Civ 4 on Windows 10

[Jessop]

Hi all, I upgraded my PC to Windows 10 (from 7) and as soon as I did Civ 4 refused to run. I tried every compatibility mode and uninstalled. I tried re-installing but it failed everytime. As such I have gone back to 7.
Does anyone know of a way of making it work on 10? I was thinking about installing an XP VM to run it on, anyone have any experience of this?

Thanks in advance

 

[tulsiz]

I purchased my version of Civ 4 via Amazon download, and I can run and play it fine. I also have a version on Steam that will run and play fine.

I've seen in different forums that some of the CD versions may have a problem with Windows 10 not able to verify the old copy protection on those discs.

The only problem that I'm having is that when I try to save a game it will only save to an external hard drive, it can't save to the C drive which is the default location in the save menu. Annoying but not a showstopper.

{{ Update: I was able to stop the problem with the saves by moving my entire My Documents folder (where Civ has the default save location live) to my external drive. Civ 4 BTS on Windows 10 works! }}

 

[Jessop]

Don't really want to be buying another copy of a game I have already paid for though. There must be some kind of workaround

 

[LordValuna]

Id buy from amazon but they wont download to Canada, plus it would be more for me as Canadian dollar low.

So, I'm stuck need a work around to install the disk ive paid for.

 

[Ramkhamhaeng]

Assumed Reason:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...l/65a6fe83-08df-4760-b2ad-6b1ce61d40d4?auth=1

The latest Patch (3.19) should remove the copy protection.
@Users with the problem: Did you applied the latest patch?
Founded Mirrors: Archive.org Google Docs Civilized.de

 

[Jessop]

If i'm correct to make the patch run you have to install it into a different folder from the default? c:\games I believe? Windows 10 wouldn't even let me install from disk, I had to copy all the data off then install. Tried the patch and told me game wasn't installed.

 

[LordValuna]

it wont let me copy the disk so cant apply the patch
please keep us informed if Microsoft solves the problem

 

[Ramkhamhaeng]

Could you try if this handmade diff between version 3.17 and 3.19 helps? https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1McS_lNgR3_b2Z4SW1Ga2FmblU/view?usp=sharing
Note that I assume that Beyond the Sword is a subfolder of Civ4. This could be differ on your system.

 

[LordValuna]

Repeat-it's not the patch that is the problem. It's the original disk which won't read due to the reasons mentioned by Ramkhamhaeng

 

[benitorios]

Hi Everyone,

I can confirm the 3.19 patch works. I downloaded it from the Civilized.de link posted above and installed it over a fresh install of BTS and it worked.

Before I installed the patch, I had the same issues as you i.e. the game just wouldn't start.

Hope the patch works for you too.

benitorios

 

[RogerH]

Is there a similar fix for warlords (or just the main civ iv) as you have here for Beyond the Sword ? I haven't bought Beyond the sword, so this just gives me a lot of errors saying missing dll's, and no improvement on the main program not running.

 

[Deckhand]

I can confirm the 3.19 patch works.

Is there a similar fix for warlords (or just the main civ iv) as you have here for Beyond the Sword.

The 3.19 patch for BtS works because it allows us to play BtS without the disk.
There is no equivalent patch for Vanilla nor Warlords.

I downgraded to Windows10 yesterday as was happy to be able to play the BOTM.
Only to discover today that I can't play vanilla or warlords anymore.

 

[Ramkhamhaeng]

It would be useful to check if the Vanilla and Warlords-Executable of the Steam-Version would run with your installation, too. We just need somebody who owns this files...
(I mean the 'old' version with Gamespy support, see http://support.2k.com/hc/en-us/arti...eamworks-Civilization-IV-Unsupported-on-Steam )

 

[Pscioed]

I am having the problem described by the link from Ramkhamhaeng. I have a vanilla game disc set, and am running windows 7. Two weeks ago the game was running smoothly. Since the latest windows update, whenever I attempt to run the game, it says "Please log in with administrator privileges and try again". When I run as administrator, it doesn't complain, but also doesn't do anything at all. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling to C://Games/Civ4, but the issue persists. Is this the same issue (SafeDisc losing support), or is it something else entirely (and maybe even fixable)? I have not yet tried uninstalling the recent windows updates, it would be interesting to see if that fixes it.

I apologize in advance if I should not be reviving a month old thread, I am new to these forums and don't know typical thread lifespans.

 

[Ramkhamhaeng]

Finally found the issue, which is to say I found which update (KB3086255) from the latest Windows update has caused the issue. The issue is that the secdrv service had been disabled, which incidentally is the same reason Civ4 doesn't work on Windows 10 (I am using Windows 8).

I found the information here (I hope it's okay for me to post this link - it wasn't easy to find via Google):
http://myonlinesecurity.co.uk/september-2015-windows-updates-kb3086255-breaks-many-games/

I ran the two commands listed from a command prompt with admin privs and was then able to run Civ4:

sc config secdrv start= demand
sc start secdrv

I assume that to be safe it should be stopped and then again disabled after running the game. Probably a good candidate for a couple of batch files.

An other solution should be the deinstallation of the above update. It's necessary to add this update into the list of blocked updates.

 

[Jeystone]

Thanks guys. Patch got my complete version working on windows 10 as well

 

[ForbiddenPirate]

I've found a fairly simple way to fix it all if you've got a disc and can't get it working on Windows 10. This worked for me.
I wrote a post about it here
But basically it is a case of downloading the patch and a few other files - d3dx9_31 is a direct x file i think.
Then you install your game, install the patch, replace the other files in the Civ 4 directory and then you are free to play the game again.

 

[neismond]

I did the following on my laptop-

Installed Civ4
Installed Beyond the Sword
Downloaded and installed Beyond the Sword patch
Created a shortcut for Beyond the Sword on my desktop, and deleted the Civ4 created shortcut
Ran the shortcut, and it worked perfectly!

 

[force200]

I did the same and get this: http://imgur.com/a/08FpL
And it refuses to go away, no amtter what I do.

 

[popupdon]

Hi all, I upgraded my PC to Windows 10 (from 7) and as soon as I did Civ 4 refused to run. I tried every compatibility mode and uninstalled. I tried re-installing but it failed everytime. As such I have gone back to 7.
Does anyone know of a way of making it work on 10? I was thinking about installing an XP VM to run it on, anyone have any experience of this?

Thanks in advance

I had no problems playing Civ 4. Sounds like you have a protected copy of the game. Mine has no Digital Rights Management. The game started crawling on my machine so I uninstalled and reinstalled. Game functions fine but still runs slower than molasses.