Civ 5 doesn't work when it starts (please help)

When i try to play it, a little black window appears that says steam is launching Civ 5. Then a large black box appears, at the top it says 'Sid Meier's Civilization V (DX9) then an error message appears and it exits out. How do i fix this?


ps- is there any way to play civ5 without all this 'steam' nonsense?

Welcome to CFC .

El Davado said:

ps- is there any way to play civ5 without all this 'steam' nonsense?

Click to expand...

Sadly no, Steam is in the game, and there's no legal way to remove it.


@ problem: Please post your system specs. It might be, that your computer is not capable of running the game.

The_J said:

Welcome to CFC .



Sadly no, Steam is in the game, and there's no legal way to remove it.


@ problem: Please post your system specs. It might be, that your computer is not capable of running the game.

Click to expand...

what are 'specs' and how do i post them?

Your system specifications, what's in your computer, what processor, what graphics card, etc.
Easiest way, in the case you don't know it, is to attach the DxDiag file, see here please.

The_J said:

Your system specifications, what's in your computer, what processor, what graphics card, etc.
Easiest way, in the case you don't know it, is to attach the DxDiag file, see here please.

Click to expand...

I think these are the specs
Time of this report: 12/30/2010, 19:19:43
Machine name: HORN
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.100427-1636)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Dimension XPSGEN5
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A04
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 1022MB RAM
Page File: 775MB used, 1682MB available
Windows Dir: I:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode
DxDiag Previously: Crashed in system information (stage 4)

mmhh...that's only the "system" tab, but we'd also need the information from the "display" tab.

The_J said:

mmhh...that's only the "system" tab, but we'd also need the information from the "display" tab.

Click to expand...

Card name: RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition (0x5D4D)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5D4D&SUBSYS_03021002&REV_00
Display Memory: 256.0 MB
Current Mode: 1152 x 864 (32 bit) (75Hz)
Monitor: Dell E193FP
Monitor Max Res: 1280,1024
Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6601 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 2/9/2006 20:58:04, 256512 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
VDD: n/a
Mini VDD: ati2mtag.sys
Mini VDD Date: 2/9/2006 20:57:46, 1502208 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71EE2-1E0D-11CF-7B6A-0823A1C2CB35}
Vendor ID: 0x1002
Device ID: 0x5D4D
SubSys ID: 0x03021002
Revision ID: 0x0000
Revision ID: 0x0000
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_C ModeMPEG2_D ModeWMV8_B ModeWMV8_A ModeWMV9_B ModeWMV9_A

El Davado said:

Card name: RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition

Click to expand...

that graphics card is 2 generations behind the minimum requierements, your computer is not sufficient for Civ5 .
You'll need a new graphics card, and probably also another GB or RAM to be able to play Civ5 .

The_J said:

that graphics card is 2 generations behind the minimum requierements, your computer is not sufficient for Civ5 .
You'll need a new graphics card, and probably also another GB or RAM to be able to play Civ5 .

Click to expand...

so what your saying is i pretty much need a new computer, right?

If it's a laptop, then yes.
If it's a normal computer, then an upgrade for around 100€/$ could bring the game to run.