Running Civ3 on windows 7 PC

My dad loves this game, but we recently had to replace his PC with a new Dell Optiplex 3040, 4GB of RAM, 64-bit, 500GB HD. It's Windows 7 Pro SP1.

Here's the deal, I've installed this in the past for him with no issues, in fact, I copied the Original Disk to .ISO and ran it as a virtual drive on the past machine, which was also an Optiplex with Win7. I recall having to enter some code to get that to work, but no clue what that is/was, so if anyone has that it would be greatly appreciated.

At first, I tried installing from the .ISO image, but couldn't get the game to play once it was installed, it would bring up a dialog box about running certain types of programs. Eventually, I lowered that request to stop that, but still the game won't load. I uninstalled the game, even going into the folder to delete any mention of it. I unlinked the virtual drive and installed the original CD into the player and I have loaded and unloaded at least half a dozen times. No matter what I try it won't load.

What I've tried:
Lowered Resolution, can't tell to what because i tried a bunch of options
I've tried installing and running it on WinXP virtual drive, that's the closest I've gotten, it actually brings up splash screen.
I've gone in and manually downloaded Stream, installed, uninstalled, etc..
I've run changed settings to Admin, I've changed to XP mode compatibility...service pack 2 and 3

Any ideas? It's been about a week since he could play and he's going through withdrawals....I just don't recall it being this difficult before. If I click on the link on the desktop or even on the disk, all that happens is a process opens in task manager and then it goes away....

If a CD-based installation runs (or at least starts) under Win XP, but not under Win7, that suggests to me that this thread may explain your problem: hopefully it will also provide you with a possible solution.

I'll try what you suggest and see if I can figure it out. That would partially explain why it used to work then stopped working on his old Win 7 Machine.

Another question I have is regarding steam....it seems that for some reason he had steam installed on the other PC and he always had the splash screen come up when he booted computer. I don't see any reference to Steam when I installed it on the new PC, is it necessary? I had actually DL'd it directly from Steam to see if it would make a difference, but of course it didn't....unless that's what I need to get it to work on the XP virtual machine...not sure I tried that! FWIW, he doesn't play online or multiplayer.

Thanks for the help!

Might have partially answered my own question. I DL'd a copy from steam and it appears it plays through steam. Looks a bit different, hope he's happy.....at least something is playing for him. Thanks so far for the help!

Ok, well, I'm sitting here and he's playing and says it looks like a different game.....hmmm? It's Civ3 complete....not sure if there are different versions of Civ3.

grabeb said:

I'll try what you suggest and see if I can figure it out. That would partially explain why it used to work then stopped working on his old Win 7 Machine.

Another question I have is regarding steam....it seems that for some reason he had steam installed on the other PC and he always had the splash screen come up when he booted computer. I don't see any reference to Steam when I installed it on the new PC, is it necessary? I had actually DL'd it directly from Steam to see if it would make a difference, but of course it didn't....unless that's what I need to get it to work on the XP virtual machine...not sure I tried that! FWIW, he doesn't play online or multiplayer.

Thanks for the help!

Click to expand...

grabeb said:

Might have partially answered my own question. I DL'd a copy from steam and it appears it plays through steam. Looks a bit different, hope he's happy.....at least something is playing for him. Thanks so far for the help!

Ok, well, I'm sitting here and he's playing and says it looks like a different game.....hmmm? It's Civ3 complete....not sure if there are different versions of Civ3.

Click to expand...

Steam has an option to start when computer boots up. You can disable this in the settings, and only have it come up when you launch via shortcut.

Steam Store offers Civ3 Complete very cheap, and it runs fine, very similar to the discs. Just, if you decide to go fully with Steam, Steam does have to be running as the game is linked with Steam.

There was 2 expansions that added new terrain and units etc. But the most played copy of Civ3 is Conquests/Complete. The graphic style is very similar in all of them though. Each expansion just added a few more things, and usually kept most of the previous graphics.

This still is a work in progress as I haven't found anything that might work.

The disc he has is Sid Meier's Civilization III, it says nothing more on the box....at least not as far as Complete, Conquests, etc....

When I look online at steam, it may have said Complete, but no other versions of III were listed. When I check Amazon I don't really see much different listed either. The link mentioned above says something about DRM protection and getting a version without it, but I never see anything mentioning this.

What gives? What version does he likely have? He says what he has 'might' be alright if he had the book/manual to go with it.

I have no problems with the new game i bought a while ago.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/gaming/pc-games/strategy-puzzle/auction-1098331846.htm

It is a New Zealand site. So $20 NZ is a lot less in everyone elses' currency. The game loaded perfectly onto 2 separate laptops. Must have no CD patch with it as it runs with out DVD. Also I have no problems with the KB3086255 security update.

grabeb said:

This still is a work in progress as I haven't found anything that might work.

The disc he has is Sid Meier's Civilization III, it says nothing more on the box....at least not as far as Complete, Conquests, etc....

When I look online at steam, it may have said Complete, but no other versions of III were listed.

Click to expand...

Sounds like he has a copy of the original 'Vanilla' Civ3 release, possibly even a non-fully-patched version (last patch version of Vanilla was/is 1.29). If you can get the game to start, the version no. is given in the lower-left corner of the 'splash-screen' (= Tower of Babel, like the box-art) where you choose New Game, Load Game, etc. The NoCD Vanilla-patch linked in the thread I mentioned above, is based on the 1.29 patch.

The two expansions that Nathiri mentioned are called Play the World (released 2002, last patch = 1.27, splash-screen = spaceport) and Conquests (released 2003, last patch = 1.22, splash-screen = samurai). There's a really good FAQ here at CFC which describes all the versions in fairly exhaustive detail; what they include, what was added at each stage, how the 3 versions differ, etc. 'Civ3Complete' (released 2004(?), splash-screen = steam engine(?), like the box-art) collected all 3 fully-patched versions (Vanilla 1.29, PtW 1.27, Conquests 1.22) into a single installation package, along with a whole bunch of original stuff (maps, artwork, etc.) developed by active Civ3 players and uploaded to the Web (including here at CFC). This can therefore be considered the 'definitive' version of Civ3, and is the one which Steam sells -- sort of*. The manual(s) for each version should have been included as PDF files, somewhere within the installation: although to be honest, if your dad already knows how to play Vanilla, he doesn't really need a manual for Complete, since the gameplay is pretty much identical, and nearly all of the relevant new information for the expansions (regarding the units, etc.) is stored in the in-game 'Civilopedia' (although it does contain a few errors).

*

When I check Amazon I don't really see much different listed either. The link mentioned above says something about DRM protection and getting a version without it, but I never see anything mentioning this.

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Civ3 is an old game, the publishing rights for which have passed through multiple companies since its first release (current publisher = 2KGames, AFAIK), but the DRM-problem is relatively recent. Newer pressings are less likely to use SecuROM than older ones, but if you're thinking of buying a CD-version of Civ3Complete via Amazon or similar, you would need to query the seller directly, regarding which publisher's version they're offering. If they can't tell you what (if any) DRM is used, and/or whether or not the CD will install the game successfully on a FULLY UPDATED Win7 machine (as opposed to a machine where that Windows security update has been disabled), don't buy from them.