Civ crashes after directx version choice

Hello,

I have recently acquired Civ V and, after hours of playtime following its installation, I seem to be unable to run the game since today. No matter what startup route I take, including using a shortcut to the directx 9 version of the game, a black window always opens and immediately closes after choosing the directx 9 version of the game to play and then nothing else occurs - the game just completely closes. I can't speak for the dx 10/11 version of the game as I don't think my graphics card supports it and I haven't downloaded whatever's needed to play that version anyway.

I have tried reinstalling the game, playing with the disc in, playing with the disc out, running a dxdiag, entering some diagnostic or other into the command prompt (can't remember exactly what it was) and restarting my laptop, but none have worked so far.

I'm guessing my laptop is up to spec as I've managed to play for hours before without any trouble whatsoever, except maybe a bit of slowdown when ending turns near the end game which, I presume, is pretty normal.

My graphics card is an ATI Mobility radeon HD 4570 if that's any help.

If anyone has any ideas I'd be really grateful.

Thanks all.

Welcome to CFC .

Your card should be around the minimum requirements, so it's probably not the problem (especially because you've already played the game).

Did you try to verify in Steam the integrity of the game files? Maybe there's something which needs fixing (not that it makes sense after a reinstall, but you never know).

Make sure your leaderhead settings is on the lowest it can go. If that is it, please let us know. It helps in keeping track of what works for what. Thank You.

@The_J
-Thanks, how would I verify integrity of game files? I've had a little look around steam but I can't seem to find an option for it. :/

@timtofly
-Umm, what are leaderhead settings and where can I change them?



Just of note, I was able to play the game last night, although I'm pretty sure I didn't change anything since posting this thread, except maybe not moving the cursor while it does its thing. However, I've tried doing that again and have got no success, so I'm assuming it was a one off.

Integrity:
In Steam go library -> games -> Civ5 -> properties -> local files -> check integrity of the game files

leader settings: They are in the Civ5 graphic options menu.

malushunter said:

@The_J
-Thanks, how would I verify integrity of game files? I've had a little look around steam but I can't seem to find an option for it. :/

@timtofly
-Umm, what are leaderhead settings and where can I change them?



Just of note, I was able to play the game last night, although I'm pretty sure I didn't change anything since posting this thread, except maybe not moving the cursor while it does its thing. However, I've tried doing that again and have got no success, so I'm assuming it was a one off.

Click to expand...

Under:
Options
Graphics
It is the first option on the top right. Some video cards cannot handle the animated graphics of the AI leaders. Until I put it at the lowest, the game would crash randomenly until I figured out that it was when an AI contacted me for the first time.

@The_J
-Ah ok, cheers, it said '1 files have failed and will be reacquired' or something.. :/

@Timtofly
-Ah, I tried putting it on lowest (managed to play again, seems to work randomly ) but I don't think it's had any impact other than giving leaders static pictures instead of animations, but I haven't had any crashes due to leader animations yet anyway, low setting seems to work fine for me - thanks for the suggestion though.

EDIT: By 'seems to work randomly' I mean that every now and again (not at all linked to how many times I try) it will start working normally and not that it is now working completely fine for some random reason.

Well, perhaps it should have been the first thing to do, but troubleshooting compatibility and applying recommended settings appears to have fixed the problem. I'm not sure exactly what settings it has changed that might have fixed it but I do now have to allow the program access to the laptop or whatever upon starting civ, which I think I used to have to do when it was working fine, actually . I'll edit or reply again in a few days to confirm if it's fixed for good.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's all fixed now, though for some reason the settings that it's been changed to somehow avoid having to sign in to steam . However, when playing in this unsigned-in mode i'm unable to load game saves (it tells me I'm missing the correct dlc for some reason ). But I am able to start new games and then load up saves of those game if I don't quit civ.