Civ 3 and Windows 10

Try this for the Code 28 font error.

Civ3 in Windows 10. Bought a new machine which was running 8.1, Civ3 and C3C worked fine with the C3C 1.22 patch. Then ... upgraded to Windows 10. Game installs, but when I run it nothing happens. Actually got someone from BestBuy Geek Squad involved. He dug around a bit and found this to be the problem:

"ran thru event log and found errors related to secdrv.sys not loading. After some
research, this was removed after windows 8.1 due to security reasons, and this is the cause of the game not loading. After checking some more things, I realized that the only way to fix it would be to disable driver signing which we're not allowed to do as it sacrifices security of the computer.

Once again, the file is SECDRV.SYS normally in the SYSWOW64 and SYSTEM32 folders, since it would fail driver signing, it would have to have driver signing turned off, which is NOT allowed."

Does anyone know of a workaround for this without disabling "driver signing" or sacrificing computer security in some other way? Or without reverting back to Windows 8.1?

tombohnstedt - Did you look at the thread that was literally right above this one?

Hi thanks. I've had some difficulty navigating and posting in these forums since the "migration", but thanks for the info, despite the contemptuous attitude on your part.

But I do appreciate the link to the thread where this issue is discussed. I will certainly check it out and look at my options.

Civinator said:

Since several days I have the upgrade icon for a gratis change to windows 10. As I have several Civ 3 modding projects mostly in an advanced state, I wonder if such a change from my current Windows 7 to Windows 10 would be a good thing to do.

Are there any experiences with running Civ 3 and especially C3C under Win 10 yet?

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Hi Civinator and tnx for your many contributions. Although i am not a fan of steam myself i have finally found the solution for c3c not working with win10. That was for me simply uninstalling and installling anew with the c3c product from steam.
Just to let everyone know.

I also had trouble loading C3C recently. I have the original (2004?) CD version, not Steam or more recent releases. When trying to launch the program starting last week, on or around Thursday, 9/10/15, I received an error message that said I must be an administrator to run the program. The User I was logged in as was an administrator! So this was strange. And very frustrating!

I am running Windows 8.1. After some trial and error, I found that the problem was related to one of the dozen or so windows updates that had auto-downloaded and installed. I don't know which one it was. But after uninstalling all of them from 9/10/15, the program launches just fine.

This is frustrating. Do I prevent Windows 8.1 from installing the updates that rolled out last week? Indefinitely?

Like others, I am still waiting on Windows 10 to roll out to my computer. I'm on the wait list. But I'm fearful that it may cause me the same problem again.

NativeAmerican said:

I am running Windows 8.1. After some trial and error, I found that the problem was related to one of the dozen or so windows updates that had auto-downloaded and installed. I don't know which one it was.

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It is KB3086255.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=552308

NativeAmerican said:

But I'm fearful that it may cause me the same problem again.

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That fear is substantiated as Windows 10 does not support Safedisk.

Is there a thread for the Vista problem?

Me also, after a decade of happy runs now having tons of problems after the last Vista update.

markdata - Same thread as justanick linked above.

Laurana Kanan said:

with the September 2015 Windows Security Update KB3086255, the service has also been disabled on older Windows OSs (Vista, 7, 8, 8.1), causing these games to no longer run on these systems either.

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justanick said:

It is KB3086255.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=552308



That fear is substantiated as Windows 10 does not support Safedisk.

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Thanks justanick. I appreciate you steering me to the right info!

Thanks everyone for the extremely helpful advice in this thread.

Unfortunately after trying all of the repairs suggested on this (and other) threads in the forum, I have been unable to get CivIII (vanilla) running in Win 10. I have the original CD and was able to run the (1.29f patched) game without issue until my old (Vista) computer gave up the ghost. New (one month-old) system is Acer Aspire TC-603 with Win 10 Home 64-bit OS

So far I have...
- installed the game from CD outside of the default (x86 folder): C:\users\public\games\CivIII
- patched the install with 1.29f
- installed No CD patch from German site
- adjusted properties of German .exe file to run in compatibility mode for Win 7, 'disable display scaling on high DPI settings', and 'run as administrator'
- edited 'Civilization3.ini' to KeepRes=1

When I run the program, I receive an 'optimal resolution notification' but the introductory sequence (movie) runs without issue. The the menu page displays properly, however, I am unable to select 'new game', 'quick start', or 'tutorial' to start a new game. When I try to load a scenario (e.g., earth (standard)) it tells me the file is corrupt. I can get access to the preferences, audio preferences and credits but cannot start a new game.

Are there any other suggestions to try to get this working on Win10 or will I need to wait and hope things will get better after the rumored Win 10.1?

Dazza_P said:

When I run the program, I receive an 'optimal resolution notification' but the introductory sequence (movie) runs without issue. The the menu page displays properly, however, I am unable to select 'new game', 'quick start', or 'tutorial' to start a new game. When I try to load a scenario (e.g., earth (standard)) it tells me the file is corrupt. I can get access to the preferences, audio preferences and credits but cannot start a new game.

Click to expand...

Maybe some of the files are indeed corrupt. Than attempting to reinstall it might work unless the error is in the CD you use. In that case using uncorrupted means to install C3C would be required.

Thanks justanick

I attempted a reinstall - no luck
Tried running a different (downloaded) scenario - no luck
Tried running a saved game (retrieved from the hard drive of my broken vista computer) - I get "DatalO operation System error: GAME" error followed by a message stating that there was a Load Error and was unable to load the saved game file.

I think it is strange that I can 'almost' get there but can't seem to start the game itself (the editor runs just fine as well).

Any other suggestions?

Dazza_P said:

Thanks justanick

I attempted a reinstall - no luck
Tried running a different (downloaded) scenario - no luck
Tried running a saved game (retrieved from the hard drive of my broken vista computer) - I get "DatalO operation System error: GAME" error followed by a message stating that there was a Load Error and was unable to load the saved game file.

I think it is strange that I can 'almost' get there but can't seem to start the game itself (the editor runs just fine as well).

Any other suggestions?

Click to expand...

If you've successfully installed -- and it sounds like you have, or you wouldn't even get as far the menu-screen -- then all you need to do is overwrite the corrupted files (maybe the art-files for the 'Choose world' and/or 'Choose opponents' screens?) with versions that you already know work. You say you can still access the HD on your old computer -- if that's the case, then rather than just a single savegame, why not just copy the entire Civ3 directory from your Vista-installation onto a USB-stick, and then paste some/all of those files/folders from the USB-stick into the Civ3 directory on the new computer?

After all, installation is really only about telling the OS where specific file(name)s should be found in order to run a piece of software, but those file-versions don't necessarily have to be the same ones that were actually copied in during the installation process. Otherwise, modding wouldn't work.

If all else fails, GamersGate sells a no-CD version of Civ3Complete for only a couple of bux, and (unlike the Steam version) the GG installation also includes the Vanilla 1.29 executable, and no DRM*.

*

Thanks for the suggestions tjs282

I tried bringing all the files from my hobbled Vista machine to the Win 10 machine and was unsuccessful. So, I reached out to the folks at 2K who provided me a Steam key after showing them proof of ownership of original CD. After setting-up in Steam, I now have been able to play Civ III on my Win 10 machine.

Thanks everyone for your help on this matter!

So today I have a V1.22 CIV III Complete (STEAM) ordered via Gamersgate, which doesn't solve my problems. Have submitted a help request to Gamersgate.

Played Cotm_118 in W10 with Steam version of PTW (V 22). Got a victory, but unable to get the post-victory save file, as I get hung up in one of the wrapup screens. Had to make do without Civ Assist program which fails in W10, even though I activated .NET 3.5, which has (limited) 2.0 support. Had no success in getting Steam version updated so I could play Gotm_145 (Have v.22, need v.27).

milr said:

Played Cotm_118 in W10 with Steam version of PTW (V 22). Got a victory, but unable to get the post-victory save file, as I get hung up in one of the wrapup screens. Had to make do without Civ Assist program which fails in W10, even though I activated .NET 3.5, which has (limited) 2.0 support. Had no success in getting Steam version updated so I could play Gotm_145 (Have v.22, need v.27).

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So Steam and GG still don't include Civilization3X.exe in their download (i.e. the file you need to run Play the World 1.27, and play GotMs)? That's a pity. I thought this might have changed after Steam starting hosting online-MP, but I guess not.

Earlier this year, I did actually ask GG if they were going to offer it, but was told that it wasn't up to them: they simply sell the install-package that Firaxis provide them with. So Steam- and GG-based Civ3 players will need to lobby Firaxis/TakeTwo, if they want to have a (NoCD) PtW executable.

I also just discovered (partly contrary to my post above) that the Civilization3.exe (for Vanilla 1.29) provided by GG (but not Steam) was still DRM'd, and has therefore been rendered non-functional by the recent security update which disabled/removed the secdrv.sys driver (in Vista, Win7, Win8[.1] and Win10). The (legal) NoCD patch obtainable from the German 'PCGames' magazine website fixes this problem (if anyone cares).

Regarding your problem with CotM 118 -- did you go for Space? Because I just saw (yesterday) a comment from another CFC-user that the Space-win movie ('Race.bik'?) wouldn't play on his installation (under Win10). So it looks like this is a systemic problem: Win10 is apparently missing something needed to play that vid -- and likely also the Intro-video, 'Intro.bik' (?) (although that problem could possibly be bypassed by adding 'PlayIntro=0' to the Conquests.ini). Not sure what we can do about that...?

I recently upgraded my laptop to W10 from W7 and was disappointed to find Civ3 no longer worked - and spent many frustrating hours trying to install various "fixes" from sites suggested in this thread. Having read this and related threads I finally decided to try the Steam version of the game (Civ3 Complete).

Although that works most of the time there are still some issues:

1. The game often hangs when I first open it - it seems I need to skip the 2K logo screens. If I delay and try to skip the main game video the game usually hangs.

2. When I finish a game, the game hangs when I try to close the first victory (or loss ) screen (the one with the pictures of injured protagonists). This happens every time.

3. I can't see how to load scenarios that I've created using my patched versions of the old CD versions of the editor (which do work with W10). [Correction: my previously created scenarios were there and load correctly into the steam version. I simply didn't scroll down the list far enough. ]

Overall though, I'm pleased with the Steam version of the game which seems to run smoothly. Not bad for £2.99!