same problems and several crashes during the game(thanks pushhead) so system have to reboot(windows says that it is about my graphic card ati radeon 9550)and sometimes leaderheads seems fine but some just black screens instead of leaders.Have a nice day have a nice civPushead said:
Graphics/Sound Problems? - Please post your DX Logs.
- Thread starter ainwood
- Start date
Updates on my sound/graphics problems.
I've tried modifying several sound settings via the control panel, as somebody else suggested, but my intro and wonder movies still have skipping sound. Some more interesting variations though should be examined by Firaxis' people:
- As I get deeper into the game, the wonder movies sound seems to skip less. The sound still skips, but there's less of it.
- Got the dreaded Crash to Desktop three times - once when my son was playing, again when I was playing, and once when my son and I played hot seat. No other symptoms, just BAM, crash. Now I know to save early and often.
- Couple of times using standard map size, got to the edge of a continent and the map went blooey - the screen jumped to a view of the map that showed only the edge of the continent and all of the menus and everything else disappeared. The game hung up like this for maybe 10 seconds, then came back to normal. It did this again within a couple of turns, then crashed to desktop.
I am beginning to think that there IS a memory leak somewhere, as some have suggested. Hey Firaxis, are you guys listening?
I've tried modifying several sound settings via the control panel, as somebody else suggested, but my intro and wonder movies still have skipping sound. Some more interesting variations though should be examined by Firaxis' people:
- As I get deeper into the game, the wonder movies sound seems to skip less. The sound still skips, but there's less of it.
- Got the dreaded Crash to Desktop three times - once when my son was playing, again when I was playing, and once when my son and I played hot seat. No other symptoms, just BAM, crash. Now I know to save early and often.
- Couple of times using standard map size, got to the edge of a continent and the map went blooey - the screen jumped to a view of the map that showed only the edge of the continent and all of the menus and everything else disappeared. The game hung up like this for maybe 10 seconds, then came back to normal. It did this again within a couple of turns, then crashed to desktop.
I am beginning to think that there IS a memory leak somewhere, as some have suggested. Hey Firaxis, are you guys listening?
shmolnick said:
SFP said:
ı have the same problem; black terrain and the leader faces with only eyes and mouth animating... now ı will install the latest driver for my ATI Radeon IGP 320M, but that ı read from various messages nothing will change ı think.
Ralendil
Augustus
vinnypro said:
same here
ATI9600 series
Windows 2000
I have installed the Direct X of the CD, updated the drivers with the new ATI drivers, unpacked Art0.FPK, deleted the cache, changed some entries of the Civ4Config (to test), changed the settings to US keyboard...
EDIT: problem ended. I have found that the unpack operation of art0.fpk was not done correctly
After realising it correctly I can play the game
skerstetter
Chieftain
- Joined
- Oct 31, 2005
- Messages
- 1
I've got the standard list of complaints:
1. sound on videos cuts out at regular interval.
2. when zoomed in to see units, the fog of war covers the terrain. [screenshot attached]. As game progresses, about half of the screen is revealed. By scrolling around, I can see all of the continent, even portions that should be covered.
3. Leader only includes eyes and mouth.
also, i don't have any background sound in the game, only unit sounds.
Of these, #2 makes the game unplayable.
1. sound on videos cuts out at regular interval.
2. when zoomed in to see units, the fog of war covers the terrain. [screenshot attached]. As game progresses, about half of the screen is revealed. By scrolling around, I can see all of the continent, even portions that should be covered.
3. Leader only includes eyes and mouth.
also, i don't have any background sound in the game, only unit sounds.
Of these, #2 makes the game unplayable.
Attachments
Underseer
King
I get the same sound problem others have reported with in-game movies, namely the wonder movies and the final end of game movie. The sound is on for about a second, off for about a second, off and on throughout the whole movie.
Oddly enough, the intro movie plays just fine, but every other movie I've encountered in game has the descibed sound problems.
Oddly enough, the intro movie plays just fine, but every other movie I've encountered in game has the descibed sound problems.
milkman2518
Chieftain
Everything is black with the exception of my men and the town and some land characteristics. eg. horses, elephants
View attachment directx diagnostic.txt
View attachment directx diagnostic.txt
generalshake
Consigliere
1. The symptoms: Second load screen (with the loading bar) only comes up and loads about 1/3 of the time. It either doesn't do anything (no pop ups nothing) or it pops up the first 'loading' and then doesn't pop up the loading bar one, or it actually loads the game. When it does the locking up one when I hit ctrl-alt delete and look at processes it shows Civ4 at about 18,000ish k and a file called ~e5.0001 with about 1,300ish k. Should the game load and you try too access one of the scenarios that require a restart (or load a save from one) it repeats the process. It either doesn't load, or does the half a$$ locking up load. ***Out of the box it wouldn't load at all. I would have too hit it 20+ times filling up the processes before it would load. Upon updating my sound card driver (the only thing that sorta worked) I was able too load a scenario and even a save. I thought it was fixed. Upon turning off the computer and coming back later that day it started doing what it is doing now.*** My wife's computer runs the game fine though.
2. What I've Tried : I've installed multiple times. On both my non-writable drive and my top writable drive. I've updated my vid card and sound card drivers too the most recent. Run ad-aware and made sure too not have any spyware on my computer. Defrag and scandisc. I've done everything short of a clean install, and would like too avoid that if at all possible.
3. I've attached the request information in the hopes someone can solve my problem. I do have the problem with the game closing at random, but using saves I can live with that. Getting the game too start (and load scenarios/saves) is all I'm focussed on. I posted in a thread with someone who has a similiar problem, though his won't even load at all.
If anyone is able too solve this problem for me I'll 'sacrafice' a 6pack of your choice too the gaming god.
2. What I've Tried : I've installed multiple times. On both my non-writable drive and my top writable drive. I've updated my vid card and sound card drivers too the most recent. Run ad-aware and made sure too not have any spyware on my computer. Defrag and scandisc. I've done everything short of a clean install, and would like too avoid that if at all possible.
3. I've attached the request information in the hopes someone can solve my problem. I do have the problem with the game closing at random, but using saves I can live with that. Getting the game too start (and load scenarios/saves) is all I'm focussed on. I posted in a thread with someone who has a similiar problem, though his won't even load at all.
If anyone is able too solve this problem for me I'll 'sacrafice' a 6pack of your choice too the gaming god.
Here is my DxDiag file. Hope this helps get a fix for this issue. I figured my machine is more than capable of running this game.
View attachment DxDiag.txt
View attachment DxDiag.txt
Like many, I am having many graphic problems:
1) I am only able to see my units, trees, cities, animals, resources and all rest is a fog. (This is only when I am zoomed in)
2) i am seeing all leaders as just eyeballs and mouth.( glasses too if they have)
3)Sound during intro is skipping constantly.
Please help me I wanna play Civ IV!
1) I am only able to see my units, trees, cities, animals, resources and all rest is a fog. (This is only when I am zoomed in)
2) i am seeing all leaders as just eyeballs and mouth.( glasses too if they have)
3)Sound during intro is skipping constantly.
Please help me I wanna play Civ IV!
Ok I have had this game for almost a week now and have not been able to play it yet. I don't know what the problem is. I have tried it on every setting and resoultion. For some reason the game either starts of choppy or ends up choppy after a few turns. Well really it never starts off completely smooth, but it has started smoother than it ends. It just sucks. I really wanna play, but can't. I even tried dealing with the choppy/laggy game play, but it's just too much of an annoyance to be fun. I have a intel pent. 4 3.0ghz processor....128 Nvidia Fx Go5700 graphics card.......512mb of ram....and i've included my Dxdiag.txt for more reference. I also have the stuttering sound at the opening of the 2k games and during the intro movie if anyone knows how to fix that. Please someone help. Email me at stetsonblade@gmail.com or txt me at Syn Soultear on AIM with some help please. Thanks in advance.
ArchitectofSlee
Chieftain
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2005
- Messages
- 3
Attached is my dxdiag.
Here are my e-mail correspondences with a Firaxis techie. I think it shows pretty well what the problems I'm having are, the steps I've taken to fix it so far, and the utter uselessness (thus far) of said Firaxis techie.
ME:
I am so disappointed. You have published a lemon. I and hundreds of others
(http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=159) are having video problems that affect our ability to play the game. I haven't even been able to play one turn, and my laptop meets the minimum requirements (and most of the recommended requirements) and has all of the most up-to-date drivers. I want my money back. Down with Civ! Down with Sid Meier! Your legions are quickly falling into anarchy and rebellion. And it serves you right for releasing a lemon.
TECHIE:
Could you please send us your dxdiag file?
Thanks
ME:
Attached is my dxdiag file.
The bug I'm having is this: the game starts up fine, I can see and hear the opening video, I get the main menu, etc. I can start a new game and the world loads. But then, within a minute, the game freezes. The music eventually stops. I have to do a hard reboot of my machine to be able to do anything else, though. Ctrl-alt-del, alt-tab, ctrl-Q, nothing works - just a press and hold of the power button to shut down. In the game itself, sometimes I get to the first window where it says "your people have placed
their faith in you" or whatever, and I get to hit the Continue button before it freezes. Sometimes I don't even get that far. I've yet to see the world map (mini map in the lower corner shows up fine) - the main section of the screen just appears black, with some sort of picture icon (I presume for one of my starting workers/soldiers/settlers?).
I'm pretty sure the issue is with the game being compatible with my ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 hardware or driver, given that whenever I sent a trouble report to Microsoft, it told me that the problem was with the driver. Microsoft would then show me one of two different errors/solutions. One of the errors was a generic "go see ATI's site and make sure you have the updated driver" (which I did, and it turned out I already have the most up-to-date driver), and the other was this one: http://oca.microsoft.com/en/response.aspx?SGD=67e2d500-14a9-49ab-8c87-97f1fdf914c1&SID=11. I followed the link on that page for this error: Error Message: STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER (Q293078), and then I followed the directions to fix it. Unfortunately, Civ4 won't even run on zero acceleration, so that solution was a dud. I did try upping the acceleration one pip at a time, and finally got it to run when the acceleration slider was about halfway to full, but it ran poorly (flickering images, e.g.) and it still froze within a minute of starting a world.
Then, I sought help by searching the Web to see if others had similar problems and found solutions. Well, as you know, I found many folks with similar problems, and many more folks with different problems, but precious few solutions.
I eventually found this link, which I believe is the only official fix out there with regards to ATI video problems: http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/support_ati.htm. I wasn't convinced it was the right solution for my problem, but I gamely gave it a go. The uninstalling/reinstalling of the game and the driver (in the order suggested) did not fix the problem. Not only that, but I was experiencing more pronounced stuttering of the sound and video (whereas before, I had hardly any), and the game took a lot longer to load. Adding the Art Pack did not fix the freezeing problem, either (but the world did load quickly again, and the sound and video stuttering had ceased). If anything, the freezing was occuring more quickly.
I have now uninstalled the game, and I would very much like to know either how I can get it working properly, or how I can get my money back. I have now spent some seven or eight hours just trying to get this darn thing to work (such is the love and devotion Civ fans have for their games), and I am ready to start asking Firaxis to pay me for my time.
I would also like to recommend that Firaxis games not supply its testers with top-of-the-line computers having only one set of hardware among them, because the teeming masses of Civ-lovers out here have vastly diverse computer hardware and generally don't have the most up-to-date hardware, either.
Thank you,
JMM
TECHIE (turnaround time for this response was 12 minutes):
It looks like your video driver (for MOBILITY RADEON 9200) has a date of 3/25/2004. I would definitely recommend updating the video driver.
Also, your audio driver (for SoundMAX Digital Audio) has a date of 3/17/2003. Check for an available update if possible.
Let me know if either of these updates helps.
Thanks
ME:
Regarding the video driver:
When I access the drivers site for my particular Vaio, it tells me that there are no updates to the original ATI driver that I have (http://esupport.sony.com/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNS170&UpdateType=Updates). When I was following Microsoft's instructions, however, I checked for the original drivers (http://esupport.sony.com/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNS170&UpdateType=Original) and noted that although mine was dated 3/25/04, the one listed as the original on the aforementioned url was dated 7/8/04. Not terribly new, either, and the version number was identical to the one I had, with the exception of a "d" at the end (http://esupport.sony.com/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VGNS170&upd_id=1572&os_id=7). I downloaded it, anyway, and installed it (even though the Update Driver tool indicated that it had the best driver). For whatever reason, my computer still said the version number without the "d" along with the 3/25/04 date. Then, when I performed the instruction set from your support site (http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/support_ati.htm), I deleted my ATI driver. When I reinstalled, I used the same file that I had previously downloaded from my Vaio support site (http://esupport.sony.com/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VGNS170&upd_id=1572&os_id=7). That is the current version that I have on my machine, and I have no idea why it still has the date 3/25/04 instead of 7/8/04.
To be brief, I have the most updated video driver for my hardware currently installed.
Regarding the audio driver:
Now, even though I haven't really had any audio problems, I took a look at the Vaio support site for my audio driver, as well. According to their Updates section (http://esupport.sony.com/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNS170&UpdateType=Updates), there are no new audio drivers for my system. When I looked at the original equipment page (http://esupport.sony.com/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNS170&UpdateType=Original) and then clicked on the ADI SoundMax Audio Driver link (http://esupport.sony.com/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VGNS170&upd_id=1571&os_id=7), I found that the version number is the same as the on I have, just with a few more digits tacked on at the end. Oddly, the date for this driver is also 7/8/04 (same as for the video driver). I downloaded the driver and clicked Update Driver in the device manage for this device, and it claimed it had the most up-to-date driver already (this also happened when I did it earlier for the video driver, and it turned out that reinstalling the video driver didn't change the date or any of the other stats of the video driver).
To be brief, I think it's fair to say that I have the most current audio driver installed, as well.
(Why do I feel like I'm doing a lot of the work that the Firaxis testers should have done before shipping this product?)
Anyway, what's next?
If you can't solve this, then please tell me how to get my money back. Most stores won't let you return software once it's been opened, you know. I bought this from Amazon. I'm not sure what their specific policy is. What will Firaxis do for me if Amazon won't accept a return?
(There has since been no response.)
Here are my e-mail correspondences with a Firaxis techie. I think it shows pretty well what the problems I'm having are, the steps I've taken to fix it so far, and the utter uselessness (thus far) of said Firaxis techie.
ME:
I am so disappointed. You have published a lemon. I and hundreds of others
(http://forums.civfanatics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=159) are having video problems that affect our ability to play the game. I haven't even been able to play one turn, and my laptop meets the minimum requirements (and most of the recommended requirements) and has all of the most up-to-date drivers. I want my money back. Down with Civ! Down with Sid Meier! Your legions are quickly falling into anarchy and rebellion. And it serves you right for releasing a lemon.
TECHIE:
Could you please send us your dxdiag file?
Thanks
ME:
Attached is my dxdiag file.
The bug I'm having is this: the game starts up fine, I can see and hear the opening video, I get the main menu, etc. I can start a new game and the world loads. But then, within a minute, the game freezes. The music eventually stops. I have to do a hard reboot of my machine to be able to do anything else, though. Ctrl-alt-del, alt-tab, ctrl-Q, nothing works - just a press and hold of the power button to shut down. In the game itself, sometimes I get to the first window where it says "your people have placed
their faith in you" or whatever, and I get to hit the Continue button before it freezes. Sometimes I don't even get that far. I've yet to see the world map (mini map in the lower corner shows up fine) - the main section of the screen just appears black, with some sort of picture icon (I presume for one of my starting workers/soldiers/settlers?).
I'm pretty sure the issue is with the game being compatible with my ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 hardware or driver, given that whenever I sent a trouble report to Microsoft, it told me that the problem was with the driver. Microsoft would then show me one of two different errors/solutions. One of the errors was a generic "go see ATI's site and make sure you have the updated driver" (which I did, and it turned out I already have the most up-to-date driver), and the other was this one: http://oca.microsoft.com/en/response.aspx?SGD=67e2d500-14a9-49ab-8c87-97f1fdf914c1&SID=11. I followed the link on that page for this error: Error Message: STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER (Q293078), and then I followed the directions to fix it. Unfortunately, Civ4 won't even run on zero acceleration, so that solution was a dud. I did try upping the acceleration one pip at a time, and finally got it to run when the acceleration slider was about halfway to full, but it ran poorly (flickering images, e.g.) and it still froze within a minute of starting a world.
Then, I sought help by searching the Web to see if others had similar problems and found solutions. Well, as you know, I found many folks with similar problems, and many more folks with different problems, but precious few solutions.
I eventually found this link, which I believe is the only official fix out there with regards to ATI video problems: http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/support_ati.htm. I wasn't convinced it was the right solution for my problem, but I gamely gave it a go. The uninstalling/reinstalling of the game and the driver (in the order suggested) did not fix the problem. Not only that, but I was experiencing more pronounced stuttering of the sound and video (whereas before, I had hardly any), and the game took a lot longer to load. Adding the Art Pack did not fix the freezeing problem, either (but the world did load quickly again, and the sound and video stuttering had ceased). If anything, the freezing was occuring more quickly.
I have now uninstalled the game, and I would very much like to know either how I can get it working properly, or how I can get my money back. I have now spent some seven or eight hours just trying to get this darn thing to work (such is the love and devotion Civ fans have for their games), and I am ready to start asking Firaxis to pay me for my time.
I would also like to recommend that Firaxis games not supply its testers with top-of-the-line computers having only one set of hardware among them, because the teeming masses of Civ-lovers out here have vastly diverse computer hardware and generally don't have the most up-to-date hardware, either.
Thank you,
JMM
TECHIE (turnaround time for this response was 12 minutes):
It looks like your video driver (for MOBILITY RADEON 9200) has a date of 3/25/2004. I would definitely recommend updating the video driver.
Also, your audio driver (for SoundMAX Digital Audio) has a date of 3/17/2003. Check for an available update if possible.
Let me know if either of these updates helps.
Thanks
ME:
Regarding the video driver:
When I access the drivers site for my particular Vaio, it tells me that there are no updates to the original ATI driver that I have (http://esupport.sony.com/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNS170&UpdateType=Updates). When I was following Microsoft's instructions, however, I checked for the original drivers (http://esupport.sony.com/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNS170&UpdateType=Original) and noted that although mine was dated 3/25/04, the one listed as the original on the aforementioned url was dated 7/8/04. Not terribly new, either, and the version number was identical to the one I had, with the exception of a "d" at the end (http://esupport.sony.com/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VGNS170&upd_id=1572&os_id=7). I downloaded it, anyway, and installed it (even though the Update Driver tool indicated that it had the best driver). For whatever reason, my computer still said the version number without the "d" along with the 3/25/04 date. Then, when I performed the instruction set from your support site (http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/support_ati.htm), I deleted my ATI driver. When I reinstalled, I used the same file that I had previously downloaded from my Vaio support site (http://esupport.sony.com/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VGNS170&upd_id=1572&os_id=7). That is the current version that I have on my machine, and I have no idea why it still has the date 3/25/04 instead of 7/8/04.
To be brief, I have the most updated video driver for my hardware currently installed.
Regarding the audio driver:
Now, even though I haven't really had any audio problems, I took a look at the Vaio support site for my audio driver, as well. According to their Updates section (http://esupport.sony.com/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNS170&UpdateType=Updates), there are no new audio drivers for my system. When I looked at the original equipment page (http://esupport.sony.com/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGNS170&UpdateType=Original) and then clicked on the ADI SoundMax Audio Driver link (http://esupport.sony.com/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VGNS170&upd_id=1571&os_id=7), I found that the version number is the same as the on I have, just with a few more digits tacked on at the end. Oddly, the date for this driver is also 7/8/04 (same as for the video driver). I downloaded the driver and clicked Update Driver in the device manage for this device, and it claimed it had the most up-to-date driver already (this also happened when I did it earlier for the video driver, and it turned out that reinstalling the video driver didn't change the date or any of the other stats of the video driver).
To be brief, I think it's fair to say that I have the most current audio driver installed, as well.
(Why do I feel like I'm doing a lot of the work that the Firaxis testers should have done before shipping this product?)
Anyway, what's next?
If you can't solve this, then please tell me how to get my money back. Most stores won't let you return software once it's been opened, you know. I bought this from Amazon. I'm not sure what their specific policy is. What will Firaxis do for me if Amazon won't accept a return?
(There has since been no response.)
My comp is experiencing the sluggish performance and skipping sound in the movies (both Wonder and Intro) -- I manage to improve performance by turning off the shaders. I've tried the standar forceware drivers, the omega ones and the new beta forceware driver. All have similar performance.
Ugh. I can barely play on a tiny world it is so freaking slow.
Oh yeah and I have the choppy sound on the cutscenes too, but I don't really care about that.
50 bucks down the toilet. yippee.
My dxdiag is attached
It should work pretty well on an athlon xp 2600+, 512mb ram, and a geforce fx 5200 with the latest drivers right?
Oh yeah and I have the choppy sound on the cutscenes too, but I don't really care about that.
50 bucks down the toilet. yippee.
My dxdiag is attached
It should work pretty well on an athlon xp 2600+, 512mb ram, and a geforce fx 5200 with the latest drivers right?
midn8t
The Sundance Dog
im having total gfx gltich from opening video to there opening logo to in game.
no issue with the menu though.
i attached my dxdiag info.
but just incase it didnt attach correctly
amd xp dual core 4200+
asua A8n sli premium
7800 gt 256 evga
2 gigs of samsung dram master
Windows xp 64 bit
Ac97 sound
Dell 20 wide screen
Sound blaster xfi disabled drivers not out yet for 64 bit os
Divx codec installed
Driver video card update to current
Sound drives updated to current
MB drivers updated to current
Windows xp 64 bit updated
no issue with the menu though.
i attached my dxdiag info.
but just incase it didnt attach correctly
amd xp dual core 4200+
asua A8n sli premium
7800 gt 256 evga
2 gigs of samsung dram master
Windows xp 64 bit
Ac97 sound
Dell 20 wide screen
Sound blaster xfi disabled drivers not out yet for 64 bit os
Divx codec installed
Driver video card update to current
Sound drives updated to current
MB drivers updated to current
Windows xp 64 bit updated
Emerentius
Warlord
- Joined
- Jun 12, 2005
- Messages
- 148
hi, my comp is rebooting all the time, my dxdiag is already put on this link.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=102254&d=1130796001
hope you will find a solution soon.
for now i have to go back playing RTW / Rome Total Realism 6.3 on highest performance levels cause that one runs smooth....
http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=102254&d=1130796001
hope you will find a solution soon.
for now i have to go back playing RTW / Rome Total Realism 6.3 on highest performance levels cause that one runs smooth....
I've been having trouble too. To be specific.
All movies (intro, wonder etc) have glitches where they play for a few seconds, then the sound vanishes, then it plays again (stuttering), but the graphics are fine.
Additionally, at random intervals, I find that I'm booted back to my desktop.
Once, my whole PC just rebooted.
Additionally, I find that my windows graphics are affected and once the game booted me out, to a screen that was set to 640x480 at 16 colours! (not 16 bit, 16 colours!)
I know that my PC can run the game.....
Spec:
CPU: AMD 64bit 3GHz
Mem: 1Gb
GFX: NVIDIA GeForce 6200
OS: XP SP2
If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be really grateful!
All movies (intro, wonder etc) have glitches where they play for a few seconds, then the sound vanishes, then it plays again (stuttering), but the graphics are fine.
Additionally, at random intervals, I find that I'm booted back to my desktop.
Once, my whole PC just rebooted.
Additionally, I find that my windows graphics are affected and once the game booted me out, to a screen that was set to 640x480 at 16 colours! (not 16 bit, 16 colours!)
I know that my PC can run the game.....
Spec:
CPU: AMD 64bit 3GHz
Mem: 1Gb
GFX: NVIDIA GeForce 6200
OS: XP SP2
If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be really grateful!
