Compatibility Issues with Windows Vista??

Guys

I have installed CIV4 on new PC with Vista (i think premium) and have updated drivers and patched both CIV 4 & Warlords. Game though, esp. on civilopedia has really major graphics flickering! 2K/Firaxis have provided little assistance. Does anyone have an answer? Help greatly appreciated guy. My system specs are:

Microsoft® WindowsVista Premium
● Processor ATHLON 64 3800 Dual Core
● System Memory 2 x 512MB DDR-400 (Max 4GB)
● nVidia GeForce6100 with nForce 405
● Realtek ALC880 (7.1 Channels)
● Audio connections: Line In, 2 x Line Out (one in front), 2 x MIC In (one in front),
● Gigabyte (10/100/1000) Lan solution
● 7 USB 2 ports with 2 in front
● PS/2 Keyboard port, PS/2 Mouse port, Parallel Port, Serial Port.
● Hard Drives 2 SATA HDD 3.5" bays
● Optical Devices DVD Burner dual and double layer with an option of a second DVD drive
● 2 x PCI, 1 x 1X PCIE, 1 x 16X PCIE
● Housing Dimension 360 (W) x 180 (H) x 420 (D) mm
● Software Norton AntiVirus™ 2005 Adobe® Acrobat® Reader® 6.0 Cyberlink® Power DVD for DVD SKU, NTI CD-Maker™ Gold for DVD burner SKU, Aspire Recovery CD, Acer Resource CD
● EMI / Safety CE / Nemko
 
I tried the dll fix suggested earlier, and it didn't work for me. I've also installed the most recent driver for my video card, and I still get the flashing screens as reported earlier. I think it is a driver issue though for the following reason: I'm running Vista RC1, and when I first installed it, CIV 4 worked perfectly. Then I updated my graphic card driver, and I got the flashing screen effect (all of the videos worked fine, and so did the actual game screen, it is just the menues flashing that is the problem). I rolled back the driver to the one which came with the disc, and things were fine. Unfortunately, windows updates offered a driver update last night, and now it is all screwed up again (and I can't roll back the driver to the original install version). Any one have any ideas?
 
Oh, and I have also tried running it in XP compatibility mode, and no go.... same problem....
 
After reading some of the posts in this thread I thought I would try to install Civ 4 on Vista Business edition expecting some problems.
I let it do the directx install and finished rest of the installation. I then downloaded the 1.61 patch and run that again with no problems, I didnt install xfire. Started the game, changed the screen resolution to my lcd's native resoultion. Then I tried a new game and played a few turns. Civlopedia didnt show any problems either from the main menu or in game.

So for me it seems to run without problems or errors thus far and I didnt have to do anything with regard to compatibility settings.
I have the latest drivers for my 8800gts graphics card etc

John
 
I tried the dll fix suggested earlier, and it didn't work for me. I've also installed the most recent driver for my video card, and I still get the flashing screens as reported earlier. I think it is a driver issue though for the following reason: I'm running Vista RC1, and when I first installed it, CIV 4 worked perfectly. Then I updated my graphic card driver, and I got the flashing screen effect (all of the videos worked fine, and so did the actual game screen, it is just the menues flashing that is the problem). I rolled back the driver to the one which came with the disc, and things were fine. Unfortunately, windows updates offered a driver update last night, and now it is all screwed up again (and I can't roll back the driver to the original install version). Any one have any ideas?

Try installing the newest driver you can find for your graphics card, then rolling back to the driver that came with the disc.

It would be helpful, too, if you could post your system specs here.
 
Riceman,

I was out of town and just now read your reply to my earlier post. You were right, and I thank you very much. Civ 4 is working great for me now. I did have some of the flickering someone mentioned above, but I'm ok with it as long as I can play!

Thanks again.
 
Im having issues with Vista aswell, I can install the game, and creating a game is no problem either, but as soon as the game is about to start (after the intro, when it says finishing) the screen just turns black, all the sound is there and everything, but I cant see anything
 
Try installing the newest driver you can find for your graphics card, then rolling back to the driver that came with the disc.

It would be helpful, too, if you could post your system specs here.
Hi Riceman,

I haven't tried your suggestion yet, but I will when I can figure out how to get the display driver off the install disk. I have since installed warlords and pathed it 2.08 (or whatever the patch is) and it has improved things somewhat. Before, the menus would flicker no matter what i did, but under warlords, they any flicker if i roll mouse pointer over an option. So other than rolling back the driver i have no idea what to do. My system is as follows:

Toshiba Satellite M100
1.83GHz Core 2 Duo
2gb RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon X1400

So I think the specs are ok...The game works perfectly in XP, and my computer is only 3 weeks old, so I don't think it is a hardware issue...the more I play with Vista, the more I think it is a compatibility issue...

I'm wondering, are the people having problems using the RTM of Vista or an RC (RC1 or RC2)? It might actually be an RC issue, as the people who seem to be having success seem to be using RTM versions of Vista...Just a thought...Anyway, I will be upgrading to an RTM version in the next few weeks, so I guess I will find out for sure....
 
Eakkk makes one wary of upgrading to vista.

From what i understand Microsoft are replacing vista in 2 years anway. Just another windows ME stop gap?

Might hold off till then. If something works well why replace it?

Although i doubt even vista will fix the memory leaking on civ 4 :(

Still with only 512mb ram here doubt vista would run well anyway.

Will wait till Oct and get a AMD system with new quad core Barcelona chip equivalent for desktop.

Its not just civ 4 that has compatibility problems i hear. Graphics drivers not ready. Lots of old games with issues. Not to mention other software that has not been updated or requires new licences.

Food for thought.
 
Gumbolt,
You're right about Vista. My computer fried, and I had to get a new one, and literally searched stores all over town to find one that did not have Vista, but no luck.

So I'm stuck with it; maybe things will get better soon.
 
I've ran into a new problem with vista, or at least i think it is a new problem. Now, first off I will admitt it know little about computers and am just starting to learn. But the problem is I downloaded Civ IV on my new computer that has vista home preminm ed and the game downloads fine and says that there are compatability issues and everything that I ignore. I run the game and it runs fine for a bit but then the game will eventually shut down on it's own with no warning or sometimes I will go to save my game and it will freeze in the process of saving thereby corrupting the saved file game making it so I can't open that saved game again. I have not downloaded any patches because I wanted to get opinions first on what to do. Any suggestions?
 
I have a problem that hasn't been mentioned here, I also have Vista HP, I can install the game fine, ran into the above problems regarding the combatability message, so I downloaded the latest patch from the Civ4 main site, and now I just get a message that comes up saying cannot locate DVD-rom! yet the disk is there! even when I try using auto-play to get the game going I still get the same message!!

E machine
P4 3Ghz, 2.99Ghz (2CPU) [Im sure thats not right but its what it says in DXdiag).
Dual layer, DVD -/+ RW,
Blu-Ray DVD drive
160GB hard drive
1GB DDR RAM (2x 512MB)
128MB Nividea FX5200
 
Alright, I think I might have fixed the problem I was having. For anyone else experiencing a similar problem this is what I did. I downloaded the 1.61 patch and then I contacted 2k games and they sent the following email:


Changing the compatibility mode may also help to run the game.Locate the Civ4.exe file or the desktop shortcut for the installed game.
Right click on the Civ4 icon and select properties. Click the compatibility tab and tick the box labelled 'run this game in compatibility mode for:NT then click on apply then close.
Please try your game.

This has apparently worked because I no longer get the compatability error box popping up. But I have not played the game long enough to see if it will continue to shut down on me during play. Hope this helps all you other folks with Vista.
 
Check your graphic cards at the following page:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-X1800.2154.0.html

If your card is not in the list where the cards are rated check the five different performance classes to the right where 1 is the best. If your card is not anywhere to be found it is either a very new card or most likely a card that is worse than the performance class 5 and therefor not even included.

Performance class 4 or 5 cannot be very good for CIV IV I guess? Maybe someone who has a class 4 or 5 card can confirm that it works fine with that on large maps with lots of civs?
 
Hope someone could help me.... =) i alraedy changed the compatibility to windows nt on my other software and it worked but my civilization didn't work with the changing of compatibilty mode eventhough i already patch my civ4 with the patchv.1.61 what should i do next to get my civ4 work?
 
Hope someone could help me.... =) i alraedy changed the compatibility to windows nt on my other software and it worked but my civilization didn't work with the changing of compatibilty mode eventhough i already patch my civ4 with the patchv.1.61 what should i do next to get my civ4 work?
Try setting the compatibility to Windows XP (Service Pack 2). The game's playing pretty flawlessly on Vista 64 Ultimate.
 
I have clearly read all that has been said above, I am having problems running civ4 under Vista, and this forum is dealing with problems with vista, however none of the above advice has helped me to get my game running!, I have Vista HP 32bit, all I want is to be able to play the god dam game!
 
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