Civ 3, Windows Update KB3086255, & SafeDisc

That sounds quite similar to the type of mysterious thing I was experiencing with Vista in 2007. I switched to XP before getting to the bottom of it back then, due to that plus a few other Vista teething issues, but am pretty sure now it was a combination of installing to Program Files (x86) - I really do recommend avoiding it like the plague for Civ3, particularly if you plan to play mods - complicated by turning UAC off after install, which IIRC will cause the VirtualStore files to no longer be shown to Civ/Civ3Edit.

I didn't manage to get the the German patches to work , blew 2.99 and everything now works fine with the KB3086255 update. Simple enough for me.

I was able to get it to work, but had to run it "stock" and therefore have lost all my prior mods and games. The screen size change on the ini file didn't work - yes I did edit the right file in the right location. As for the general sentiment expressed here, we do need an open system functional equivalent to Windows - when? Also what does the variable "-21815" mean in this desktop.ini file that gets written to the CD? Script is:
[.ShellClassInfo]
LocalizedResourceName=@%SystemRoot%\system32\shell32.dll,-21815

And thanks to all who have offered their assistance!

graham04 said:

I didn't manage to get the the German patches to work , blew 2.99 and everything now works fine with the KB3086255 update. Simple enough for me.

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Where did you spend 2.99 to get something that works? Thanks

Probably Steam, but it might also be gamersgate. The important thing is that it happens without a CD. Than SafeDisk is not relevant.

ais_civ3 said:

Where did you spend 2.99 to get something that works? Thanks

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Probably either Steam or GamersGate.

I chose the latter (current price: Euro 4.99), since (at least at the time I installed it) I could then avoid having to (re)install the Steam client software (NB this may no longer be true, since Steam has now taken on hosting of online-MP Civ3-games).

As others have said, most likely either Steam or Gamersgate. Often times at Gamersgate you can get Civ III Complete as cheap as $1.24 if you catch it during one of their sales like this past July - Civilization Weekend At Gamersgate (Links expired).

However, I noticed that GG has updated their Civ III page to read - "Note: This product requires a third-party download and account." I'm assuming that means the Steam client software because of the recent multiplayer hosting changes. So I guess it doesn't matter any more where you d/l the game from. Although I am curious whether I'll have any issues doing a a clean install of Win10 when using the old GG install on my secondary drive or whether I'll have to either d/l the new version with Steam or go back to discs...

graham04 said:

I didn't manage to get the the German patches to work , blew 2.99 and everything now works fine with the KB3086255 update. Simple enough for me.

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I find it odd that the German No-CD patch wouldn't work, but an internet-purchased d/l version would as they're fundamentally the same thing - No DRM. I had my nephew install Civ on his Windows 10 system a couple weeks ago (on his secondary drive via disc) and he had no problem using the No-CD patch.

It also looks like Microsoft will be introducing a new Win10 build (Build 10586/Threshold 2) next week (November 10?) for those that are interested.

Hi All

Thanks for the replies. After a bit more trial and error I got both Civ3 and Conquests to run using the NO CD patches... up to a point. Both run in weird resolutions. Very large pixels that swamp my screen so that I only get maybe 2/3rds of the window. (Top left). Then the video driver pops a message to say set the resolution back to 1920x1080 (the default) which I can't do of course because all the controls are not reachable.

Also, when I start Conquests I get an error about the science advisor not found , but he's there and when I start civ 3 no disk as soon as I click it hangs...

Gonna try a complete re-install see if that helps but any pointers would be appreciated. Thanks

ais_civ3 - Make sure and install in a separate location outside of the default C:\Program Files (x86), preferably on a secondary drive if available. Should eliminate most of your technical issues.

And to fix your screen resolution problems, you should add the flag
to your conquests.ini file. (Located in the same directory, where the Conquests.exe is installed.)
And if the intro videos cause problems, you can skip them with

Thanks. Downloading and installing the NO CD worked perfectly for me, although I am a bit upset that we need to solve this problem by illegal means. But then again... I bought this game years ago. No need to feel bad about it, I guess.

This NO CD Patch is legal. Else we probably would not have the discussion.

I have but one question, Even though the game works after having installed the NO CD, it seems to be switching off my graphics drivers, and I am not able to restore them. The screen has big characters and looks corny. Just like when you start up in safe mode. I ofcourse tried to reset my settings from screen options, but it doesn't seem to work. Does the program really turn of the drivers?

I am sorry, but I don't have much knowledge here, although I certainly know how to adjust screen settings. But I don't seem to be able to do that now. Any help?

Loudspeaker - Can you post a screenshot of what it looks like and also what the native resolution of your monitor is? It might just be an issue of adding "KeepRes=1" to your ini file.

Loudspeaker, is the blockiness happening around when it loads up the intro video? I know the intro video sets the resolution to be really low temporarily (640x480), and I think it also decreases the number of colors used to display. Sometimes I also get the pop-up about switching resolution while the intro video is playing, and the taskbar sometimes displays... in short the intro video doesn't play nice with modern screen settings.

So, in addition to KeepRes=1 for the main game, you can also add PlayIntro=0 to the conquests.ini file. This will have it skip playing the intro, and thus should skip the intro video resolution funkiness.

If that doesn't fix it, we'll probably need a screenshot to see what's going on. I do know that back in 2007, Civ3 had a habit of switching my Windows Vista Aero theme to Windows Vista Basic, even after I'd exited Civ3, but I don't know if that's still an issue on Windows 7, and it shouldn't be on 8/10 since they don't have Aero. And other than the theme being Basic, everything still looked okay. So without a screenshot, PlayIntro=0 is my last idea.

Here's a weird one:

Over the weekend, I tried to fire up my GG-installation of Civ3 Vanilla on my Win8.1 box, for the first time since I installed Civ3 on this machine -- and was told to insert the CD! However, I don't get the 'Insert CD' message for the Conquests executable within the same installation (at least, I haven't yet! )

If I've understood the GG-installed file structure correctly, both the Vanilla and Conquests executables have been patched(?) to use an accompanying 'Matroschka-loader' app to bypass the CD-check. So I would have expected that the disablement of SafeDisk etc. wouldn't have affected either of them at all. And I really don't understand why it seems to be affecting Vanilla, but not Conquests

Anyone have any idea what might be going on here, and if/ how I can fix it? I'd rather not have to reinstall from GG, certainly not if this time I'd also be forced(?) to download the Steam client as well.

Background info:
Not that it really matters, but I just found (last week) the Vanilla GOTM-mod to produce a 'PtW-like' game using the Vanilla executable, and I was looking forward to trying that out...

tjs282 - The Vanilla exe from Gamersgate is DRM protected, same as the disc version hence the "Insert CD" message. I have no idea why Gamersgate didn't include one without it. So, you can't "fix" it, but you CAN download the fully patched Vanilla exe w/o DRM protection from the PC Games website linked in post 1.

*I'm not sure why anyone would want to play Vanilla, but there you are. *

Laurana Kanan said:

tjs282 - The Vanilla exe from Gamersgate is DRM protected, same as the disc version hence the "Insert CD" message. I have no idea why Gamersgate didn't include one without it

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OK, but that still doesn't clarify (at least for me) why the GG-version of Vanilla works just fine on my XP-laptop (whose CD-drive died a long time ago).

Unless it's because the Matroschka-thing does actually still use secdrv.sys, but 'fools' the computer into thinking the CD is in the drive? (I did notice that when I double-clicked the CivIII executable icon in the D:\Games\Civ3 root directory on the Win8.1 box, a new 'Matroschka' text-file was created in that directory) But if that were the case, then why does Complete still work on my Win8.1 box, even though it also runs via Matroschka?

So, you can't "fix" it, but you CAN download the fully patched Vanilla exe w/o DRM protection from the PC Games website linked in post 1.

*I'm not sure why anyone would want to play Vanilla, but there you are. *

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Well I'll probably do that then -- thanks for your help.

*Since you asked, how about, because there's no Army-bug in Vanilla? And no Sub-bug? And the Barbs don't have NW/SE tunnel-vision? *rolls your eyes right back atcha...* *

Are you sure you're using the executable from Gamersgate? My Vanilla exe from Gamersgate has never worked in the 6 years I've had it on machines with XP, 7, & 8.1. I got my exe from PC Games, which works fine, but I haven't used it in awhile. In any event, has your XP machine installed the KB3086255 Security Update? If not, then that may be what is allowing that machine to play the Vanilla exe.

Civ III uses SecuROM not Safedisc and in the case of a Gamersgate digital download checks whether your computer has a valid authentication license. It's not bypassing anything. My guess is that the license from Gamersgate is only applicable for their C3C exe. The No-CD patch is a little different in that it doesn't require an authentication license to run, although I'm not sure exactly which method it uses to achieve that. Someone like Antal would probably know more since he's worked on the exe.

But as long as the PC Games exe works this is probably a moot issue.

*I kid about playing Vanilla, but unless I'm mistaken all those issues you point to are not a problem in PTW, which is a far superior version of the game.*

Laurana Kanan said:

Are you sure you're using the executable from Gamersgate? My Vanilla exe from Gamersgate has never worked in the 6 years I've had it on machines with XP, 7, & 8.1.

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99.999% sure (never claim absolute certainty for anything!).

I haven't messed with the GG installation on the XP laptop, beyond the cosmetic mods I mentioned, but GG have definitely changed and amended their Civ3Complete package over the years (or rather, Firaxis have). CFC-user Etain pointed me in the direction of GG, but he/she did say that when he/she got his/hers(?), there was no Vanilla .exe included at all. So it's quite possible that my GG-version of the exe is slightly different from your GG-version.

In any event, has your XP machine installed the KB3086255 Security Update? If not, then that may be what is allowing that machine to play the Vanilla exe.

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I just checked, and Vanilla does still run on the laptop. So if it is that update affecting it in Win8.1, then it hasn't been applied to my XP-install yet (and I do usually apply any security updates that the laptop asks for!). Which would kind of make sense, since M$ had already long since discontinued official support for XP when that update was released.

*I kid about playing Vanilla, but unless I'm mistaken all those issues you point to are not a problem in PTW, which is a far superior version of the game.*

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Yeah, I know that. Problem is, neither of my current GG-installations actually include a Civ3X.exe, working or non-working (AFAICT, only the executable is missing -- all the other PtW-content is there, including the Editor! ). Did/does yours?

If so, then perhaps after you DL'd it, and after GameSpy went defunct, some bean-counter decided that there was no point including the 'intermediate' version of multiplayer-CivIII, and ripped it out. Now that online MP-play is back via Steam, I'm actually slightly curious as to whether GG has also updated their download-package yet again, to (re?)include the Civ3X.exe -- their current advertising blurb certainly claims so, but then again, that was also the case when I bought it last year -- but I'm not curious enough to want to reinstall the game with the Steam client attached...

Hence my interest in being able to try out the PtW-like Vanilla mod that was put together for the GotMs way back in 2002, while people were still waiting for PtW to become available in their sales region. I can certainly DL it to the laptop, but I rather wanted it on the Win8.1 box -- which means the NoCD patch is probably the best way to go...