INstallation problem - data3.cab

[hoshie]

Hey guys, I hoped someone coudl shed some light on this problem I have.

I insert the civ3 cd in the drive, autoplay comes up and I start to install Civilization III. However, at about 42% (on a typical install size) the cd drive powers down after copying a file to the art/flic/ directory. After about 10 seconds I get an error message saying data3.cab cannot be located and it asks me for its location. There is no data3.cab file on my Civilization III CD! I have tried installing this game on 3 computers with different cd-rom drives to no avail so I think it must be a problem with the CD I have? I tried copying the cd to the hard drive to see if it would work then, however I am unable to copy data2.cab (I get an error message in windows explorer saying that it 'cannot read the specified device'). Therefore I think I have a problem with my cd, any solutions? can i get a new cd? what is wrong???

The CD seems fine, is it a bug in the installation program or am I going to have to return the cd (somehow)?
Cheers

 

[Riker13]

Yes I have just purchased Civ3 and I get the same, cannot find Data3.cab, Its at about 76% into the install.

It does not seem to be widespread as no one else seems to have the problem.

 

[TealShark]

Welcome to the wonderful world of SafeDisc v2 copy protection, a protection scheme so irritating, it even messes with legit owners!

Long story short, your CD drive could be one that chokes on Macrovision's subchannel data dealie, making part of the CD invisible to the installation routine and crashing you out because it thinks you have a poorly copied CD-R version of the game.

If you have a real factory-pressed Civ3 CD, the best you can do is ensure you have up-to-date firmware for your drive installed and give it another go. If it still fails, be sure to thank the good folks at Macrovision and the drive and game manufacturers pressured in to thinking this was a convenient way to protect their software.

If I have any facts wrong here, by all means please correct me.

... and good luck to those with installation problems.

 

[Riker13]

I have just tried installing it again with my other drive which is the Writer and it worked fine, my other drive was the DVD drive maybe it has problems with them or as our Friend in the above message said its software related....anyway im happy now.

All the best.

 

[zbear]

As Tealshark said, it is a problem of compatibility between the CD/DVD drive and the copy protection. Any slight fault in the operation of the drive can cause this problem, even if that fault causes no other apparent malfunctions with any other CD.

 

[Malta]

I´m having exactly the same problem.
Strangely, I had installed civ without any problems once, but when I had to reinstall it after having played around a bit too much with the editor (thinking that restoring original rules would restore all of them, but realizing many things were still changed...), I decided to reinstall after being slaughtered in a game where I ran into the Roman legionaries I had boosted for my first game of Civ...
During the installation, everything stopped at 76% and the data3.cab file was requested. I experienced exactly the same when trying to install the game on my girlfriend's computer, even with several attempts. However, I was finally able to install the game again on my own computer after taking out the CD after the problems started at 75-76% again, and then inserting it. The rest of the installation went fine. But it is really annoying.
- "Malta"

 

[infamous]

im having the same problem, could you tell me exactly what you did to make the installation work

 

[chcoal]

Bit late too this lol, I have a dvd of disc 1 and i'm running it on windows 11 using a external dvd drive and i'm getting this error. Extremely annoying!!

 

[tjs282]

Wow, whatta bump!

Way back in late 2017, a Microsoft Windows security update disabled the secdrv.sys driver used for the SafeDisk/SecuROM copy-protection ("disabled" as in, any CD which used that system could no longer be used to [re]install software) -- and although that security update could still be rolled back under WinVista to Win8, Win10 and Win11 won't allow that.

So unless you're one of the lucky owners of a non SafeDisk'd CD/DVD, pretty much the only way you'll get to play Civ III (Complete) these days is by downloading it from GOG or Steam.