Civ4 Problems in Wine/Crossover

[Krillen]

Moderator Action: Moved from the FAQ thread, as it's likely to generate some detailed technical discussion of its own. Duplicate thread deleted.

I really hope that you can help answer my question.

Product: BtS

Platform: OSX

Question: Why is BtS crashing during the load screen?

Now I'll fill you in with the details.

I'm sure you are familiar with Wine. It is essentially one that is designed to run Windows programs on Mac and Linux platforms.

But since learning about Wine to me is about as complex as me trying to learn AP Chemistry, I had to pick other alternatives. I found a program called CrossOver, which is basically one that runs Windows games using Wine technology.

I could of decided to use Bootcamp, but I wasn't willing to install entire operating systems on the same platform that was offered by Apple. There were other alternatives, but Wine was perhaps the most cost effective solution.

Now, I've watched a number of videos on Youtube where actual Mac users are playing Windows games on Crossover. I've learned a bunch on Wine coding and am starting to become familiar with it's workaround. But for all that I've learned, I am still stuck with my problem.

I own the Windows version of Civilization IV: Complete, which as you know, contains every expansion in the series including the standalone title Colonization. Now, I could buy the Mac version of this, but again, I'm not willing to spend the money.

I had trouble running BtS which involved a 'msmxsl3.dll' file that I needed to remove from a directory. Instead of quitting at start-up I am able to get through to the loading screen, and that's where I am having trouble.

I have tried new prefixes, replacing dll files, adding dll files to my Wine >Windows> System32 directory, and setting (natives,built-Ins) dll files on override. I managed to get BtS running last weekend, but after setting up the latest patch (3.19) I started to have problems loading the saved files. Nothing seemed to click, but I have found a place where someone mentioned the same issue I had.

Link:

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=20944

An exception to this is that I am using a Mac OS X, not a x86 Linux.

All this information gave me is essentially this little bit:

"Confirming. If trying to run under 1.1.34 crashes with the following backtrace:

=>0 0xb73edecf IDirect3DSurface9Impl_GetDevice+0x81(iface=0x16fba8,
device=0x33f960)
[/home/pavel/install/wine/src/wine-1.1.34/dlls/d3d9/surface.c:112] in d3d9
(0x0033f868)

1 0x01119894 in d3dx9_33 (+0x109894) (0x0033f94c)

2 0x006adb61 in civ4beyondsword (+0x2adb61) (0x00000001)


But is FIXED in current git."

I have no idea what 'git' is. Then I came to this link:

http://wiki.winehq.org/GitWine

Involves coding, but I fail to see how Git will solve my game from crashing.

====

I don't know if you can help me or not, but my Windows OP recently broke last summer and have been unable to get it working. In the meantime I am using a Macintosh with an Intel processor.

EDIT: Both Vanilla and Warlords work on the Macintosh without crashing to Desktop. Only BtS is crashing at the load screen.

I receive the following message in the wine crashed application dialog:

"The program Civ4BeyondSword.exe has encountered a serious problem and needs to
close. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

msxml.dll is set as native. If this problem is fixed using GIT, or simply worked around by copying .dll files to system32 directory, please let me know.

 

[macthegoalieciv]

Moderator Action: Moved from the FAQ thread, as it's likely to generate some detailed technical discussion of its own. Duplicate thread deleted.

I really hope that you can help answer my question.

Product: BtS

Platform: OSX

Question: Why is BtS crashing during the load screen?

Now I'll fill you in with the details.

I'm sure you are familiar with Wine. It is essentially one that is designed to run Windows programs on Mac and Linux platforms.

But since learning about Wine to me is about as complex as me trying to learn AP Chemistry, I had to pick other alternatives. I found a program called CrossOver, which is basically one that runs Windows games using Wine technology.

I could of decided to use Bootcamp, but I wasn't willing to install entire operating systems on the same platform that was offered by Apple. There were other alternatives, but Wine was perhaps the most cost effective solution.

Now, I've watched a number of videos on Youtube where actual Mac users are playing Windows games on Crossover. I've learned a bunch on Wine coding and am starting to become familiar with it's workaround. But for all that I've learned, I am still stuck with my problem.

I own the Windows version of Civilization IV: Complete, which as you know, contains every expansion in the series including the standalone title Colonization. Now, I could buy the Mac version of this, but again, I'm not willing to spend the money.

I had trouble running BtS which involved a 'msmxsl3.dll' file that I needed to remove from a directory. Instead of quitting at start-up I am able to get through to the loading screen, and that's where I am having trouble.

I have tried new prefixes, replacing dll files, adding dll files to my Wine >Windows> System32 directory, and setting (natives,built-Ins) dll files on override. I managed to get BtS running last weekend, but after setting up the latest patch (3.19) I started to have problems loading the saved files. Nothing seemed to click, but I have found a place where someone mentioned the same issue I had.

Link:

http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=20944

An exception to this is that I am using a Mac OS X, not a x86 Linux.

All this information gave me is essentially this little bit:

"Confirming. If trying to run under 1.1.34 crashes with the following backtrace:

=>0 0xb73edecf IDirect3DSurface9Impl_GetDevice+0x81(iface=0x16fba8,
device=0x33f960)
[/home/pavel/install/wine/src/wine-1.1.34/dlls/d3d9/surface.c:112] in d3d9
(0x0033f868)

1 0x01119894 in d3dx9_33 (+0x109894) (0x0033f94c)

2 0x006adb61 in civ4beyondsword (+0x2adb61) (0x00000001)


But is FIXED in current git."

I have no idea what 'git' is. Then I came to this link:

http://wiki.winehq.org/GitWine

Involves coding, but I fail to see how Git will solve my game from crashing.

====

I don't know if you can help me or not, but my Windows OP recently broke last summer and have been unable to get it working. In the meantime I am using a Macintosh with an Intel processor.

EDIT: Both Vanilla and Warlords work on the Macintosh without crashing to Desktop. Only BtS is crashing at the load screen.

I receive the following message in the wine crashed application dialog:

"The program Civ4BeyondSword.exe has encountered a serious problem and needs to
close. We are sorry for the inconvenience."

msxml.dll is set as native. If this problem is fixed using GIT, or simply worked around by copying .dll files to system32 directory, please let me know.

This might sound like a really basic response, but have you tried un-installing and installing the game again? It seems like that would be a good way to go.

 

[AlanH]

Hi, welcome

Good luck with that! Although I am competent with Linux and Unix, and can delve into the depths of Window when necessary, I gave up on trying to make Wine and Crossover do anything useful for me a long time ago. Maybe it's all a lot better now, but I have more useful things to do with my time than recompiling and debugging stuff that ought to "just work".

I use Parallels to run Windows programs, because I object to rebooting my entire Mac into Bootcamp just to run one Windows program.

 

[z0wb13]

Moderator Action: Apologies. I wrongly accused zOwb31 of posting a link to a crack. This was not so. I have reinstated the original post

i have made near perfect wineskin wrappers for single player bts, running among others the bug and k-mod. its pretty easy;p use wine 1.3.37 and add the msxml4 files using winetricks.

it's open source and seems to work perfectly in windowed mode. fullscreen has a bug where the cursor is a spinning globe.

here is a useful link: http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=16878

it is a little outdated. i didnt need to add many of the files called for. just the two i mentioned wrt winetricks. mods have to be installed in user/my games/bts/MODS and pointed to directly in the Civilization.ini file.

there is a trick i used to update bts to 3.19 after installing from civ4 complete DVD. placing the updater inside the app package under c:\program files and running it instead of the bts.exe seems to behave normally. using the ingame updater might work (it did in at least one test) but requires additional wine tricks.

here are some step-by-step directions of what i did.

Spoiler :

this is how i have run civ4bts for windows on several different apple systems (iMacs, and MacBook Air specifically, although these instructions should work for all systems running the lion OS).

there are no cracks used ("Removes copy protection" refers to the 3.19 patch, not any sort of software piracy).

you will need a retail, official, legal copy of Civilization 4: Complete. you will also need an internet connection, osx 10.7.4, about 5GB of free disk space and a way to open .zip files. lastly, you will need a mac with at least a core 2 duo, but you need that to run lion any way. the method i used was based on the one discovered here.

FIRST, download and install wineskin winery. there is some further information and a FAQ available here, but i don't think you will need to understand how it all works just to use it.

SECOND, create a "wrapper" using wineskin winery.app. since this is your first time using this, you will have to download and add the WS8WINE1.3.37 engine. then choose (by using the "Update" button) Wineskin-2.5.5 as your wrapper version and click Create New Blank Wrapper. you will be prompted to name your cool new wrapper, i chose "civ4bts." wine skin will go to work. it will eventually alert you that it cannot find the Wine Gecko package, so download and install it. finally, click on View wrapper in Finder when the operation is completed, without forgetting to close the winery.app. you now have a file under user/Applications/Wineskin/yourfilename.app but it isn't quite done yet. you still need to install civ4 from your disc.

THIRD, double click on your new wrapper, and click on Advanced, and then Tools. under the utilities subheading, you will see Winetricks. You will have to add the .dll file msxml4.dll. this is the only tweak that i had to do. the instructions that i'm basing these on recommends downloading a bunch of extra files, which may affect multiplayer. either way, i would definitely avoid the fonts that the WineHQ recommends; they are ugly and won't fit in their boxes unless you are running huge resolutions.

FOURTH, install civ4 from the Civilization 4: Complete DVD. to do this, click on “Install Software” button in the bottom left of the Wineskin Advanced window. Agree to the license, but choose Custom Install, then check Install for All Users, but uncheck Register this Product. let it run. once civ4 is installed, you will be prompted to install Colonization, which i simply cancel to save disc space. with the install complete, wineskin will ask you to choose the correct .exe file to run the application, which should be found under Program Files\2kGames\Firaxis\Civ…\BeyondtheSword\BtS.exe, or something like that. it should be the second choice in the drop down menu.

FIFTH, run the updater. you might be able to get it to work from the in game menu, but i ran it directly from the exe file. right click on the wrapper that you have created, and select “Show Package Contents” which will open up a finder window. navigate to the c:\ProgramFiles and drop in the updater. then (and this is the trick) double click the Wineskin.app that is inside the wrapper and choose Advanced Options (you were at this screen before if you followed the instructions). under the configuration heading, you will see Windows EXE to the left and a Browse button to its right. click, and point to the updater.exe file and let it run by choosing Test Run. everything should update normally. after the update, don’t forget to point the Windows EXE back to the correct file. delete the broken links the installer created for you off of the desktop.

YOU’RE DONE!!! if you want to run mods, there are a few more steps.

SIXTH, install any additional mods that you want to play in the user/Documents/My Games/Beyond the Sword/MODS folder. run them normally. installing mods into the c:\Program Files\…\Beyond the Sword\Mods causes crashes, for reasons that i don’t even remotely understand.

SEVENTH, there are some little changes that you can make in the Civilization.ini file that make things go more smoothly. you can play around with this on your own, but i turn off the intro movies and splash screens, as well as auto-loading the k-mod as the default. the biggest bug that i can find is the cursor doesn’t want to be a pointer shaper, it wants to be a spinning globe instead. you can fix this by running in windowed mode, which you can set in the .ini file.

 

[z0wb13]

if you are using wine, use version 1.3.37 and go ahead and uninstall and reload your civ4 build, because it's probably all jacked up. i don't think you need msxml3, just msxml4. i know what you mean about 3 being tricky to install.

in older versions of wine, i had to move certain .dll's into the civ4 folder, i think the System32.dll might have been involved at some point...

the point is, that the final version of 1.3 fixes most of the problems that i encountered.