Hi everyone, love this forum, longtime Civ3 player.
I decided to fire up PTW again (I don't have complete, but I'll get it sometime when I can download for free) after several months of not playing so I can continue a saved game I've almost won.
When I click the PTW icon, nothing happens. When I load the CD I get the launch screen and click "Play Civilization III" but nothing happens after that.
What am I doing wrong? Thanks!
If you're playing from a CD-based version, then the interference may be the result of Microsoft disabling the
secdrv.sys driver (in all Windows versions from Vista onwards), which is/was used by the SecuROM/SafeDisk copy-protection software (which was integrated into the CD-sourced .exe files for all 3 versions of Civ3, from most publishers). Basically, because the copy-protection function has been disabled, when the game .exe tries to authenticate your CD on startup, it hits a wall.
The
secdrv.sys update originally happened way back in late 2015, but additional Windows updates since then
may have bypassed that problem -- but possibly then broken it again (this is Micro$oft we're talking about, after all!). The only completely reliable fix is therefore to install a NoCD version of the affected .exe file(s) (i.e. v. 1.27 for PtW), which doesn't run the authentication process.
The downloadable versions of Civ3Complete on Steam and GOG are obviously also NoCD versions, and are usually priced at around 5 LocalCurrencyUnits (US$, Euro or Sterling, anyway: not sure about Can$/Au$/NZ$) -- but are also frequently sold at up to 75% discount, so are as close to 'free' as you can get without actually pirating the game (which, just FTR, I do not endorse!).
Unfortunately, (unless the install-packages have been updated since I last checked) those downloadable versions are missing the PtW .exe file (and AFAIK, in the case of Steam, also the Vanilla .exe), so you would need to go looking ...
*ahem* ...
elsewhere, to be able to play those versions...
(Sorry to do this again so soon, Ozy, but...)
Technically it
is the Vanilla assets (and Editor) that are being patched by the 1.29f patch. Although PtW does also use the original Vanilla assets, so in that sense the 1.29f patch covers PtW as well, the PtW Editor (and all assets added in PtW) will not be affected by the 1.29f patch.
Final patch numbers for each of the .exe files (and associated assets) are:
Vanilla: 1.29
PtW: 1.27
Conquests: 1.22
Civ III "Complete" (as originally published on CD, anyway!) contained the final patch-versions of all files for all 3 versions.