Civ4 Crash Hello

[Bagpuss]

I'm looking for suggestions...
I've played the first ten minutes of the tutorial about fifteen times now (frustration compounded by the fact that you don't seem to be able to Save a tutorial game properly). My machine always locks up and I get some strangled sounds coming out of my speakers. Sometimes, but not always, the screen goes blank, but other times it just freezes.

I'm running XP4 Pro SP2. I've disabled my virus protection, got the latest ATI and sound card drivers. I've downloaded patch 1.52 and removed all traces of ad/spyware. I've left BlackIce running as I'm not about to disable my firewall for anything. I've even updated my BIOS.

Nothing has made the slightest difference so far. I've looked in the event log; zip. I've enabled Dr Watson; there is no report generated. The thing just won't work and it won't give me the tiniest clue as to why it's not working.

Please, somebody - a suggestion?

 

[Bagpuss]

Oh. Just had a look at some of the (hundreds) of other threads on crash issues. I used to love Civ2 and I was excited about Civ4, but if I'd known this many people were having trouble I would never have bought it. I think it's going back to the shop.

 

[Zanmato]

Just before you take back, give us your hardware spec (DxDiag log) and we might be able to offer some advice and try and get you going. Although I do understand your frustration with the game and don't blame you for taking it back.

 

[Junuxx]

Do realize that this is where all the crash issues accumulate. There are also thousands of people who don't have trouble running Civ4, and just as many who were able to solve the problem.

 

[Bagpuss]

I know, but given the amount of time I've already wasted on this I've already lost my sense of humour. Nothing else I run gives me these problems and that includes games that are a lot more HW intensive than Civ4.

Thanks in advance for your time, to anyone who is willing to have a look at my diagnostic file.

 

[dosage0]

Best thing you can do is turn off auto saving in your civ.ini file and save manually every 15 mins or so.

The game is coded like complete **** and freezes all day long on my computer as well. It happens more on higher end computers than on older ones. I have a sound blaster audigy too, and the same thing happens to me. The game locks up, and the speakers start putting out a high pitched screetch. It usually happens during the auto save years, so it may have something to do with accessing the HD. Its just a guess, but it does work for a little while longer.

It sucks because the game itself is fun, but you just find yourself playing the same turns over and over because of the lockups.

There is nothing wrong with your computer and nothing you can do to fix it.

Rob

 

[Bagpuss]

Hey Rob, thanks for looking. I'll give it a try.

 

[blueprint]

I have an Audigy and G4 Ti4200 and i get the lockups and high pitched screetch as well... is there really nothing i can do?

 

[Jimmy D]

Alright, I have FINALLY discovered a fix for a very annoying Civ IV issue. As I played the game, and my civilization became more complex, the game would suddenly crash to the desktop and give me the following error message:

"Your system has run out of video memory. Please trying reducing your video settings. File:\main\civilzation4.bak\SDKs\Gamebry2_0\CoreLi bs\NiDX9RendereNiDXRenderedTextureData.cpp, Line:167"

NOTE: You may not have to lower your graphics settings for this fix to work!

First off here are my specs:
Intel Pentium M Processor (2.0 GHz)
1 GB RAM
VIDEO CARD:
ATI Raedon X300
64MB

So...I was within the requirements by far to run the game in every other aspect. I tried several different things to fix the error and allow my glorious civilization to expand, but nothing seemed to work. While it is of course important that you also update your video drivers (www.omegadrivers.net) to the most recent, it may not even be necessary for this to work.

The problem lies within certain computers operating systems (Win XP) and Civ IV's ability to write to your available video memory. It is a glitch that Take2 is aware of, yet it is NOT included in the 1.52 patch they have made available as of December of '05. Despite this fact, the company has NOT made this information public yet. You should STILL upgrade to 1.52 if you have not done so already, because it fixes many other issues, primarily with ATI cards.

So, once you have upgraded to 1.52 try the following fix to stop this error from occuring:

1.) Go into your My Documents Folder (usually on the desktop)

2.) Find the folder named "My Games", and go into this folder

3.) Click on the "Sid Meier's Civilization 4" folder.

4.) You will see several folders within this folder, and two other files included as well. Find the one named "CivilizationIV", and below it should be "Configuration Settings". Double-click this file. It should open in Notepad, if it does not open, roght click and choose to open the file from a program you choose from a list. Once you see this list, choose notepad and it should open the file.

5.) With "CivilizationIV" now open in Notepad, go to the top menu and choose Edit > Find.

6.) Enter the word: "MemSaver" into the box, and press the Find Next button.

7.) This should take you to a line that says the following:
"MemSaver = 0"
Change the "0" to a "1" so the line reads as following
"MemSaver = 1"

8.) Save the file, close notepad, and be happy because the error will never bother you again!

Once again, this fix worked for me, and I know other people on this board have had crashing issues. Try this. if it does not work for your problem, you can always go back and change the 1 back to a 0 and no harm done. I wish I would have known this a month ago, because I think I've pulled about half my hair out. Good luck!

 

[Jimmy D]

The above fix may help you. I also had problems similar to what you are having and it's perfect now. I was seriously about to lose it.

 

[blueprint]

Great! Thx Jimmy, i saw someone else suggest Memsaver = 1 but glossed over it (i saw 1.52 had it turned off as default), its one of the few things i havent tried. I may yet be left with some hair on my head.

Edit: No luck, i now get a video below spec flag in the options menu and it crashed during the same load turn :*(

 

[Bagpuss]

Nothing helped. Reluctantly took it back to the shop on Saturday, swapping it for an Xbox game instead. Great thing about consoles; no hardware compat worries.