FAQ's on Installation & Patches

[henyo10]

A Question: Does the official patches work with download civs?

 

[treeko411]

where did you download the game from (steam, d2d, other place)?

i bought it online from the Take2Store and got it in the mail, the game itself is a disk.

 

[ori]

ok so you did not download it
anyway did you install any patches? this is just civ4 not one of the expansion packs, right?

 

[treeko411]

ok so you did not download it
anyway did you install any patches? this is just civ4 not one of the expansion packs, right?

Wrong, Its BtS thats i why posted in the BtS forums, this is the BtS forums right?

 

[ori]

oh it is the bts subforum - but lots of people post in wrong subforums
did you patch the game ever?
I know that some xml problems where caused by non-latin operating systems - I see you location so I doubt you have an asian language windows, but just checking

 

[treeko411]

Yes i've patched the game to latest patch and i still get the XML errors.

 

[ori]

can you start the game at all - if so what does the about this build screen say?
if not - I would recommend reinstalling following the below guide (if you do not have warlords ignore those lines). The most common problem is that some files were not properly installed - if you run vista make sure to give the installer and all patches admin rights...

Spoiler uninstall and reinstall :

install the most recent version of DirectX 9c from Microsoft

then do the following for a clean reinstall:

Uninstall and Reinstall Civ4 Warlords BtS :

Try to follow this order when doing stuff:
Use Control panel to uninstall Beyond the Sword, then Warlords, then Civ4
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\my documents\my games\sid meier's civilization 4" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\my documents\my games\warlords" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\my documents\my games\beyond the sword" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\application data\my games\sid meier's civilization 4" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\application data\my games\warlords" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\application data\my games\beyond the sword" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\local settings\application data\my games\sid meier's civilization 4" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\local settings\application data\my games\warlords" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\local settings\application data\my games\beyond the sword" manually
(note: application data is a hidden directory so you need to configure windows explorer to show hidden files, also these directories in application data are sometimes removed by the uninstall routine)
Delete "...\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{CFBCE791-2D53-4FCE-B3FB-D6E01F4112E8}" (Civ4)
Delete "...\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{3E4B349F-10B5-4586-9D99-489A90A8B228}" (Warlords)
Delete "...\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{32E4F0D2-C135-475E-A841-1D59A0D22989}" (BtS)
(note: InstallShield Installation Information is a hidden directory so you need to configure windows explorer to show hidden files).
Install Civ4, immediately patch it to 1.61 (download it fresh from here)
Install Warlords, immediately patch it to 2.08 (download it fresh from here)
Install Beyond the Sword, immediately patch to 3.17 (download it fresh from here).

 

[treeko411]

i would do that but there's one big problem. i lost my civ 4 disk!!!! i have civ 4 installed with all of the recent patches on it, but i can't reinstall or play it. And no i won't even let me play the game. like a million XML pop-ups show up then at the end of them it says CIV 4 BtS has had an error and needs to shut down, and then it gives me the option to send an error report or not. i don't have warlords. I'm i still salvagable ?

 

[ori]

when you click on show report could you post a screenshot of that screen? don't scroll down in it - just as it opens
also you could try just uninstalling bts - and reinstalling it. Problem is it is possible that some of the Civ4 files got corrupted - which could cause this problem.
Try: do everything that says BtS - also delete all the caches (the stuff in my games folders or application data\my games folders for both (if you want to make absolutely sure to not kill anything just rename them)). Then reinstall bts and patch it...

 

[treeko411]

I have uninstalled and re installed BtS multiple times already. and one quick thing, how do i take screen shots? I'm ok at computers its just that i never learned that simple task........ oh well.

 

[ori]

the reason I recommend a new uninstall including removal of all the files I list above is that they contain game files that are cached - and will be loaded again when you reinstall - so that this might be the cause of your troubles.
as for a screenshot: hit prnt (or prnt scrn) on your keyboard - then open any imaging program (e.g. paint which is installed by default on windows computers) and paste the screenshot into it (just use ctrl-v)...

 

[treeko411]

I tried the manual uninstallion but when i try to reinstall BtS it just says 'Play' not 'Install'

 

[ori]

just checking: did you delete the installshield installation information subfolder?

 

[treeko411]

I think so. Would you rather do this in PM's?

 

[ori]

I don't like pms too much I always have to go back into the inbox to reread what was done before...
if you want you can open a new thread in the civ4 tech support section though and pm me the link.
if you did remove the installshield installation information subfolder for bts this should not occur. but one could remove the registry key if that fails. are you familiar with regedit?

 

[treeko411]

no i'm not familiar with regedit. i'm going to double check to make sure i uninstalled everything.

 

[treeko411]

I just tried to reinstall the game and the error continued.

 

[ori]

are you using win xp or vista?
did you restart your computer after deleting everything? if not do so.

 

[Barry Bonds]

I'm getting a new computer tomorrow and am looking forward to getting back to BtS after a year. And then I heard that Vista has SEVERE issues with the CIV series. True? And what can I do to prevent it?

 

[ori]

I don't believe that issues are severe - there are some people who run into problems (but not more than on xp - the issues are different though) - but most people are fine with vista AND the most recent patches. The main problem is with civ4 (vanilla) which was not programmed for Vista - but BtS is branded games for windows and thus is programmed explicitly for vista.
the 64bit version of vista seems to have some problems with the game (or vice versa) - though I am not sure if this is the case for everyone.
the most important thing to know: for any program especially games: you should give the installers and patches admin rights - vista does not do so automatically, so you have to make sure it does if something did not work out during install. Most problems with vista stem from its permissions system - and then there still are some hardware vendors out there who don't have good vista drivers...
Bottomline: there do not seem to be more people with problems on vista than on xp around here - and there are a lot of people who run the game fine on vista