When i start civ3 the intro video plays but then the main screen sits black except for a menu option on the right side. moving my mouse around the right side shows the other options and i can click on them and get to menus but i cannot see the options for the menus. when i go to start game it has all of the game options but no start button, pressing enter crashes out of the game with no error message. ive been doing a lot of looking on the subject but nothing seems to have helped. i tried finding monitor drivers, using old nvidia drivers (i have a geforce 2 gts and im running windows xp pro), and changing my refresh rate and just about everything else i have found and none of it is working.

Have you tried reinstalling the game?

i did, but i repatched it afterward

Did you try the game before patching it?

before i tried all the other stuff i did, and the game did not load at all, i dont remember any error it may have given

Weird.

Have you tried talking to Atari Technical Support (www.atarisupport.com)?

It would also be helpful to post your system specs, OS and what version of Civ you're trying to install.

i checked the atari support website but it was no help, i havent tried contacting them about it yet though

my system specs are
intel p3 933 mhz
256mb sdram
geforce2 gts
windows xp pro sp1 and all other critical updates

im not sure which version it is right out of the box

I should have been more clear. Are you trying to install Civ3, Play The World, or Conquests?

ok i reinstalled and didnt patch and it appears to work with version 1.07f

Where did you d/l the patch from? Maybe it got corrupted in the d/l. You could download it again from a different site, maybe that would work.