Installing Civ 4 on Windows Vista / 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10 / 11 (32-/64-bit)

BAT may be looking in the standard location, while Steam uses its own location. See my answer to your question in the other thread, as well. As for BAT, I would suggest opening a thread in the General Discussion forum. Lemon Merchant is the chief programmer of BAT. She frequents that forum.
 
BAT may be looking in the standard location, while Steam uses its own location. See my answer to your question in the other thread, as well. As for BAT, I would suggest opening a thread in the General Discussion forum. Lemon Merchant is the chief programmer of BAT. She frequents that forum.

Wow, lol, you are awesome. Never expected anyone to find and answer both of my questions, lol, guess they are connected :crazyeye:. Anyway, thanks, Check out the other thread, that is where I responded to you with a further question.
 
I tried to re install CIV4 from the CDs and I encountered the following problem: the installation progress bar completely fills and then it asks to insert 'disk 3' but there is no 'disk 3'. I tried using disk 1 and 2, but it did not like those, and when I cancel the installation, all the files get deleted. I am 99% sure I did not lose a disk, and I have vague memories from 8-10 years ago of install problems - I contacted 2K customer support for some reason.

I believe I have the 'Game of the Year' edition which included the Warlords expansion pack, and came with a DVD of a bio of Sid Meier, a how we made the game by 2 of the programmers, and a bunch of promo clips.

I know getting help may be a long shot, but paying Steam money for game software I already own just seems wrong.
 
I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but with some versions of CIV, you need to install 3.13 before 3.19, otherwise you'll lose some map-options.

You can check if this applies to your version if you've patched to 3.19 already, select the "Archipelagio" mapscript and look if the "Tororidal" setting is available. If it isn't, you need to re-install with with the way above.
 
Highly recommend this method. It was the fastest, easiest install ever. Installing it directly on the hard drive. So cool. I have an HP Pavilion G6 using an AMD A6 4400 2.7 Ghz; running Windows 8.1; Right click run as administrator and it always knew where the file went after my initial instruction. I just followed these clear instructions.
Thank you Kiwitt


Installing on Windows 7/Vista
NOTE: These may work for Windows 8 as well

Background
I have played Civ for nearly two decades now and on various versions of Windows from Win 3.x through Win9x/2K/XP up to today's Windows Vista/7x64. In addition, I have worked as an IT engineer for over 20 years. My method for installing games has worked flawlessly throughout this time. Others experiences with Windows 7 may also help.

Windows Vista and now 7, have changed the security model for the usual folder that the games are installed in (i.e. c:\program files\), has additional protection. In addition a normal user is now no longer an "administrator", with full control over all files. Win7/Vista is a different OS (i.e. internally known as Windows 6.1/6.0) versus Windows XP/2000 (i.e. Windows 5.1/5.0), so they have changed quite a few things since it Civ 4 was first released. As Civ 4 was written well before these changes the usual install can have issues further down the line (e.g. when you add or change mods).

NOTE: I do not have Civ 4 Complete, but if you can find the individual setup files on the DVD media provided, you should be OK. For Steam-based versions please refer to the instructions that came with that version, however my tips below may help.

Installation Procedure

Preparation

1: Download all patches for the Civ 4 versions you have in advance to another folder (e.g. c:\TEMP)
- -
Civ4Patch1.61, Civ4Patch1.74, Civ4WarlordsPatch2.08, Civ4WarlordsPatch2.13, Civ4BTS_Patch_v3.17, Civ4BeyondTheSwordPatch3.19

Alternate Download LinksYou may want to save these to another external drive, should you need to rebuild your PC or get a new one

2: Open Windows Explorer and create a new folder in C: drive called GAMES
This will avoid the additional security protections that have been placed on the "C:\Program Files\" folder

3: Be sure you have all the necessary Install Disks for Civ4 and it's expansions.

4: May need to update your DX9 files. Click the icon below to take you to the download page


5: You should also add Windows 7 SP1 32/64-bit or Windows Vista SP2 - 32-bit or 64-bit
NOTE: Windows Update will do this for you automatically

6: Ensure all your Graphic Drivers are up to date.
Select your driver by clicking on the appropriate logo below

For laptops and others with integrated graphics please use your manufacturers website


Installation

NOTE1: You will need to "Right-Click" on the "Setup.exe" file and then "Run as Administrator"
NOTE2: For all installation setups you will need to run the "Custom" option, to allow you change the default installation folder to C:\GAMES\

Civilization 4

4: Insert the Civ 4 disk and then browse to the folder run the setup as mentioned in NOTE1 and NOTE2 and then select the custom folder as C:\GAMES\CIV4 and then follow the prompts

5: Right-click on Civ4Patch1.61 and "Run as Administrator" and then follow the prompts

Civilization 4 - Warlords
If you are not installing Warlords go to step 8

6: Insert the Civ 4 Warlords disk and then browse to the folder run the setup as mentioned in NOTE1 and follow the prompts

7: Right-click on Civ4WarlordsPatch2.08 and "Run as Administrator" and then follow the prompts

8: Right-click on Civ4Patch1.74 and "Run as Administrator" and then follow the prompts

9: Right-click on Civ4WarlordsPatch2.13 and "Run as Administrator" and then follow the prompts

Civilization 4 - Beyond the Sword
This expansion is now "Large-Address-Space" aware, meaning if you are running on Windows 7/Vista x64 and you have more than 4 GB of RAM, you will have up to 4GB available for you, which is especially useful on really large maps and custom mods you may download from cfc

10: Insert the Civ 4 Beyond the Sword disk and then browse to the folder run the setup as mentioned in NOTE1 and follow the prompts

11: Right-click on Civ4BTS_Patch_v3.17 and "Run as Administrator" and then follow the prompts

12: Right-click on Civ4BeyondTheSwordPatch3.19 and "Run as Administrator" and then follow the prompts

If you still are having problems you may find the answer in the Fix-it-List thread

For installing custom Mods
Install in the following folders for the version your mod has been written for.

C:\GAMES\CIV4\Mods - Civ4 vanilla Mods
C:\GAMES\CIV4\Warlords\Mods - Civ4 Warlords Mods
C:\GAMES\CIV4\Beyond The Sword\Mods - Civ4 BTS Mods

If you still have problems with your custom mod you have downloaded from cfc please contact the mod author directly in a post in the appropriate forum and many major mods have their own forum to help users of their mods.

These steps above should help with most of the problems you have with running Civ 4

Please feel free to comment and add additional suggestions to the above.

See also this thread for other assistance as well. Has another suggestion as well regarding Data Execution prevention
 
Some have used the above for Windows 8 and it worked for them. Give it a try.
 
I have follow those instructions for a successful installation to 8.1 :goodjob:
Many thanks Kiwitt
 
Thanks Kiwitt!

Microsoft Windows 10 Insider Preview (x64) - Build 10074.

After a few failed attempts on my own, I just found and followed your instructions to reinstall Sid Meier's Civilization IV and Civilization Beyond the Sword from purchased CD's, without Warlords and without any extra options. In was being reinstalled on my laptop after it was wiped for a clean install of Windows 10.

So far I've just run
C:\GAMES\CIV4\Beyond the Sword\Civ4BeyondSword.exe
Windows 10 automatically adjusted a compatibility setting. It set "Disable display scaling on high DPI settings." That is the only compatibility setting I'm currently using.

BTS did complain my hardware does not meet Firaxis recommendations and automatically adjusted my video settings, but that was just the first time, and it let me adjust the settings back to full resolution.

BTS also complains "You have selected an unusable voice capture device. Voice capture disabled." each time I start it. I'm not sure what it is complaining about, but I don't have a mike plugged in, so disabling voice capture is fine with me.

I've played for about an hour, saved, exited, restarted, reloaded the saved game. Looking great so far!
 
Thanks Kiwitt!

BTS also complains "You have selected an unusable voice capture device. Voice capture disabled." each time I start it. I'm not sure what it is complaining about, but I don't have a mike plugged in, so disabling voice capture is fine with me.


the easiest way to fix this issue is to open your ini file. here is a link to the thread w/the info :)
 
I was finally able to get CivIV and BTS working in Windows 10 Pro Insider Preview also but only after about 6 hours of messing around with it. :crazyeye: I'm using Build 10130. I had to install both the Vanilla Game (without patches) and BTS (without patches) using Safe mode to get it to work properly. I did install the patches without being in safe mode and they worked just fine using Run as Admin.

The main hangup that I was encountering is when I tried to install BTS. It kept telling me that I had another install in progress and it kept quitting before finishing the install completely. That one drove me crazy and I ended up completely reinstalling Windows to try to fix it but the fix ended up being rather simple. It was resolved by installing it in Safe mode.

To get to safe mode, press Windows-R and type MSCONFIG. Go to the Boot tab and click on "Safe Boot" and then restart. After installed successfully, do the same thing in reverse and uncheck it to get back to normal mode.

I followed all of the other steps as the OP mentioned, including running the patches as Admin. I did not install Warlords though.

Similar to WmE, I got the message saying that my computer didn't meet the minimum specifications, but it seemed to work just fine after that. I also had to unlock my task bar for some reason because it would pop up in the full-screen game view (not sure why or whether it was really the unlocking that fixed it but the problem went away when I did it).

So far so good. Now I'm going to get a goods night sleep and try it out tomorrow evening. :sleep:
 
Hi,

I am new here. I have gone through all 12 pages of notes on this thread. I am trying to play Civ 4 on my Win 7/ 64 bit system. After trying the normal "preferred" method, I tried the method suggested by Kiwitt. The game and patch install fine but when I want to play the game I get the error "Cannot locate the CD-ROM" Please insert the correct CD-ROM, select OK and restart the application." Doesn't matter which cd I put in, same message. I have tried changing the icon to XP compatibility, running as Administer but no help.

I'd love to play one of my favorite all-time games again. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks,
 
Are you trying to play BTS 3.19, an earlier version of BTS, Warlords, or the original game? Only BTS 3.19 can be played without the disc. All earlier BTS versions and both Warlords and the original game require the disc. Also, make sure it is the exe itself, not the shortcut, that you have given Administrator privileges.
 
Does installing the new windows 10 allow civ 4 installation without all the problems that windows 7 had? I have tried several times to install it by following the helpful posts with windows 7, but I just can't get to load properly. I'm not very tech. knowledgeable, so I'm thinking windows 10 may allow me to install directly from the disks with no additional "work-around".
 
I've been patiently waiting for 2 days for someone to reply to my post. Is there anyone who can either discuss loading civ4 using windows 10, or advise me to post it on another thread. Any reply will be appreciated, thanks.
 
The later the Windows version, the harder it will be to install any game designed to be able to run on older windows versions that are now 15 years old. Therefore you will need 'technical' knowledge to make it work.

I do not intend moving to Windows 10 and will remain on Windows 7, which is supported until 2020, because I have a lot of older games (like Civilization IV) I like to play from time to time.
 
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