Indeo Codec troubles with Civ2 solved

[intruder45]

I came across my old copy of Civ2, the one that doesn't require the cd to play and had a frustrating time trying to get it to run on my XP Pro, when I used to play it all the time.

I'd done a fresh install and got the error message about getting the last version of the Indeo Codecs, which I did and still couldn't get it to run. After much searching, here and on the web, I found some surprising information:

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9142140/Rather_than_patch_Microsoft_blocks_buggy_code

The answer and the fix was supplied by Microsoft:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/954157

Under the "More Information" tab, shown on the left, there are two "Microsoft Fix It" icons in the middle of the page. Click on the one to the right, under the "Use this Fix-it button to re-register the Indeo codec files automatically". You'll download a patch, "MicrosoftFixit50327.msi". Double click on it and let it do it's thing and that's all there is to it.

 

[Catfish]

After much searching, here and on the web, I found some surprising information:

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9142140/Rather_than_patch_Microsoft_blocks_buggy_code

Ah, an explanation. Thanks.

I've been registering the Indeo 5 Codec with "regsvr32 ir50_32.dll" (32-bit OS) or "regsvr32 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ir50_32.dll" (64-bit OS) in the Search Box.

 

[FoxAhead]

I found an easy way to enable Indeo codec back if you have K-Lite pack installed.
Find and run in Start menu: "Manage 32-bit VFW and ACM codecs". Scroll down.

Select checkbox "Indeo 4".
Click "Apply & Close".
Now all the videos should be played normally.

UPDATE:
If you don't have K-Lite pack or don't want to install it then you can just use separate Codec Tweak Tool from this pack (https://www.codecguide.com/download_other.htm).

 

[Blake00]

Been meaning to post this for over a year now! I just wanted to add an alternative option to this thread (that I use) in that if you don't want the big K-Lite codec pack and you just simply want Indeo video then this site has the codec with instructions on getting it working on modern OS's.
https://soggi.org/misc/articles/Intel-Indeo-video-audio-codec.htm

That site has been around for many years but just in case it goes down...

I've backed up the whole page and downloads on webarchive here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20211009...sc/articles/Intel-Indeo-video-audio-codec.htm

And I've also put a copy of the file and the support info on a CFC downloads page here:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/intel-indeo-video-audio-codec-for-civ2-mge-videos.29545/

Also please note that sometimes I've seen people tinkering with codec files and wondering why they still don't get working videos in-game because they've failed to notice that Civ2's videos play directly off the Civ2 CD. So if they don't have the CD in the drive or a working mounted CD image file then no amount of playing around with codecs is going to help them lol! However it's also worthy of note that the video folders (called VIDEO and KINGS) on the CD can be transferred to the game install folder on your harddrive.

.

 

[CmmdrHolst]

I found an easy way to enable Indeo codec back if you have K-Lite pack installed.
Find and run in Start menu: "Manage 32-bit VFW and ACM codecs". Scroll down.
View attachment 479361
Select checkbox "Indeo 4".
Click "Apply & Close".
Now all the videos should be played normally.

UPDATE:
If you don't have K-Lite pack or don't want to install it then you can just use separate Codec Tweak Tool from this pack (https://www.codecguide.com/download_other.htm).
View attachment 494929

This did it for me, just registering the DLL didn't work. Enabling the 4.1 codec here did the trick, thanks!

 

[Blake00]

Found a video version of FoxAheads K-lite instructions above...

Also I noticed duplj suggesting an alternative Codec tool (that enables Indeo 4) in another thread if for whatever reason people don't like the above options..

you need to use the program CodecTweakTool without compatibility or to avoid freezing leave compatibility with Windows 7

Codec Guide: More downloads

Free software download links. Codec Tweak Tool, MediaInfo Lite, VLC Player, and more.

www.codecguide.com

in the program, click on the ACM/VMW 86 button and select the Indeo 4/5 codec, click Apply

 

[Estelyen]

A recent update to Win11 seems to have completely broken the Indeo codecs for me. Civ2 doesn't display any videos anymore.

The Indeo codec does not even appear in the Codec Tweak tool anymore (even tried completely reinstalling the thing), the installer from https://soggi.org/misc/articles/Intel-Indeo-video-audio-codec.htm simply won't open (even in compatibility mode) and manually downloading ir50_32.dll and trying to register it via regsvr32 yields an error message telling me that the module failed to load because a dll initialization routine failed.

Does anyone have any other idea on how to get my Civ2 videos back?

 

[FoxAhead]

A recent update to Win11 seems to have completely broken the Indeo codecs for me. Civ2 doesn't display any videos anymore.

The Indeo codec does not even appear in the Codec Tweak tool anymore (even tried completely reinstalling the thing), the installer from https://soggi.org/misc/articles/Intel-Indeo-video-audio-codec.htm simply won't open (even in compatibility mode) and manually downloading ir50_32.dll and trying to register it via regsvr32 yields an error message telling me that the module failed to load because a dll initialization routine failed.

Does anyone have any other idea on how to get my Civ2 videos back?

Indeed, Indeo 4.1 codec is missing in Windows\SysWOW64 folder and is absent in the CodeTweakTool's list. But searching for "ir41_32.ax" file revealed it's location under WinSxS. In my case it was:
C:\Windows\WinSxS\x86_microsoft-windows-indeo4-codecs_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.26100.1_none_dca32b660783c2d4
So I just copied it from WinSxS into SysWOW64 and it appeared in the CodeTweakTool. Then just enabled it as usual.

 

[FoxAhead]

I'm sorry, but that doesn't seem to solve the problem. I checked further, and the copied ir41_32.ax did not work. Moreover, it differs from the one available in Win7.
But after I copied this file from Win7 to Win11, everything worked. So the good news is that it's still possible to make game videos play on Win11. It just takes a little more effort.

 

[Estelyen]

I'm sorry, but that doesn't seem to solve the problem. I checked further, and the copied ir41_32.ax did not work. Moreover, it differs from the one available in Win7.
But after I copied this file from Win7 to Win11, everything worked. So the good news is that it's still possible to make game videos play on Win11. It just takes a little more effort.

I managed to fix it in a similar way. I don't have access to any Win7 installations, but I finally resolved to reverting my system to an earlier system restore point (thank the goddess I had it activated ) and the codec reappeared. I made sure to copy that same file to safe location, in case it happens again with the next update. Thanks a lot for your efforts!