Civ 4 Complete edition can't locate DVD...

[campbesd]

So I bought a sealed version of Civ 4 Complete off of ebay.

It appears to be the UK version. It comes with:

Civ 4
Warlords
Beyond the Sword

I install the game, but when I try to play it asks for the DVD-ROM to be in the drive. It is.

I've tried looking around but a lot of the fixes are for the original game (CD1/CD2 errors). I thought I read that the Complete edition didn't have DRM, but I guess that could have been the American version (with Colonization included).

Anyways, is there anything I can do here? I'm pretty sure it's a legit version, so I really shouldn't be having this problem.

Vista 64 if it matters.

 

[Lemon Merchant]

I had a similar problem with BTS when I got it. My CD ROM drive was old and it wasn't compatible with the copy protection. I bought a new DVD drive and it's now fine. If you're running 64 bit Vista and your drive is reasonably new, make sure you have the correct 64 bit drivers for it if they are available.

Just a thought.

Btw, what is the error you get when the computer can't find the DVD?

 

[campbesd]

yeah everything in this computer is less than 5 months old.

The error I get looks like this:

"Cannot locate the DVD-ROM"

"Please insert the correct DVD-ROM, select OK and restart applicaiton"

"Click here for more information about this error"

Of course, the click here takes me to the Take Two homepage, which is brilliant

 

[ori]

Welcome to CFC

look through this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/228985

 

[snewt]

I just bought civ 4: complete edition; my dvd-rw drive is not locating anything. No errors or anything.

! D:

Specs:
NEC DVD RW ND-3550A (1.07 Firmware - the most recent firmware they have for it)
Windows XP

edit: I'm going to see if another computer can run the dvd. If it works, is it possible to extract everything on the DVD to an external HD then put it onto this computer and run it somehow? (via Daemon tool, etc.)

editedit: It ran on a different computer. I extracted it to a external HD then put it on this computer and installed it. Game loaded, patching up to 3.17 then to 3.19 and installing BAT afterwards.

Oddly, no cdkey or dvd is required to play? Odd.

Thanks for your help ori *laughs* And yes, Hi. Thanks for the welcoming to CFC. Also, on a more important note: I'm very disappointed that they changed the opening theme - they should of kept the same opening & background as the original Civ IV. I'd take it over the warlords/bts in a heartbeat.

 

[Furiey]

the 3.19 patch removed the DRM on BTS, the US version of complete (with colonisation) has no DRM on any of the games.

You can chage the opening theme back to the original one - it's in the options if you look around for it.

 

[pumpknhd]

I did the install of Civ IV Complete Edition, and it also appears to be a UK version I bought off ebay in a new and unopened package. After what appeared to be a successful install, the game will not start. Either clicking on the desktop shortcut or allowing auto-play to launch results in a screen telling me it's loading, and then I get the error stating it can't find the disk. I removed all my virtual disk software because that had been a problem with Civ III, but I still can't get the game to run. I stepped through the Microsoft site referenced above but didn't find anything that solved the problem. My DVD/CD-ROM is clearly labeled as something that can run a DVD, which would seem obvious if the install ran successfully, which it appeared to do. So, what am I missing? I'm currently trying the install on my laptop, but my PC hardware is newer than the game, so it ought to be new enough.

edit: okay, so I installed it on my laptop which I bought in 2006, and it works fine. My PC hardware is newer than the laptop. I thought maybe because I didn't have a DVD decoder installed that maybe installing one would help, so I bought the Corel Intervideo XPack to get a DVD decoder supported by Windows, and that didn't help. I'll note that I don't see the video when I play a DVD (before I couldn't even play one due to the lack of a decoder), but I do hear the sound. Maybe the issue is related, I don't know. Anyone have any ideas? I'd like to play this game on my desktop as it's got a bigger monitor and more power than my laptop.

The Solution: Okay, I browsed around and found the solution. I had both a CD-RW drive and a DVD/CD-RW drive, and the DVD drive was the slave. I read something about checking the jumpers, but there were no jumpers on my drive (it's SATA). I decided to just try removing my CD-RW drive since I don't use it often anyway and I left my DVD/CD-RW drive jumperless. I was able to get the game to run just fine after that.

Thanks to everyone for posting the various hints that finally got me working!

 

[Karpad]

the 3.19 patch removed the DRM on BTS, the US version of complete (with colonisation) has no DRM on any of the games.
.

I too have had the "no DVD" problem (as in Windows could not tell there was a CR-ROM in the drive at all!).

I tried all manner of fixes, disabled services, disabled start up items, followed Microsoft's advice. I was able to get the disk to appear in an external CD drive VERYY SLOWLY and installed. I actually discovered that it would eventually appear when I gave up and went off to make dinner. When I returned there it was.

I installed the games. THEN in installed this magic patch 3.19 Oh Frabjous day! Calloo callay! it works!

Thanks, Furley.

 

[wshiller]

I too have tried to get the Civ IV DVDs recognized in Win7 without success. I'm running the 32-bit version, if that matters. But very odd that it won't recognize the DVDs at all. I have the same problem with all three DVDs that came in the Civ IV Gold Edition package.