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

[kathleen]

I have virtually the same problem as lots of other people, it seems. The game itself runs great on my computer, but my system just does not like the wonder movies. They stutter and some of them actually cause the game to crash to desktop. The problem is definitely not my system - all drivers have been updated within the last two weeks. I have a Pentium 4 with 1 gig of RAM and an nVidia GeForce 3 video card. I'm running DirectX 9.0c and have my virtual memory set at 1.5 gig. My DX log is attached, but it didn't find any problems. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the game several times to no avail. I install the game on a "clean boot", with nothing running but essential drivers and Microsoft processes.
Most games run easily on my computer, which I know can handle this one. This is so frustrating... I'm afraid to build wonders because they crash my freakin game!
Kathleen

 

[CuNho]

I cannot play the game at all. After I choose a civilization and hit the last OK button

I always get this error message
"Your system has run out of video memory. Please trying reducing your video settings.
File:\main\civilization4.bak\SDKs\Gamebryo2_0\CoreLibs\NiDX9Renderer\NiDX9RenderedTextureData.cpp, Line:167"

 

[Kesselring]

My game CTD/ often reboot after 10-20 turn. Same problem happens when loading game, after the loading bar shows "DONE", sound loop then crash. Perhaps the game won't run in my Celeron D 2,8 Ghz?

Intel Celeron D 335 (Prescott, FSB 533, clock~2,8 GHZ)
MB ASROCK P4VM800 with VIA PM 800 Chipset
DDR 512mb RAM
Gigabyte Geforce 4MX 4000 64mb AGP 8x, driver 77.76
Onboard Sound, C-Media 9738
Latest VIA 4in1 Driver
DirectX 9.0c (from CD)

 

[misterwolf]

My computer always crashes when I open the civics menu. Always. It stops the sound and sends me to a blank screen, so that the only way to recover is to restart my computer.

I've occasionally experienced similar crashes in other 3D intensive games - my ATI Radeon 9200 hates me - but I've never had it triggered by a specific situation, and certainly never by a menu. Actually, that's not entirely true. I've had a similar type of thing happen to me on the merchant menu in Pirates, but in that case, it's rare and easy to avoid. In this case, it makes the game unplayable.

Of course, my system is well within the minimum requirements, is running the latest graphics card drivers, and version 1.52.

 

[Civil Justus]

My terrain shows up black. Can anyone figure out the reason or a solution looking into my system data? The patch only brought me the leaders' faces.

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 12/28/2005, 14:24:34
Machine name: YOUR-E521FA83DE
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519)
Language: Finnish (Regional Setting: Finnish)
System Manufacturer: HP Pavilion 061
System Model: PW570AA-ABX a800.fi
BIOS: Rev. 3.13
Processor: AMD Sempron(tm) 2800+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.0GHz
Memory: 448MB RAM
Page File: 363MB used, 310MB 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

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
DirectX Files Tab: No problems found.
Display Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Music Tab: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.
Network Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D: 0/4 (n/a)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: VIA/S3G UniChrome IGP
Manufacturer: VIA/S3G
Chip type: VIA/S3G UniChrome IGP
DAC type: Internal
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_7205&SUBSYS_81181043&REV_01
Display Memory: 64.0 MB
Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Oletusnäyttö
Monitor Max Res:
Driver Name: vtdisp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.0194 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 12/8/2004 06:08:48, 3448192 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
VDD: -
Mini VDD: vtmini.sys
Mini VDD Date: 12/8/2004 06:08:58, 172672 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71FE6-3145-11CF-3173-12A1A0C2CB35}
Vendor ID: 0x1106
Device ID: 0x7205
SubSys ID: 0x81181043
Revision ID: 0x0001
Revision ID: 0x0001
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_B ModeMPEG2_C ModeMPEG2_D
Deinterlace Caps: n/a
Registry: OK
DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled
DDraw Test Result: Not run
D3D7 Test Result: Not run
D3D8 Test Result: Not run
D3D9 Test Result: Not run

--------------
System Devices
--------------

Name: VIA CPU to AGP2.0/AGP3.0 Controller
Device ID: PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_B198&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_00\3&61AAA01&1&08
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\VIAAGP1.SYS, 5.01.0000.3442 (English), 7/2/2003 11:42:00, 27904 bytes

Name: VIA/S3G UniChrome IGP
Device ID: PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_7205&SUBSYS_81181043&REV_01\4&10AF1F73&0&0008
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\system32\DRIVERS\vtmini.sys, 6.14.0010.0194 (English), 12/8/2004 06:08:58, 172672 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\system32\vtdisp.dll, 6.14.0010.0194 (English), 12/8/2004 06:08:48, 3448192 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\system32\vticd.dll, 6.14.0010.0194 (English), 12/8/2004 06:10:52, 1871872 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\help\VTDspChs.hlp, 11/10/2004 12:55:06, 21597 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\help\VTDspCht.hlp, 11/10/2004 12:55:06, 21629 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\help\VTDspJpn.hlp, 11/10/2004 12:55:06, 22937 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\help\VTDspKor.hlp, 11/10/2004 12:55:06, 24212 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\help\VTDspWst.hlp, 11/10/2004 12:55:04, 230580 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\help\VTGm2WST.hlp, 8/31/2004 15:11:10, 129177 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\help\VTGm2CHS.hlp, 8/31/2004 15:11:10, 17183 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\help\VTGm2CHT.hlp, 8/31/2004 15:11:10, 17418 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\help\VTGm2JPN.hlp, 8/31/2004 15:11:10, 16594 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\help\VTGm2KOR.hlp, 8/31/2004 15:11:10, 19484 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\help\VTin2wst.hlp, 9/29/2004 17:16:18, 61136 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\help\VTin2chs.hlp, 9/29/2004 17:16:18, 9295 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\help\VTin2cht.hlp, 9/29/2004 17:16:18, 9280 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\help\VTin2jpn.hlp, 9/29/2004 17:16:18, 9670 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\help\VTin2kor.hlp, 9/29/2004 17:16:18, 10217 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\help\VTovlwst.hlp, 10/25/2004 23:57:54, 70000 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\help\VTovlchs.hlp, 10/25/2004 23:57:56, 10559 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\help\VTovlcht.hlp, 10/25/2004 23:57:56, 10515 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\help\VTovljpn.hlp, 10/25/2004 23:57:56, 10533 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\help\VTovlkor.hlp, 10/25/2004 23:57:56, 11385 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\system32\VTDisply.cfg, 11/10/2004 12:55:44, 63824 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\system32\VTDispl2.cfg, 11/10/2004 12:55:44, 57215 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\system32\VTDisply.dll, 2.00.0045.1129 (English), 11/29/2004 21:24:08, 483328 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\system32\VTGamma2.dll, 2.00.0016.0830 (English), 8/31/2004 15:11:30, 352256 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\system32\VTGamma2.cfg, 8/31/2004 15:11:30, 49170 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\system32\VTInfo2.dll, 2.00.0018.0928 (English), 9/29/2004 17:16:18, 253952 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\system32\VTInfo2.cfg, 9/29/2004 15:27:02, 44048 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\system32\VTovrlay.dll, 2.00.0017.1025 (English), 10/25/2004 23:58:30, 376832 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\system32\VTovrlay.cfg, 10/8/2004 15:21:52, 60337 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\system32\VTTimer.exe, 1.04.0006.1020 (English), 10/22/2004 21:53:06, 53248 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\system32\VTuninst.exe, 1.00.0011.0714 (English), 7/14/2004 23:17:26, 69706 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\system32\VTSetvga.exe, 1.00.0026.0109 (English), 1/9/2004 17:52:04, 49152 bytes
Driver: C:\WINDOWS\system32\hg201hp.inf, 12/7/2004 21:30:44, 16319 bytes

 

[Civil Justus]

deleting the copy of the message

 

[Macizo]

I have the same black screen problem and furthermore, I can't see the text in the opening menus. I know I have an old vid card and laptop.

Is there any hope for those of us with these issues?

What's the best route for someone with 32 mb of video ram?

I've heard some can play with this...

 

[Chazbagel]

Im thinking the black terrain and the invisible people might be RAM, im probably wrong though.

Im going out to get more RAM soon.

 

[michka]

Here is my sister's problem. We both have civ 4 but I don't seem to have any problem with it. But her's has a glitch. All her human and animal units looks like brown tubes going straight up with only arms and legs sticking out. But for some reason the spy unit is normal and all the rest of the units (ships, canons, tanks, planes) are ok. Villages are ok and so is all other 2d images. it's just the human which has those tubes like apperence and animals (wolves, bears, panthers, etc) have spikes on their backs. Some worker units are invsible apart from the crooked legs and arms.

Her video card is an ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 IGP.

I've attached an image of what it looks like if my description isn't enough. We are not computer wiz but i don't think it's her system or graphic card since it's a fairly new laptop.

If anyone has an idea please let us know.

Thank you all.

 

[LlamaCat]

The game seemed to work fine after the first patch, now with the new one I get black trees, leader faces look worse, and mouse pointer flickers.

Admittedly I have a 32 MB video card, but the game worked for me before. However, it was (and probably still is) slower than I think it should be in the later game.

Also -- how to keep the Task Manager priority level for the game at High or Above Normal? I change it, then play the game, and then go back and check the Task Manager and the PC has assigned it back to Below Normal. Very irritating, can't figure that one out....

I would love any suggestions! I've attached my dxdiag

 

[PorDios]

I am having that black map problem that several others have reported, but none of the fixes have worked for me so far. I come to you on bended knee, in hope that someone out there will have some suggestions for me. The game starts out playing perfectly, but the map will inevitably crap out eventually, usually within a half-hour. Sometimes shutting the game down and restarting it fixes the problem - but usually not. The longer the computer has been on, the sooner it is before the inevitable graphics meltdown, and the less the likelyhood that restarting the game will fix it. However, I shut the computer down every night, so it's not like it's been running for three days straight or anything. Also, usually when the graphics crap out, the game also starts to lag terribly, but I don't have any problems with lagging during the time when the graphics are behaving.

Here's my system info:

NVidia GeForce 6800 PCI Express videocard
ASUS K8S-MX motherboard (SiS 760 GX chipset)
Athlon 64 3000+ Processor (800 mHz)
Western Digital Raptor 74 GB Serial ATA harddrive
Free memory out the ass

Here's what I have tried:

- Updated motherboard and videocard drivers
- Downloaded and installed v1.52 patch
- Disabled memory saving and screenshots (recommended to conserve memory - but I really doubt it's a memory problem)
- Set screen resolution and graphics quality to lowest settings
- Recorded videocard and motherboard temperatures and voltages while playing (everything was well within the normal range - no overheating)
- Went spelunking in the BIOS and cranked the aperture to 128 MB, and disabled sidebanding

Still, no love. Perhaps some incompatibility issue between the NVidia videocard and the SiS chipset? Yeah, I doubt it too, but I'm out of ideas (not to mention patience). Is there anything left to do but weep, render my garments, and wait until the next patch comes out? I mean, NOW what am I supposed to do with my free time? Read, or socialize, or some ****? Eff that. My DXDiag file is attached. If anyone out there has any ideas, please let me know!

Thanks!

 

[whyohwhyoh]

How frustrating....

My laptop is only a few years old and I am trying to play a TURN BASED STRATEGY game.

I usually wait a few years to buy the new Civ, oh well this will go back to the store if I can't get it to work soon. Civ3 is OK for now.

I get through the install and launch the game, no movies, don't care. Then after selecting a game, after trying to create new world it fails due to lack of video memory.

I have attached the dx file.

Anyone, please help if possible.

--
whyohwhyoh

 

[andi_wb]

hi

Hope someone can help. Have been given this wonderful game for Christmas but can not get it to run. The intro movie stutters, particularly the sound. My PC will play the whole movie, although the sound often drops out, and then freezes. Pressing escape has no effect. In fact once it freezes neither the keyboard or mouse work.

Have tried various suggestions to impeove performance but nothing has helped yet. Beginning to get frustrated!

Have attached relevant file. Hope someone can help.

 

[Rochlara]

Hello there
After resolving thanks to your advice the EU/USA compatibily problem, I have another problem which prevents me playing the game...
From what I understand (I don't know much about computer files), my drivers are not up to date ? Can anyone recommend me the correct drivers to download and install ?
The graphics problem is that crops, drinkable water, etc is appearing on every single square, right from the beginning :-(
Indeed, difficult to build the capital in that case :-(
Thank you for any suggestion !

Isabelle

 

[Zydor]

Those icons are meant to be there so you know what resources they contain. The map display is toggled by one of the icons bottom right of the screenshot you posted

I would suggest you do the Tutorial game - its a good starter guide, and will get you going on the basics. Tutorial Mode is accessed in the opening menus before starting a game

Regards
Zy

 

[Rochlara]

thank you Zydor !!!
I feel a little bit stupid
I thought that my computer had a memory problem, but it was only a new feature in the latest CIV edition (which distracted me because there was too much on the screen compared to Civ 3).
I will take a more close look at the manual and... play the game tonight !!!
thank you !

 

[Zydor]

No worries - trust me - we all been there at some point with the Civ Series

 

[Antonius]

Ok here it is.
Happened to me for the first time since I have bought the game.
I have all the latest drivers from ati (as if it matters) and 1.52 patch.
My graphics is ATI9600pro 128MB.
The error occured to me during reloading the game.
My PC has been running whole day (playing Civ4 of course)

FATAL_ERROR

Your system has run out of video memory.Please trying reducing your video settings.
File:\main\civilization4.bak\SDKs\gamebryo2_0\CoreLibs\NiDX9Renderer\NiDX9VBManager.cpp, Line:1018

....more to come later

 

[the good goat]

1. forest and jungle trees are only partally there (the top half of the trees are there and the rest is "buried in the ground") also the animal recources (cow, horse, elephant) are not on the map, only their shadows.

2. updated the graphics driver

3.

 

[geloo]

Getting the Direct X and Graphics Error while loading

I have followed these steps for re-installation
http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/support_ati.htm

I have tried the patch v1.52

Nothing works...getting the same error