Every time i load up the game (vanilla) it gets to the intro but doesnt play it and the screen turns black. I can get past this by opening the cd drive, then pressing cancel and then putting the cd back in but this is really annoying and cant be good for the drive. is there any way i can get the exe to skip loading the intro?

What kind of video card are you using? Also, do you have the latest DirectX software?

I have a GeForce 2 MX 400 and whatever the latest version of Direct X is I have it. I think it might be caused by a scratch on the disc

add the following lines to civilization3.ini or ptw.ini:

KeepRes=1
VideoMode=X
Refresh=Y

where X is the first part of your screen resolution (e.g. VideoMode=1024 if your screen was 1024x768)

and where Y is the refresh rate of your monitor (e.g. Refresh=60)

Still not working, it loads like its about to play the intro but it just goes black and switches to 640x480 resolution