Official Civilization V Steamworks FAQ

1. is there a way to skip the download part and install form the CD (since I have it)?

click me ;).

was gifted Civ 5 by another civ fanatic. I have a question though, my Civ 5 Steam version doesn't seem to animate the leader screen, shouldn't it do that? Perhaps this is a hardware or RAM issue?

Static leaderheads = low leaderhead graphics settings.
Take a look at the graphic options ingame.
(attention if you have a weak system, might lead to crashes).
 
The leaders were certainly animated when I played the demo in DX9... and this wouldn't have anything to do with Steam.



You can use the DVDs to reinstall the game, sometimes it does bug and starts downloading the whole thing instead but you just have to stop it and delete local files (right click on Civ5 in Steam) then try again until it installs from the DVD.

I don't know if you can access your serial key through Steam for Civ5 or another Steamworks game (non-steamworks games on Steam often have it there though, as you need to enter it before playing multiplayer). However you don't need it as it cannot be used again as the game is permanently tied to your Steam account.

workd perfectly. thanks a lot
 
Help new to Steam and in trouble.

Got Civ 5 in real form for Christmas and tried installing. Did the Steam account, then it tried downloading from the internet rather than the DVD (first black mark :mad:).
Okay, Steam FAQ identified the problem and I stopped that.
Now installed from DVD, but before can do anything else, it is trying to download a 180MB update (second back mark :mad:). I'm on dial-up, I play single-player and I certainly don't want to download a 180MB file!
Can someone PLS tell me if I can get around this??

The box says "Initial installation requires one-time internet connection for Steam Authentication" - Ha :rolleyes:
 
Help new to Steam and in trouble.

Got Civ 5 in real form for Christmas and tried installing. Did the Steam account, then it tried downloading from the internet rather than the DVD (first black mark :mad:).
Okay, Steam FAQ identified the problem and I stopped that.
Now installed from DVD, but before can do anything else, it is trying to download a 180MB update (second back mark :mad:). I'm on dial-up, I play single-player and I certainly don't want to download a 180MB file!
Can someone PLS tell me if I can get around this??

The box says "Initial installation requires one-time internet connection for Steam Authentication" - Ha :rolleyes:

Glad you looked up the FAQ and got the install bug fixed, but sorry you have to download the patches (and trust me you do want the patches for Civ5). And yes the only internet connection required is installation, downloading the patches is part of that.

In fact you should probably make sure you don't have the computer connected to the net when you start Steam if you're on dial up, as it will probably download any updates automatically even if you deselect it (for some reason the disable autopatching option doesn't work with Civ5).

Since I suspect you'll want to play in offline mode a lot, since you're stuck with dial up (I remember your pain, I had dial up until I was 16, hated it). Go into Steam's settings and make sure the box that says "Don't save account credentials on this computer" is UNCHECKED. You should be able to log in offline just fine after that.
 
Glad you looked up the FAQ and got the install bug fixed, but sorry you have to download the patches (and trust me you do want the patches for Civ5*). And yes the only internet connection required is installation, downloading the patches is part of that.*
In fact you should probably make sure you don't have the computer connected to the net when you start Steam if you're on dial up, as it will probably download any updates automatically even if you deselect it (for some reason the disable autopatching option doesn't work with Civ5)*.
Since I suspect you'll want to play in offline mode a lot, since you're stuck with dial up (I remember your pain, I had dial up until I was 16, hated it). Go into Steam's settings and make sure the box that says "Don't save account credentials on this computer" is UNCHECKED. You should be able to log in offline just fine after that.

First off, thanks for the quick reply, even if the answer was not what I was hoping for.

None of what I've marked with * gives me confidence in the product and I am not going to hide my disappointment here. If I buy a "real" copy, I expect to be able to play it, not have to download patches to run it. Effectively I have been sold 75% of game.

The fact that I'm on dial-up makes that more of a pain in proverbial, but even if I were on broadband I'd be pretty peeved :mad:

Now, can I bothered to carry on downloading the patch? I honestly don't know.....

EDIT - and even worse, my Civ 4 disc has just developed a lovely crack in it ARGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH
 
Did you install it on a laptop or a desktop? If a laptop, is there anywhere nearby that offers free wireless broadband, i.e. library or cafe, where you could download the patch?

First off, thanks for the quick reply, even if the answer was not what I was hoping for.

None of what I've marked with * gives me confidence in the product and I am not going to hide my disappointment here. If I buy a "real" copy, I expect to be able to play it, not have to download patches to run it. Effectively I have been sold 75% of game.

The fact that I'm on dial-up makes that more of a pain in proverbial, but even if I were on broadband I'd be pretty peeved :mad:

Now, can I bothered to carry on downloading the patch? I honestly don't know.....

EDIT - and even worse, my Civ 4 disc has just developed a lovely crack in it ARGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH

Almost every (if not every) game has patches, and you're welcome :)

As for the Civ4 disc, ouch, bad luck. I have some seriously scratched up discs but they all still work thankfully, not that I use discs very much anymore, too much of a hassle tbh. As for Civ4, in Civ4 Complete you don't need the disc in the drive (there's like no DRM), it DOES need to be patched too but you can download the patch onto a USB drive or something then take it to your computer and install it.
 
pouakai said:
Did you install it on a laptop or a desktop? If a laptop, is there anywhere nearby that offers free wireless broadband, i.e. library or cafe, where you could download the patch?

Sadly desktop.

Almost every (if not every) game has patches, and you're welcome :)

Indeed and one of my all time favourites was patched goodness knows how many times, but I didn't HAVE to patch if I didn't want to. As for Civ 4, I patched to v1.61 IIRC and that was it.

As for the Civ4 disc, ouch, bad luck. I have some seriously scratched up discs but they all still work thankfully, not that I use discs very much anymore, too much of a hassle tbh. As for Civ4, in Civ4 Complete you don't need the disc in the drive (there's like no DRM), it DOES need to be patched too but you can download the patch onto a USB drive or something then take it to your computer and install it.

Interesting about Civ 4 Complete, as I've just ordered a copy;). Civ 4 initial release would not run without the disc, which probably accounts for the wear and tear (and little hands removing it perhaps :rolleyes:) . I was going to leave it, but my attempts to update my Civ 5 are now being hampered by not being able to log onto Steam for the last 4 nights . Its almost like it fated not to be...
 
Maybe leave the update downloading while you're asleep / at work or something?

Exceed 70 minutes and it starts to cost!
Still 18 sessions at 70 minutes I thought might be doable (if a drag), but as I noted above, I haven't been able to log into steam since Sunday now. In fact, I thought I'd got there just now (after 25 minutes!), but Steam seems to have hung at the library screen. It might be downloading as the traffic indicator is busy, but tbh I haven't a clue!
 
This may be a hassle, but if you can get a 8 gig thumb drive you could install steam and Civ V on it on a computer that does have high speed internet access. You could then hook it up to your computer and play offline, whenever you need a patch just take the thumb drive back to the other computer to upgrade.
 
This may be a hassle, but if you can get a 8 gig thumb drive you could install steam and Civ V on it on a computer that does have high speed internet access. You could then hook it up to your computer and play offline, whenever you need a patch just take the thumb drive back to the other computer to upgrade.

Hmm, thanks, might be worth I try.
I'm a Steam-ignoramous at the moment.

Still just received Civ 4 complete, so I shall be exploring Warlords and Boeyond the Sword for a days yet ;)
 
Hmm, thanks, might be worth I try.
I'm a Steam-ignoramous at the moment.

Still just received Civ 4 complete, so I shall be exploring Warlords and Boeyond the Sword for a days yet ;)

Well if you ever want to play BTS in MP don't forget that Civplayers does have a still active Civ4BTS league, the link to our league is in my sig.

CS
 
Is this the right spot to ask?

Mongol, standard map, Chieftain, 12 Civs + city states... I am in AD 2011, prepared to make a clean sweep of the Persians. A few turns later (2013...2015) I enter the Future Era. On that turn, at some point, the game hangs and crashes to Windows. The last time it was asking for work orders for a group of Workers and I clicked on another unit instead, to activate and move it.

This is a bit frustrating as it has happened twice now. Well, I am learning from the interrupted scenarios, but I would like to finish the game.

The machine is a few years old, FWIW, Second Life runs fine if you need a benchmark.
 
No, it's not the right place.
But it doesn't matter, Civ crashes for way too many people, and we can't do anything about it, besides hoping that Firaxis will fix that crap.

OK thanks, and sorry. I will back off from here in that case and attack Darius once more.
 
FWIW (and if anyone is interested) after several fruitless attempts at updating the patch (sorry, it is not a patch if it HAS to be installed) via dial-up I gave up and stuck with Civ 4 complete - I really like what they have done to Civ 4 with this, though Princescamp, it does still want the disc present to play!?

Last week we succumbed to the lure of Broadband (bascially embrassed into it by our 5-yo daughter :blush:), so I have now updated it properly and given it a spin.

Still p*ssed that I have had to go through this hassle, and not happy with Steam. HOWEVER even more hacked off with 2k Games, who were no bl**ding help whatever.

Heres to the "turn-off updates function" on Steam working.....:mischief:
 
FWIW (and if anyone is interested) after several fruitless attempts at updating the patch (sorry, it is not a patch if it HAS to be installed) via dial-up I gave up and stuck with Civ 4 complete - I really like what they have done to Civ 4 with this, though Princescamp, it does still want the disc present to play!?
Civ5 should not require the disc. Dunno why it would.

Last week we succumbed to the lure of Broadband (bascially embrassed into it by our 5-yo daughter :blush:), so I have now updated it properly and given it a spin.
Excellent, because lets face it dial-up is history and severely outdated.

Still p*ssed that I have had to go through this hassle, and not happy with Steam. HOWEVER even more hacked off with 2k Games, who were no bl**ding help whatever.

Heres to the "turn-off updates function" on Steam working.....:mischief:
What is the problem now? Also turn off updates doesn't reliable work for Civ5 for some reason and I think you'll want all the updates you can get for Civ5.
 
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