i temporarily have had to switch games to an older computer running windows 98. now when i start the game (vanilla or conquests) the intro video plays fine, but afterward the display splits into three indentical screens and the color becomes a faded brown. any suggestions on fixing this?

It sounds like the monitor isn't able to diplay civ's 1024x768 resolution correctly. This could be beause:
a) The monitor is too old to run at that res
b) The monitor can run Ok, but hasn't been set up correctly and windows is trying to use an incompatible video mode

What monitor and video card are you using?

Try adding the line Refresh=xx where xx is your monitors refresh rate to your civilizationiii.ini or conquests.ini file. To find the refresh rate, right click on the desktop and select Properties. Click on the Settings Tab, and then click on Advanced. Then find the Monitor tab on the new window. It should give you a list of your refresh rates in a drop down box.

Thanks. i'm a bit busy today, but i'll try this tonight, otherwise i will post the info eddie.