Civ 3 and Windows 10

I have got Civ3 running under Windows10. I read through the several threads; and this is how I did it. My Civ3 is the 'Sold Out' Cd version, Civ3 Complete, version 1.29f. I bought it a few years ago.

It is still on sale at Amazon, for a fiver, plus p&p, call it £10. That seems a good price to me: and it might be better than struggling with Gamespy, Steam, or other downloaded copies. Here's a bookmark:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=videogames&field-keywords=civ3+complete

Incidentally, Civ3 & Civ4 bundled together is £5, plus p&p. I don't work for Amazon, I just think a fiver is nothing much, these days.

So, having browsed the threads, I installed Civ3 onto an external hard drive. Then I put the following into the ini file:
Video Mode=1280 1024
KeepRes=1
PlayIntro=0

Then I had to change my screen display settings, as anything less than 1000 wide would not show the full Civ3 sceens & buttons. So I set display to 1280x1024, and that worked. It resolved the big black surround problem too. I have to run the game as Administrator, but that is probably a quirk of my PC setup.

So everybody's postings do work, thank you people.
Of course, I have had to force myself to play a few games, just to check that it's working, like, you know, ok.
If you want me I'll be in Leonardos Workshop.....
 
barmybill - Glad you were able to get the game working properly on your system under Win10. I'm curious though if you are using the exe that was installed with the game CD? Because that should not be possible under all Windows versions anymore, since Microsoft ended SecuROM support. The CD versions are the ones people are having trouble with, not the d/l versions.

You might also add "NoAIPatrol=0" to your ini as well. That will get the Barbarians to perform better like in PTW/Vanilla. Under Video Mode you only need one number in the ini - 1024, 1152, 1280, 1600, or 1792 to set the game screen resolution. The vertical resolution is automatically set, however I believe that if you use Video Mode you don't need KeepRes=1, especially if you're already changing your native resolution. Otherwise the display appears odd (In my experience anyway).
 
Hi. Yes, the exe is the straight CD install one.
As with most games, as long as I have CD1 in the drive, it runs ok.
I'll have a look at those parms next time I play......
Cheers,
 
There is a V1.29f Zip in the Steam dist. Haven't gotten it to run yet. Also, just grabbed the last UK Amazon CIV3 v1.29f CD for my laptop. Should arrive in a couple weeks at my winter home in FL. I don't have good, convenient internet access in FL. I suppose that still won't help me with GameOfTheMonth that wants v1.27f, but at least I can play.
 
There is a V1.29f Zip in the Steam dist. Haven't gotten it to run yet.
You will probably need a NoCD patch -- see my post above. My 1.29f .exe from GamersGate (which I assume is to all intents and purposes the same as the one in the Steam distro) still works fine on WinXP, but did not work on Win8.1, following the disabling of secdrv.sys. Turns out that the Vanilla file was still DRM'd (although the Conquests 1.22 .exe wasn't), but running the main .exe via the patch allows you to bypass the DRM-check.

Only problem I found with the (legal) NoCD patch (from the German PCGames website) is that CivAssistII then doesn't recognise that the Vanilla .exe is running, so doesn't auto-update.
 
I also fell victim to the Win10 blitz.
Loaded up Win10 and lost my Civ3.
I don't play my Civ3 that often, but when I do, it's a week or two marathon.
And of course, once it's gone, you really gotta have it.

Tried reloading a few times from my original CD.
Tried all compatibility options.
No luck.

I ended up downloading Civ3 Complete from Steam for $1.24.
Simple and easy install. No issues. Seems to run fine, so far.
 
Today I started my brandnew pc -with win 10. According to the previous posts I prepared an external harddisc with all my Civ 3 content. Then I thought, o.k., I just test to try an upload of CivComplete (contained in Civilization Chronicles) from CD -and I got a very positive surprise:

Win 10 installed CivComplete (contained in Civilization Chronicles) from CD without any problems!

When using the first of the three discs of CivComplete, there was a longer time with the notice "Removing Applications", than the installation continued and finished. C3C can be played with that installation without any problems, too. :)
 
So whats the RIGHT THING TO DO ????

A few days remains for free upgrade to Win 10.
The problems from XP to Wn 8 was overcome, but with problems of course.

This free DL and upgrade to Win10, sounds like more problems lurk somewhere.

Main question of course if Win10 just upgrades directly and you don't have to install ALL programs brand new. That is not something I like to do !!!!!
I got the old type of Civ3. No Civ3 complete or steam-crap
Anyone more than reports in this threads. It looks OK, but like to be 110% sure.

Upgrade or not. I'm still in why fix something that isn't broken. It always gives you more problems.
I confess I don't like win 8.1 as mich as XP, but still think my issues will not be better with Win 10, perhaps even more pops up.
 
So whats the RIGHT THING TO DO ????

A few days remains for free upgrade to Win 10.
The problems from XP to Wn 8 was overcome, but with problems of course.

This free DL and upgrade to Win10, sounds like more problems lurk somewhere.

Main question of course if Win10 just upgrades directly and you don't have to install ALL programs brand new. That is not something I like to do !!!!!
I got the old type of Civ3. No Civ3 complete or steam-crap
Anyone more than reports in this threads. It looks OK, but like to be 110% sure.

Upgrade or not. I'm still in why fix something that isn't broken. It always gives you more problems.
I confess I don't like win 8.1 as mich as XP, but still think my issues will not be better with Win 10, perhaps even more pops up.

Microsoft chose to disable the old, CD-based copy protection in Win 10. They consider it broken, so they fixed it. You and I may disagree, but that's our opinion.

If you want Windows 10, you should get it. I recently got a new computer when my old HDD failed, and it runs Windows 10 beautifully. But that's not the computer where I run Civ3. For that computer, I have left it running Windows 7, and it works great. I used one of the workarounds in this thread, to keep the old copy protection running.
When this computer is replaced, I will get another Windows 10 box and I will try installing my CD copy of Civ3 Complete on it. If it works, great. If it doesn't, then I will buy another copy through Steam, and carry on. I'm going to have Steam on the new computer (I also have it on my Civ3 computer) since I occasionally play Civ5, Fallout 3, and I will eventually buy Civ6 or Beyond Earth.
 
clamel - Since there is only one day left, you've probably already made your decision, but if not I would definitely suggest upgrading now. Last year I recommended waiting to upgrade, but pretty much all the major bugs have been fixed for months now. The only real problem I had was with my display driver, which was a simple fix. There was also some cosmetic changes that I had to adjust, but all-in-all nothing major.

All your programs, files, and most settings will remain exactly how and where you left them. There may be some issues with legacy programs, but I haven't had issues with any programs, even ones designed to run on XP. If you're still running Civ from a disc then you may have some problems, but there's plenty of work-arounds both in this thread and also my thread concerning issues with copy-protection.

There's really no downside to taking MS's offer for a free upgrade. You can do the upgrade and then create your own installation media for use in the future on a USB or DVD noting your new Win10 product key. Then if you don't like Win10, MS has an option that allows you to reset your computer to it's previous OS. That's what several of my friends, family and I had done, but we all really liked Win10 better than Win8.1 once we had upgraded so no one switched back. We also now have the installation files so we can clean install Win10 later if we want as well.

Good luck!
 
Well, well..I ran the CD version of Civ 3 complete for 6 years on my 2010 Dell Windows 7 machine but the incessant Microsoft Windows 10 update reminders sucked me in


For the past 2 months i ran the CD version pretty well, with a few hangs at start that i merely rebooted

Today the dreaded error 28 appears( i used the game last night!) ,and based on my reading here am i screwed?


It appears that Microsoft waited two months of me using CIV 3 for Windows 10 to shut down Civ 3.

Should I :

Reinstall the CD? or a DVD copy i have? Or go with steam? What about my save files and modded games?

Or somehow find and end run?

Nope, my LANS file files are all TFF,

Thank you , fellow gamers!
 
Well, well..I ran the CD version of Civ 3 complete for 6 years on my 2010 Dell Windows 7 machine but the incessant Microsoft Windows 10 update reminders sucked me in


For the past 2 months i ran the CD version pretty well, with a few hangs at start that i merely rebooted

Today the dreaded error 28 appears( i used the game last night!) ,and based on my reading here am i screwed?


It appears that Microsoft waited two months of me using CIV 3 for Windows 10 to shut down Civ 3.

Should I :

Reinstall the CD? or a DVD copy i have? Or go with steam? What about my save files and modded games?

Or somehow find and end run?

Nope, my LANS file files are all TFF,

Thank you , fellow gamers!

I cannot speak for the save files and modded games, but the steam version runs very well on my laptop. I do not remember if the original disk for Civ 3 that I had came with a CD key, but Steam has the ability to use old steam keys to download. For example, I got Sims 3 "for free" by inserting the key into steam.
 
I have civ3 running on win10 with no problems initially until....

relatively early in the game when combat animations stopped showing. The game locked up until combat over. This meant that I could not see the size or composition of my foe that defeated me. Pretty important when deciding on a counterattack.

I am still playing on WinXP for later gameplay.
 
I have civ3 running on win10 with no problems initially until....

relatively early in the game when combat animations stopped showing. The game locked up until combat over. This meant that I could not see the size or composition of my foe that defeated me. Pretty important when deciding on a counterattack.
Suggests to me that your in-game preferences ('Ctrl-P') have been altered, specifically that the option 'Animate Battles' -- and possibly also 'Animate Enemy Moves' -- has (somehow) been switched off: on the interturn, you then don't see the unit which attacks, only the outcome (your unit being injured or dying). If the attacker was a fast unit, and if it was injured, it may have retreated beyond visual range (e.g. into a nearby enemy city) before the game gives you back control (and if it was an invisible unit, then you wouldn't see it anyway).

Preferences can get altered without your deliberate input if e.g. you downloaded and ran someone else's savefile at some point (thereby imposing that player's game-preferences onto your own conquests.ini file).
 
I found a version called "CIVILIZATION 3: CONQUESTS v1.22 [ENGLISH] FIXED EXE (990KB)".
It's a conquest .exe but when I start the game, which works without CD, yay, it gives the Conquest menu, but it says 1.22 at the left bottom.

Is this the C3Complete version? How do I test this? TBH I don't know what the complete patch does :D
 
I found a version called "CIVILIZATION 3: CONQUESTS v1.22 [ENGLISH] FIXED EXE (990KB)".
It's a conquest .exe but when I start the game, which works without CD, yay, it gives the Conquest menu, but it says 1.22 at the left bottom.

Is this the C3Complete version? How do I test this? TBH I don't know what the complete patch does :D
1.22 is the last patch version that was released for the conquests.exe -- 'Complete' is a marketing term describing a package-deal including the last patches of all 3 Civ3 versions (i.e. Vanilla 1.29, PtW 1.27, and Conquests 1.22*) all bundled together, plus the Conquests Scenarios, and also some extra user-generated content (e.g. maps and mods).

*
Spoiler :
Unless you're using a download-version from e.g. Steam, which may/does not include the Vanilla and/or PtW .exe files, moan, whinge, mumble, grumble...
990 kB sounds a little small to be the complete .exe file though -- the 'conquests.exe' included in my C3C download is ~7.6 mB, IIRC. Is this the patch from the PCGames site? If so be aware that the (Vanilla) patch just skips the CD-check, it won't run the game on its own -- so if the conquests patch does likewise, you need to leave your original (DRM'd) conquests.exe in place as well.
 
990 kB sounds a little small to be the complete .exe file though -- the 'conquests.exe' included in my C3C download is ~7.6 mB, IIRC. Is this the patch from the PCGames site?

My no-cd-patched conquests.exe is about 3.3 MB large.
 
Suggests to me that your in-game preferences ('Ctrl-P') have been altered, specifically that the option 'Animate Battles' -- and possibly also 'Animate Enemy Moves' -- has (somehow) been switched off: on the interturn, you then don't see the unit which attacks, only the outcome (your unit being injured or dying). If the attacker was a fast unit, and if it was injured, it may have retreated beyond visual range (e.g. into a nearby enemy city) before the game gives you back control (and if it was an invisible unit, then you wouldn't see it anyway).

Preferences can get altered without your deliberate input if e.g. you downloaded and ran someone else's savefile at some point (thereby imposing that player's game-preferences onto your own conquests.ini file).
Thanks for the suggestions but>>>

thanks for reply

I do not think it is a change in settings... maybe it is just a bug in the game I was playing (and I lost badly!) I was playing c3c emperor level.

I hope it doesn't happen again
 
I have been running C3C in Win10 on an ASUS laptop for over 6 months with no issues until last week. The last game I played crashed on the victory ranking animation (the warrior with the hammer ). I have searched this site on multiple forums and the solutions suggested require finding highscores.civ3, bic_in.tmp or bic_out.tmp files. I cannot find these anywhere in CIV, COnquests, PTW or any other directory.
Any help/suggestions greatly appreciated.
 
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