Fix-It List

[Theleb-K'aarna]

This is the error I get after I install civ 4

"The application or dll C:\windows\system32\d3dx9_26.dll is not a valid windows image. Please check this against your installation diskette"

any ideas on how to solve this?

Let me start by saying that I have had a simular ( but unrelated specificly ) problem myself. The cause for this was a defective stick of ram, and was very hard to troubleshoot, but for now lets assume this isnt the case.

Sounds like that peticular DLL may be corupted, or possibly infected.

Have you tried installing DirectX 9 from the game CD ?

 

[Theleb-K'aarna]

Here are some steps for everyone which I myself perform before thinking the worst about any program I install on my own system. These may not work for every situation, but are step in the right direction for a healthy system.

1) make sure your anti-virus program is up to date, and scan your system. If you cannot afford to buy one, AVG is free for personal use, and is availible from http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1 Also http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/ for ad aware which is a spyware removal / multifunctional tool which is also very handy. sorry for the links guys, but I think that system security is important

2) Make sure your System is up to date. Download, install drivers specificly for your hardware, and software updates (Windows update ?)

3) If not done in step 2 make absolutly sure that you are running the correct version of DirectX. You can do this by trying to install the DirectX version that came on the game CD, and if it is already the correct version this should have no ill effect on your system.

4) Sometimes for whatever reasons, games may not always run well after updating your system when the game was already installed on your system. This being said, its probably a good idea to un-install, then re-installing the game after you have performed the above steps (or possibly even un-installing the game first, then installing after the above steps are done).

These steps may , or may not work, again I am not at your system, so I cannot say what is going on exactly. Computers now days are far from perfect, but I've found from years of experience, that the majority of the time, when something goes wrong, the problem is usually between the chair and keyboard (the user . . .), the fix for this is simply become informed about your system.

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to keep your system up to date with both software updates, and anti-virus tools. This is part of being informed about your computer. Viruses can lead to nurmerous problems ranging from what you're experiencing here, to identity theft, which I think we both can agree is'nt a good thing in either case.

Another part of being informed is learning how to use, and using google. You may be surprised how many people out there have the same problem you're experiencing, and have already found a fix. Yes, sometimes it takes a while to find a relevant link or what have you, but often its well worth the time needed to find it. I had to google for about an hour to find a fix for another game semi recently, and not to toot my own horn, but I know ALOT about computers, so, what I am getting at here, just because you dont know what is going on, does not mean you are 'newb' . . . it happens to us all.

Also keep in mind that not everything that goes wrong with the game on YOUR system is nessisarily the game developers fault. Hardware drivers are often far from perfect themselves, not to mention, that if your system is in fact not updated, well . . . I'll leave it at that.

 

[Theleb-K'aarna]

Well, I got the initial error report and worked on this for about 4 hours before I found out that the patch was supposed to fix this. Downloaded and installed patch, now getting the error in attachment.

Found instructions for using Pak and was going to do that but it says to find the art0. file inside c:\program files....Civ4/Assets folder. Don't have a file by that name. Only have asset0...4 but no art0

So now I have no idea what to do to get the game to even run. Got it yesterday for Christmas and been working with this all day just to try to see the blasted thing.

Why oh why do they put out a game that isn't ready yet?

Could anyone give me some info on how to get this going?

Oh, yeah, I have windows xp.

Also found instructions on getting rid of ati driver and reinstalling but when I download the ati driver from the site and try to install it, I get a not compatible message, no matter which one I do. Had to do a system restore to get my original ati driver back (whatever the heck that is).

Thanks so much for any help!

Shannon
FawnRising@aol.com

Did you install the version of DirectX that came on the game cd ? If so, what is the model number, and manufactuer of your ATI card ?

 

[Ericd3043]

Ok, got this game on Christmas. Spent a while catching up on all of the new features and decided to try it out.

I ran into a few problems.

1) It would not even start to install the program. Said that my version of OpenMG was 3.3, the patch was for 3.2. It exited out of the install program. I got around that by removing the 3.3 and installing the program.

2) After installing, I could not use the link on my desktop. It would go through the initial process, up to the point where the movie and music would play. I could hear a little of the music and no picture (music went in and out). I was then kicked out to the desktop. When I used CTRL ALT DELE, I was told the program was still running. I closed it, browsed though the Disk 1 (even though Disk 2 says play) and actually got the game to run!!! I played it for a good 2 hrs just to get the feel of the game.

3) Got on an hour ago to play a little more (went through the CD instead of the desktop links), but to no avail. That longcut did not work. I instead got the black screen with in/ out music. I was able to get the log for the last time I ran the program:

[9855.859] DBG: FILE Cat Init
[9856.328] DBG: Using XML cache
[9856.343] DBG: Game Init
[9856.343] DBG: Multiplayer Init
[9856.640] DBG: Audio Init
[9857.781] DBG: ArtFileMgr Init
[9857.796] DBG: Python Init
[9860.687] VERSION: CIV Version: 0
[9860.687] VERSION: Save Version: 100
[9860.687] DBG: Input Init
[9860.687] DBG: Engine Init
[9865.093] DBG: Engine: Axis Engine Initialized
[9865.093] DBG: Engine: Scene Graph Initialized
[9865.125] DBG: Engine: Shaders Initialized
[9865.140] DBG: Engine: Scene Lights Initialized
[9865.156] DBG: Music Start
[9866.234] DBG: Font Init
[9866.453] DBG: Total Frame MS: 11499.0 FPS: 000 Min:000 Max:000 Avg:000 SampleFilter:10.000000
Time : Ave : Min% : Max% : Num : Profile Name
-----------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------
[9866.468] DBG: Begin MenuManager

It looks fine, as if it was running ok. Any ideas?

By the way, my system has:

Pent. 4 3.0 ghz
Windows XP
I bought the computer last fall, so I know the DirectX is Updated (I reran the program just in case)-

I believe the Video card I have is a ATI Radeon 9200 - does not tell me what MB.

Since I got the game working last night, I have to wonder what I am missing. With all of the information I have, what the heck am I missing?
Any help would be appreciated. I will have to check back tomorrow since it is way late here.
Thanks
Eric

 

[asmodai]

Bought the game yesterday, installed, tried to play, crashed with Init Audio being the last thing I saw. Good first impression (especially when you have games like SW:KotOR, SW:KotOR II, Half-Life 2, Neverwinter Nights and such installed on a freshly installed Windows XP SP2 machine).

Downloaded the patch through a mirror site since 2kgames website is very slow for me. Installed the patch and saw it updating my 1.00.00 retail to 1.52.

Started again, same crash in Init Audio. Very bothersome, especially give the other games that work flawlessy. Started digging around, found out that the 2kgames website has a lot of PHP pages that have no content (both in IE and FF 1.5), which is also very convenient for support for a customer. Dug around more, found the typical reinstall mention, which I refuse to do since I just installed this on a fresh setup. Looked around more, found the audio driver update that gets recommended and which doesn't work for me since I've been using Creative's Audigy beta drivers for a long while now with no problems. And then find the XML issues. Turns out that when I turn audio off in the configuration INI file I get a ton of XML parse errors. My regional settings are set to English, but customised for my locale (which being Dutch uses comma for the radix character and the point for grouping) switching this around fixes it.

Of course, after playing the tutorial for a while I now crash in the tutorial. *sigh*

 

[Mexifry]

Hey i just got this game yesterday and its driving me crazy! the game installs fine and starts up but crashes as soon as it finishins loading individual games. What do I do?!

 

[danmam]

I've got a problem. I don't know if it has been addressed or not since I only read through about 5 or so of this thread's pages. Anyways, I have a few problems. First of all, I tried loading a saved game, and first it crashed to the desktop, so I restarted Civ and tried reloading the game, and it worked. I don't know how that works. Also, when I try downloading the patch, the game crashes to the desktop a little ways into downloading it. Any help is appreciated.

 

[asmodai]

Also, when I try downloading the patch, the game crashes to the desktop a little ways into downloading it. Any help is appreciated.

Download the stand-alone patch file and apply that one. Fileshack contains a mirror. Doing a google search on "civilization iv patch 1.52" should get you some URLs.

 

[asmodai]

Hey i just got this game yesterday and its driving me crazy! the game installs fine and starts up but crashes as soon as it finishins loading individual games. What do I do?!

Make sure you are running 1.52 at least.

 

[Gceres]

Okay....I originally had a 32 MB video card.....obviously not enough. I bought the game, installed it and it worked with limited graphics but not enough to want to play. So I went out and bought an ATI Radeon 9550 graphic card for $99.00 (256 MB) and installed that. Now I get that Render failed - Check Direct X or Graphic Settings message. I have been following and redoing the process on the website for the past 5 hours. I am so frustrated. Someone PLEASE help me. I am now out $150 (FOR THE GAME AND GRAPHICS CARD) and it doesn't work. HELP!!!

 

[asmodai]

Okay....I originally had a 32 MB video card.....obviously not enough. I bought the game, installed it and it worked with limited graphics but not enough to want to play. So I went out and bought an ATI Radeon 9550 graphic card for $99.00 (256 MB) and installed that. Now I get that Render failed - Check Direct X or Graphic Settings message.

Which version of the game is this?

Did you get the latest ATI drivers installed?

Have you followed the instructions on this URL http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/support_ati.htm ?

 

[RichUT]

OK i finally got this game to run, and it looks awsome, i started a new game single player and tryed to settle my first city and right when i hit settle the game just quits and im back at my desktop whats happening how do i fix this?

I get the exact same problem. No idea how to fix it, but I did find that playing the game under a different user profile in Windows allowed me to advance beyond this issue. I would still like to know how to fix it so I can play the game under my user profile though.

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[tchsthlete]

When i try to play a game all i can see is the rivers, and people i cant see the terrain. When i try to update to 1.52 it always gives me an error message at the very end. Error 1706.No valid source could be found for product Sid Meier's Civilization 4. The Windows Installer cannot continue. HELP PLEASE!!!

 

[BigDog]

Post deleted as entered in wrong thread

 

[Larcen Tyler]

I'm not sure if this has been asked or not, but when I try to play Civilization 4, the mouse movements are very jerky and seem to lock up intermittently. My specs are as follows:

Intel Celeron 2.0 GHz
768 MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 4 MX 440 with 64 MB RAM
Windows XP

 

[Mexifry]

i just downloaded v1.52 and the game started working. only i also can't see any terrain, just rescources units and overlays. Other than that it works fine. What's goin on?

 

[asmodai]

When i try to play a game all i can see is the rivers, and people i cant see the terrain. When i try to update to 1.52 it always gives me an error message at the very end. Error 1706.No valid source could be found for product Sid Meier's Civilization 4. The Windows Installer cannot continue. HELP PLEASE!!!

Download the standalone patchfile from a mirror site on the internet and try to run that one.

 

[asmodai]

i just downloaded v1.52 and the game started working. only i also can't see any terrain, just rescources units and overlays. Other than that it works fine. What's goin on?

Try turning down graphical details down a notch and see if behaviour changes, report on your findings.

 

[Strutty]

Hi all

I’m new to this site, but a very seasoned Civ player, having played on all previous versions from v1.0 back in the good old DOS days when the prog fitted on a 1.44 floppy!!

Software: Civ Version 152, Save version 102, Build 1.5.2.1736 (42422) Date 22/12/05. Mod – none.

System Info: AMD Athlon 64 3200+, ASUS A8V Mobo, 1Gb RAM, ATI Radeon 9600XT AGP 256Mb Driver version 6.14.10.6483, 21” Eizo monitor running at 1280 x 1024, Windows XP32 SP2.

To start with, I had the Failed To Initialise Renderer issue, which appears to be a common problem. The detailed fix on http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/support_ati.htm resolved this and I was able to start playing the game.

As I have what I regard as a fairly decent machine, and as Civ is only a turned-based game, I thought I’d give it whirl at 1280 x 1024 with everything else set to highest, including AA. No problem, all seemed to be well, opening vids were fine and the game graphics were lovely.

Then I started to hit problems. The Wonder videos stuttered and wouldn’t play properly. I wasn’t too concerned, as these are just eye candy really, so I just started hitting the OK button as soon as they appeared. Then the game starting crashing without warning, giving the following error:

"Your system has run out of video memory. Please try reducing your video settings... etc"

I don’t really think so, unless you’ve got a bad memory leak! Followed by:

"Runtime error! Program: Firaxis... Civ4.exe. This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way. Please contact the application's support team for more information."

This is a bad thing! No application should ever show the user a message like this. No nice friendly “Please send an error report to Microsoft” dialogue here!

These crashes always happened when scrolling quickly across other Civ’s territory. I assume your own territory is cached in some way, as it never happened when doing the same thing over my own area.

The official support site give no help on this problem. I then spent the next day or so exploring the various forums and tried all kinds of red herring solutions, like increasing the size of the swap file, (which is now 2Gb), etc.

Then I found a solution which made sense. Some shrewd person (I must find the thread and credit them +++ for the original post!) said to forget all these other “solutions”, the problem lies with the in-game anti-aliasing, and to use the AA function within Catalyst. And never, ever switch the in-game AA back on. So I set the in-game AA option to off. Then I cleared the cache to get rid of the old settings. On trying the game, it seemed to be more crash resistant, but the Wonder videos still didn’t work and the graphics looked pretty grotty.

Then I downloaded the latest version of Catalyst and installed it and applied settings as below. (Sorry, can't figure out how to post a screenshot here!)

Control Panel>Display>Advanced>ATI 3D. Open GL radio button, slider set one click to the right of centre. Save & exit out.

Result – the game now works perfectly. Intro vids are fine, Wonder movies play well and after 10-15 hours of gameplay, not one CTD. It did take me a while to have the confidence to get out of the habit of saving every turn!

Conclusions

Great game, a big improvement over all previous versions, especially with many of the “sillyosities” removed.

BUT… haven’t Firaxis ever heard of Beta testing? It’s pretty obvious from the lack of any real support ‘meat’ on the CivIV web site, that they are relying on the user for quality control and on the fan forums to come up with solutions. (Rushed out for the Xmas sales???) Which is pretty poor show really. My system can hardly be described as unusual. My video card is a very popular mid-price one, which should be supported properly without a user having to experimentally fiddle around with critical system settings to get it to work. It clearly hasn’t been tested enough by a broad enough base of users with a sufficiently wide range of hardware, to expose the issues that are now being encountered wholesale.

http://www.2kgames.com/index.php?p=support is a joke!

I hope this post might help other Radeon users to go straight to the correct solution and reduce the amount of time needed to get this great game working properly.

Best regards & happy CIVing!

Strutty

 

[Incubuz]

Control Panel>Display>Advanced>ATI 3D. Open GL radio button, slider set one click to the right of centre. Save & exit out.

Having really been following the discussions about CivIV performance(waiting for a good patch).

But the above statement doesnt seem to make sence, how could open GL settings possible affect a game using D3D? And if it did, how can it run smoother by increasing quality over performance?