Can't play Civ IV

[Jenifer1441]

I bought this game for my husband for Christmas. I have loaded and reload, downloaded drivers, returned the disk and the game still won't play.

It seems to install fine but when you try to play the game it says loading then goes to another screen and when the bar is almost full just stops.

I have no clue what to do next. I just spend a bunch of money having a new graphics card installed and that hasn't seemed to help.

I need some help. My husband is totally bummed because he loves the Civ game.

 

[Derka James]

I am having the same problem... I am a big fan of the Civ series and while i usually wait a long time to purchase the game at a cheaper price i figured what the hell... so i spent fifty dollars on the game... i usually only spend 10 or 20... I install the game and the update play one game for maybe thirty minutes and the thing crashes on me... try to reboot and every time i go to load or start brand new it freezes when the bar is completed... i uninstall and reinstall the game and the update, try various "low end" game settings, yet still the thing wont work... with a patch number up to 1.52 you would think that they would have a problem like that worked out... and my computer more than meets the minimum specs... when you pay $50 for a game is it too much to expect it to work????

 

[Smidlee]

Without any specs to go on , see how much total memory you got ( "Limit" in task manager). Have atleast 2gb of total memory if not more depending on how muc ram you got. also how long did you wait after the bar filled up? On some pc it take time to load the map into memory. You could exit to windows and look under task manager to see if the total memory used is slowly increasing. if it is then wait 5-10 minutes to see what happens.

 

[Neon Deon]

what patch are you guys using?

 

[Smidlee]

Try running civ4 in window mode then check your task manager to see if you total memory is slowly climbing as shown in this image.(This is harkennon's saved game file from his patch thread. the map finally showed up around 880mb of total memory on my pc.) Make sure the limit memory stays higher than the total used.

P.S. It's been a while since I posted an image. I forgot how I did it before.

 

[Derka James]

You dont understand... it is impossible to go to task manager when the entire computer freezes, not just the game... the only thing to do at that point is to flip the power switch... and i have found a temporary problem... pull the internet connection, reboot, strip the computer of active programs and then run... but i shouldnt have to do that with a minimum spec of 256RAM and i have 512RAM... and also thats just to get the small worlds loaded... i havent tried the huge worlds which is how i like to play... I got at least two hours out of it... oh and also you have to turn the graphics to low and kill the music and ambient sounds... talk about cheap advertisement... yea it runs on 256 and 512 but if you want the REAL game better get a gig or two... but then again most of us cant afford that much RAM...

 

[Jim The Hick]

Hey all,

Just bought the game and installed 1.52 patch.

XP service pk 2 and all........9800 pro w/ 1 gig ram

The game loads up and runs fine. BUT the graphics are very very weird. All the units look like clay/mud men. Games will save and load just fine. graphics are uck-feyed though. I'm scared to load up the new catalyst drivers b/c of all the problems. (i have a version > one year old)

WHERE CAN YOU GET VERSION 4.12 CATALYST??????????

 

[Jim The Hick]

Just a quick update.

I installed older (but newer than my really old!) 4.4 catalyst drivers from an old maximum pc CD i had lying around.


WOI-LA! The graphics were beautiful and in full swing. Then.....


WOI-LA! I crashed ! HAHHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHHAAHAHA

Does any game-maker put out a quality product anymore?????? After BF2 I'm just about ready to call my game library COMPLETE and stop buying this ratbag sh** they call a $50 game these days!

 

[Zydor]

Jim

Download Patch 1.52 via

http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/downloads.htm

Before Patching
Windows add/remove in control panel remove Civ - success or failed do the following

Delete the Civ IV Directories in:

- Programs/Firaxis
- My Documents / My Games
- C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\My Games\Civilization IV\ Its a hidden directory if not seen just check you have "show hidden files" switched on

Load from discs
Load Patch V1.52

If still issues - post again with your Dxdiag file

(Dxdiag - Start Button - click - choose run - type dxdiag - hit enter - wait a min - select save all information - post using 'advanced' button below)

Regards
Zy

 

[Jenifer1441]

Can't find the advanced button you are talkin about, but here is some of diagnostic:


Operating System: Windows XP Professional
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 2.80Ghz (2CPUs)
Memory: 1022MB Ram
Page File: 483 MB Used 1963 Available
Direct X version 9.0c

Graphics Card:
Radeon X700Pro
Aprox. Total Memory 256MB

Hope that is what you are looking for!

 

[Neon Deon]

Can't find the advanced button you are talkin about, but here is some of diagnostic:


Operating System: Windows XP Professional
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 2.80Ghz (2CPUs)
Memory: 1022MB Ram
Page File: 483 MB Used 1963 Available
Direct X version 9.0c

Graphics Card:
Radeon X700Pro
Aprox. Total Memory 256MB

Hope that is what you are looking for!

Hi jen,

Your page file is way indicating that many things are running in the background.

Try closing everything down before you play. 3d games prefer not only to be the center of attention but the only one too.

Type in: msconfig

Under start tab disable all

Under services tab: check the box marked hide all MS services(make sure you have that box checked first or bad things could happen). After you have verified you have hidden MS services disable all apply and reboot.

See if that helps first.

If not then use this to help you post the dxdiag file.

Read the steps in the very first post.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=134506

 

[Zydor]

EDIT - oppps sorry Neon didnt see u there - u take it

Regards
Zy

 

[Jim The Hick]

Zy,

I did install the patch first off, and the game played with really weird graphics (clay/mud looking people and missing graphics like hunting icon).

Then, I installed catalyst 4.4 drivers, which was an update from my older video card drivers.

I thought the game crashed on me, and placed my previous {read: angry} post up. However, something on my desktop just yanked me out of the game window. Upon clicking the Civ4 icon in the taskbar I was whisked back into the game, no problem!

So, for my system this is working:

Radeon 9800Pro, 128MB
CATALYST 4.4 drivers
Win XP Home SP2
1 gig ram
DX 9.0c
SB Live Soundcard

I'd post my dxdiag, but I don't know how to post screenshots (have to look that one up!)

 

[Smidlee]

@ Neon Dean
Jenifer1441 had a duel core processor so it shouldn't have any trouble run stuff in the background while running civ4. I can easily play civ4 with my anti-virus scan my pc at the same time since civ4 on uses one of the cores with no loss in performance.

@Jenifer

I got Window Xp media edition so I don't know if window pro is the same. So I will describe how I get set civ4 to run on one cpu only with XP. who knows, it may solve your problem. ( it's not going to hurt to try)
First I load civ4 title screen then window out.
right-click the taskbar to bring up task manager.
In task manager, I click on "processes" then go down the list to find "Civilization4.exe" .
Right click on civ4.exe then click on "Set affinity"
In set affinity I see both "Cpu 0" and Cpu 1" checked so I uncheck one of them so only the checked cpu will run civ4.
(if this helps you got to do it every time you load the game)

 

[Jenifer1441]

My computer does run on Windows XP Media Edition.

I am going to try some of these suggestions and let you all know how it goes. Thank you for the help!

 

[Jenifer1441]

I posted my dx diag under the Graphics/Sounds issue thread. Don't know how that happened. I am really new to message boards. I have never posted on any board so bear with me.


Thanks for all the help!

Jen

 

[Neon Deon]

I posted my dx diag under the Graphics/Sounds issue thread. Don't know how that happened. I am really new to message boards. I have never posted on any board so bear with me.


Thanks for all the help!

Jen

Jen,

you are missing a key component of directx

load directx 0c again.

 

[Jenifer1441]

I renistalled DirectX from the Civ cd. I had to load it manually because for some reason it never installs when I install Civ. I am attaching the new diagnostics. That game still isn't working. It just seem to quit when loading to play. It stops at Init Engine. I tried setting the CPU affinity. That didn't work. I closed out all the processes and the computer didn't like that at all.

Let me know if you have any more ideas. I hate to have to just set the game aside and hope as time goes on some of the issues will be fixed. My computer is only 4 months old so you figure it would be able to play this game.

Thanks!

Jen

 

[robaughjr]

DirectX Files Tab: The file d3d9.dll is missing! You should reinstall DirectX to get the latest version.

You're still missing the file. Try the main microsoft site: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/directx/default.aspx

 

[Neon Deon]

I renistalled DirectX from the Civ cd. I had to load it manually because for some reason it never installs when I install Civ. I am attaching the new diagnostics. That game still isn't working. It just seem to quit when loading to play. It stops at Init Engine. I tried setting the CPU affinity. That didn't work. I closed out all the processes and the computer didn't like that at all.

Let me know if you have any more ideas. I hate to have to just set the game aside and hope as time goes on some of the issues will be fixed. My computer is only 4 months old so you figure it would be able to play this game.

Thanks!

Jen

Well it did not take.

Umm what to do what to do.

No simple solution.

BTW you do not want to close all processes just the NON MS services and startup programs thru msconfig.

anyways you have a big screw up here.

The ati driver is fubar cuasing it not to recognize the direct x 9c an windows is not letting you load dx9c right because of the fubar driver.

You need to go to ATI site and download the newest driver they have for your card and OS. Do not install it.

Also get ATI driver cleaner while there. Do not run it.

Uninstall the game and remove all other files it does not remove with uninstall.

Use ati cleaner and nuke the drivers and reboot.

The system should load you into vga mode.

install the driver you got from ati and reboot.

Install the game and dx9c when the install asks you to.

DO NOT RUN THE GAME.

Install the 1.52 patch

Now run the game and pray.

GOOD LUCK