OK here's the jist... I have been running Civ4 fine for the longest time.

Summary:
It crashes as soon as the [PLAY GAME] button should come up after loading a game or creating a new game and the 3d graphic engine in the game starts up. Nothing has changed recently and I have attempted to reinstall, manually wiping out any remaining Civ directories and registry entries. This crash happens every time until I reinstall. I can play the game once then the crashes begin again.

Details:
Windows Vista Ultimate 64
AMD Athlon 64 x2 Core
2GB RAM
NVidia GeForce 7800 (Latest drivers)
Creative Sound Blaster Live Audigy ZS

Admin Settings:
Executable set to Run as Administrator, Disable Desktop Composition, Attempted WinXP Compatability

Graphics Settings:
I have been able to run max previously with no issues. Have attempted to lower graphics settings to no avail.

Sound Settings:
Have attempted all settings from Mono to EAX4.

Error Log:
Log Name: Application
Source: Application Error
Date: 2/16/2007 6:28:40 PM
Event ID: 1000
Task Category: (100)
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: Talven81-PC
Description:
Faulting application Civ4Warlords.exe, version 2.0.8.0, time stamp 0x4537883e, faulting module Civ4Warlords.exe, version 2.0.8.0, time stamp 0x4537883e, exception code 0xc0000005, fault offset 0x005fc207, process id 0xba0, application start time 0x01c7523b22c3be28.
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Application Error" />
<EventID Qualifiers="0">1000</EventID>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>100</Task>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2007-02-17T02:28:40.000Z" />
<EventRecordID>2046</EventRecordID>
<Channel>Application</Channel>
<Security />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data>Civ4Warlords.exe</Data>
<Data>2.0.8.0</Data>
<Data>4537883e</Data>
<Data>Civ4Warlords.exe</Data>
<Data>2.0.8.0</Data>
<Data>4537883e</Data>
<Data>c0000005</Data>
<Data>005fc207</Data>
<Data>ba0</Data>
<Data>01c7523b22c3be28</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

Hmm maybe the Cache directory of Civ IV is the problem when you can play once and then it stops working? Also you should not need to run the game as admin. I also run the game on Vista Ultimate 64-bit and there are no admin rights required anywhere except for the installation process.

Well tried purging %username%\documents\my games\Civilization 4\ directory and no change. Don't seem to see any other cache directory.

I turned Admin on as a test to see if it made a change and doesn't seem to.

Hmm just found this...

Error : Decl - ('Civ4Theme_Window.thm', Ln:3048, Col:9) Assignment source propertyId 'SF_CtrlTheme_Civ4_Control_Font_Size1_Bold' not found


Not sure if it's the cause tho.

I found the problem!

I have no idea how this happened, but I checked my 3D settings for my graphics card... antistropic and antialising were set to fixed settings... changed it back to application controled and the issues went away. No idea how that got changed I never set that to a fixed value.