Civ3 not playable

[dino_schoen]

Hello out there

I am quite annoyed about Civ3. From all the Civ-games I played since now (about 12) all of them crashed after a while except one.
I have installed the game on several machines with different configurations and it crashed on all computers. So it's for sure a bug in the game and not in the configuration.
All my games crashed in the middle of the game, from about 800 AD or later.
From my point of view this makes the game unplayable and worthless. Just another example of releasing a game too soon. I wonder who is responsible for the release date. Sid or the marketing guys ("Come on, lets sell the game, we can finish it later!").

The game itself is great, although it needs some slight adjustments (Corruption, Spearmen killing Tanks, Paratroopers not able to airlift etc.).

God, send us a new patch! SOON!

 

[Beam]

On what planet do you live sunshine?

And please do not start complaining about arrogant posters in this forum, most here will try to help you out if you ask a normal question and give some additional info. Like CPU, mem, OS, patch 1.16 installed yes/no.

Whatyasay?

 

[Exile_Ian]

Well you don't include much in your post to encourage people to offer help.

What error message do you get when it crashes?
Does it crash even for a new game or only on saved games?
What machine configuration/OS are you running?
You have applied the correct patch I assume?

Clearly many people are successfully running the game on a wide variety of configurations. I've personally logged in excess of 200 hours of Civ3 (post-patch) and have only crashed once (couldn't repeat the circumstances).

Include a bit more info and you might get some assistance.

 

[dino_schoen]

Playing Civ3 for over 200h and only one crash? Wow, somebody up there loves you!

I have an 733MHz Celeron, Win ME, 192 MB RAM, GeForce 2 MX with the latest Detonator Drivers, SB Live Platinum also with the latest Drivers and DirectX 8.1.
My Civ3 is patched with the correct version of the 1.16f patch.
The message I will get after some playing is always the same.

"Civilization 3 has caused an error in
CIVILIZATION3.EXE
Civilization 3 will now close."

This happend also on three other machines all with different configurations.

I have also included my save game. Pass the settlers move, wait till the 3rd city popup appears and enjoy. Try it out and tell me if it crashes as well. Thanks

 

[Beam]

Dino, sorry for taking it hard on you initially, but this is the only way we can help you out. Just 3 thnigs to mention:

ME sux (proven record!)
Your config is average spec IMHO
I had just 3 similars with heavy game play in the past 2,5 months.

Leemy DL and see what happens!

 

[Cruiser]

Yes, the Windows Me OS was and is absolute garbage!!


I have had it crash only once. Be sure your AutoSave is on.

My complaint is that when I get to the Industrial Age it takes five minutes between turns!

 

[Beam]

OK Dino,

Downloaded your sav and started it on my machine, which is entirely different (Athlon, 512 Meg, Geforce I, Win98). And it crashes! No clue what is going on here. Only particular observation are you finishing wonder and have 3 wonders to start. Did you do any modding, any other things that are non-standard?

 

[dino_schoen]

No, everything is standard. No modifications at all.
I even installed the OS and the game new, same result
Windows ME isn't that bad, I think. Civ3 crashes on my Win2k as well. And the bad thing is, it crashes every time I start a new game! (start whining)

 

[Beam]

Strange, I tend to call off tech reasons now. How you start the game? Or start one and post for others to try?

 

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

Can anyone else download the posted savegame and verify that it crashes?


Dan

 

[Minuteman]

Dino,

Thank you for posting! You're having exactly the same problem that I'm having, and based on what I've read in the tech forums, both here and on Apolyton, many others are having as well.

As someone has already suggested here, there is no logical explanation for these crashes. They just happen. Well, at least you managed to get a response from Dan.

Who knows, if we're lucky, perhaps there's a solution to this conundrum.

 

[Archbob]

If your computer is below 500mhz then CivIII will crash quite often and maybe no even start up.

 

[Minuteman]

Originally posted by Fallen Angel Lord
If your computer is below 500mhz then CivIII will crash quite often and maybe no even start up.

Did you happen to read Dino's posts before responding? If you did, then you would have noted that he stated he had a 733mhz cpu w/ 192 MB of RAM. I have an Athlon 1.33Mhz cpu w/ 256MB of RAM and I'm having the same problem. Aside from that, however, I don't think that this problem is hardware related.

 

[gonzo_for_civ]

Well, I just dloaded and played and it didn't crash at all. I played maybe 20 more turns just to see. I was playing on my old comp. It is an Intel Celeron 433Mhz. Of course, I am running my trusty companion, Windows 98.

 

[Thomas_Davie]

the Sistine Chapel construction was started. This is on a Celeron 400 w/ 256 Mb ram, Soundblaster Audigy Platinum, Ati Rage Fury Turbo, 9.6 gb drive. And, this is the first time that the game has crashed on me since I switched to XP Pro back in December. Othretwise, rock solid.

Tom

 

[Dillo]

Actually I am afraid I have to agree here. It crashes 100% of the games I play since the patch. I have reformated my pc several times hopeing it was just a os thing, but to no avail.Yes the game is unplayable, and there fore a toatal waste of cash. If you cant make it to modern tomes without the game terminaly crashing, then whats the point? I cant complete a whole game.Ridiculous

 

[Graeme the mad]

I dont know whether this is the problem with you dino but the civ3.exe problem occurs for one very specific reason whe im playing civ3 - when I press f11 to view things like 5 top cities.
The save game b4 I i did this is then corrupt. However I can avoid pressing the F11 key as it is not an integral part of the game so the game works fine - could this be your problem?
(incidentally i am running in win 2000 with 433 mhz and 64 RAM)

 

[Beam]

Strange, strange, strange. Some get crashes on Dino's game, others don't.

Quick check on peripherals in relation to crashes in this particular instance:
Soundblaster?
Geforce (or other nVidia cards)?

I've got both, Dino as well.

Dan, did you do testing on this particular save?

 

[Lt. 'Killer' M.]

(duck down into the ditch, fasten helmet strap, make sure bulletproof vest is on - check): Could it be that the people - or some of them - with crashed own an illegal copy of CivIII?????

Would be an interesting way to get people to actually buy the game, wouldn`t it? Let them play `til they`re hooked, then have the game start giving trouble without it being obvious why. When they call the hotline, tell them!

 

[Cerryl]

---
"Civilization 3 has caused an error in
CIVILIZATION3.EXE
Civilization 3 will now close."
---

With errors like these, it's more likely a problem in Winblows ME than the game itself. I've been running on Winxp since day one, never crashed, froze etc...