Finally! It works!!

[smarpoe]

*I posted this at http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=135231 and thought it might help others over here. I see that there are a lot of frustrated folks out there and I'm really hoping this will help somebody.*

THANK YOU ALAMO!!

Thanks to this thread, I'm now up and running on my pc. I've been reading thread after thread trying to get some idea as to what the heck was causing my system to stop running the game after checking the XML parser. I did everything I could do to make this damn thing run. Followed all of the instructions on both this forum and Firaxis's website. Still couldn't get it to run. Then, I found this thread and now....it works!! Turns out that I needed to upgrade my motherboards BIOS. I also set my voice playback and voice recording to my Soundblaster Live 24. It was previously set to my modem(??).

I played for about 4 hours on maximum settings, huge world and all civs. Runs fine, but I do get an error after the game loads. A popup stating that a voice sound device has been disabled. Not sure what that means, but it hasn't affected my game.

Anyways, thanks for your help and my son thanks you too because I've been playing this game on his pc and interfering with his playing time of CoD2.

SPECS:
Pentium 4 2.4 gb
1 gig DDR ram
80 gig Maxtor HDD 7500rpm
ATI 9600SE 128mg
Windows Prof..w/SP2
Soundblaster Live 24

 

[Eisernes]

Congrats! I wish alot of these other folks with problems would read this and learn from your story, but they won't. It's so much easier to blame the developers.

 

[Clown2TheLeft]

I wouldn't have come in here looking for a fix if I had not met the minimum requirements, or updated drivers. So in this case, yes, I will blame the game developers because they released a product unfit for market.


Later!

--The Clown to the Left

 

[smarpoe]

Congrats! I wish alot of these other folks with problems would read this and learn from your story, but they won't. It's so much easier to blame the developers.

Well, I hope someone reads it and it helps them out. I know that I was getting totally frustrated with the game, before it finally worked. I would consider myself computer savvy and this game had me stumped. Even if what I did doesn't help, at least check out the linked thread. A lot of good, well explained and useful information is given.

 

[IntruderAlert]

Wel congratulations, I hope this will help other people too.

Now go build some wonders and send those pesky other civ's back to the stone age.

game on!

 

[Artagel]

Do we have confirmation that this has worked on multiple systems and configurations?

 

[smarpoe]

Do we have confirmation that this has worked on multiple systems and configurations?

I did just read on another thread,a new one in Tech Support, that a person updated their BIOS and that fixed some major problems and they can now play the game. Personally, I think it was a combination of BIOS update and Soundcard correction, that helped me out.

FYI, the only issue I had was not getting passed the XML check. All else was fine.

 

[smarpoe]

Well, everything was going fine playing huge map game with all civs. Now, I'm about at the middle of the game and it CTD every 4 or 5 turns. I really don't think it's my pc, though. I've done everything possible just to get the game up and running because I couldn't get passed the XML check. Now that I'm passed that, I CTD. AARRGH!! I even tried reducing the graphics and other changes to the game play and still crashes. Damn. Where's that patch when you need it? Heck, I even tried to not do multiple commands, like Sirian mentioned, and ....bam....CTD.

I must admit though, when the game is running good, it's really fun. I just added another gig of ram and I did see a difference in game speed and performance. Unfortunately, the crashes are rather upsetting and I think I'll be going back to until the patch comes out.

If anybody has an idea or can link me to thread on a possible fix for this CTD, it would much appreciated.

Pent 4, 2.4g
ATI 9600SE 128
Windows XP Prof (SP2)
Soundblaster 24
2 gig DDR Ram
All drivers updated

 

[atc_chief]

If anybody has an idea or can link me to thread on a possible fix for this CTD, it would much appreciated.

Well smarpoe, I have the same problem. My only solution so far is to do a total reboot, after which I can get a few more hours of playing time in.

My PC gets sluggish even after I shut down CIV IV, so it appears there are memory management issues. I'm now in the habit of rebooting every time I'm done with a CIV IV session.

The good news is it appears you've got the right drivers/updates for your system. I'd suggest not tweaking any further, and waiting for the patch which will hopefully resolve the CTD we're having.

 

[Amatir]

Congrats! I wish alot of these other folks with problems would read this and learn from your story, but they won't. It's so much easier to blame the developers.

Sad, but true. I'm guilty myself. *sigh* I haven't tried the game yet, I pray it works right....

 

[smarpoe]

I'd suggest not tweaking any further, and waiting for the patch which will hopefully resolve the CTD we're having.

I don't plan on it. I've always considered myself "computer savvy" and I think anymore tweaking could actually cause more problems. Personally, I think it's a real shame that a game this fun is so unplayable for some folks. I've also noticed that the frustration level in this forum is building up. Hope that patch comes soon.

 

[MetHimPikeHoses]

Smarpoe-- I feel your pain... I can tweak some things and for a few turns or half a game the thing runs like a golden racehorse, but after a while the lag settles in , and eventually it's totally bogged down. Sometimes the ALT-TAB can get me 10 more turns or so, but even this gets "worn out" and a reboot is needed.

My solution so far is to try to enjoy small maps... is less really more though?

 

[smarpoe]

Smarpoe-- I feel your pain... I can tweak some things and for a few turns or half a game the thing runs like a golden racehorse, but after a while the lag settles in , and eventually it's totally bogged down. Sometimes the ALT-TAB can get me 10 more turns or so, but even this gets "worn out" and a reboot is needed.

My solution so far is to try to enjoy small maps... is less really more though?

What I can't figure out is the first couple of games I played, it worked fine. Now, it runs like $h!t. I think I might do a defrag and see if that works.

Does anybody remember the run command to see what applications start on Startup? I forget.