Annoying problems with Civ4 on Windows 10

Removed that MS update and it solved the CD-check issues with the older Civ4 versions (and other games) but did nothing for the .ini file weirdness. That's going been going for me on since well before that MS update got released. No amount of ticking boxes or reinstalling the game fixes it. (though I've not tried reinstalling the game outside of the default location, but I can't be arsed with that right now - perhaps you could try that bhinso)

Also been talking about it here: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=557707

Bhinso, would you happen to have a partioned hard disk, where your my documents folder is on a different drive from your program files folder?

OK well i think you might be onto something, I have a partitioned hard drive, but everything is in the C: from what i can see:
My program files is in the standard place C:\Program Files (x86)\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Beyond the Sword
Within that there are a number of shortcuts, such as _Civ4Config. This points at the following location:
"C:\Users\Benjamin\Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\CivilizationIV.ini"
I think this is where my files are, unless there is some other location. I had to manually repoint the short cut strangely enough, as it couldn't find the above location

Well I've tried installing the game outside the default location, once straight on C:\ and once installing it on the same drive as .ini files but the issues persisted.

What's maddening for me isn't just that the settings aren't remembered, it's that there are specific settings that ARE rembered and stay unchanged, no matter how often I reinstall the game and clean out the files in my documents. When I open custom game, the map is fractal, the aggressive AI, no brokering and new random seed (bite me) boxes are ticked even though these aren't the default settings that come with the game. At some point and for god knows what reason these settings have been set in stone and it's certainly not in the standard .ini files.