Help, keeps crashing to desktop upon start up

[mooselander]

so I just got a copy of Civilization 3: Conquests and I installed it. However, after I try starting it up, it loads the initial image and then I get a black screen before it crashes to the desktop after a few seconds. This happens over and over, I even patched the game to 1.15 and updated my display driver. any suggestions?

 

[girf]

yes i have the same problem... game seems to install okay but the ncrashes when i try to run it, as soon as the first intro screen shot comes up... did you have any luck fixing this problem??
Can anyone else help?

 

[ainwood]

Can you give some system specs? OS version, graphics card etc?

 

[xerophyte]

Same thing happens to me....

I've got a GeForce 4 129mb
P4-2.33 ghz
256mb RAM

i've got the latest drivers for Civ (1.15) and the latest nvidia drivers, but it dumps right to the desktop after the Conquest screen with the samurai. The screen goes black, back to desktop, then back to black, then back to desktop with no programs running.

Can i get a little help so I can enjoy my $30 o' civ goodness?

 

[Ridgelake]

My computer was doing the same thing as Xerophyte's. Upon launch, the initial screen comes on, goes black, back to desktop for a few seconds, then black for a few more, then back to desktop where it stays. All the while, the CD spins. The disk spins for about a minute after returning to desktop the last time.

This was occurring with all versions of Civ3, including "Vanilla", PTW, and C3C.

I have Window's XP. My problem started a week ago when I installed the latest Microsoft Service Pack. Prior to installing the service pack, Civ worked fine.

I just now was able to get Civ to work. It was a video driver problem. I got the driver from Microsoft through their support websites. There was no new driver from the computer manufacturer website (HP).

So my suggestion is to make certain that your video drivers are up
to date, not only from your video card manufacturer, but also from Microsoft, assuming you are running on their platform.

 

[xerophyte]

where would i go for microsoft updates? specifically?

 

[ainwood]

To the microsoft support center

 

[girf]

My laptops running Windows '98, with Pentium III 600MHz, 64 MG Mem, Direct X Version 8.0 (from the game right??).

Graphics card is Tridents Cyber 9525 DVD PCI/AGP (W98.23).
Chip: Cyber 9525 Rev (?)
DAC Type... Trident Built-IN
Approx total mem: 2.5 MB
Current display mode 800x600.

So these are my spec's. I suspect its the graphics card right??

Would appreciate anyhelp (Ainwood...?), but please in laypersons language... am no expert.

Thanks

 

[ainwood]

You could try getting the latest drivers for your videocard. If it is a laptop, then you might be able to get the drivers from the laptop manufacturer. If you're not sure how to do this, tell me who your laptop manufacturer is, and I'll try to give you a link.

Try here for a start.