Crashes, lock Up and assorted other issues, need help!

[WarhawkC]

Maybe this has been addressed elsewhere, but i couldn't find a similar situation in any of the threads i searched, so i figure I'd ask here.

First off I am running the following:
Windows XP Home
2.20 Ghz Intel Celeron
760 MB RAM
256 MB nVidia GeForce 5800 FX (using the latest Drivers as of 12/10/05)
RealTek AC'97 Audio
and I have the Patch for Civ 4 installed

Now my issues, i'll list em seperatly, but they may be related, all of them have happened multiple times. I'm by no means a computer guru, so i'm at a loss here:

1)The game frequently locks up and crashes to the desk top without any error message.

2) Game crashes to desk top, but when it crashes it caused my display to lock at 800 x 600 with 16 bit color. Rebooting usually corrects problem, but sometimes i have to reinstall my drivers for my video card.

3) Game goes black with only game cursor visable and locks up. The only way to get out of this is to turn off computer at the tower itself.

4) Cities and units disappear off map leaving only terrain map, or sometimes partial terrain map and black screen. Occasionally crashes and occasionally snaps back and game continues as normal. This usually happen with increasing frequency before one of the above crashes happen.

I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling the game. I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling my graphics drivers. I have downgradded my drivers back to the original drivers on the CD that came with the graphics card. I have lowered all my settings in game or tried to mix and match to find settings that seem to work, but to no avail. These problems happen on Small maps through Huge maps and are seemingly at random. I can play a game on a huge map for 3 -4 hours before any problems occur one day, and play a new game on a huge map the next and 10 mins in start having issues. Again, it occurs with the same frequency on all map sizes and map types. Since getting the game when it came out, i have yet to actually complete any game i start. I'd appreciate any help or suggestions. I recently, as in about 20 mins ago, enabled logging. Would that help anyone in fixing my problems?
Thanks for the help!

 

[Snype]

2) Game crashes to desk top, but when it crashes it caused my display to lock at 800 x 600 with 16 bit color. Rebooting usually corrects problem, but sometimes i have to reinstall my drivers for my video card.

I got that one myself, except it's 4 bit color, and the couple times it's happened, a simple reboot fixed it, no need to reinstall drivers. The error was:

Faulting application civilization4.exe, version 1.0.9.1722, faulting module civilization4.exe, version 1.0.9.1722, fault address 0x0065289e.
If that means anything to anyone.

I also got this strange glitch:

I've been playing 2-player vs. several AI games lately (that I've hosted), but these just happened tonight in a 3-player vs. about 9 AI game on a huge map (I was a client that time). Neither of the other players experienced any problems. Specs are as follows:

P4 2.80C
Asus P4C800-E motherboard
nVidia 6600GT AGP - 78.01 drivers
Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS
2x512MB DDR400 RAM (checked with memtest)
WinXP Pro with Service Pack 2

Nothing overclocked, no problems in DXDiag, and pretty much every other game, WoW, HL2, UT2004, C&C Generals all run flawlessly.

 

[Zydor]

This sounds like the memory problem- the game has a major memory issue - they will fix it - but meanwhile there is a very successfull User Patch that addresses this

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=146309

At present he is working on version 2 of the patch, but has posted an Intermediate V2 for testing by kind folks. So you can either go for the version 1 patch shown on the opening page, or the version 2 on test at post #640. Its a benign patch, does not touch game code, and is easily installed / deinstalled. Scan read the last 2/3 pages of the thread and you will get the idea.

Obviously could be other things, and if it does not work for you come back here and we can try something else - but it sounds a classic for this fix

Regards
Zy

 

[WarhawkC]

Some one had suggested to me tweeking the INI file and i did what was suggested in the link they provided and that seemed to help alot actually. I have actually finished a game on a large map with no crashes. Now the only problems that crop up is units lose their textures and become just blocks of color (ie a tank is just a maroon blob in the shape of a tank). Saving and reloading usually corrects the problem. Any way to fix that or is it a result of whatever I did to the INI file? Also none of my movies play now. The opening movie freezes showing just the earth and moon but the sound continues as if the movie is still playing. Wonder movies also stutter and freeze. This stuff doesn't hamper the gameplay itself, more of a minor annoyance. I also get a "You have been defeated" message when i attempt to load a game occasionally. The game starts to load, that message appears and it locks up. If i restart my computer and reload the game it is okay after that. But it happen 1 out of every 3-4 times i attempt to load a saved game.