Black screen on startup

[chrisbk88]

Now I've been searching for the last hour or so for solutions to this problem. Nothing works. When I start my Civilization 3 Complete my screen is completely black, and nothing works unless I restart my computer

OS: Microsoft Windows Vista 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core i7
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 260 Core 216
RAM: 6GB DDR3 G.Skill

This is really annoying, seems like I have to play this on my old XP machine...

I saw something about editing the refresh rate in civilization3.ini but I cannot find this .ini file.

I really hate Civ4 and I'm trying to get 3 to work on my machine but I see CIV3 has problems on Vista, let alone 64-bit.

 

[Turner]

I saw something about editing the refresh rate in civilization3.ini but I cannot find this .ini file.

It doesn't actually exist until you start a game. However, you can create the appropriate file in Notepad and Civ3 will fill in the rest.

Create civilizationiii.ini, ptw.ini, or conquests.ini in the appropriate directory, and put the line in Refresh=XX, where XX is your refresh rate.

 

[chrisbk88]

I found the solution. Note this is only for Vista 64-bit users.

Change the path install paths to your installation paths or it will not work.

Step 1.
Find the installation folder. In my case installation folder is:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Atari\Civilization III Complete

Step 2.
Create new text (notepad) file and name it civ3fix

Step 3.
Open file and copy/paste code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Infogrames]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Infogrames\Civ3PTW]
"Install_Path"="C:\Program Files (x86)\Atari\Civilization III Complete\Civ3PTW"
"Gold_Version"=dword:00000001
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Infogrames\Conquests]
"Install_Path"="C:\Program Files (x86)\Atari\Civilization III Complete\Conquests"
"Complete_Version"=dword:00000001
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Infogrames Interactive]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Infogrames Interactive\Civilization III]
"Install_Path"="C:\Program Files (x86)\Atari\Civilization III Complete"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Infogrames Interactive\Civilization III - Play the World v1.27F]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Infogrames Interactive\Civilization III - Play the World v1.27F\1.27F]
@=""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Infogrames Interactive\Civilization III v1.29f]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Infogrames Interactive\Civilization III v1.29f\1.29f]
@=""

Step 3.
Change game installation folder for your installation folder

Step 4.
Then choose save. When the save dialog box pops up, change file type at the bottom to 'all files', then save it as a .reg file (Civ3fix.reg).

Step 5.
Finally, double click the file to add the entries to the registry.