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

[Fallblau]

OK, I'm in... at least my problems are not as severe as some, but confirmaition/extra data never hurts....

1) Choppy scrolling in game, at either 1024 or 1200... The interturn enemy movement "bounce-arounds" actually seem smoother than the player scrolling...

2) Stutters in Wonder Movies

3) Occasional "response lag" in the unit actions/update available unit actions menu

4) Scroll out to globe view gives "interlace line hash"... Now this one DID NOT happen until I put the 81.85 Nvidia drivers on...

5) This is a new one I didn't see until yesterday... Occasionally, during combat, the unit graphics will "disappear", leaving your poor infantry firing at invisible targets...

6) Another new one... Sometimes when units "advance into combat", they disappear, and then reappear coming from a different tile from the one they started in... Seems to happen more when battles occur near a coastline...

I'm attaching the dxlog and a save for the last two issues....

View attachment DxDiag 30-OCT-2005.txt
View attachment 102123

 

[yahn]

i'm having problems with the terrain and with videos. when i run a game the terrain is completely black like it is fog of war, but when i zoom out far enough i can see the terrain. when i start the game the opening video is really choppy and the sound is delayed. about 5 seconds into it it will minimize my window to the system tray. i'd appreciate any help. thank you for your time.

 

[Chronos_4]

My problem is very much like the one above.
When I am in the screen to choose my leader it only shows the leaders eyeballs, mouth and a few articles of clothing.
When I get into the game all terrain is black except for resorces and units. I have updated my video driver, reinstalled the game and even renamed the file in the installshield directory.

Report Date: 10/30/2005
Report Time[hr:mm:ss]: 10:12:10
Driver Version: 6.14.10.4342
Operating System: Windows NT* 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2
Default Language: English
DirectX* Version: 9.0
Physical Memory: 253 MB
Min. Graphics Memory: 1 MB
Max. Graphics Memory: 64 MB
Graphics Memory in use: 14 MB
Processor: x86
Processor Speed: 2591 MHZ
Vendor ID: 0x8086
Device ID: 0x2562
Device Revision: 3


* Output Devices Connected to Graphics Accelerator *

Active Monitors:1

View attachment DxDiag.txt

 

[zbadger13]

Got it to run in tutorial mode last night. Had moved the graphics settings to medium in the game option section and disabled my anti virus. (have no idea if that did anything)
Tried to load the saved game this morning, will not complete the load, or crashes back to rebooting system. Tried new games, both tutor and regular easy play, tried low graphics setting, nothing I can do seems to allow the program to fully load. It hangs up or crashes. Will try to attach DX report.
nvidia ge force 5600, new drivers, 1024 mb ram. Have tried nVidia and Take2 both with no reply.

 

[Squeekyboots26]

The problem with my CivIV is that I simply can't see the terrain when im actually playing. I can see however objects like lions bears or other civilizations warriors but not their actual cities. The entire terrain is black with the exception of water. Also, I can't see the people or ruler's bodies but i can see their eyeballs and teeth.

 

[Squeekyboots26]

Sorry, for not mentioning this but i did try uninstalling and reinstalling and the problem still persists! Thanks!

 

[damason]

I've said this on other threads (but never attached my dxdiag file before) so here goes:

My problem was that the game would begin to load and get stuck on "Done" and then the music would progress but the screen would never change from saying "Done" and I would have to force quit.

I reinstalled my drivers from the Dell site (ATI Mobility Radeon 9000; P4 3.06 Ghz; 768 MB RAM; XP SP2) because ATI's catalysts will not install - error messages similar to those per the "latest ATI drivers" thread. The reinstall got me past the "Done" screen but I can't see the Firaxis or 2kgames videos, only sound. I can click through this which brings up the earth globe and civ IV logo but no main menu, sound is still ok. So now, to sum up, I can't update my ATI drivers anymore and I have no intro videos or visible main menu.

 

[damason]

Sorry to say the obvious, no main menu means I can't play....

 

[chillin023]

Game CTD or even reboots my computer.
I updated to the latest Drivers (NVIDIA 6600 GT - 81.85 drivers) and problem is still re-occuring probably about 1 hour into the game or so.

I crash to desktop a lot (every 2 hours or so .. usually happens on a mouse click) and have been rebooted 3 times now (only had the game 1 day -- albeit I played for about 15 hours so far...heh). Sound also studders on all the ingame movies (like when you build a Wonder) and sometimes my graphics become a big mess as well).

ATI Radeon 9600xt 128mb (5.10 catalyst I think) - 1g ram, 3.2ghz P4 -- Realtek AC'97 (onboard audio)

Chillin ..

 

[Tanstaafl]

I have loaded Civ IV onto my desktop PC and it seems to work fine. There is no "fog of war" over all the terrain. But my initial and repeat load onto my laptop still didn't work. I did the dxdiag and checking my video card through the Control Panel. Here are the differences in the computers. Both video cards are supposed to be working according to the references given in this and other forums. The biggest differences seem to be between the operating speeds: 2.2GHz for desktop and 790MHz for the laptop...

Desktop:
Time of this report: 10/30/2005, 00:06:39
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: HP Pavilion 061
System Model: DW233A-ABA A520N
BIOS: BIOS Date: 02/10/04 20:11:19 Ver: 08.00.08
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 3200+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.2GHz
Memory: 448MB RAM
Page File: 272MB used, 785MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode
---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce4 MX Integrated GPU
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce4 MX Integrated GPU
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_01F0&SUBSYS_80C01043&REV_A3
Display Memory: 64.0 MB
Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (75Hz)

Laptop DiagDx:
Time of this report: 10/29/2005, 22:57:03
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard
System Model: Pavilion zv5200 (PR466UA#ABA)
BIOS: Ver 1.00PARTTBL
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+, MMX, 3DNow, ~790MHz
Memory: 510MB RAM
Page File: 333MB used, 912MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode
---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce4 440 Go 64M
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce4 440 Go 64M
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0179&SUBSYS_006D103C&REV_A3
Display Memory: 64.0 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 800 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Default Monitor
Monitor Max Res:
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.4716 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 4/7/2004 12:22:00, 3405450 bytes

 

[Heinz4lif]

I'm having a lot of these issues too. Here's what I've dealt with on an ATI all-in wonder RAGE128Pro AGP card:

1) Sound and video is choppy in the intro videos
2) Game runs very slow ( but that's probably a RAM problem on my end)
3) Leaderheads (and SID on the tutorial) are only eyes, mouth and a couple other pieces
4) The terrain and water graphics are all black, but the overlay graphics like trees and resources show (It's as if the artwork just isn't there)
5) On the Menus, the transparency mask behind the mouse icon seems to be messed up
6) City names, populations, etc that are listed in the map under the city are messed up just like in Jawster's screenshot above.
7) The civ's flags show up blank

That's all I've noticed so far. I haven't run the game long enough to find any crashes. I've updated the Card drivers (the latest one on the ATI site was released in 2001...), I've installed Windows XP SP2 reluctantly, I've tried the cache delete and the Pakbuild.exe solutions, and even said how pretty it is today , with not a single issue being fixed.

My diagnostic file is also attached.

 

[voodoochild]

Opening video stutters and sound cuts in and out every couple of seconds. On menu screen the characters have only eyeballs and teeth, no skin or clothing. During game play there is MAJOR lag and everything is black except for the players. It appears that my system just can't handle this game, but thought I'd post and hope for the best. Thanks.

XP Home Edition
Intel Celeron 2.40GHz
254MB RAM
Intel 82865G Graphics Controller 96.0MB

 

[Zayxus]

1) Sound and video is choppy in the intro videos (and in my wonder video)

2) Sometimes the Key 'Esc' doesn't react on Screens of Advisors and
a key like F1 or F2 doesn't react on Screens of Advisors, I had to use the mouse on 'EXIT'.
Especially from F6 (Technology Advisor) it doesn't react on keys F1 to F9;
here I take out F10 and F11, because they are for special Views (F10: Maintown, F11: Global View on Map).
All together I have to avoid F6 and F10 and F11 to be able to switch with F1, F2 and so on between the Screens of Advisors - and to be able to use 'Esc'. But sometimes it is slowly in switching.

 

[voodoochild]

Went to srtest.com and learned that my laptop meets the minimum requirements with 32MB of video memory. The problems on the laptop are the same I experienced on the desktop (choppy intro video - sound on/off - no skin, just teeth - lag - black terrain). Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

:
Time of this report: 10/30/2005, 15:51:38
Machine name: VOODOOCH-LCYDHM
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation
System Model: Inspiron 5100
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A22
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.66GHz
Memory: 512MB RAM
Page File: 198MB used, 1050MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

 

[itsmekirill]

A horizontal black line flashes intermittently across the screen when viewing civilopedia entries.

This doesn't occur when SLI is deactivated so I have a sneaking suspicion that for some reason the load balancing bar is showing through, even though it's disabled.

 

[SFP]

Game doesnt work well on my ATI 7500 Laptop, so
just for kicks, I tried to install CIV IV on my cheapie laptop.

Game doesnt crash, plays at a normal speed, but I am missing tile textures.

Acer 3502
SiS M661MX integrated video with shared video
Shared 512K memory
Celeron M 1.4GHz

 

[vinnypro]

i cant even get in the thing as soon as i try it says

renderer problem: check directx or graphics

i tried stuff but didnt work

my graphic card is a

ati radeon 9550

same problem as the guy under!

if you wanna help me right now just mesage me bye email cool_boarder7@hotmail.com

i payed for this game i would apreciate to have help

 

[rzstor]

I keep getting this error:

failed to initialize renderer - check directx version and graphics setting


No idea why this is happening. I have the latest version of direct X. Using ATI Radeon x700 series. Anyways, I can't even start the game, just boots be out and tells me that. Thanks for any help you have.

Rzstor

 

[EDaddy]

When the game starts, the sound skips in the intro movie (nothing new).

Sometimes during the game, the movement gets all slow & choppy.

I updated both the sound driver as well as my graphic driver, but it had no effect! I also messed around with the sound/graphics settings in Civ4, but nothing happens!!!

Other that those two issues, the game works fine for me.

 

[Baron Rakkan]

Hi,

I hope you can help me. I (suffer) from severe problems with the game and I really hope that someone can help me, because my technical understanding is not so good.
Theoretically I shouldn't have any problems, because my Computer fullfilles all technical requirements.
But The game needs long loading times, and at the beginning Civ4 wrote that my computer is not compatible which I really don't understand!!!! And when I build a wonder before the film begins my computer restarts the whole system, ALWAYS. I am really afraid to build wonders.

I thank you for your help.
Here the DxDiag