Civ 3 Conq. crashes all the time

[ew0054]

Civ 3 conq. crashes all the time. It happens on any size/style map, but only seems to happen after I have reached the modern era. The game crashes seemingly randomly (not after I click menus or things) every three-five game years and I find myself saving after EVERY unit move. The game is simply put, not fun to play anymore, and the modern era is always my favorite so I'm really bummed out. I downloaded and installed the v1.22 patch and it doesn't help. I never had this problem with Play the World so I'm thinking of uninstalling Conquests. I was wondering if this is ahppeneing to anyone else and if they were able to fix the problem?

 

[thetrooper]

Never happened to me before.

And you made the best tip yourself - uninstall/install/patch up again.

 

[ew0054]

No I mean just downgrading to PTW. Cause I have tried reinstalling it already and still have the same problem.

 

[Dreadnought]

Happened to me once, but reinstalled and was working fine.

 

[Pounder]

How much memory do you have, mine crashed all the time when I only had 256MB of RAM.

Has never crashed after upgrading to 512MB, have never reloaded software ever, it works or it doesn't (no of this works some of the time).

When you get later in the game more memory is required as there is more of evrything.

There is also a problem if you reload the game a lot, not all memory seems to be returned to the computer, so each time you reload without restarting the game you are playing with less avialable memory.

 

[Luthor_Saxburg]

I was wondering if this is ahppeneing to anyone else and if they were able to fix the problem?

I actually had this problem... but after replacing one of the memory "chips" it was fine. Well, the game does crash ocasionally when pressing those F buttons... but... what fun would be the world without that?

For some strange reason the problem with the "chip" was more noticeable on C3C than other software and games. I did not play PTW at that time though...

 

[Pounder]

@Luthor_Saxburg

Similar solution (memory) posted at the same time.

 

[mohawk]

Download this small program here to test your memory stick(s):
http://www.memtest.org/

 

[sabo]

I was also wondering about his other specs, like processor speed, is the hard drive full or amost full, what sort of graphics card etc etc... maybe he's playing right around minimum standards, but I agree with what most have said here, memory is usually the culprit.

 

[ew0054]

Ok here's my machine. I've pretty much maxxed everything out (the driving reasons behind this were SimCity 4 and Civ3!!!)

3000 MHz processor
1000 MB RAM
160 GB hard drive (cooled)
50X CDROM drive
64MB ATi Radeon 9000 video card (I was thinking of eventually getting a 128 or 256 when I can afford one, but I figured this one works, so heck with it)
hmm... am I forgetting anything?

Mohawk, I'll check out that program, thanks

 

[ew0054]

Oh yeah. I'm using only 20GB of my 160 (so 1/8 full). I got 160 cause I had to have it!!!

 

[jakej]

I don't think ram is the problem, im playing it with 386 and a 450mhz processor.

 

[mohawk]

That system is allmost identical to mine
You are hampering your systems speed with that p.o.s. video card.
Do your self a favor and get a 9600XT or better. They are relativly cheap nowadays.

 

[ForbiddenPalace]

For C3C, v1.22, the only time it craches on me is when I am in the modern age and I have tons of units, when I press F3 to bring up the military advisor screen, the game craches and return to the desktop. I am not sure if it is a bug or I just run out of memory.

 

[mohawk]

Happens to me too , it's a bug. I always save before checking F3

 

[oldStatesman]

Happens to me too , it's a bug. I always save before checking F3

Try not using F3 but instead use the mouse to click on the Advisor's icon on the top left of the screen. I never get a crash that way. I find using the keyboard shortcuts instead of the mouse in the later ages when there is a lot of stuff does cause memory problems. For some reason using the mouse interface then is much more reliable - maybe the mouse driver algorithyms are more efficient... Strange but it works for me.

 

[mohawk]

Hmmmm....... thx, i'll try that. When the crash comes i hear the harddisk do allot of spinning and i know it's going to crash.

 

[Minesweeper]

It may also depend on your operating system, I had to upgrade from ME to 2000 for mine to work.

Mathias