Can't edit options in-game

[Player5online]

they wont save no matter what i try. I have civ3 complete version from Steam.

 

[tjs282]

they wont save no matter what i try. I have civ3 complete version from Steam.

Are you talking about the game preferences? i.e. which animations are shown, sound+music settings, and so on? Because these settings are stored in the .ini file, so setting them during one session should cause them to be saved for the next. If this is not happening, that suggests that your .ini file is not being read properly (or the wrong version is being read) when you restart. Which begs the question(s): Where have you got Civ3 installed?

Because -- assuming that you're using a post-WinXP version of Windows -- if you installed to the default location (C:\ProgramFiles\Firaxis...\Civilization3\), but did not give the game Admin privileges to read+write, your (altered) .ini file may well be getting saved into the VirtualStore, where Civ3 can't find it. What happens then, is that the game generates a new .ini file every time you start it up (which is then also shoved into VS, over-writing the old one).

Although you can fiddle around with setting Admin privileges and so on, the 'simplest' long-term fix for this problem is to uninstall Civ3 from the ProgramFiles, and then reinstall it in a different location, e.g. C:\Games\Civ3\. This way, Windows won't hide the .ini file in the VirtualStore any more.

If you decide to do a re-install though, then before you start, be sure to find your ...\Conquests\Saves\ folder in the VS, and move it (and all its contents) to the desktop; after the game is re-installed, move the ...\Saves\ folder from the desktop into the new installation-location. That way, you won't lose any game(s) you currently have in progress.

 

[Nathiri]

He has steam version as he said in the original post.

 

[tjs282]

He has steam version as he said in the original post.

Yeah, I saw that, but I'm not sure what relevance that has?

I have a DL-version from GamersGate, and the installer-package will put the game in ProgramFiles by default -- that's where it (still) is, on my XP-laptop (it wasn't broke, so I didn't fix it!). But when I put the same package onto my Win8.1 box, and it asked me where I wanted to install the game, I made sure to specify an alternative location (in this case, D:\Games\Civ3\), rather than just blindly clicking the 'OK/ Next' button.

AFAIK, the GG- and Steam-installations are identical in all (other) respects. Are you suggesting that the Steam-installer actually does default to putting the game somewhere other than ProgramFiles?

 

[Nathiri]

Steam version usually puts it in Program Files, but you can make it put it somewhere else, although it doesnt matter that much as the game works fine inside the steam games section. Everything is in that one section, not split up into VirtualStore. There usually isnt permission problems either.