Black screen after intro movie

[b_2]

Well, I broke a rule of mine and bought this game immediately instead of waiting a few weeks. And sure enough, it doesn't work.

The intro runs fine but then the screen goes black. The game is there running but it is basically impossible to get out of because Alt-tab doesn't work, start menu is disabled, etc. I have to reboot.

System:
ASUS A7V133
Althon 1.3
512 MB
Elsa GeForce2 GTS (32 MB)
Hercules GameTheatre XP
Viewsonic PF790

win 2k sp2
Nvidia 21.83 drivers
Hercules 3.02 drivers

The support page talks about this bug but I can't figure out how to change the Monitor to anything other than Default Monitor in the Nvidia property pages.

I will be grateful for any serious suggestions.

B2

 

[pansophy]

That seems to be a common problem, which I had. I solved it by installing it on Win98 since I have a dual boot.

One thing to try is trying to run it in compatiblity mode. Go to Microsoft's support site and look up article number Q279792 - How to Enable Application Compatibility-Mode Technology in Windows 2000 Service Pack 2

It gives instructions on how to start a program this way.

It didn't work for me because of some Win32 error, which is hit or miss on 2k (meaning some get it and some don't). Maybe you'll be lucky.

 

[b_2]

Thanks - I may try it after I try changing the default monitor.

B2

 

[Tyler42]

I had the same problem. I can tell you that it IS a problem with your monitor. I have a GeForce 2mx on a winXP box and a Sony Trinitron Monitor, all a bit different from what you have but here is what I did to fix it.
Found a driver for the monitor from Sony's website and installed
it.
installed the v21.83 Detonator Driver. (I see you already have
that)

Thats it, game works. I think if you can find a driver for your monitor from viewsonics website and install that you should be good to go.

I wish you luck.

 

[Tyler42]

Here is the URL where you can download that driver for your monitor.

http://www.viewsonic.com/products/crt_pf790.cfm

Good Luck.

 

[dowski]

I had this same problem too. My monitor was set to "Unknown Monitor". I changed it to "1024x768 Super VGA @ 75hz" and it worked for me after that. I have an old analog 21" monitor that I could never find proper INF files for, so the generic ones will have to do!

 

[b_2]

Thanks for all the great help. I switched to ps790 and I can see the entry screen now.

Thanks much for the URL too.

B2

 

[mrbear]

If you check the civilization.ini and the readme.txt file, there is a way to force a particular resolution. This should fix the problem without having to install new drivers etc.

 

[MasterOfOz]

Finally I came ahold of this passionly awaited game.
The installtion process went smoothly.even if it disturbed
me a bit that the autorun on the cd wouldn´t work.

When I start the game the following thing happens:

1.The screen start to tremble between grey and white
2.The screen then stablizes and the introduction movie plays.
3.After this movie the monitor starts to tremble between grey
and white again and nothing more happens.
4.I can´t exit the game with esc or ctrl+alt+delete.
5.I have to restart my computer the hard way to make it stop

I have two computers,one with Win 2000 and one with Win XP.
I have the same problem on both of them,even though the have
different hardware(they share the same monitor though)!

It seems to be a graphic problem of some kind,related to graphic
card,drivers,directx or something.

My Win XP computer has a Hercules 3D Prophet GTS II 64mb -card
and the Win 2k-computer has a Creative 3D Blaster Savage 4 -card.

I have the most recent drivers to these cards and have tried the following:
1.Change resolution to 800x600
2.Change screen type from standard to Nokia447W.
3.Copy the binkw32.dll from the cd to the game directory

What more can I do,do I have to install Win98(which I hate)just to play this game or do I have to watch until Infogrames releases
a patch?!
By the way,Infogrames perhapes should consider to change to something they can manage to do better,obviously they can´t make games anyway,,,

 

[MasterOfOz]

I finally made it work after trying to run in compability mode,
now the game works in both Win 2k and Win XP.

No need to reinstall or set up a dual-boot system,,,

YES!!!


(And I have a three day vaccation to look forward too,,,
u all know what that means!)