Dissapointment.

[Tron76]

I have to say im very dissapointed with the new Civ IV

Like many im a great fan of the game and have been waiting and waiting for the new realease
and now to actually have it sitting at home but unable to load it is heatbreaking really.

Civ, I II and III you simply installed and away you went, 6 months later u came out for some food and sunshine but this is hoffific SO many problems just loading the damn thing really who can be bothered looking for this driver and that driver install it, RE-installing it changing lines of code here and there....geez

As for me mine DIES a horrible death on load up
it says Loading XML, loading python, loading this and that... the screen resizes, it says DONE...the nervious engry is killing me........then is just sits there..and sits there until my lappy overheats and shuts itself down..I dont get to see the earth...or anything thats ALL...

I have tried all the new drivers...the ATI ones say they are not compatable with my card when i try to intall them...i have tried the patch...i have tried the forums, i have even tried emailing support in Europe, Canada AND the U.S and none have replied....time is running out before CIV IV is returned to the store with GREAT sadness...............

I have a Dell lappy, a 5250.
3 gig...
a ATI Radeon 9000
i run XP with 512 ram.

nothing works with this damn game

help me Fanatics.
your my only hope

 

[eoc]

sorry to your sadness, i don't know if it can help you.
1. reinstall civ4
2. patch1.09(the setup patch not in the game online patch)
3. find the file "CivilizationIV.ini" at "C:\Documents and Settings\owner\My Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4", owner is your computer name, set "nomovies=1"
4. press "shift" key when start the game, and pass by all the error messages(just press ok button).

 

[Zydor]

The good news - you are in spec and the card does work with Civ IV.

The bad news, you will need to suffer some more reinstalls to work thro this.... and there is no guarantee at the end of it you'll be working. Having said that many users have worked thro the problems, so dont dispare

Pre - reqs. Make sure you have loaded XP SP2, and .NET (latter two are required for some fixes so might as well bite the bullett and get it done.

Then
- check bios update, if your bios is more than 3 years old, more than two years to be safe, its worth doing a flash upgrade, if you cant, dont worry about it - onwards and upwards.

- Dowload the offical V1.09 Patch (dont install yet)

- Deinstall Civ IV that you currently have (use windows add/remove programmes to do it), and go to the disk deleting any Civ IV directories left behind in 'Program Files', and in 'My Games'

- Go to http://www.driverheavendownloads.net/omegadrive.htm download the Omega Radeon Drivers V3.10 FOR WINDOWS (dont install yet) They are compatible with your card and do work with the game (Thanks to rlawton for that one). When you do it, its a good idea to TOTALLY remove anything thats connected with ati on your disk. The instructions are a bit lengthy, but they are straightforward have no concerns.
go here for ati de-install https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&questionID=20870

ok - you now have Civ IV de-installed, and a known set of drivers downloaded (dont install them yet), and the offical V1.09 patch downloaded (dont install yet)

Reboot (if not already done so post ati de-install), ignore / cancel out the windows hardware found messages concerning VGA (dont want their version of drivers loaded)

You now have a basic 640x 640 display loaded that will look somewhat basic and dated, dont worry about it.

Back to the Civ IV disc(s)/DVD (depending where u are in the World), and load Civ IV as normal, then run the V1.09 patch you downloaded. During the Civ loading process you maybe asked about loading Directx accept, say yes, let it do it. If it dont ask, dont worry about it.

Load the 3.10 drivers you downloaded, and reboot

You now have a vanilla installation with clean drivers.

Now the fun bit

Fire up the game see IF it runs. If not, dont be surprised, come back here and report what is happening.

Its important to start afresh and have a clean installation for people to help you, so whilst I understand the frustration, you need to go thro the above so there is a known baseline to work from because you have made so many changes already.

Regards
Zy

 

[Magicboab]

Zydor you seem to be a person in the know ;-)
Perhaps you can either make or break my day. I was bought civ 4 as a present and am trying to run it with the following specs:

Acer 230TM with
2Ghz intel celeron
256 RAM (don't laugh just yet..)
400MHz FSB
Intel 845G Chipset

I have downloaded and installed the 1.09 patch and have gotten the game to run...VERY shakily. I plan to upgrade my RAM to 1GB but have reservations about my lack of video card technology.

Any suggestions? Am I doomed to wait till I upgrade my machine before playing?

Thanks,

Magic (Newbie extreme!!)

 

[Zydor]

You definitely need a supported Video card with at least 64Mb, and that is pushing it a bit, their claim for recommended is certainly true, if you are going to have to get another one, go for 128mb card at least, and 256mb if selling grandma brings in enough dosh Dont go nuts over a 256mb card, 128mb card is fine, as long as its a make supported by the game, it will do you admirably.

RAM, as you indicate, you should go for 512Mb. Some are running on 256Mb, but a RAM figure is not the be all and end all, someone running 256 with tightly integrated kit well tuned may run well, other 256's less well setup or on a less capable Motherboard will not. The game can only get more complex and memory heavy as the months / years role by - it is already if you play Large / Huge maps - so 512Mb RAM is a good investment if you can stretch for that.

I dont know your PC type, so I dont know if a memory upgrade will work for your motherboard, or whether it will take a new graphics card without degrading the graphic card ability.

Someone else reading may want to chip in here ?

Regards
Zy

 

[Didier Pierco]

Zydor,

if you got a minute, could you check my problem as well ?
It's on the next topic; 3Blue Screen"

Thanks a lot !

Here the dxdiag;

 

[Tron76]

It's working!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last night i was looking for a few answers to the problem and came across the Omega drivers which i downloaded and installed after removing the ATI control panel.

But thats all i did after reading Zydors post im alittle worried i sould have done more but for now i dont think ill touch it as it is actually working.

Id just like to thank whoever is behind the omega drivers, Zydor for that comprehensive information which i will print out and keep just in case what i did wasnt totally right, that was the best step by step advice ive seen on here so thanks and to you eoc.

The game is amazing.

One issue tho dont know if its the game or something i clicked on but when i first started my Civ i was quite ''zoomed in'' and could see everything going on then alittle later after some trade deals the screen went back to map and i was more ''zoomed out'' where now i can only see cities not people.. is that normal?

thank again everyone.

 

[Zydor]

If it aint broke dont fix it

EDIT: Re zoom, the game has a 'zoom' function, use the centre wheel of the mouse to zoom in /. out

The game has had a 'black screen/map' issue, if it becomes irritating for you post again

meanwhile ...

Play a while, settle down with it, get the feel and later post concerns - meanwhile enjoy, and let the Omega guy on that Site know what he did for you - posts like that make these guys day, regretably few bother to say thanks to them

Great stuff - happy world domination

Regards
Zy