Can't find AutoSaveInterval line?

R

rschissler

King
Joined
Dec 18, 2003
Messages
795
Location
Eastern WA
I had to reinstall Civ IV awhile back, but now I can't find the AutoSave Interval line in the Civilization.ini file. In fact, the four items below is all there is to the file. Any idea what is happening?


[CONFIG]

; Enable Trilinear Filtering for the Minimap
MinimapTrilinearFilter = 1

; Enable Tree Region Cutting
CutTrees = 1

; Allow Camera Flying
AllowFlying = 0

; Don't show minimum specification warnings
HideMinSpecWarning = 0
 
All I can think is that somehow your ini file got deleted or moved and the game has made a new one and they are the only things it's had to write to it.

It's a bit of a random guess, I no nothing about how the game handles the ini file or what it would actually do if it were missing.

This is my ini file. You could copy paste the part about autosaves and see if that works.

Spoiler :

[CONFIG]

; Enable Quick Slide Show Transitions
PopSlides = 0

; Set to 1 to automatically end slide show
EndSlides = 0

; Set max frame rate clamp (0 means none)
SetMaxFrameRate = 0

; Set to 1 to put PitBoss to sleep when no players are connected
PitBossSleep = 1

; Set to 1 to page units out when non-visible
DynamicUnitPaging = 1

; Set to 1 to page unit anims out when the unit is non visible
DynamicAnimPaging = 1

; Set to 1 for no on-screen event messages
NoEventMessages = 0

; Set to 1 for no tech splash screens
NoTechSplash = 0

; Set to 1 for no intro movie
NoIntroMovie = 0

; Set to 1 for no python exception popups
HidePythonExceptions = 1

; The maximum number of autosaves kept in the directory before being deleted.
MaxAutoSaves = 256

; Specify the number of turns between autoSaves. 0 means no autosave.
AutoSaveInterval = 1

; Enable Audio
AudioEnable = 1

; English(0),French(1),German(2),Italian(3),Spanish(4) - Defaults to user-installed language
Language = 0

; Determines which user profile is loaded on game start
UserProfile = Default Profile

; Sync input to smooth interface (may run slower)
SyncInput = 0

; Force numlock always on while playing
ForceNumlock = 0

; Disable caching of file system (may slow initialization)
DisableFileCaching = 1

; Disable caching of xml and file system (may slow initialization)
DisableCaching = 0

; Specify a Mod folder (Mods\Mesopotamia), '0' for none
Mod = 0

; Enable Trilinear Filtering for the Minimap
MinimapTrilinearFilter = 1

; Enable Tree Region Cutting
CutTrees = 1

; A non-zero value overrides the FIELD_OF_VIEW parameter from GlobalDefines.xml
FIELD_OF_VIEW = 0

; Allow Camera Flying
AllowFlying = 0

; Don't show minimum specification warnings
HideMinSpecWarning = 0

; Random seed for map generation, or '0' for default
MapRandSeed = 0

; Random seed for game sync, or '0' for default
SyncRandSeed = 0

; Email address from which Pitboss reminder emails are sent
PitbossEmail = 0

; SMTP server authentication login for Pitboss reminder emails
PitbossSMTPLogin = 0

; SMTP server for Pitboss reminder emails
PitbossSMTPHost = 0

; Number of seconds to accept live game list updates from GameSpy (-1 for initial snapshot only, 0 for no live updates
GameUpdateTime = 10

; Bandwidth options are modem or broadband
Bandwidth = broadband

; QuickStart - SinglePlayer games only!
QuickStart = 0

; Dont show the game background during movies - may speed up movie playing
HideMovieBackground = 0

; Enable/disable background music
PlayMusic = 1

; Allows some memory savings *** ALT-TAB WILL NO LONGER FUNCTION ***
MemSaver = 0

; Use managed interface textures (may be safer but shouldn't be needed, uses more memory)
GUIManagedTextures = 0

; file format (TGA,JPG,BMP), Warning: TGA requires a lockable buffer which can lower performance
ScreenShot Format = JPG

; Enable voice over IP capture and playback
EnableVoice = 1

; App Selects Specific IP to use for Multiplayer
SelectIP = 0

; Disable PAK memory mapping (May affect performance)
DisablePAKMemoryMapping = 0

; Don't skip frames if falling behind
BinkNoSkip = 1

; Copy entire image each frame, not just dirty pixels
BinkCopyAll = 1

; Show movies using hi-color, not true-color (may be faster)
Bink16Bit = 0

; Copy ever other scanline during movie playback (faster)
BinkInterlace = 0

; Specify whether to play in fullscreen mode 0/1/ask
FullScreen = 1

[DEBUG]

; Break on memory allocation order #
BreakOnAlloc = -1

; Number of turns to autorun before exit (0 for no limit)
AutorunTurnLimit = 0

; Set App on Auto-Run
Autorun = 0

; Enable D3D9 Queries
D3D9Query = 0

; Custom Screen Height, minimum: 768 - Normal resolutions can be set in-game and will be used when set to 0
ScreenHeight = 0

; Custom Screen Width, minimum: 1024 - Normal resolutions can be set in-game and will be used when set to 0
ScreenWidth = 0

; Establish connection to Python Debugger
HAPDebugger = 0

; NetComm Port
Port = 2056

; Create a dump file if the application crashes
GenerateCrashDumps = 0

; Enable the logging system
LoggingEnabled = 0

; Enable synchronization logging
SynchLog = 0

; Overwrite old network and message logs
OverwriteLogs = 1

; Enable rand event logging
RandLog = 0

; Enable message logging
MessageLog = 0

[GAME]

; Modular XML Loading
ModularLoading = 0

; Main Menu Mods
MainMenuMods = Afterworld;Broken Star;Charlemagne;Crossroads of the World;Defense;FfH Age of Ice;Final Frontier;Gods of Old;MesoAmerica;Next War;Rhye's and Fall of Civilization;The Road to War

; Move along
CheatCode = 0

; Map Script file name
Map = Fractal

; GameType options are singlePlayer/spLoad
GameType = singlePlayer

; Pitboss Turn Time
PitbossTurnTime = 0

; Max number of turns (0 for no turn limit)
MaxTurns = 0

; Game Options
GameOptions = 000010000000000000000100

; Victory Conditions
VictoryConditions = 1111111

; Handicap for quick play
QuickHandicap = HANDICAP_IMMORTAL

; GameSpeed options are GAMESPEED_QUICK/GAMESPEED_NORMAL/GAMESPEED_EPIC/GAMESPEED_MARATHON
GameSpeed = GAMESPEED_EPIC

; Era options are ERA_ANCIENT/ERA_CLASSICAL/ERA_MEDIEVAL/ERA_RENAISSANCE/ERA_INDUSTRIAL/ERA_MODERN
Era = ERA_ANCIENT

; Sealevel options are SEALEVEL_LOW/SEALEVEL_MEDIUM/SEALEVEL_HIGH
SeaLevel = SEALEVEL_MEDIUM

; Climate options are CLIMATE_ARID/CLIMATE_TEMPERATE/CLIMATE_TROPICAL
Climate = CLIMATE_TEMPERATE

; Worldsize options are WORLDSIZE_DUEL/WORLDSIZE_TINY/WORLDSIZE_SMALL/WORLDSIZE_STANDARD/WORLDSIZE_LARGE/WORLDSIZE_HUGE
WorldSize = WORLDSIZE_STANDARD

; Game Name
GameName = Mack's Game

; Save Path - relative to working (Civ4) folder
FileName = 0

; Account Username
Nickname = 0

; Email Address
Email = Mack

; DirectIP Host Address
DirectIP = 0

; In-game Alias
Alias = Mack
 
Thanks Mack, I did the copy and paste and it worked, but only once. Exiting the game rewrote the file back to the short version I showed above. Of course, it would be ridiculous to have to reload a altered ini file whenever I want to play the game.
 
I feel like that file regularly gets corrupted. Every time you restart the program, it correct itself, minus your custom settings. I have identified on cause for my custom settings to get lost - when my CPU crashes.
 
My first impression upon reading your issue, is that you have a bad install. I would do a full clean install of IV, make sure to delete all existing presence of the game first. Make sure you follow instruction on how to install on your particular OS.

We may need more info about your system, settings and version, but that is a rather bizarre issue you are describing. It only leads me to a conclusion that something is corrupted...not the file..the game.
 
I uninstalled and reinstalled the game with no change. Though I haven't played the game in a few months, I've played it a zillion times before, and can't imagine why I can't have a typical ini file now.
 
What OS are you using? What version of Civ, i.e., where did you get it?
 
Make the same changes to the CivilizationIV.ini.bak file too.
 
Also, after you again set up the .ini file the way that you want it, make a copy and call it something that will remind you what it is, such as CIV.ini.reset or whatever you like. That way, if the .ini gets wiped again, you can just make a copy of the reset file and rename it CivilizationIV.ini.

Another thought: After fixing your ini, starting the game and getting everything set the way that you want it, go to the options and save a new default. That might be the problem.
 
I had this issue a few years ago, and don't think I ever got it properly sorted. I tried creating new profiles, several, but sometimes the game would still default to a new blank .ini file. The only half-decent way around it that I found was to make a backup of a 'proper' .ini and copy it when the game borked out, and hope it would 'take' next time. Quite a few restarts and frustration, but it sort of worked.

I don't know what caused it, but I can imagine that on Windows system it's NOT good to have the game installed in Program Files, as Windows are overly sensitive to stuff installed there due to a hilariously poor security system. If the game can't access the file properly, it may just create a new one.

I did not have the game in such a place btw, but still got the problem, so those issues may not be related.
 
- Right click on the CivilizationIV.ini
- Properties
- Check the "read-only" attribute.
- OK

Voila!
 
pob said:
Make the same changes to the CivilizationIV.ini.bak file too.
Click to expand...

I can't create a true .bak file, as I don't know what is used to create it. All I can do is create a .ini file and rename it to a .bak file.

The program still creates a new .bak and .ini file every time, so I still can't get a consistent autosave from session to session.
 
You could try to load an ini file from a different location using the "ini=" command-line option of Civilization4.exe. Perhaps the game would then overwrite the CivilizationIV.ini in the standard location and leave the file loaded via command line alone.

To try this, you'd create a Windows shortcut to Civilization4.exe and add
Code: 
ini=myCivIV.ini
to the "target" field in the file properties of the shortcut; e.g.
Code: 
Target:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Civilization4.exe" ini=myCivIV.ini
myCivIV.ini would then have to be placed in the same directory as Civilization4.exe, i.e. the Civ install directory.
If it works, the game will always have to be started through the shortcut.
 
I'm having the same problem with the ini file.
The problem is started with my brand new laptop with Windows 10.
I've installed Civ4 with BTS and 3.19 patch from scratch, and immediately noticed this behavior. So, I can exclued it was an unclean installation.

Curious thing: with Win7 the ini file was in the "users/myUser/MyGames" folder. Now with Win10 it is under the OneDrive folder! Who knows why??

I will try the suggestion from f1rpo. I am also curious to know if, in this way, the game can write this ini file with the new settings (like: settings of the last played game: map script, size, difficulty, etc).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

SteelSterling
My CivilizationIV.ini is messed up!
2 3
Replies
56
Views
5K
SteelSterling
SteelSterling
SlySlySly
Leader Ability and Adding New Leader to Existing Civ
Replies
3
Views
4K
SlySlySly
SlySlySly
T
CivilizationIV.ini file problems
Replies
3
Views
6K
Krimzon89
Krimzon89
Angst
[WINE] Crash when selecting Play Scenario or Custom Scenario
Replies
4
Views
4K
MalayanGamer
MalayanGamer
Sgtslick
Any CivilizationIV.ini Experts out there? 2nd Opinion needed
Replies
1
Views
2K
Sgtslick
Sgtslick
Top Bottom