Warlords stops responding in Windows Vista

[Iznogood]

I've read that Warlords should run fine in windows vista, but that is not the case for me. I've managed to install the game and it starts up just fine, movies are playing nice.

But when I build my first city the games graphics are not updating anymore. The music is still playing and the game does not crash, but I can't do anything. Also, when running in full screen the mouse pointer is not visible.

Does anyone have a solution to this problem that does not involve uninstalling Vista or playing the game without building any cities?

My graphic card which I suspect is the cause of the error is a ATI x800gt with 256 ram.

Any help or comfort are appreciated.

[Artosoft]

How much main memory do you have? I run in Vista home premium with 2GB main memory without any problem. Noticed it run slower than in XP.

Regards,
Arto.

[Iznogood]

I have 2GB RAM and that should be plenty enough. The cpu is an amd 3800+ x2.

I also tried to disable aero, without any success. Do you have an ATI or Nvidia card in your vista machine? I had to install the latest ati drivers (from march) to make my graphic card work correctly in Vista, but perhaps ATI has introduced new bugs in these drivers?

I noticed that the font used in warlords are different in Vista than in XP, do you notice the same thing?

[auldian]

ATI's 7.3 may help if not already installed.
Some common compatibility solutions for some folks are to run the program (Civilization4.exe and Civ4Warlords.exe) in Compatibility mode for Windows XP SP2 and to tick "Disable desktop composition" in the settings list (same panel).
Make sure sound card software is up to date and you've configured it in Civ's options.
Run a DX9.0c install from a recent build. It may be necessary to find and copy to your Warlords directory "d3dx9_26.dll" as some have reported.
I've installed the latest Python on my box too; not sure it's had an effect because it was software I put on before my games.
I trust you've patched.
Test it in window mode by unticking "full screen" iirc.
There are some log files generated in your "Documents\My Games\Warlords" that may give clues too.
I hope you resolve it. Let us know.

[Iznogood]

Thank you for the reply..

This is what I have done so far without success:
- I already have installed the newest ati drivers (7.3).
- I have tried running in xp sp 2 mode, but then the cd check mysterious fails.
- I've tried running in full screen mode and in windowed mode. Windowed mode works best, fewer graphical glitches, but the main bug is still there.
- And of course I'm running version 2.08 of Warlords.

This is on my todo list (in following order):
- Installing Directx 9.0c
- Check the log
- Installing python
- Updating sound drivers

I will get back to you with the results.

[Iznogood]

Installing DirectX9.0c from february did not help with the save game I had that always crashed. But when playing new games I do not experience the bug, at least not when building the first city.

I should have provided you all with a version of the savegame that crashes but it was overwritten since it was only a auto save game from the beginning.

I will soon be playing this game more and see if its stable or not. My guess is that I will experience more trouble soon...

Stay put.

[Iznogood]

After playing for a few minutes the game froze again. All animations are frozen, no input is accepted, but the music is playing and Vista DOES NOT give message of "not responding". When I close the game it exits fast and ok.

When I reload the savegame and plays the same sequence I see that the game froze when it should have displayed the lovely face and welcome screen from Cyrus. But this time it does not freeze.

The log files are not displaying any useful information as far as I can see.

What to do next?

It seems to me that when new pieces of the interface is loading (for the first time?) there are a chance for a total freeze.

[auldian]

Cache cleared? Mine installed to here in Vista:
C:\Users\<windows log in name>\AppData\Roaming\My Games\Warlords\cache

[Artosoft]

I am using ATI x1600pro and ATI Vista driver, the latest v7.3. I am not changing, download or do something with the DirectX.

Yes, I noticed also the font are different between XP and Vista.

Regards,
Arto.

[Davidicus379]

I can get Civ4 vanilla and warlords running on vista by changing the property settings to XP. But none of the mods or patches will work. I think it's because of the new permissions requirements in vista.

[snoopy369]

Did you install it with "Run as administrator"?

[Davidicus379]

Yes. When I unzip a mod I can't find it in any of the folders unless I show "display non-compatable" files and even then the mod won't load.

[Iznogood]

Warlords is still very unstable here. I updated to the latest ati driver (7.4), latest soundcard driver, runned in xp mode, turned of aero, nothing works.

The interface still stops responding randomly. The sound is continuing and I think the game accepts mouse and keyboard input, but the graphics are simply not updated.

[Iznogood]

A thought - Did you guys install the game as "this user only" or as available to all users?

EDIT: Reinstalled the game as one user only, but did not help that either. Seems to me that the only solution is to buy a new graphic card with better Vista support.

[Artosoft]

Originally Posted by Iznogood

A thought - Did you guys install the game as "this user only" or as available to all users?

EDIT: Reinstalled the game as one user only, but did not help that either. Seems to me that the only solution is to buy a new graphic card with better Vista support.

Your graphic card, x800gt is fine. Maybe faster than my x1600pro.

I installed it as "available to all users".

Regards,
Arto.

[Iznogood]

Well, it does not work anyway

I know that ATI has had some problems with their drivers with my card, but I'm open for all other cheaper suggestions than buying new graphic card

Someone that can confirm that they are running warlords successful with x800gt on Windows Vista?

[auldian]

Well, some have better success running in Windowed mode. If you've not tried, you untick "full screen" in the video options.
Add the line in Crunch's comment here to your *.INIs. This will enable you to scroll by using your mouse.
I hope this works for you.

[Iznogood]

I have tried, I have tried...
Mouse cursor is showing in windowed mode, which it doesn't in full screen. But the game always freezes sometime during the 20 first turns.

Bad luck I guess.

Edit: The loading screen is not rendered correctly when I start the game. This is fixed by running in xp compability mode. But the game still freezes. I also see about 30 vertical black lines in the background in the main menu screen which I don't remember seeing in XP.

[Davidicus379]

I changed Warlords to Windows NT compatibility mode from XP mode and haven't had a problem since.

[joerock128]

how do you do this?