Game keeps crashing!!

[Giddy]

Hi, I am new to the forum, and pretty new to Civ IV. I have only played one game (Not yet finished it) but I find that it keeps crashing, so that even with the "auto save" every 4 turns, I have to save after every turn so as not to have to go back and do stuff again. I am not very computer literate (dreaded words!) so although I am sure that the answer to my problem is in this forum, I have not been able to identify it.

Could someone with a bit a patience PLEASE give me a pointer as to what I shoud do to stop the game crashing after almost every turn.

I might add that I have run a utility which is supposed to confirm that my computer is up to spec to run the game, and I got all green ticks on that for Civ IV. My computer is about a yera old, and I run Windows XP home edition SP 2. Other details of my machine are:- Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.0GHz
Memory: 990MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 6150
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 6150
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0240&SUBSYS_81CD1043&REV_A2
Display Memory: 256.0 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 960 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0011.6921 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 12/5/2007 01:41:00, 5773568 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
VDD: n/a
Mini VDD: nv4_mini.sys
Mini VDD Date: 12/5/2007 01:41:00, 7435392 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-4100-11CF-FA68-C6A103C2CB35}
Vendor ID: 0x10DE
Device ID: 0x0240
SubSys ID: 0x81CD1043
Revision ID: 0x00A2

DVD/CD-ROM Drives
------------------------

Drive: D:
Model: SONY DVD RW AW-G170A
Driver: c:\windows\system32\drivers\cdrom.sys, 5.01.2600.2180 (English), 2/28/2006 12:00:00, 49536 bytes

I don't know what all the above means, but I copied it from the computer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ori]

Welcome to Civfanatics

does it give you any error message when crashing?

 

[Giddy]

Hi Ori,
No error message, the game freezes, (says it is waiting for other civilizations, but there is no movement of units), the screen goes black after a few seconds, and then my computer reboots.

 

[ori]

could you post your dxdiag results?
also a reboot does hint at hardware issues - does it make any unusual noises?

 

[ori]

I should probably specify:
dxdiag:

click start
click run
type dxdiag
hit enter
click save results

back here
click go advanced then manage attachments below the reply box
attach the dxdiag results

 

[Giddy]

No strange noises, just a reboot.

The file is attached (I hope!)

 

[ori]

this is strange - I do know crashes to desktop from Civ - but a software like this should never even be able to actively crash the whole system. I am pretty sure I know the answer but: this does not happen with any other programs, right?

 

[Giddy]

No, it only happens with Civ. Apart from that, my computer seems pretty stable.

 

[Giddy]

One other thing, which may or may not be pertinent.

Since installing CIV, my welcome screen has gone back to requiring me to click on my user name to complete the boot. Previously, as I only have one active user, the machine used to bypass this and boot directly into me as user. Any idea why this should be? And how do I get it back like it was?

 

[ori]

so the windows startup screen has changed? That is most definitely not something within the scope of Civ4 - I would get a very recent anti-malware software if I were you.
anyway you can change those settings in the control panel - though its been ages since I did that and I forgot where exactly this setting is, I'll check but will probably not post this until tonight, if I forget just remind me

 

[ori]

Sorry, I lost this from sight.
Regarding the logon, you might want to check here on how to restore the autologon - if you are not too familiar with registry edits I would recommend using the TweakUI utility (the link above has a link to it - but here is the link from the microsoft site: http://download.microsoft.com/downl...a6-b352-839afb2a2679/TweakUiPowertoySetup.exe

Now regarding the cause of the crashes - I have no real clue. There are a ew reasons why Civ4 may crash to desktop - but hard reboots and changes in the behavior of windows are not something that can be explained by Civ alone. The change in the startup screen would suggest that there are now at least 2 users installed - if you did not do this and did not install microsoft .Net 1.1 recently I would strongly suggest scanning your system for malware

 

[Giddy]

Thanks, The log on is now fixed! I did auto download .net 1.1, and have a new user called asp.net, which must have co-incidentally come about just when I installed Civ.

The crash situation has just become worst and worse, to the point where I can't even get through a turn in the present game. Every time I try to end my turn, the computer freezes and then reboots. Could it have anything to do with my anti-virus program?

 

[ori]

you could try disabling the anti-vir - usually it should not do a lot, except maybe slow down the game, but there is an off-chance that it crashes it, but apart from that I am lost. You might want to try disabling most if not all programs that run in the background - but with reboots I am more inclined to blame a piece of hardware (though this need not be the case, it just is more often the case than not). Sorry that I am not of more help, maybe someone else around here knows more

 

[Giddy]

I have tried switching off the anti virus, but no change.

Anyone else got an idea?

This is really getting my goat - it is the second edition of Civ that has given me an unsolvable problem - there must be something in my computer that is different, but I can't begin to guess what it is.

 

[BirraImperial]

I guess you already tried updating your video card drivers, right? Try to run other graphics demanding games to see if your PC crashes as well. Also, check if your video card, CPU is not overheating

 

[BordenMN]

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum but came because I have the same problem with crashing as Giddy. In my case, I can get about 15-20 minutes of playing in, and then the screen goes black and my computer turns off.

I've included a DxDiag file with this post.

I should note that in my case, I use a no-cd crack to play the game as I am abroad for a few months and didn't bring any CDs except a rescue disk with me. However, I've used the same crack on previous trips in the past without having this bug. It's only been an issue since I started playing Civ4 again recently after not touching it for maybe a year.

What's changed in that year? Beats me. Nothing substantial. I do regular scans of my computer for malware (using AVG products) and so I don't think I have any evil programs lurking around. Everything *should* be up to date in terms of drivers etc. unless I'm missing something.

I just can't figure this out. There seems to be no method or consistency to the crashes. Just boom -- black screen, computer off. It's very frustrating.

Thanks for any advice or ideas anyone can offer.

 

[Giddy]

Hi BirraImperial and BordenMN,

I have updated my drivers, I have version 169.21 on an nVidia GeForce 6150 card. I have previously had Myst3 Exile and The Sims 2 on my computer (Both now removed), and they both played without any problems.

I don't believe that anything is overheating - The crashes don't seem to be a function of how long I play the game, more a function of where I am in the game. I currently have two different games saved, and both of them progressed OK up to a point (middle of the 19th to early 20th century), and now when I load either, I only get between one and five turns before a freeze.

This is a problem worthy of the great brain power that is out there!!

 

[Giddy]

I reported the error to Microsoft, and they came back with the following:-

"Manually decrease hardware acceleration for your video adaptor.

This procedure prevents the display device driver from programming the hardware incorrectly, but you might lose some display functionality and performance. Although you can increase the hardware acceleration settings to regain functionality and performance, these settings increase the chance that the issue will occur again. For maximum stability, leave hardware acceleration turned off.

Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Display.
Click the Settings tab, and then click Advanced.
Click the Troubleshoot tab, move the Hardware Acceleration slider to None, and then clear the Enable Write Combing check box.
Click OK, and then click OK.
Note: This procedure prevents the display driver from programming the hardware incorrectly, but you may lose some display functionality and performance."

When I moved the slider completely to "None", Civ IV refused to load, but when I moved it two places to the left, the program loaded, and seemed to last a bit longer before freezing. Although this proceedure did not stop the computer freezing, is it possible that the answer to my problem lies somewhere here? Are there other adjustments that I can make?

 

[Daniel Dai]

do u run the latest patch?

 

[Giddy]

I have downloaded two patches - Civ4_1.61 and Civ4Patch1.74_Final, but am unable to run either.

When I try either of them, I get an error message "The setup has detected that no version of Sid Meier's Civilization 4 is installed. This update requires that a previous version of the application be installed."

I do, of course, have Civ4 installed, so this message is a bit wierd.

I have reduced my video to minimum, and whilst I get a slightly better result, the program still freezes every few turns.