Graphics/Sound Problems? - Please post your DX Logs.

[Wizard Zedd]

I've been having problems with the game's graphics becoming corrupted and then with the game shutting down after almost every turn. I found that removing all the files in the cache folder helped immensely. I still have to keep an eye on the graphics and the lagging in the game so I can acertain when I should shut the game down and clear the cache folder once again but it's better than it was. I still feel, however, that these steps should not be necessary when playing a game.

My system is:

AMD 64 3000+
Abit Fatal1ty AN8 SLI mobo
ASUS NVidia 6600GT 128mb vid card
1Gb Kingston Value RAM
Hiper 580W Modular PSU
(all drivers, BIOS, chipset up-to-date).

Edit: Have now been playing for two hours straight and the game just now has crashed. Luckily I have been saving alot so I won't have lost much. I had cleared out the cache file before playing and just now see 18 files in the folder again after the crash. Deleting these and restarting the game will help alot. I think the developers need to somehow allow the game to clear this cache folder out every few turns to ensure the game doesn't bog down. Don't know for certain if I'm correct or not but restarting the game without clearing the cache folder simply puts me in the same position as just before the crash and the crash will again occur within a few turns.

 

[nomester]

The problems that I'm having with the graphics is that they're not properly rendered at first they appear all blocky and cross-hatched, the deserts are black etc. After a while however (maybe an hour of play), it suddenly fixes itself and renders the terrain perfectly. Again I'm having the problem of super slooooow play after a while.

One more thing - am I the only one whose display only shows food i.e. bread - no hammers or gold!

 

[MURDERMASS]

where's the cache folder?

 

[Wizard Zedd]

where's the cache folder?

Here:

C:\Documents and Settings\"your name"\Application Data\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\cache

 

[Polietileno]

The problems that I'm having with the graphics is that they're not properly rendered at first they appear all blocky and cross-hatched, the deserts are black etc. After a while however (maybe an hour of play), it suddenly fixes itself and renders the terrain perfectly. Again I'm having the problem of super slooooow play after a while.

One more thing - am I the only one whose display only shows food i.e. bread - no hammers or gold!

We have the same problem, and also the same video card.

 

[jabberwocky]

i have audio stuttering which is also stuttering the game and slowing down my system, so i usually cannot ctlr-alt-del my way out. i have to hard boot.

for diplomacy and wonder movies, it boggs right down to unplayable, audio loops.

at the start of most maps, during auto save game stutters.

some scenarios im paying, like American revolution, Greek, are taking a very long time to load.

when i zoom out to cloud cover level, game stutters and usually locks up. dunno if anything else is happening as i cant really play at all.

my specs;

AMD 3200+ 64 MMX
ATI 9700 Pro 128Mb
Windows XP
512Mb RAM
DirectX 9.0c
Sound Blaster Live!

The other night I went into my ATI Catalyst center and disabled SMARTGART (Set Agp setting to OFF) which has helped game play immensly! however, now, I have problems loading scenarios. It is taking longer, and while loading there is audio stuttering. I just had to hard boot my sys as a scenario i was loading locked my sys. so, some kind of progress at least.

Also a friend of mine was having similar issues, and he pulled out his Soundblaster Live! card and used his onboard, seems like that helped. I may try that next.

 

[tomasjj]

I have an old puter. Very old, so I didnt expect the game to run.
I plan to buy a new one in a year probs.

Now I have:
800mhz
512K RAM
NVIDA Riva TNT2 64K gfx card.
From what I read on the specs on cards this doesnt support TnL, so this wont ever work?
Havent gotten service pack 2 for XP installed yet, but will do.

Installed the game.
Results:
Slow movies, I can live with that.
Leaderheads reduced to eyes and mouth. Not cool.
Black terrain, except trees, resources and coastlines. No good.
Sprites are fine though, but city names are also not showing. Blurred gfx there.

So I guess TnL is absolutely required then and nothing will ever change that?

I tried looking for the DirectX 9.0 files after installing it.
Can anyone tell me where they are stored default on the puter? Are they hidden? Cause I couldnt find them when I wanted to tamper the settings.

 

[Moossess]

I have the same problems like lots of the other people in this post, but since I didn't see any solution at all, I will post my problems here and hopefully someone would get to a solution soon.

Problems:
1. Sound is choppy in the intro video (movie seems smooth, tho)
2. All Leaders are missing faces, with only eyeballs or teeth or some small pieces like hats (which do not belong to the face textures, I guess) [refer to Rik Meleet's screenshot @ #62]
3. In game, terrain and water are all black (textures missing or cannot be shown, I guess) [refer to Rik Meleet's screenshot @ #62] BTW, I can see some rivers, and the units are showing fine.

Well, I didn't go any further in the game since I couldn't possibly play a game with units walking around in a total dark world... so those are the only problems I got so far.

I am not a hardware person so I don't really know where to play with the graphic controller or something like that... so the only adjustment I did was the graphic settings in the game. Those adjustments did not work, apparently.

Attached is the Dx file. BTW, I am using a laptop (Intel processor and graphic controller, pls refer to my Dx info).

If anyone finds a solution to this, pls reply. I (and maybe the others with the same problems) would appreciate it!

P.S. Well I tried to test my system requirement recommanded in one of the threads in the forum. It looks like I pass the recommanded requirement. I am not sure how accurate this testing is, but my laptop sure can run recent games (and actually did).

More updates: I can see the terrain when loading scenario (e.g. American Revolution), or using the debug tool (alt+shift+d, enable debug tool, ok, ctrl+d, check Fog of War. But that means u can see the entire world). If anyone doesn't mind seeing the entire world, the later one would be a solution for now for anyone who's still got problem with the black terrain...

 

[C.I.C. Rick]

I have problems with my graphics. Stuttery slow scrolling. Most movies wont play. Clicking has slow response. When I hover over something tips appear half the time. I am providing my DXDIAG for everyone to look at and compare with theirs but please note that I didn't run tests when I created this file so it shows no test run. Previously I did run the test and everything passed. I have never had any problems running any of my older games on this or any other computer. CIV3, Sim City4, Half Life, etc. I can still play the game to completion but only in small worlds and with less than eight players. It sounds like to me that system resources are getting eaten up but I am no expert please let me know what you folks think... anybody... please I want to play this game to its max ability its great!

 

[C.I.C. Rick]

Sorry, I printed it twice please see above

 

[Saiph]

I have such a problem with the game: it loads and works in menu just fine, I select the world size, the leader and press "start game". Loading process is going normally too till the end, but when I press "play game" button, the game crashes... Simply black screen and annoying sound and nothing helps - I have to restart my computer.
I have 1.7 Ghz, raden 8500 64mb, 256 ram, all the drivers are the newest. I understand that my PC is hardly even meeting minimum requirements, but the game is not working even with the lowest settings and on the smallest map, it simply does not start. Does anybody had such a problem, what could it be?

 

[amug]

ı did everything for the render problem and fix it but now while opening game after it says init engine nothing happens ı still see my desktop can you help me

 

[t3h_m013]

pretty nooby question but is there a way to find out the speed of your graphics card without opening it up and finding what youve got or something equally irritating.

 

[DCNemesis]

I have no complaints about this game, other than the occasional sound/video skipping during a wonder cutscene..

I'm running Civ4 at 1600x1200 with everything turned on and cranked up to max.

dxdiag attached

 

[X sheehan C]

I have such a problem with the game: it loads and works in menu just fine, I select the world size, the leader and press "start game". Loading process is going normally too till the end, but when I press "play game" button, the game crashes... Simply black screen and annoying sound and nothing helps - I have to restart my computer.
I have 1.7 Ghz, raden 8500 64mb, 256 ram, all the drivers are the newest. I understand that my PC is hardly even meeting minimum requirements, but the game is not working even with the lowest settings and on the smallest map, it simply does not start. Does anybody had such a problem, what could it be?

dude i have the same problem! but sometimes when it does work i get the black terrain problem... i am thinking about just buying a new video card.

you can also wait for the patch, but im not sure if it is going 2 solve the black terrain problem, does anyone know what the patch does and when it comes out??

 

[ionimplant]

i installed the game on my dell inspiron 9300 and it worked. (though there were always two error messages but after clicking ok the game would start smoothly).
i then installed the game on my wife's inspiron 700m. installation was successful but i had the same problem as a lot of people here already mentioned: black tiles like fog of war. only units are visible on the map.
is someone going to give a solution to this? it seems we've got a bunch of people reporting the same problem again and again... what will happen next?
btw, i have the log file at home and will upload it when i get back if necessary.

 

[tomii]

Hey all,

I think I've seen this problem posted elsewhere, but no solutions. Hope my laptop's not too week (especially since I just bought it).

When game gets started up, all I cn see is units. All tiles are black, streams maybe greyish black. Units are in full color. Other players are really gruesome - their skin is missing

Attached are my dxdiag, and some screenshots. My video is a 64MB Intel 82855.

 

[Jove]

Can anyone tell me where they are stored default on the puter? Are they hidden? Cause I couldnt find them when I wanted to tamper the settings.

I don't know where they are on the computer, but I use a utility called Hardpage to tweak my gfx settings. You can find it at Guru3D.com. The interface isn't that intuitive... pick your settings and click those red train-wheel lookin' things to apply them, then click the 'Apply' box, if that shoes up.

 

[p0chacco]

Hello,

1. Introduction Video doesn't run on my computer, it just shows a blue screen
2. The Main Menu Buttons does not appear but i can click them
blindly... only the Globe background can be seen...

Thanks!!!!

 

[Battledeluxe]

Hi there! When I first installed this game then it ran SMOOOTH , I really mean smooth even with my ****ty GFX!

Later it began to run sooo slowly , then I headed to this forums and read read read. Try forceware and so on , worked a bit but the game was a bit slow.

I read that someone had the same problem , that person installed 71.89_win2kxp_english , I did it too .. Entered the game and all was REALLY slow, and the writings was unreadable.

Disabled vertical synch and antialiasing settings , then I could read the text (in game) but the game was a bit slow.

And now ! I need help on this! Attached my dxdiag.. View attachment DxDiag.txt