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- Civ4 - Game of the Month (http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=165)
- - Important Info - Running Vanilla or Warlords on Windows from dvd (http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=552230)

DynamicSpirit
Sep 11, 2015 07:49 AM

Important Info - Running Vanilla or Warlords on Windows from dvd

Attention everyone! A recent security patch on Windows 7 means that you may find Civ4 vanilla and Warlords no longer start.

The security patch comes with a recent batch of Windows updates, and it disables the service that verifies your dvd is genuine. Apparently security issues have been discovered with the service. The issue doesn't affect BtS (because BtS doesn't try to verify the dvd), and it won't affect you if you're using Steam (because - obviously - no dvd!).

If you want to know the gory technical details:

Discussion on civfanatics here
Details of the workaround here (Microsoft knowledge base article),
and here (myonlinesecurity.co.uk article).

(Thanks to High King J.J. for tracking down those links).

If you just want a quick fix:

To fix the issue, you'll need to temporarily re-enable the service just before you start civ.

1. Start the command prompt as an administrator. To do this, click the Windows button and type cmd in the textbox at the bottom. Then - this is important - hit CTRL + SHIFT + ENTER. (Don't just hit Enter, as that won't run as an administrator). You'll see the command prompt window - a black window that let's you type in commands.

2. In this window type in the following two commands - on each one hit enter, and then wait for the command to complete (a few seconds).
Code:

‪sc config secdrv start= demand‬
‪sc start secdrv‬

You'll now be able to start Civ. Note the spaces are important in these commands.

3. Once civ has started, you really ought to stop the service (because it has a security vulnerability - although it won't stop civ working if you don't do this). To do this, in the same window type
Code:

‪sc stop secdrv‬

Unfortunately you'll need to do this every time you start civ (if you don't bother stopping the service, you won't need to do it again until you reboot your computer).

As an alternative to step 2, if you want an easy life, you can type in
Code:

‪sc config secdrv start= auto‬
‪sc start secdrv‬

This should set the service back to how it was before the security patch - always running so you'll always be able to start Civ in the future without going through this annoying procedure (until MS disable it again, which I wouldn't be surprised if they do). However, this isn't recommended due to the service having a security vulnerability.

kcd_swede
Sep 26, 2015 12:18 PM

also on Win 8

I can confirm:

The quick fix above also works on Win 8, which got the same annoying update (even if you did not downgrade to Win10)

Captain Pugwash
Oct 25, 2015 04:19 AM

I also get this problem on Windows 10 running Civ4. I can't be bothered messing with the fix every time I play. I am thinking of buying the Steam version for £15 even though I already paid for numerous copies over the years. Is there a downside to using Steam ? I never used it before.

By the way, thanks to you CivFanatics guys for the explanation. I never would have figured out why it suddenly don't run after all these years.

DynamicSpirit
Oct 25, 2015 09:16 AM

The main downside to Steam is that it can be fiddly to get the HOF mod working with it. Some people have done it without any problems, but others have encountered issues that are hard to track down. But if you do get it working with the HOF mod, then I believe it shouldn't be any different from the dvd version to use.

Before you pay £15 for the Steam version, I should mention that, because of these issues with Vanilla and Warlords, the GOTM staff are discussing the possibility of running more BtS games and fewer Vanilla/Warlords games in the future.

By the way, the fix in this thread is for Windows 7 and Windows 8. I don't have Windows 10, but I understand from people who do that this fix won't work on Windows 10 (There is a way to fix it on Windows 10, but it's more complicated).

baggyred
Nov 23, 2015 06:10 AM

Just wanted to drop a note and say thanks to the OP

I'm running windows 8.1 and the fix above worked sweetly

The only other thing I had to do was run in compatibility mode as a previous Windows version (XP patch 3). Windows 8 now remembers that setting each time I load the game.

I have also saved the game to a stand-alone folder - as opposed to within Program files

Thought this might help anyone else who tries the fix above and doesn't get it to work

FWIW - I'm running an old vanilla disc I bought well over a decade ago which I love to give a run every now and then to remember uni days!! (and high school playing civ 1)

NOTES BELOW FROM ANOTHER THREAD

#6
Calibar
Chieftain

Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 3

Finally found the issue, which is to say I found which update (KB3086255) from the latest Windows update has caused the issue. The issue is that the secdrv service had been disabled, which incidentally is the same reason Civ4 doesn't work on Windows 10 (I am using Windows 8).

I found the information here (I hope it's okay for me to post this link - it wasn't easy to find via Google):
http://myonlinesecurity.co.uk/septem...ks-many-games/

I ran the two commands listed from a command prompt with admin privs and was then able to run Civ4:

sc config secdrv start= demand
sc start secdrv

I assume that to be safe it should be stopped and then again disabled after running the game. Probably a good candidate for a couple of batch files.

Anyone try just uninstalling the update KB3086255?


Old Sep 10, 2015, 07:57 AM #10
Calibar
Chieftain

Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 3

I didn't uninstall the update because it appears that secdrv is a real security concern so it's not necessarily a bad idea to have it disabled when you're not in need of it.

To reduce the pain of having to enable and start the service to run Civ and then stop and disable it so that the service isn't left running (it only needs to be running to launch Civ), I created two batch files. Each must be ran as an administrator.

start-secdrv.bat:
start cmd.exe /k "sc config secdrv start=demand"
start cmd.exe /k "sc start secdrv"

stop-secdrv.bat
start cmd.exe /k "sc stop secdrv"
start cmd.exe /k "sc config secdrv start=disabled"

The /k is to keep the windows open, so that you can initially see the results. Eventually, you'll probably want to change it to /c, to close the windows automatically for a cleaner process.

Jan 09, 2016, 12:53 PM
#51
gdamnMS
Chieftain

Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 1

Minor script mods to get it to work

For what it's worth I had to modify for some errors I received. It needed a space after the = . Using Win 7. I added the Timeouts for troubleshooting. You may be able to remove.

I have to assume that the people running the show at MS are not the same folks. They have no appreciation for those of us who grew up on MS. As a simple illustration you can not mark an email as "important" from the O365 suite online. I've been able to do this in Hotmail since 2001. Really Microsoft?

1. Create new text file and save as yourname.bat
2. Right Click on the .bat file and click edit
3. Paste the text below
4. Change the Start command string to match the path of your civ.exe file (right click on the shortcut and copy the path. This launches and runs off my CD)
5. Save
6. Right click on the .bat file and select "run as admin"
______________________________________

start cmd.exe /k "sc config secdrv start= demand"

TIMEOUT 10

start cmd.exe /k "sc start secdrv"

TIMEOUT 10

START "" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Civilization4.exe"

TIMEOUT 10

start cmd.exe /k "sc stop secdrv"

TIMEOUT 10

start cmd.exe /k "sc config secdrv start= disabled"