[BTS] BTS suddenly doesn't work, while Vanilla & Warlords are fine

SaintSaens_Op61

Chieftain
Joined
Aug 4, 2020
Messages
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Hello all,

I installed Civ 4 complete edition from a CD. All three versions (Vanilla, Warlords, & BTS) used to work fine, as my computer has decent specs (i7 cpu, 16 gb ram, GTX 1660 gpu). When I tried to start a game of BTS yesterday, the game loaded very slowly and stuttered when I tried to move across the map. I would post a screenshot, but the issue is really with the frame rate - the map itself looks sharp. I'm wondering if the problem is with python, as I recently installed python 3.9 on my PC (I'm using Windows 10, by the way) for a project. I know that python is supposed to be backward compatible to some extent, but if Civ comes with its own version of python, is it causing problems to have two versions of python on my computer?

Spoiler Here's what I have done to troubleshoot this issue so far :

  • Updated drivers
  • Restarted the computer
  • In task manager, increased Civ4BeyondSword.exe priority from "Below Normal" to "High"
  • Ran Civ with integrated graphics
  • Ran Civ with dedicated graphics
  • Reduced all graphic settings to the minimum (interestingly, running the game at 1024 x 768 wasn't any faster than at 1920 x 1080)
  • Cleared cached files by holding down left shift while starting BTS
  • Uninstalled & reinstalled BTS (not all of Civ 4, just the BTS expansion)


Thanks in advance for helping me figure this out!

P.S. Would it be helpful to post the log files?
 
Have you run a Windows Update lately? I've not run the disk version in well over a decade, but recall some issues seemed to occur with Win 10 and windows updates. Some things fixed themselves with later updates.

Also, set the exe to run in compatibility mode for Win 7...and will you are there, set it to run as administrator.

Make sure you are patched to 3.19. ..not sure if you mentioned that. Once BTS is patched to 3.19 I don't think you even need run BTS from disks.

I know there were issues with SecureROM and later updates. Not sure the solutions, but there is discussion over in the Tech sub-forum should the above not help.

(graphics settings should not be the problem here)

If worse comes to worse, reinstall from ground up.

I don't know about the python or why one would even install python, but you can try uninstalling it.
 
Thanks for the quick reply, @lymond. I keep Windows updated, so I'm pretty sure that that isn't the problem. And I did run the 3.19 patch.

I found a (partial) solution. Running the .exe as admin fixes the problem as far as I can tell, but when I do that, I get this strange message:
Spoiler :

IMG_4855.jpg


I've never gotten this message before. It doesn't even make sense, as I have plenty of RAM and a good GPU.


I uninstalled Civ completely, then reinstalled from the disk. Strangely, that didn't change anything. Vanilla and Warlords work fine, but BtS only works if I run it as Admin. (This is without reinstalling the 3.19 patch.)

I'll have to look into SecureROM and compatibility mode settings.
 
(Well, I did tell you to run as admin :) )

The message does not mean anything. I used to get that sometimes with my other versions of BTS, but for some reason never with the Steam version. You should only see it the first time you load the game after installing, but not again. Probably a bug related to the fact that IV was not adapted to newer systems.

Pointless to do anything without first installing the patch.

To be clear, running as Admin was not a "suggestion". It's a must do. The compatibility mode settings are a must do. There's a checkbox there for run as admin so it always does that automatically, and Win 7 is pretty much the mode to run in to resolve other issues.

SecureROM probably irrelevant if you do all the above.
 
To be clear, running as Admin was not a "suggestion". It's a must do. The compatibility mode settings are a must do. There's a checkbox there for run as admin so it always does that automatically, and Win 7 is pretty much the mode to run in to resolve other issues.
That's interesting, I bought this laptop around ten months ago, and installed Civ when I got it. It ran fine without compatibility mode or running as administrator since I first installed Civ until now. Any idea what might have changed? I know that some programs can only be run as Admin, but those often can't be run at all without elevated privileges. It's not like Civ can't run at all without Admin, it just won't run well enough to be playable. Thanks for the help though!
 
I found a (partial) solution. Running the .exe as admin fixes the problem as far as I can tell, but when I do that, I get this strange message:
Spoiler :

View attachment 579659

I've never gotten this message before. It doesn't even make sense, as I have plenty of RAM and a good GPU.


I uninstalled Civ completely, then reinstalled from the disk. Strangely, that didn't change anything. Vanilla and Warlords work fine, but BtS only works if I run it as Admin. (This is without reinstalling the 3.19 patch.)

I'll have to look into SecureROM and compatibility mode settings.

As Lymond says, the message does not man anything except that the game does not recognize your computer since it is too new. However, if you want to disable the message, open Civilization.ini and find the following lines:

; Don't show minimum specification warnings
HideMinSpecWarning = 0

Change the "0" to a "1" and the message will no longer appear.
 
As Lymond says, the message does not man anything except that the game does not recognize your computer since it is too new. However, if you want to disable the message, open Civilization.ini and find the following lines:

; Don't show minimum specification warnings
HideMinSpecWarning = 0

Change the "0" to a "1" and the message will no longer appear.
Thanks for the tip! When I was doing that, I noticed that my CivilizationIV.ini file was abnormally large. There seem to be a lot of duplicate lines. I uploaded a copy of the file (I had to change the extension to .txt, but I didn't change the file itself). Maybe this is a clue to what's wrong?
 

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There should not be duplicate lines in the config file. I don't know why that is happening or the ramifications of the additional lines.

I'll upload a zip with config for you to try out, so you don't have to reinstall.

As for why this may be happening, it's possible it's related to Windows Updates on Win 10 which have notoriously screwed things up in the past with specific updates. I recall this was especially an issue with disk versions. You may just not have had some of the updates when you first started playing on the new laptop.

Could be something else like a virus..not sure. The config file thing is a bit odd. If it does that again with my copy then something is off for sure.

As for the python thing, I've no clue why someone would install python unless one is a coder, but you have to take that one up with the tech or mods forum to see if there are any issues with python installations. I've no clue.
 

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Last edited:
I agree with Lymond that all of those duplictions should be deleted. Two other items.

You should not have to convert the ini to a text file. It is supposed to be a text file. (That is the file type that shows up if you get info on the file, not the the "." name. The name should end .ini not .txt, but the OS should treat is as a text file.) If it is not, then something else is screwy.

I would suggest changing the caching item in the ini from:

; Disable caching of file system (may slow initialization)
DisableFileCaching = 0

to:

; Disable caching of file system (may slow initialization)
DisableFileCaching = 1

Although it will slow the initial loading of the game a little bit, it will prevent errors that you fix from being cached and thereby reintroduced every time you start up the game.
 
You should not have to convert the ini to a text file. It is supposed to be a text file. If it is not, then something else is screwy.
.
I assumed that was just a matter of being able to upload the file here, as the forum balks at certain extensions. The easy option is just to zip up the file l like I did.
 
There should not be duplicate lines in the config file. I don't know why that is happening or the ramifications of the additional lines.

I'll upload a zip with config for you to try out, so you don't have to reinstall.

As for why this may be happening, it's possible it's related to Windows Updates on Win 10 which have notoriously screwed things up in the past with specific updates. I recall this was especially an issue with disk versions. You may just not have had some of the updates when you first started playing on the new laptop.

Could be something else like a virus..not sure. The config file thing is a bit odd. If it does that again with my copy then something is off for sure.

As for the python thing, I've no clue why someone would install python unless one is a coder, but you have to take that one up with the tech or mods forum to see if there are any issues with python installations. I've no clue.
I copied over the .ini file, and now everything works well! Thanks for the help lymond! It must have been a random side effect of a Windows update because I keep up with my antivirus and I just uninstalled python in case it was affecting anything.

I assumed that was just a matter of being able to upload the file here, as the forum balks at certain extensions. The easy option is just to zip up the file l like I did.
Yea, I was just trying to upload the file.

I would suggest changing the caching item in the ini from:

; Disable caching of file system (may slow initialization)
DisableFileCaching = 0

to:

; Disable caching of file system (may slow initialization)
DisableFileCaching = 1

Although it will slow the initial loading of the game a little bit, it will prevent errors that you fix from being cached and thereby reintroduced every time you start up the game.
Thanks for the tip!
 
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