. You can post a thread in the Civ3 forum, or pm me.

ok i sent u a pm hope fully u wil be able to help me jsut pm me back if u need to no any ting more from it

so i tried it in windowed mode and it opens up in the window but nothing shows up besides my desktop in the window, the cursor is that of the game and the music plays but still nothing. what else should i try?

The dxdiag isn't working. And we need the init.log. If you have trouble attaching files, you can copy the contents into the post directly (use spoiler tag if you can)

Hi! I have the same prolem and windowed mode doesn' t seem to help. Has anyone figured out a solution?

Hello, I have the same problem of the black terrain.

Attached are my dxdiag.txt, init.log and MSinfo.txt files, as well as screenshot after making the change from Full Screen to Window display. No change.

Thanks for your help.