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

I have bought a Civilization 4 gold edition game used one and I installed the game as per the first post. When I click on the civilization 4 game icon its not opening the game or not giving me any error message. It's doing nothing and this one is without installing any patches. Also I have downloaded all the patches and when I try to install a patch 1.61 its saying "the setup has detected no version of Sid Meier's Civilization 4 is installed. This update requires that a previous versions of the application be installed." So please help me to solve this issue.
 
Look at the thread in this forum called "Please login with administrator privileges and try again". Microsoft released a patch for Windows in September that caused the problem that you are seeing. The thread discusses the problem and a couple of ways of working around it.
 
I am new to this site but not new to Civ, been playing since the original. I've been following the directions on how to install Civ IV BTS as given in the beginning of this thread. My trouble is that when I go to unzip the 3.19 patch i keep getting an error that the archive is corrupt and forcing me to cancel the unzipping. Am I doing something incorrectly or missing a step?

This is what I'm seeing....

C:\Users\Isaac\Desktop\civ4beyondtheswordpatch3.19.zip: Checksum error in C:\Users\Isaac\AppData\Local\Temp\Rar$EXa0.994\Civ4BeyondTheSwordPatch3.19.exe. The file is corrupt
C:\Users\Isaac\Desktop\civ4beyondtheswordpatch3.19.zip:
The archive is corrupt Cannot execute "C:\Users\Isaac\AppData\Local\Temp\Rar$EXa0.994\Civ4BeyondTheSwordPatch3.19.exe"

Found a different patch, everything working great now. Thanks Kiwitt!
 
Hello, I have had Civilization IV gold edition and Civilization IV beyond the sword installed and played it on my Toshiba satellite L350 laptop which run Windows Vista home basic OS. I reformatted my laptop a week ago and I tried to install Civilization IV gold edition and Civilization IV beyond the sword and the game won't start. I tried installing the patches and when I try to install the patches it says "The setup has detected no version of Sid Meire's Civilization 4 is installed.

I don't understand what the problem is. Can anyone give me some assisntance?
 
After trying to play Civ4 today and noticing that the game didn't work I followed the steps in the start of this thread:

1. Uninstalled
2. Ran CrapCleaner
3. Rebooted
4. Installed game in G:\Games with admin rights
5. Installed patch 1.61 with admin rights
6. Installed patch 1.74 with admin rights
7. Rebooted (just to be sure)

Still get the same error message when I start the game "Please login with admin priv and try again".

Ideas (besides cursing Microsoft)?
 
The standard Civ IV will not play any more because of changes Microsoft made to CD checking. BTS does not have the CD checking routine and will play.
 
After trying to play Civ4 today and noticing that the game didn't work I followed the steps in the start of this thread:

1. Uninstalled
2. Ran CrapCleaner
3. Rebooted
4. Installed game in G:\Games with admin rights
5. Installed patch 1.61 with admin rights
6. Installed patch 1.74 with admin rights
7. Rebooted (just to be sure)

Still get the same error message when I start the game "Please login with admin priv and try again".

Ideas (besides cursing Microsoft)?

This is indeed Microsoft's fault. Look at my message #262 above to see where to find out how to deal with it.
 
"BTS does not have the CD checking routine and will play", not for me! Back in 2010 I had this game running. Thought it would be cool to return. How I wish I had not. A wasted day trying to get this game loaded. It installs but never runs! The patches say game not found???. Just a pile of crap. Had thought of buying Civ5, but if this is the quality of there easy load and play games, forget it. Does this company want there game to run? If so do some research into the problems people have just getting them to install, and FIX IT! Think I will go back to twiddling my fingers, it's less stressful:)
 
I have bought a Civilization 4 gold edition game used one and I installed the game as per the first post. When I click on the civilization 4 game icon its not opening the game or not giving me any error message. It's doing nothing and this one is without installing any patches. Also I have downloaded all the patches and when I try to install a patch 1.61 its saying "the setup has detected no version of Sid Meier's Civilization 4 is installed. This update requires that a previous versions of the application be installed." So please help me to solve this issue.

I get the exact same thing. Just give up and find a game that works. There is no fun to be found trying to get this to run. Who would have thought Gold could be so worthless!
 
Jamerz,

Microsoft "blessed" us with a patch in September that blocks access to disc using the secdrv copy protection scheme that they had previously promoted to game companies and is used by CIV.

See the thread "Please login with administrator privileges and try again" in this forum for discussion and work arounds, if you are using Windows 7 or 8. If you are using Windows 10, you have a bigger problem, again courtesy of our "friends" at Microsoft.

See the thread titled "Windows 10: cannot Launch BTS" for discussion of that problem and referral to a site that discussed fixing a much more pronounced problem.
 
s.bernbaum, thanks for reply and yes I can see that the "secdrv copy protection" does give us some problems. However I don't think it's the whole picture. Having given up trying many ways, including the guidelines of this tread. I thought it would be cool to try the demo. I always enjoyed the early game, back in the day when I did have Civ4 running. Sadly even the demo does not run. No CD drive needed for that.
I still use windows vista, so should not have the problems encountered with the newer windows.
I have found memories playing Civ4 with all the amazing MODs you guys and girls at CFC made for us. It would be nice if the makers of the game did try a little harder to restore there game so more could enjoy it. From what I see of Civ5, I don't see the game play as clean as Civ4. Seems to fussy with little added extra. Civ4 with it's many mods was class.
Think the really annoying thing is it does not tell you whats wrong. It installs you get the screen Play button, press, then nothing. :confused:
 
As I said, I have each individual edition Vanilla, Warlords and BTS on individual disks. I don't know if the gold edition still has individual setup.exe files in the disk folders. If it does, it maybe worth just trying to install it that way manually. It may not be as simple and you will need to browse the disk folders for them.

I am running BTS flawlessly, but Vanilla and Warlords no longer runs.
 
kiwitt, I am sure your way is fine and dandy, although perhaps not as clear as some would like. How important is the directory name?
your note 2 has C:\GAMES\ but then changes to C:\GAMES\CIV4, as I left out \CIV4 is that the reason it did not work?
Also having having the newer version of DIRECTX will that give problems. I always keep my VISTA updated plus Graphic Drivers.
I would try again but when I could not even get the demo running, kind of bums me out and does not give me confidence that it will work. If I was getting some error during the install, then there is something to solve, but just doing nothing, aaaaagh!
 
Civ 4 requires DirectX 9c files installed, even if you have later versions of DirectX 10 and 11

When asked for the initial Civ 4 install location - use C:\Games\Civ4. Warlords and BTS will automatically find this folder.
 
I have Civ4 Complete and on the install it appears to load the DX files. Or does it see the DX11 I have and not bother, hence the problem?
I am really trying to understand just what the problem is so I don't keep wasting my time installing only to find it don't work.
Anyhow I have manually installed the DX9 that was on the CIV4 DVD so that should solve that problem. I am still not confident though, as complete does not have separate installs for BTS etc and still requires running from the DVD. "After the installation process completes select Play from the autoplay menu. It is required that the Complete disc be in the drive in order to play the game." So that will be a problem now thanks to Microsoft changes.
 
After install see if you can run the 3.19 patch! - dont try to run the game
 
kiwitt, it worked!!! thank you for the guidance, so cool to have Civ4 BTS back up and running. Now I have to relearn how to play:)
 
Hi,
I just purchased Civ IV complete series from amazon as PC download. After downloading I am trying to install, but can not. I am using window 7 home premium version.
As I mentioned, I do not have CD for this.
I am trying to play PC based game after almost a decade. So my knowledge base is outdated.
Any help will be appreciated.
Docharry
 
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