BtS - Crashing/Freezing - Vista 64 (DXDiag and Error Files attached)

[peef_the_Okay]

Hi. I am having a recurring problem with BtS where the game freezes/crashes. When this happens the music starts skipping and I am unable to Alt-Tab, Ctrl-Alt-Delete, etc. I am forced to manually shut down the power and reload. Upon reloading, the game will work fine for awhile. I have attached the DXDiag and Event Viewer Error files . I would appreciate any insight. Thanks

Here are my specs:

Civ 4 BtS patched to 3.17 w/Dresden Unofficial 3.17 patch and Latest BUG Mod
Win Vista 64-bit SP1
Intel Quad Core 2.3 Ghz
8 GB RAM
NVIDIA GT 120 1 GB with latest drivers
RealTek onboard audio with latest drivers

 

[ori]

did you install the game with admin rights?

 

[peef_the_Okay]

Thanks for the reply.

I installed it and am running as an Administrator.

I think the problem is a WMI Error 10. The Event Viewer posts that error at all of the crashes. But unfortunately Microsoft's Knowledge Base is not very helpful on how to fix the error (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950375).

If anyone has a fix for this I'd appreciate knowing what it is.

 

[ori]

the error message seems to be an access priviliges error - just checking: did you right click on the installers and choose run as administrator? or just used an admin account?

 

[peef_the_Okay]

I installed the game and played it in an administrator's account. I assumed that meant that I installed it as an admin...

Thanks

 

[ori]

unfortunately this is not necessarily the case in Vista - you need to right click on the installers (setup.exe on each of the game disks) and patches and choose run as administrator to make sure. Try a reinstall as below (ignore Warlords if you do not have it):


install the most recent version of DirectX 9c from Microsoft

then do the following for a clean reinstall:

Uninstall and Reinstall Civ4 Warlords BtS :

Try to follow this order when doing stuff:
Use Control panel to uninstall Beyond the Sword, then Warlords, then Civ4
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\my documents\my games\sid meier's civilization 4" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\my documents\my games\warlords" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\my documents\my games\beyond the sword" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\application data\my games\sid meier's civilization 4" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\application data\my games\warlords" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\application data\my games\beyond the sword" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\local settings\application data\my games\sid meier's civilization 4" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\local settings\application data\my games\warlords" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\local settings\application data\my games\beyond the sword" manually
(note: application data is a hidden directory so you need to configure windows explorer to show hidden files, also these directories in application data are sometimes removed by the uninstall routine)
Delete "...\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{CFBCE791-2D53-4FCE-B3FB-D6E01F4112E8}" (Civ4)
Delete "...\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{3E4B349F-10B5-4586-9D99-489A90A8B228}" (Warlords)
Delete "...\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{32E4F0D2-C135-475E-A841-1D59A0D22989}" (BtS)
(note: InstallShield Installation Information is a hidden directory so you need to configure windows explorer to show hidden files).
Install Civ4, immediately patch it to 1.61 (download it fresh from here)
Install Warlords, immediately patch it to 2.08 (download it fresh from here)
Install Beyond the Sword, immediately patch to 3.17 (download it fresh from here).

 

[peef_the_Okay]

I have followed some recommendations and now I have played for about 2 hours with no problems!

Here is what I did:

1) Set BtS to Windows Server 2003 (Service Pack 1) Compatibility Mode

2) Changed sound setting to "System Config"

3) Rebuilt the WMI Repository (http://windowsxp.mvps.org/repairwmi.htm)

4) Updated DirectX 9

5) Updated Sound Driver

6) Uninstalled and Reinstalled Civ 4 and BtS

7) Turned off Antivirus software while playing

 

[mtrelfa]

Peef/Ori This is an excellent description of what my game is doing. Unfortunately, I am the only user on this computer, and I'm assuming that I have Admin rights... It's XP "Corporate" edition, and I don't have any WMI errors.

Is there anything I can do that would help you guys diagnose the problem?

 

[peef_the_Okay]

mtrelfa: Unfortunately, I don't know why my game was crashing. I was only guessing based upon errors which seemed to coincide with the crashes. It may simply be a problem with Civ 4 itself. Fortunately, I have not had a crash in a few days...

The only thing I can suggest is to take the actions that apply to you. Update Direct X 9, your video driver and sound driver, turn off your antivirus software, uninstall/reinstall the game and update it, etc.

I would also recommend trying Smartclose (available at download.com). It is a free program that will automatically shut down any unnecessary processes. That might help you to eliminate anything that is causing a conflict. (Or you could shut down startup items and non-Microsoft services in msconfig).

I hope you're able to fix your issue. Let me know what happens.

God Bless

 

[mtrelfa]

I'm using the direct2drive version of civ. I don't know if that helps. I have updated directx9, my drivers, and unistalled/reinstalled.... ugh. I don't know what to do! Also, I don't have any coinciding errors. It's very strange.

Thanks for your help, I will try smartclose.

Mike

 

[peef_the_Okay]

You might also try 2K/Firaxis tech support. I don't know how helpful that would be because I haven't tried it.