Complete Crash

[Tomb]

I'm getting frustrated with this game.

I have Civilization IV installed on to two different computers, a laptop and my gaming desktop. The game runs FINE and dandy on my laptop, no issues whatsoever; however the story pretaining to my gaming computer is entirely different.

Check the dxdiag now.

I can start up the game fine, go throughout the menus and check the options - no problems there. The problem is when I try to start a game, such as "Play Now" or "Custom Game", in which the entire computer crashes, leaving me with the lone option of restarting the computer from the case. (Power off/on)

Now my computer is way over the recommended requirments so hardware is NOT an issue. I installed the 1.52 patch and the problem remains (Problem was present with 1.00) along with this I reinstalled many times over.

I have the latest video card drivers, Windows XP Pro SP2, and I have Civilization set to the native resolution of my screen.

(I never tried patch 1.09 or tried to play a multiplayer game, should I?)

 

[Zydor]

Couple of other suggestions:

When you reinstalled Civ to V1.52 did you do a TOTAL purge of everything including a manual check of directories being deleted, including the hidden directory containing cachefiles? Sometimes the auto deinstall leaves bits behind causing conflicts

The 6600's can cause substantial heating issues, particularly if they only have passive cooling aka the GigaByte design, they run very hot. If the internal case fans dont pick up the excess heat - or some fans are running low due to dust ingress (or even because too much power being taken from a lower spec/overloaded PSU), the heat will cause a crash (compressed air can from local PC store will sort the fan dust accumilation). Along the same lines keep the case closed, more often that not keep the case open for cooling will increase the internal ambient temperature, as the internal air flow gets wrecked, and the fans cant do their job.

Those two are outside curves, but may work for you.

Regards
Zy

 

[Tomb]

Couple of other suggestions:

When you reinstalled Civ to V1.52 did you do a TOTAL purge of everything including a manual check of directories being deleted, including the hidden directory containing cachefiles? Sometimes the auto deinstall leaves bits behind causing conflicts

This I did not do this, but how would this affect the game? (Not to cause a problem, I just want some definate examples)

The 6600's can cause substantial heating issues, particularly if they only have passive cooling aka the GigaByte design, they run very hot. If the internal case fans dont pick up the excess heat - or some fans are running low due to dust ingress (or even because too much power being taken from a lower spec/overloaded PSU), the heat will cause a crash (compressed air can from local PC store will sort the fan dust accumilation). Along the same lines keep the case closed, more often that not keep the case open for cooling will increase the internal ambient temperature, as the internal air flow gets wrecked, and the fans cant do their job.

This isn't a problem. It's cold in my house in the morning and if I try starting it up the game will freeze in the same place, with a cold computer. I could get off a long session of UT2k4 (Many Hours) and try to run it the game and this would cause the exact same lock-up. (I would never waste my money on a passively cooled GPU cooler) (And I blow out my computer internals on a regulated schedule)

 

[Zydor]

Cant give you chapter and verse, but it is certain that some users had the issue of part de-install without realising it, a total purge solved it for them. Clearly if your base problem is not that - then problem still there. However the de-install is painless and quick, and if its not running correctly now, you have nothing to loose - there is no fatal changes on a total deinstall. I hear your concerns, you will know better than I if it fits your issue... your sitting with the beast - your choice at the end of the day

If you dont know the total purge routine I can repost it here if you want to go ahead and try

Regards
Zy