Civ 4 BTS/Windows 10 No Sound

[SirWill90]

Downloaded Civ 4 Complete from Steam for like $7 today, figured it would be fun to relive the Stacks'O'Doom, Vassalage, and other perks of that long-ago gem. It seems it will play however there is no sound (one of the main reasons to play is the awesome music! And of course the war announcement horns, especially when all the civs in the game declare on you at once.) I have tried changing the audio options/restarting multiple times, reinstalling and trying everything all over again, no dice.

I am using a SoundBlasterX G6 "external sound card" and I have no issues outside of Civ 4 with sound right now, although now that I think about it I tried another old game, Napoleon Total War, a couple weekends back and had the same issue and could never resolve it. Maybe related, maybe not.

Any ideas/suggestions welcome!

 

[SirWill90]

Guess I will reply to my own post. Maybe someone else will have this problem and see this.

Turns out Civ IV apparently requires RealTek audio drivers to be enabled to produce any sound, and RealTek apparently does not recognize Creative Sound Blaster X G6. I do not have the knowledge to speculate on the reasons for this but after many attempts at various work arounds, the only solution was to unplug my speakers and/or headphones from my nice new sound card and plug back into the motherboard audio out, disable my Soundblaster, and enable RealTek... et voila, Civ IV regained its voice. A minor annoyance. Kinda baffling how this can happen but oh well.