Game keeps Freezing when starting

[ctb123]

Hi,

I am having some frustration getting Civ IV running consistently.

I had no problem running V1.0 or V1.09. With V1.52, I can get to setting up a game (selecting single player, world size and so on) with no problem. Then it it shows a few tips as the game is initializing. At that point, it either freezes my computer when the progress bar gets to the end, or right after it draws the map and shows the game world.

Sometimes the sound track goes away at this point, and other times it sounds like it is stuck, sort of like a CD that has a scratch. What is really weird is that for about two days I could play, and now today it is back to it's old tricks. When it does run, I have no performance problems, even late game. I don't have lockups or freezes once it runs. The only problem is getting the game started.

I have a good computer, with an AMD 64 3200 CPU, 1 gig memory and a Nvidia 6600GT graphics card with the new certified drivers. As my mother board uses the Nvidia NForce chipset, I have made sure I have that current. When I install new video card drivers, I install the old ones and manually install the new ones.

Windows is up to date, and I have even tried disabling my firewall and virus scanner with no luck. I have uninstaled and reinstalled Civ IV several times, each time manually deleting the folder and finding the hidden config folder to delete as well. I can run anything else with no problem, including FS2004, Battlefront II and World of Warcraft.

Any other suggestions? I have attached my DXdiag if it is of any use. I love Civ IV, and can't wait to get back to playing it.

Tony

 

[Neon Deon]

Close all startup programs thru MSCONFIG as well as all non-MSservices.

Start/run

Type in:

msconfig

Disable all on startup tab.

Under services tab check the box for hide all MS services,disable the rest, apply, and reboot.

Since this game eats Ram Like a starved moviegoer eats popcorn you need a fixed pagefile.

Change it to 2000/2000 initial and maximum.

Control panel/system/advanced/performance/settings/advanced/virtual memory change button/

Select custom size and set it to 2000/2000.

Now reboot the thang and try again.

 

[ctb123]

Would that make any difference in starting a game? If it starts, it runs fine, even on large maps at the end of the game. I just can't get is started most of the time.

Tony

 

[Neon Deon]

my pagefile usage before starting the game is 120.

Your is 500 plus!.

Yes it can make a difference.

 

[ctb123]

Hi Neon,

I tried your suggestions with no change in results. Thank you for taking the time to try to help. Anything else I should try?

One bit of info, when I begin a new game, it seems to hang right after the Autosaving messge flashes up. Saved games just hang-up as soon as I see my cities and units.

Tony

 

[Neon Deon]

Hi Neon,

I tried your suggestions with no change in results. Thank you for taking the time to try to help. Anything else I should try?

One bit of info, when I begin a new game, it seems to hang right after the Autosaving messge flashes up. Saved games just hang-up as soon as I see my cities and units.

Tony

Hi Tony,

Try disableing auto save in the civ ini file.

Keep the settings you changed to. dont go backwards too.

 

[ctb123]

Thanks for the suggestion, Neon. I disabled the autosaves with no change. I then tried disabling movies and audio in the ini and still no change.

Any other thoughts?

Tony

 

[Neon Deon]

Do you have 2 cds or a dvd or was it purchased over the internet?

 

[ctb123]

2 US CD's. There is a CD present in the drive.

Tony

 

[Neon Deon]

2 US CD's. There is a CD present in the drive.

Tony

Tony,

Could you cut and paste your irq settings plz.


Start/control panel/system/hardware/device manager/view

change to resources by type and hit the plus key next to irq

 

[ctb123]

I couldn't cut and paste the IRQ screen, but here is a screenshot. I notice there are a couple of duplicate addresses.

Tony

 

[Neon Deon]

Ok my bad.

Hold off on the irq thing for a bit.

Your C: drive has .3 gig of space left in it.

WHere is your game? on C?

Where is your page file? on c?

Is system restore running?

How many hard disks do you have?

And what partitions match up to what drives?

 

[ctb123]

Windows and the Swap file are on G. Civ is installed on J. Those are two separate drives.

Overall, I have 3 drives and a total of 5 partitions. C is shared with another partition. G and J are just one partition on their respective drives.

Tony

 

[Neon Deon]

First off civ post its games and cache on C:

Thats a problem for you cause you have no space left on that drive.

Second. Your os page file are on a partition that only has 2 percent disk space remaining also. That too is a problem.

What to do. what to do.

Move everything from c: to J:

nuke the game. Including the file buried in C:

Defrag empty C: Partition.

set up a fixed page file of 2000/2000 on c:

Remove the page file from G:

Install the game on C: Load patch 152 and pray.

 

[ctb123]

First off civ post its games and cache on C:

Install the game on C: Load patch 152 and pray.

Ok, if Civ is using C anyway, that might make sense. I'll see what I can do. I really appreciate all your assistance to this point.

Tony

 

[Turambar]

I can get to setting up a game (selecting single player, world size and so on) with no problem. Then it it shows a few tips as the game is initializing. At that point, it either freezes my computer when the progress bar gets to the end, or right after it draws the map and shows the game world.

Sometimes the sound track goes away at this point, and other times it sounds like it is stuck, sort of like a CD that has a scratch.

Any other suggestions?

You describe the exact problem I was having, and I also tried all the driver updating/ArtPack/XML parser suggestions as well. I was getting listings in Windows event viewer that Civ4 could not open Asset0.fpk under Apps and a message about the driver reporting a drive controller failure in the System events.

I finally got it fixed, though I did two things both simultaneously so I cannot tell which one or both together was what fixed it.

First, I uninstalled the game from from my game drive (D: ) and reinstalled in on my OS drive (C: ).

Then I happened to notice while checking my Windows memory managment options I somehow had System Cache enabled instead of the default Programs option. So I changed it back like so:

Fired up Civ4 1.52 again after doing those two things and I must say the game works great now, loads really quick, not even a pause where it used to hang, no graphics stuttering, loading saved games fine. Whether it was an install to the C: drive or a change in memory settings I'm not sure, so try changing mem settings first and go through the hassle of re-install if that doesn't work and you are using a drive other than C:... Good luck.

 

[ctb123]

Things seem to be working reliably for me now. I did not go as far as reformatting, or reinstalling, but I did free up several Gigs on each drive/partition.

It is a little crazy that my OS is on G:, I install it on J: and Civ apparently wants to cache on C:.

The factor that seems to be the issue in my case, however is my Anti-aisling setting on my Nvidia 6600GT vid card. If I run Civ with the AA at 8xs, the game loads 100% of the time. If I drop the AA down to 4x, it will lock up for me as described above about 100% of the time. Note I am using the latest official Nvidia drivers.

The main thing is I can now play and enjoy Civ again. Thanks for everyone's help, and perhaps my experience can help others.

Tony