[BTS] CIv4 BTS on Win11 ?

[Unmnemonic]

I'm upgrading to a windows 11 system, and have totally skipped windows 10. Does Civ4 BTS run on Win11?

 

[Ramkhamhaeng]

Other users already confirmed that Civ4:BTS runs. The same restriction hold as for Windows 10. Thus, if you want start Civ4:BTS, check that the latest patch, 3.19 is installed. Only this variant for 'Beyond the Sword' contains the executable without the annoying CD-Protection.
(Note that for starting Civ4:Vanilla/Civ4:Warlords you need Patch 1.61 / 2.08!! The 3.19-Patch will overwrite them by 1.71/2.13. You has to backup your Civ4 installation before installing 3.19. Otherwise you can only start Civ4:BTS. Well, in most cases you simply want start Civ4:BTS…)

If it does not run, install following software manually(*):

• DirectX9c Download , Checksum 8746ee1a84a083a90e37899d71d50d5c7c015e69688a466aa80447f011780c0d)
• msxml3 (Download, Checksum f9c678f8217e9d4 f9647e8a1f6d89a7c26a57b9e9e00d39f7487493dd7b4e36c
• some mods requiring msxml4, too. Download Checksum 47c2ae679c37815da9267c81fc3777de900ad2551c11c19c2840938b346d70bb )
• C++ Redistributable Package 2010 (vcredist_x86.exe, the 32bit variant)

*) I extracted the links to the installers from 'winetricks'.

 

[Re-loader]

Other users already confirmed that Civ4:BTS runs. The same restriction hold as for Windows 10. Thus, if you want start Civ4:BTS, check that the latest patch, 3.19 is installed. Only this variant for 'Beyond the Sword' contains the executable without the annoying CD-Protection.
(Note that for starting Civ4:Vanilla/Civ4:Warlords you need Patch 1.61 / 2.08!! The 3.19-Patch will overwrite them by 1.71/2.13. You has to backup your Civ4 installation before installing 3.19. Otherwise you can only start Civ4:BTS. Well, in most cases you simply want start Civ4:BTS…)

If it does not run, install following software manually(*):

• DirectX9c Download , Checksum 8746ee1a84a083a90e37899d71d50d5c7c015e69688a466aa80447f011780c0d)
• msxml3 (Download, Checksum f9c678f8217e9d4 f9647e8a1f6d89a7c26a57b9e9e00d39f7487493dd7b4e36c
• some mods requiring msxml4, too. Download Checksum 47c2ae679c37815da9267c81fc3777de900ad2551c11c19c2840938b346d70bb )
• C++ Redistributable Package 2010 (vcredist_x86.exe, the 32bit variant)

*) I extracted the links to the installers from 'winetricks'.

I have recently moved to W11, it has been a nightmare playing Civ4 BTS, getting MAF every 5-10 turns. Have turned down all graphics settings, and still occurring. I was playing on a Ryzen3 laptop with 4GB RAM, and had settings on high, never got MAF. Now, with 12th gen i7, 16GB RAM, Civ4 is causing problems.
I will try installing the software you suggest. Playing on the biggest giant earth map(232x112) probably doesn't help.

 

[f1rpo]

Since this thread has already been resurrected:

Note that for starting Civ4:Vanilla/Civ4:Warlords you need Patch 1.61 / 2.08!! The 3.19-Patch will overwrite them by 1.71/2.13. You has to backup your Civ4 installation before installing 3.19.

Is this about the SafeDisc check? But, if I just look at the size of the executables, they're almost the same – doesn't look like copy-protection was stripped from the older versions. Is there some other issue with 1.71/ 2.13?

 

[Re-loader]

FAO Windows 11 Users:

I think I have found a potential cause, and solution for frequent MAF
Go to: Settings > Privacy & Security > App & Browser Control > Exploit protection settings

Spoiler :

Turn off these settings(in yellow):

Spoiler :

I haven't tested it yet, but I can't think of anything else that would have caused the frequent MAF I was having.

 

[Re-loader]

FAO Windows 11 Users:

I think I have found a potential cause, and solution for frequent MAF
Go to: Settings > Privacy & Security > App & Browser Control > Exploit protection settings

Spoiler :

View attachment 652800

Turn off these settings(in yellow):

Spoiler :

View attachment 652801

I haven't tested it yet, but I can't think of anything else that would have caused the frequent MAF I was having.

This made no difference.
I'm still getting MAF every 5-8 turns.
Anyone got any suggestions?

 

[Ramkhamhaeng]

Since this thread has already been resurrected:Is this about the SafeDisc check? But, if I just look at the size of the executables, they're almost the same – doesn't look like copy-protection was stripped from the older versions. Is there some other issue with 1.71/ 2.13?

Yes, it's just about the SafeDisc check. I haven't checked it again now, but at that time it helped to use the binary of the previous version to get rid of the copy protection.

 

[f1rpo]

Well, I'll be damned, I've just replaced my 2.13 WL EXE with that (extracted) from patch 2.08, and now I can launch WL without erm... help from dubious third parties. Also seems that I messed up earlier when comparing the file sizes. Probably I looked at the EXE from the 2.13 patch (which is identical to the one I have installed). The one from 2.08 is indeed substantially smaller.

No such luck with the 1.61 EXE for the base game. Still crashes silently (before the initial splash screen) on Win 8.1. Copying the 1.61 GameCore DLL doesn't help either. Perhaps a clean downgrade would work; probably not, the file size isn't promising (should be less than 11 MB, I reckon). 1.74 makes quite a few changes to Python screens (diff on GitHub), but I don't think that those should cause a crash this early. Might also be wiser to downgrade WL fully to 2.08 – which, essentially, just means to copy the DLL too (diff) – to avoid potential compatibility issues betwen the EXE and DLL. Would really have to downgrade the base game too, to be on the safe side, since WL uses some of those files; not a quick task.

Not sure if I should attach the outdated executables here. They're publically available through the patches, but it's not totally easy to unpack those updaters (I've been using UniExtract2), so it's not exactly as if I'd merely use the forum as a mirror for the patches ... (I didn't put the executables on GitHub either.)