BTS Crashes when loading

[LorenMaxwell]

Each time I try to load BTS it crashes.

It will get slightly past the loading screen and to the intro music (starts similar to smashing glass) which will repeat itself in short bursts about 4-5 times and then exit the game with the standard option to report the error to Microsoft.

I have Civ IV and Warlords, neither of which have ever given me any problems.

I am running on an HP Pavilion dv9000 laptop with Windows XP.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[LorenMaxwell]

PS. I have also downloaded the 3.03 patch to no avail.

 

[ori]

Welcome to CFC
Are you using the retail version of BtS? i.e. the one on CD, not the downloadable one?
If yes try this:
Install BtS (I would start from scratch)
Download and apply this patch.
If the crash is still there:
Download and apply this patch Note: this patch introduces some new issues -so I would not apply it if it is not necessary.
If the crash is still there - come back

 

[ori]

PS. I have also downloaded the 3.03 patch to no avail.

Did you download the 3.02 patch (the first one I gave)?

 

[LorenMaxwell]

Thanks for the reply.

I had downloaded the 3.02 path first and then the recently released 3.03 patch.

Had the exact same issue with both patches.

 

[LorenMaxwell]

Forgot to answer first part - retail version (CD).

 

[ori]

when it crashes what does the Microsoft report say?

 

[Dunstan]

I'm having the exact same problem as the OP.

I'm running XP Professional Service Pack 2. Vanilla Civ and Warlords run fine.

I emailed support two days ago, but so far have only got a form email telling me to expect a response within 24 hours.

 

[LorenMaxwell]

The error message says

"Sid Mier's Civilization 4 has encountered a problem and needs to close"

along with some other standard verbage and an option to report the problem to Microsoft.

It is the same error screen as when any other program freezes up and then offers to report it to Microsoft for data.

Dunstan - Do you have an HP Pavilion as well?

 

[Dunstan]

Dunstan - Do you have an HP Pavilion as well?

Not quite; it's a Compaq Presario V6000, but that's also made by HP.

And my error message is the same. I went into the gory detail of the error report, but for some reason I wasn't able to cut-and-paste or even take a screenshot of it.

 

[ori]

The error message says

"Sid Mier's Civilization 4 has encountered a problem and needs to close"

along with some other standard verbage and an option to report the problem to Microsoft.

It is the same error screen as when any other program freezes up and then offers to report it to Microsoft for data.

Dunstan - Do you have an HP Pavilion as well?

I know the standard message - but usually you can click on "show report" to see what application actually killed it...
Other then that it is difficult to guess what happens

 

[LorenMaxwell]

Didn't realize it contained any other info!

The screen with additional info is attched.

 

[ori]

Ok - so binkw32.dll seems to be a problem. Vanilla is working right?
Try the following (this is just a guess since both files have the same size and seem to have the same content):
First you have uninstalled and reinstalled BtS if I understand this correctly - if not do so and make sure to delete everything BtS related before reinstalling. If that does not help or you already did it:

go to .../Firaxis Games/Sid Meier's Civilization 4/Beyond the Sword locate binkw32.dll (make sure you have "show hidden files" enabled) rename it or move it to another folder.
go to .../Firaxis Games/Sid Meier's Civilization 4 locate binkw32.dll and copy it to .../Firaxis Games/Sid Meier's Civilization 4/Beyond the Sword
Try to start the game - maybe the BtS copy was just corrupted for whatever reason.

IF that does not do OR .../Firaxis Games/Sid Meier's Civilization 4/Beyond the Sword does not have a binkw32.dll at all - try the fix suggested here (yes it is for Civ3 but should do as well - especially what ainwood says )

 

[Dunstan]

My error report is the same as Loren's.

I'd already tried uninstalling and re-installing.

1) I tried renaming binkw32.dll and copying the one from Vanilla. Same result.

2) I undid step (1), then tried to register binkw32.dll and got the error message "specified module could not be found"

3) I downloaded RADTools (as suggested in the linked thread), but have no idea what to do next -- I don't see what it has to do with binkw32.dll

In case it matters, I looked in my windows\system32 folder and didn't see a copy of binkw32.dll there -- should there be one there (as well as in the BTS folder)?

Thanks for the help.

 

[LorenMaxwell]

I did the same as Dunstan with same results.

I also ran the RadTools program with no luck as well.

Error for registering the dll ("specified module could not be found") is the same as Dunstan's and the error for the crash (binkw32.dll) did not changed.

I also copied the binkw32.dll to the windows\system32 folder, but it still wouldn't register.

 

[ori]

bink is the video file system used by RADTools and incidentally also the one Civ4 uses for all their Videos - that is the reason why RADTools when installed should also install (and register) its own version of binkw32.dll - other then that you could of course still download a new binkw32.dll from sites like this one in case that works.
Apart from these I am out of ideas

 

[LorenMaxwell]

Ori,

Installed the RadTools, but it didn't work. I noticed this particular dll is not in that set though.

Also, I copied the dll from the link you provided into the BTS directory, but BTS wouldn't load past the initial "Loading" screen.

Any other thoughts?

 

[Virulent]

The Civilization IV .ini should have an option you can change to disable movies. It's not the best solution but you should at least be able to play the game.

 

[ori]

Sorry - the only thing you might try (since this thing is only necessary for the videos) is to open the .../My Games/Beyond the Sword/CivilizationIV.ini and change the

; Set to 1 for no intro movie

NoIntroMovie = 0

setting to 1 - *maybe* that lets you actually get past the intro screen, but I have to admit that I don't really believe that will help, other then that - I am really out of ideas

Edit: Virulent was faster...

 

[LorenMaxwell]

This did work so I could at least load the game.

I don't have time to play to see if an in game movie makes it through, but I will try tonight.

Thanks a million!