CD not found error - (Read this for problems with CD drive after patching)

Any news on the Civ 3 Vanilla 1.29 bug? I bought the game from Future Shop for $10 CDN about 2 weeks ago, patched it last night, and.... yeah.

It won't run from either CD drive, and I'd rather not get the crack from Atari because

a) I'd like to be able to re-install patch at will without needing a copy of the patch on my HD (I run Alpha Centauri off a flash disk, that is unpatched, for example, while my computer's copy is patched).

b) This copy is published by Infogrames.

shoddy work... no mini-map for the editor, then after the patch the game doesn't work?

In fact, the civ 3 website no longer hosts patches for civ 3 vanilla. And yet, that is the only copy I see in stores right now...


That fix doesn't seem to work - while he is correct in that my Infogrames copy is the version with the problem, I simply don't see the file on the CD - it looks like it is in one of those .CAB files that will be decompressed during installation.
 
Puppy said:
http://www.civgaming.net/forums/showthread.php?t=465

This could be a fix. I'll try it soon.
Click to expand...
I echo what Chanman said.

I recently bought Civ3 vanilla. Neither the Civ3 site nor the Atari site has any information relating to this problem.

Puppy's referenced fix doesn't work because the file doesn't exist on the CD *OR* after installing vanilla. The file exists after patching, only, as far as I can tell.

I'm a huge fan of Civ, but I will NOT be buying Civ4 or future games if this isn't handled. I can see from the history of this thread that it's been a problem for some time. That begs the question: WHY HAVEN'T THEY DONE SOMETHING (easily accessible) TO FIX IT!?

The game is supposed to have these cool features, and the Civilopedia lists them (precision strikes, air superiority, etc.), that would be helpful for me. But I can't use them. I patch, and I can't play the game AT ALL!

I email Atari's tech support, and am told a response takes (on average) FOUR BUSINESS DAYS!?

I'm completely dissatisfied.
 
thewhammy said:
I recently bought Civ3 vanilla. Neither the Civ3 site nor the Atari site has any information relating to this problem.

Puppy's referenced fix doesn't work because the file doesn't exist on the CD *OR* after installing vanilla. The file exists after patching, only, as far as I can tell.
Click to expand...

I recently purchased and patched Civ 3 Vanilla only to discover the same problem. It seems that with this particular press, Atari/Infogrames removed the Safedisc copy protection that was originally present. Therefore, there is no Safedisc check on startup (and no such file as secdrv.sys). Heck, the entire CD-in-drive requirement is gone too.

The problem is created when you install the 1.29f patch. While the disc lacks Safedisc, the new executable doesn't. As a result, the application checks for copy protection that isn't present on the physical media. Unsurprisingly, the test fails, just as if you were to insert a burned (backed up without CloneCD or Alcohol 120%) copy.

So far, Atari's tech support has only offered the same advice found on their site. However, I'll try emailing them again with the Safedisc details.
 
I've emailed them and received a file from them the next day.

In the meantime however, I googled the problem and got a link from another forum to a crack.

Installed it, Civ 3 worked fine.

Next, I opened the file from Atari - it's a zipped .exe file the exact same name and size as the crack...
 
chanman said:
I've emailed them and received a file from them the next day.

In the meantime however, I googled the problem and got a link from another forum to a crack.

Installed it, Civ 3 worked fine.

Next, I opened the file from Atari - it's a zipped .exe file the exact same name and size as the crack...
Click to expand...
I called Atari and they sent me an .exe file that has corrected the problem.

Unfortunately, the patched version is a little buggy. Ironically, the patch changed something very important that kind of cheeses me off: it only gives you a shield bonus from clearing a forest once per game. But I can't be too picky.
 
like I said, the file they sent is a no-cd crack

Why they didn't just make a patch, I dunno :(

At least Alpha Centauri is playable even without patches, gotta watch out for infogrames rereleases next time...
 
thewhammy said:
I called Atari and they sent me an .exe file that has corrected the problem.

Unfortunately, the patched version is a little buggy. Ironically, the patch changed something very important that kind of cheeses me off: it only gives you a shield bonus from clearing a forest once per game. But I can't be too picky.
Click to expand...
That's not a bug. That was deliberately introduced in an early patch to prevent the human from exploiting "worker gangs" planting and chopping trees to effectively rush things at no cost. ;)
 
Here's my problem. I just installed the 1.22 patch to play some SG's. But, ever since I installed the patch, CCquests doent get the read. It says "Please insert the Civilization 3: Conquests Disc" while it is inserted, and its driving me nuts.
 
Having the same problem, getting the error message in french though. Going to try to get the US instead of the UK version, but on the other hand, i would have to reinstall it AGAIN if that **** happens and that would make me really mad.
 
4 days my shoe! It says 7-10 on the site I'm at. I hope they send it fast. Need.... civ...

*Dies*
 
Turner said:
Also, Civ3 Vanilla can be bought at Wal-Mart for about $10 now....
Click to expand...

I bought Civ-3 from Walmart yesterday for $10.

According to the Read-me, it is version 1.29f and after install it and attempt to play, it tells me to insert the Complete CD, even though it is already inserted and the game spins it up while searching.

What is the proper Email to contact Atari? My readme says to contact Take2 for support, and Take2 has nothing about Civilization on their website.
 
Well... I went to the Atari website yesterday and filled out their support form, attaching a screensnap of the error, superimposed on Explorer, showing the CD in my drive.

This morning I found a new EXE in my Inbox. Unfortunately, this one wasnt any better. It gets the same Insert CD message.
 
After a back-and-forth with the Atari tech support, we agreed it must be a bad CD-protection on my CD-R. The EXE he sent me supposedly does not check for the CD, and yet still gives the "DRIVE READ ERROR" message.

Actually, I am pretty impressed with the support guy I connected up with... When I replied directly to his Email, he was responding within minutes.
 
I got the 'Civilization Collections' from Scholastic books last year for my kids (I even let them play it). It is from Atari, and it includes Civ III, PTW and C3C. I've been playing C3C, which turns out to be v1.00, in a no CD version.

I recently downloaded the v1.22 patch from Atari, and after installing it I get the "Insert CD" error (no kidding - if it worked, I wouldn't be writing this). I've uninstalled that and reinstalled the older version, which works. I e-mailed Atari (28 Apr 06) to ask about it, and they replied that they couldn't help as they "no longer own the rights to this product", and referred me to everybody else they could think of.

Anyone have any good ideas on what I can do next?

Thanks

BTW, I have downloaded the patch from Firaxis, and it is exactly the same size as the Atari patch; I haven't tried to install it.
 
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