Civ 4 crashing constantly :(

[Rilauven]

I cannot play Civ 4 for more than about 10 minutes without it crashiing to a sort of psychadelic static screen, with the mouse cursor being a mobile square of psychadelic static. My system is well beyond the recommended requirements:

3.2 ghz P4 with 2 gigs of ram, a Geforce 6800GT and a Soundblaster Audigy 2ZS.

I know audigy 2's can be problematic and there's a replacement DLL file you can download to help, but I can;t remember where to get this. The only other game that I've had a similar problem with is D&D online, it turned out to be a heating problem that I solved by ventilating my system better. It's still good and ventilated and I can't beleive that Civ4 is stressing my system out more than D&D online. My DX diag is attached for your perusal. Any help would be appreciated.
View attachment DxDiag.txt

 

[Zanmato]

I think there is a issue with the 6800 GTs that cause those wierd screens. It is a well-documented bug within the game rather than a hadware fault. There is a number of threads relating to this issue that may offer some things you could try. Hopefully, the next patch will fix this.

 

[Rilauven]

Oh wow.. this is like, the first time *ever* someone's actutally admitted to me that the game might be at fault. I am patched to 1.52 btw.. I'll start combing the forus for workarounds with the 6800GT but if anyone can post a link I'd appreciate it, thanks!

 

[Zanmato]

Here's a few threads that may offer some help,
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=165348
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=149899
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=151670

Certainly have a look at the second thread, alot of posts regarding the 6800 and one post (#24) that describes the same problem you are having.