civ 2 crashes on windows 7

ok i swear i searched for other threads but i didnt find any answers, so i post this.

i recently got a new laptop... with windows 7. civ2 was working fine on my old laptop with xp, but for some reason it doesnt seem to like windows 7. ive tried running civ2 in different compatability modes but i still get the same problems.

basically what happens is this: civ2 runs perfectly right from the start UNTIL i try to type/enter text.

so i can choose all my game options etc and it all works fine as long as i dont click on the text boxes for rulers name etc or try to type into them. if i DO try to type then civ encounters an error and crashes to desktop.

so right now the game works fine, so long as the only thing i do is move my unit of settlers round the map and dont try to build any cities. because as soon as the new city window opens and asks for a city name... the game crashes. but it doesnt matter how many turns i end or anything, the game still works fine. it only breaks when i try to type anything.... and its really annoying because i love civ 2 and i used to play it a shiatload on my old laptop.

so yeah thats my problem, i dont know if ive explained it very well. reading it back it sounds a bit crap so ask me if you need something explained better. but please please please ive spent so much smegging time on google trying to find solutions to this but to no avail so please if anyone knows how to fix this help me!!

I never heard of this problem before. I hope somebody knows the solution for it. But I might have a trick that might help. If you open Word, Wordpad or something else you can type in... you can write the things you want to type in civ2 and copy it (ctrl C or use your mouse). Go to civ2...select the text you want to change and only use your mouse (right click->paste) to paste the text in it. I hope this helps. It's not the easiest solution but it might work.

I have exactly the same problem as the guy who started the thread... if anyone knows a patch or a way to fix this, please answer !

Magic_gorter said:

I never heard of this problem before. I hope somebody knows the solution for it. But I might have a trick that might help. If you open Word, Wordpad or something else you can type in... you can write the things you want to type in civ2 and copy it (ctrl C or use your mouse). Go to civ2...select the text you want to change and only use your mouse (right click->paste) to paste the text in it. I hope this helps. It's not the easiest solution but it might work.

Click to expand...

that doesnt work either. just trying to click into the text fields makes the game crash. its such a pain in the butt.

i even tried downloading different versions of civ2 and run them from different locations with different settings but i still got the same problem.

havent played civ in like 2 weeks now.

hey guys i was wondering..... if i installed windows virtual pc and try to run civ2 on xp 32 bit do you think that would work like normal? im only asking instead of doing because i cant really be bothered right now.

im starting to to wish i didnt bother with windows 7, so much of my old junk and software doesnt work properly on it.

weeeee double-post

so, virtual pc worth a try?

::edit:: nevermind about all that, it wont work anyway. i guess ill have to wait till someone somewhere makes a fix. my civ days are over. stupid windows 7.

I'm afraid the problem lies with the fact CIV2 was originally compiled to work with Windows 95...
Everything was OK with Windows 98, 2000, Millennium... XP...

I still run CIV2 on Vista, but the day I loaded some strange "IDT High Definition Audio" during an otherwise normal Windows Update routine, I lost all audio.
Not just CIV2 audio, I mean everything!
No CIV2 audio, no YouTube audio, not even Startup and Shutdown audio !!!

HEEELP !!!

oh well sod it, i guess ill just go back to civ iv

stupid windows 7

i hope they release a service pack that sorts this out

I can run civ2- mge on windows 7 home premium 64 bit. I installed the 64 bit patch(I don't remember from where) and it runs fine. My only complaint is with the ever hostile AI. Unfortunately 2.42 will not run on a 64 bit OS. I am trying to find a patch for the hostile AI. Unfortunately, two different patches may pose a problem. During the beta period for windows-7 I tried the XP virtual machine. It looked like it might work, but the heavy cpu usage of civ caused a problem.

I really want my 2.42 back.

geofelt said:

I can run civ2- mge on windows 7 home premium 64 bit. I installed the 64 bit patch(I don't remember from where) and it runs fine. My only complaint is with the ever hostile AI. Unfortunately 2.42 will not run on a 64 bit OS. I am trying to find a patch for the hostile AI. Unfortunately, two different patches may pose a problem. During the beta period for windows-7 I tried the XP virtual machine. It looked like it might work, but the heavy cpu usage of civ caused a problem.

I really want my 2.42 back.

Click to expand...

oh my god, i didnt even know there was a 64bit patch.

5 seconds of googling and now i can play civ2 again! thanks dude! i dont mind too much about the other stuff, im just glad to be able to play again.

looks like im going to be late for work on monday.....

::edit:: ok wait, now i cant save games.... is that because of the patch or is that windows 7's fault? everything else works fine but i cant save or load games. the hell is going on?

killing time said:

::edit:: ok wait, now i cant save games.... is that because of the patch or is that windows 7's fault? everything else works fine but i cant save or load games. the hell is going on?

Click to expand...

I have exactly the same problem as the gentleman above me. As long as I run in compatibility mode, the 64 bit patch makes the game not freeze (thank you for that), but now I've lost the ability to save games. You click on save and nothing happens.

The other weird thing is that my numpad seems incorrectly mapped to movement keys. But I think that might be a keyboard problem.

There may be more than one 64 bit patch out there. I can save and reload games properly. So far, the only abnormal thing I see is that you get a black screen with a rotating circle when you start up. Clicking on the screen gets you started.

Another thing, I get music but after one tune, it stops, sometimes until a windows opens, or some such interrupt.

Did you use the one by mastermindx referenced here:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=193215

geofelt said:

There may be more than one 64 bit patch out there. I can save and reload games properly. So far, the only abnormal thing I see is that you get a black screen with a rotating circle when you start up. Clicking on the screen gets you started.

Another thing, I get music but after one tune, it stops, sometimes until a windows opens, or some such interrupt.

Did you use the one by mastermindx referenced here:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=193215

Click to expand...

i found a patch somewhere else, but when i uninstalled civ2 and tried the patch in the link above... it worked and now i can save games........

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-yeaaaaaaaaaaah


i guess i shouldve tried more patches instead of just giving up after the first one. oh well. even the annoying AI cant stop me from enjoying this. i havent played civ2 in like almost a year.


awesome, so glad its working fine now. plus its friday tomorrow so i can commence 48hr civ2 session. switch off tv, disconnect phone and internet, lock all doors, see you on monday weeeeeeeeeeee

I'm getting this exact same problem.

Running Vista x64 with Civ2 MGE. I've tried the xp64 patch linked above, and while I can now get into the games, any time I try to save or load, the game crashes to desktop instantly, with no error or anything.

Anyone solve this problem? Missing my Civ2 fix.

@tanus:
Did you apply the latest civ2-mge patch first?

i deleted everything first then reinstalled then installed the patch from that link, then it worked fine. and still is.

and i was late for work today.

geofelt said:

@tanus:
Did you apply the latest civ2-mge patch first?

Click to expand...

Yeah. Running MGE 5.4.0f patch 3.

I install the game, run the patch3 from this site, then run the xp64 patch from these forums. The game will run fine now, and plays fine. But any time I try to save or load, it immediately drops to desktop with no errors. Just gone.

Doing some quick testing, it also crashes immediately on attempting to start on a premade world or start a scenario. Must be something to do with the dialog box that should come up asking which file.

Any thoughts?

Aha! I had set civ2 to win98 compatibility at some point earlier in my trying - before I found the xp64 patch, and apparently that was causing the subsequent problem. I moved it to XP compatibility and now it will work.

I'm running v. 2.42. I've tried Mastermind's patch, in different compatibility modes. I still can't even open the .exe file. It just says that it's not compatible with the version of windows I'm running. What am I doing wrong?

What version of windows 7 are you running?
Civ 2.42 is a 16 bit program which will not run on ANY 64 bit OS.

Thanks guys for this thread. I can now play MGE on my new laptop with win 7. Thanks for the patch!