(First off, don't work for Firaxis, not some nutty supporter or anything, just somebody trying to help)
Actually, the VGA drivers are built into the heart of Windows XP and Windows 2000. If you ever receive a message saying it needs to install Standard VGA and it can't do it by just clicking "NEXT" a few times, something is seriously wrong with your installation.
This is because VGA.SYS, and VGA default drivers are a requirement for XP/2000 "Safe Mode" to function correctly. So, if you can get into safe mode, those drivers are already there.
In reference to the "Does this require DirectX (insert)" This game is a Direct X 9.0C game. However, there have been four distributed "patches" by microsoft for Direct X 9.0C, and you can download them from various places or use them as part of a bundled distribution which Firaxis includes; so even if you have 9.0C, you need to update using the version they ship on the CD, unless you have prior been forced to install these updates (example: F.E.A.R.).
As to the ATI issue; I have four machines, of which two are ATI (ATI RS480 on the motherboard and one with ATI X800XL).
Like all card makers, ATI runs into issues here and there with their own drivers.
https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9448/0/www2.ati.com/drivers/Catalyst_510_release_notes.html
(release notes from current drivers above). In my tests, after a few re-formats to see about theories I've noticed:
I can make 5.10 work everytime with the Catalyst Control Center drivers. I do run into the issue with the WDM Control Panel drivers. (Note: this same issue began occuring for "City of Heros" after this update as well, so Civ fans are not alone).
Many have gotten around this issue by using either the OmegaDrivers: http://www.omegadrivers.net/
Or by using the Catalyst drivers. You can also try a complete uninstall of the driver base and a re-install.
For those that ran into this with CoH, some posted that rolling all the way back to the 5.8 drivers worked. I'm not sure I would recommend that.
In regards to Firaxis testing policy, it's a tricky one for them. Since April of this year, ATI has issued five different driver bases in two versions (Catalyst & Control Center). With the newest version being released Oct. 12 (5.10). This would give them no time (less then a week) to get any input as to how that driver impacts the game. So the assertion that "hey, they just knew it wouldn't work". They really didn't have any way that they would have the codebase from the 5.10 drivers to test with.
So, Civ fans are not alone. People trying to play Medal of Honor on ATI? They are also searching for answers:
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33824541
Current list of all issues:
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33705231
Look, I like ATI stuff. And this -is- a fixable issue. And Nvidia has run into just as many issues as it changes it's drivers. But because the driver base changes so frequently, it is impossible to ask a game designer to cater to a driver that hasn't been released yet. I'm sure the people who wrote Medal of Honor (2 years ago) didn't know that the ATI 5.9 / 5.1 drivers would cause the game to fail to start. No way for them to know that.
When drivers change, things can happen.
I hope my suggestions above are helpful, as they largely resolve the issue in any test system I have tried them on.
Actually, the VGA drivers are built into the heart of Windows XP and Windows 2000. If you ever receive a message saying it needs to install Standard VGA and it can't do it by just clicking "NEXT" a few times, something is seriously wrong with your installation.
This is because VGA.SYS, and VGA default drivers are a requirement for XP/2000 "Safe Mode" to function correctly. So, if you can get into safe mode, those drivers are already there.
In reference to the "Does this require DirectX (insert)" This game is a Direct X 9.0C game. However, there have been four distributed "patches" by microsoft for Direct X 9.0C, and you can download them from various places or use them as part of a bundled distribution which Firaxis includes; so even if you have 9.0C, you need to update using the version they ship on the CD, unless you have prior been forced to install these updates (example: F.E.A.R.).
As to the ATI issue; I have four machines, of which two are ATI (ATI RS480 on the motherboard and one with ATI X800XL).
Like all card makers, ATI runs into issues here and there with their own drivers.
https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9448/0/www2.ati.com/drivers/Catalyst_510_release_notes.html
(release notes from current drivers above). In my tests, after a few re-formats to see about theories I've noticed:
I can make 5.10 work everytime with the Catalyst Control Center drivers. I do run into the issue with the WDM Control Panel drivers. (Note: this same issue began occuring for "City of Heros" after this update as well, so Civ fans are not alone).
Many have gotten around this issue by using either the OmegaDrivers: http://www.omegadrivers.net/
Or by using the Catalyst drivers. You can also try a complete uninstall of the driver base and a re-install.
For those that ran into this with CoH, some posted that rolling all the way back to the 5.8 drivers worked. I'm not sure I would recommend that.
In regards to Firaxis testing policy, it's a tricky one for them. Since April of this year, ATI has issued five different driver bases in two versions (Catalyst & Control Center). With the newest version being released Oct. 12 (5.10). This would give them no time (less then a week) to get any input as to how that driver impacts the game. So the assertion that "hey, they just knew it wouldn't work". They really didn't have any way that they would have the codebase from the 5.10 drivers to test with.
So, Civ fans are not alone. People trying to play Medal of Honor on ATI? They are also searching for answers:
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33824541
Current list of all issues:
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33705231
Look, I like ATI stuff. And this -is- a fixable issue. And Nvidia has run into just as many issues as it changes it's drivers. But because the driver base changes so frequently, it is impossible to ask a game designer to cater to a driver that hasn't been released yet. I'm sure the people who wrote Medal of Honor (2 years ago) didn't know that the ATI 5.9 / 5.1 drivers would cause the game to fail to start. No way for them to know that.
When drivers change, things can happen.
I hope my suggestions above are helpful, as they largely resolve the issue in any test system I have tried them on.
, but after installing the Nvidia drivers version 61.77 the problem was solved.
