Civilization III: Complete (steam) on windows 10

[MorgothErmis]

Hello, I installed Civ3 on windows 10 and was wondering if there were any recommended settings/ posts for it.
It plays fine but the resolution looks a bit squashed.
I tried the 'keepres' trick but then the game didn't even start.

 

[tjs282]

I tried the 'keepres' trick but then the game didn't even start.

Well that's weird.

What size screen are you trying to run it on? Civ3 (usually) needs a minimum resolution of 1024*768, so if you're using a tablet or netbook with a smaller vertical pixel-count, but with "KeepRes=1", the game may fail to start (IIRC, @Lanzelot figured out a workaround to that problem at some point).

If that's not the problem , then it might be the Intro-movie which is preventing the game from running. So you could try (also) adding the line "PlayIntro=0" to the conquests.ini, which will tell the game to skip straight to the menu-screen when you start it.

Other lines that I added:

"NoAIPatrol=0" makes the Barbs more unpredictable
"WindowsFileBox=1" gives you a normal Windows-type window when opening or saving games, rather than the simpler Civ3-default window.

 

[MorgothErmis]

well I added the resolution manually by adding
VideoMode=2560
Now the game plays but the aspect ratio is still squashed and the audio is glitchy, it has these sounds like you're putting static on the microphone

This game was definitely not made for windows 10 lmao!
Well the thing is, I bought this on sale for like 1,5 euros or something. But I still have the discs from the physical version.
I wonder if that will work better.

 

[tjs282]

But I still have the discs from the physical version.
I wonder if that will work better.

You'd likely need a No-CD patch, because most CD-based versions were copy-protected using the secdrv.sys driver, which Micro$oft disabled on Win10 a long time ago.

 

[MorgothErmis]

oh that's good to know thanks, well it's an old game, what can you do

 

[tjs282]

oh that's good to know thanks, well it's an old game, what can you do

Well, you could have a look at this thread, which describes the problem and several possible solutions.

It's not that complicated to deal with: even I could manage it!

 

[MorgothErmis]

hahaha, many thanks