"City Window" Dialog Freezing Up Game

watership2 · Mar 24, 2009

When I'm on the city screen, I somehow hit some keystroke or other, because suddenly the "Close City Window" dialog where "you must close the city window" pops up. I keep clicking on "close city window" but nothing happens. Even after the city window itself is closed.

Has anyone else had the same problem? Any suggestions for unfreezing the "close city window" dialog?

I saw a similar thread elsewhere on this forum which obliquely refers to this issue but no solution was offered.

Only way to get out is to shut down the game and start from latest autosave. Not exactly the one I want especially if I've made some changes since the last autosave.

Any thoughts appreciated.Thanks.

Russia4Life · Mar 24, 2009

Sorry if it is inappropriate to post here without a tech solution, but I have also had this happen to me. It happens from time to time when I use the arrow keys to switch between cities. It seems to only happen on the original civ 2 game for me, when I use the left or down arrows and but doesn't all the time. If you are experiencing the same thing you could just do like me and only use the up or right arrow to cycle through cities.

watership2 · Mar 24, 2009

Russia4Life said:
Sorry if it is inappropriate to post here without a tech solution, but I have also had this happen to me. It happens from time to time when I use the arrow keys to switch between cities. It seems to only happen on the original civ 2 game for me, when I use the left or down arrows and but doesn't all the time. If you are experiencing the same thing you could just do like me and only use the up or right arrow to cycle through cities.

thanks for the quick reply. actually this isn't exactly what happened. i'd be on the city screen doing something (changing build order, changing the distribution of production, etc.) and through some funny keystroke or something, the "close city window" pops up. mind you, it's not like i'm trying to get the game going. it just pops up. i press on "close city window" or "ok" (either, doesn't matter) and the dialog box just stays there. even after the city window itself is already closed.

i'm using civ 2.42.

b/c the dialog box won't go away (even if you drag it to the side) you can't do anything else to the game.

watership2 · Mar 24, 2009

here's the screenshot of the problem. note city window is already gone. the dialog box remains. even when you press on it, nothing happens. you can actually drag the dialog box around, but nothing else can be done to the game.

CharlieChuck · Mar 24, 2009

I've had this happen, I think it's caused by clicking outside the current window by accident. The window you were working on is usually hidden under the main map window, if you resize the map window or move this around you can find the other window that's open and close it.

However I don't think my game locks when this happens, I'm usually able to continue.

civiijkw · Mar 24, 2009

I'd guess that CharlieChuck is correct.

I've had crashes when using an arrow to reverse the direction I was going when moving between cities. As long as I go only one direction I'm fine.

As far as an immediate crash goes, I've had that when clicking almost on the square next to the button for changing what was being produced.

watership2 · Mar 25, 2009

CharlieChuck said:
I've had this happen, I think it's caused by clicking outside the current window by accident. The window you were working on is usually hidden under the main map window, if you resize the map window or move this around you can find the other window that's open and close it.

However I don't think my game locks when this happens, I'm usually able to continue.

that makes a lot of sense. i already shut down the game so it's too late to test your proposed solution. next time this problem happens -- if ever, as it's only the third time it happened to me in the past 12 months -- i'll post the results of your proposed solution!

thanks.

watership2 · Apr 3, 2009

it happened again. CharlieChuck, I tried the proposed solution and it didn't work. Check the three screenshots below, in chronological sequence.

Somehow I did a keystroke or two that I don't remember (didn't involve arrow keys) and the "close city window" popped up (first screenshot). The dialog box didn't do anything after pressing "OK" or "close city window". So I manually closed the city window. Dialog box is still there (second screenshot). I resized the other windows per CharlieChuck's suggestion (3rd screenshot). There is no city window hidden anywhere. Dialog box won't close. I can drag dialog box around, but the buttons just don't and won't work. Other actions (from menu or via keyboard or mouse) cannot be done.

Had to shut Civ II down which is a shame b/c I'm close to the end of the game and there are a lot of actions I did in this turn, which I have to do over again from the last autosave.

Russia4Life · Apr 3, 2009

What I would do is backup any of the files I wanted: saves, hall of fame, maps etc. then I would uninstall everything then reinstall. My guess is a file is corrupted somewhere. Another possibility would be install the latest patch if you do not already have the game up to date as that may help. Running civ2 under a different compatibility mode (if applicable) may help too, I have no problems running it on vista but I have a friend who has to run it under xp sp2 to get it to work correctly.

CharlieChuck · Apr 4, 2009

watership2 said:
it happened again. CharlieChuck, I tried the proposed solution and it didn't work. Check the three screenshots below, in chronological sequence.

Somehow I did a keystroke or two that I don't remember (didn't involve arrow keys) and the "close city window" popped up (first screenshot). The dialog box didn't do anything after pressing "OK" or "close city window". So I manually closed the city window. Dialog box is still there (second screenshot). I resized the other windows per CharlieChuck's suggestion (3rd screenshot). There is no city window hidden anywhere. Dialog box won't close. I can drag dialog box around, but the buttons just don't and won't work. Other actions (from menu or via keyboard or mouse) cannot be done.

Had to shut Civ II down which is a shame b/c I'm close to the end of the game and there are a lot of actions I did in this turn, which I have to do over again from the last autosave.

It's strange, I don't understand why you're not able to continue. as Russia4Life says, reinstalling may be an option, as it's such an old game it's more likely to get corrupted on modern computers.

I managed to recreate the message by having the city status window open (on advisors window) then pick a city. Then while that city is open, select end turn, then when another city screen opens (i.e. order is built), click back on the map and the message appears, but the buttons aren't greyed out. The city screen is hidden under the map screen, but this isn't the problem you have, it must be a different one.

Prof. Garfield · Apr 10, 2009

Try checking the box in game options "ENTER key closes City Screen." When it happens again, press enter once or twice and see if the game will continue.

Blasph23 · Apr 29, 2009

As far as I can remember this problem was unsolvable on classic civ 2. MGE fixed it and you can just click "close city window" and it closes. The only solution I've found is to be careful and not click anywhere outside while browsing city screen. This window seems to pop out when you enter the city during the turn cycle, to change production and then accidentally click elsewhere while at the same time hit enter. That way after clicking elsewhere, the game takes a second or two to display the 'close' window but since you hit enter right after, you have already closed that city window. The game however doesn't seem to know that and keeps asking to close it. Happens to me during fast games (around 1 hour real time on chieftain) and during a lot of automated clicking and hitting different keyboard keys.

Angry_Jerk · Jun 23, 2009

Thank god, I was worried I was the only one with this issue.

I'll give CharlieChuck's suggestion a try. Here's to hoping.

"City Window" Dialog Freezing Up Game

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