ThunderPeel2001
Chieftain
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2007
- Messages
- 21
CIII vs Vista
- Thread starter danside0608
- Start date
I can't get it to run on Vista now, either. It was running 16 hours ago, and now I can only get my saved files (any of them) to load when I start a new game first. And then it quits working within a few minutes. 
I've tried reinstalling (without GameSpy), both C3C and the 1.22f patch, tried running in Windows 2000 Compatibility Mode, am running as an administrator, and have UAC turned off. Disconnecting from the Net didn't help. I'm running a virus scan now with the latest updates installed.
Here's the information about the crash:
I'm considering nuking Vista and using the recovery partition to re-install, then disabling automatic updates, but would prefer a slightly less-drastic solution.
The only thing other than Vista updates I can think of that might have caused a problem is the DirectX update released 7/31/2007 that I installed so Civ4 1.74 would work, although I don't know why it worked 16 hours ago if that was the problem.
I also looked into that Mp3dec.asi. It didn't seem to matter whether the C3C music was playing as to whether it crashed. A search of my computer revealed Mp3dec.asi is part of several other programs I have installed, including Port Royale, Railroad Tycoon II, Tropico, and Age of Mythology. At some point I'll see if those are still working properly.
The other thing in that info that stands out is the Application Version is 1.21. Wouldn't it make more sense for it to be 1.22 with the 1.22 patch?
I've tried reinstalling (without GameSpy), both C3C and the 1.22f patch, tried running in Windows 2000 Compatibility Mode, am running as an administrator, and have UAC turned off. Disconnecting from the Net didn't help. I'm running a virus scan now with the latest updates installed.
Here's the information about the crash:
Crash said:
I'm considering nuking Vista and using the recovery partition to re-install, then disabling automatic updates, but would prefer a slightly less-drastic solution.
The only thing other than Vista updates I can think of that might have caused a problem is the DirectX update released 7/31/2007 that I installed so Civ4 1.74 would work, although I don't know why it worked 16 hours ago if that was the problem.
I also looked into that Mp3dec.asi. It didn't seem to matter whether the C3C music was playing as to whether it crashed. A search of my computer revealed Mp3dec.asi is part of several other programs I have installed, including Port Royale, Railroad Tycoon II, Tropico, and Age of Mythology. At some point I'll see if those are still working properly.
The other thing in that info that stands out is the Application Version is 1.21. Wouldn't it make more sense for it to be 1.22 with the 1.22 patch?
Theryman
King
Google says that is an MP3 decoder... Someone playing AOM had a problem, with the same software, and they fixed it here: http://filesharingtalk.com/vb3/archive/index.php/t-1383.html
No guarantees, though.
I recommend backing up your files (and your saves from your game!) before you try anything at all.
Searching my Civ3 folders, there is indeed a file called mp3dec.asi. 3, in fact- on each in:
C:\Program Files\Atari\Civilization III Complete\Redist\Win 32
C:\Program Files\Atari\Civilization III Complete\civ3PTW\Redist\Win 32
C:\Program Files\Atari\Civilization III Complete\Conquests\Redist\Win 32
Make sure all those are there.
Unforunately the link from the AoM link is dead, so I don't know if that's a different version of Mp3dec.asi or not. I tried Railraod Tycoon II, and so far it's working fine, even with loaded games. So I checked the file properties for each program's Mp3dec.asi
And AoM's, though I haven't tested it yet:
There are two differences: created date, and access date. Modified is when the company last made a change. Created is when I installed the program, at least for RT2 and Civ. Note that I just re-installed Civ on Tuesday and it didn't help. Size is the exact same.
To see if changes had been made to the files that didn't affect the size in bytes, I opened each in an MS-DOS Edit window. Scrolling down twice, I took screenshots of the command.com window and saved them. As you can see, the two files are identical, at least at this point. Presumably they are the whole length.
But not being sure, my next step will be to substitute the Railroad Tycoon II Mp3dec.asi file for the Civ3Conquests one. If that doesn't work, I'll look for another version (the other four on my computer also being the exact same size).
edit: Probably ought to add the Railroad Tycoon II was playing all sounds, including the mp3 music files, perfectly.
edit: After reinstalling I also tried using just the 1.20 patch instead of 1.22, to no avail. I can't use pre-1.20 because pre-1.20 can't read post 1.20 saves.
And AoM's, though I haven't tested it yet:
There are two differences: created date, and access date. Modified is when the company last made a change. Created is when I installed the program, at least for RT2 and Civ. Note that I just re-installed Civ on Tuesday and it didn't help. Size is the exact same.
To see if changes had been made to the files that didn't affect the size in bytes, I opened each in an MS-DOS Edit window. Scrolling down twice, I took screenshots of the command.com window and saved them. As you can see, the two files are identical, at least at this point. Presumably they are the whole length.
But not being sure, my next step will be to substitute the Railroad Tycoon II Mp3dec.asi file for the Civ3Conquests one. If that doesn't work, I'll look for another version (the other four on my computer also being the exact same size).
edit: Probably ought to add the Railroad Tycoon II was playing all sounds, including the mp3 music files, perfectly.
edit: After reinstalling I also tried using just the 1.20 patch instead of 1.22, to no avail. I can't use pre-1.20 because pre-1.20 can't read post 1.20 saves.
It occured to me that the problem could be loading that one individual save onto a different machine, with a different OS. So I started up a game in Vista, played 13 turns or so, saved it, quit, and loaded it. It kept loading fine, which worried me. But I played a few more turns, and then it crashed. Yay! I don't usually want a program to crash, but this time it was good!
It gave a different Fault Module this time, though:
jgl.dll
I haven't looked into what this is, but I'm almost positive now the root of the problem is with Vista. Another oddity is that even though Civ loaded the saves, they didn't appear in the Conquests\Saves folder when I went there - I'd planned to copy them to my XP machine and see if they played correctly there. Strange.
It gave a different Fault Module this time, though:
jgl.dll
I haven't looked into what this is, but I'm almost positive now the root of the problem is with Vista. Another oddity is that even though Civ loaded the saves, they didn't appear in the Conquests\Saves folder when I went there - I'd planned to copy them to my XP machine and see if they played correctly there. Strange.
One more update, maybe it'll shed some light on the problem.
I mentioned at the end of the last post that the saved games weren't appearing. They just aren't in the Conquests\Saves folder. I loaded up Conquests once more, after rebooting, and this time the Korea saves I'd made weren't seen by Civ, either.
It looks like there's something messed up with creating and loading saves.
While browsing CFC, I found one more instance of this happening, on Page 11 of the Civ III Mac Technical Support. Here's a link. It describes perfectly what was happening with me, only I had Vista instead of Mac OS 9.2.2.
The other possibility is it has something to do with my graphics card. I have an nVIDIA GeForceM 8600GT, with 256 MB of DDR2 RAM, on my laptop, and DirectX 10, along with the Vista-compatible-but-not-the-same-as-the-original version of DirectX 9 (Direct3D 9Ex?). The problem might be with that DirectX 10 is not backwards-compatible, and I'm not sure how Vista handles that with a DX10 card and DX9 applications. Not sure why that'd be causing issues with saved games, an Mp3 dll, or jgl.dll.
I'm still not sure what jgl.dll does - neither Google nor Jeeves gave me a quick answer. Chieftess mentioned something about it as, "the dreaded jiggle" in another post in Tech Support, though.
The other possibility is something with copy protection. When I tried to load CivIII on a Windows 98 VM within Vista it hanged on the splash screen, which according to CFC's CivIII Technical Issues FAQ indicates a copy-protection issue. This is the third machine I've installed Vanilla on, and second for Conquests, if that would cause an issue. Fourth and third if you count the native Vista install. But the Vista install did get past the splash screen with no problems.
Those are my three guesses as to the source of the problem. Thanks for any ideas/solutions.
Oh, and does anyone know if Mac CivIII Conquests can read saves made in the Windows version, based on .biq files made in the Windows Conquests editor? 'Cause I realized MacOS + MacCiv is cheaper than a full retail of Windows, though I'd have to check with Apple to see if I could run it without problems. Edit: Nope, has to be an Apple-labeled PC. Wonder if I can get Apple to label my PC? Y'know, get them to put a little Apple sticker on it.
--------
Edit: A complete re-install of the OS has Civ working again. Not sure what was wrong, possibly a driver? Whatever the case, I'm leaving the defaults on as much as reasonably possible to avoid re-triggering the problem.
I mentioned at the end of the last post that the saved games weren't appearing. They just aren't in the Conquests\Saves folder. I loaded up Conquests once more, after rebooting, and this time the Korea saves I'd made weren't seen by Civ, either.
It looks like there's something messed up with creating and loading saves.
While browsing CFC, I found one more instance of this happening, on Page 11 of the Civ III Mac Technical Support. Here's a link. It describes perfectly what was happening with me, only I had Vista instead of Mac OS 9.2.2.
The other possibility is it has something to do with my graphics card. I have an nVIDIA GeForceM 8600GT, with 256 MB of DDR2 RAM, on my laptop, and DirectX 10, along with the Vista-compatible-but-not-the-same-as-the-original version of DirectX 9 (Direct3D 9Ex?). The problem might be with that DirectX 10 is not backwards-compatible, and I'm not sure how Vista handles that with a DX10 card and DX9 applications. Not sure why that'd be causing issues with saved games, an Mp3 dll, or jgl.dll.
I'm still not sure what jgl.dll does - neither Google nor Jeeves gave me a quick answer. Chieftess mentioned something about it as, "the dreaded jiggle" in another post in Tech Support, though.
The other possibility is something with copy protection. When I tried to load CivIII on a Windows 98 VM within Vista it hanged on the splash screen, which according to CFC's CivIII Technical Issues FAQ indicates a copy-protection issue. This is the third machine I've installed Vanilla on, and second for Conquests, if that would cause an issue. Fourth and third if you count the native Vista install. But the Vista install did get past the splash screen with no problems.
Those are my three guesses as to the source of the problem. Thanks for any ideas/solutions.
Oh, and does anyone know if Mac CivIII Conquests can read saves made in the Windows version, based on .biq files made in the Windows Conquests editor? 'Cause I realized MacOS + MacCiv is cheaper than a full retail of Windows, though I'd have to check with Apple to see if I could run it without problems. Edit: Nope, has to be an Apple-labeled PC. Wonder if I can get Apple to label my PC? Y'know, get them to put a little Apple sticker on it.
--------
Edit: A complete re-install of the OS has Civ working again. Not sure what was wrong, possibly a driver? Whatever the case, I'm leaving the defaults on as much as reasonably possible to avoid re-triggering the problem.
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