Indeo Codec troubles with Civ2 solved

[intruder45]

I came across my old copy of Civ2, the one that doesn't require the cd to play and had a frustrating time trying to get it to run on my XP Pro, when I used to play it all the time.

I'd done a fresh install and got the error message about getting the last version of the Indeo Codecs, which I did and still couldn't get it to run. After much searching, here and on the web, I found some surprising information:

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9142140/Rather_than_patch_Microsoft_blocks_buggy_code

The answer and the fix was supplied by Microsoft:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/954157

Under the "More Information" tab, shown on the left, there are two "Microsoft Fix It" icons in the middle of the page. Click on the one to the right, under the "Use this Fix-it button to re-register the Indeo codec files automatically". You'll download a patch, "MicrosoftFixit50327.msi". Double click on it and let it do it's thing and that's all there is to it.

 

[Catfish]

After much searching, here and on the web, I found some surprising information:

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9142140/Rather_than_patch_Microsoft_blocks_buggy_code

Ah, an explanation. Thanks.

I've been registering the Indeo 5 Codec with "regsvr32 ir50_32.dll" (32-bit OS) or "regsvr32 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ir50_32.dll" (64-bit OS) in the Search Box.

 

[FoxAhead]

I found an easy way to enable Indeo codec back if you have K-Lite pack installed.
Find and run in Start menu: "Manage 32-bit VFW and ACM codecs". Scroll down.

Select checkbox "Indeo 4".
Click "Apply & Close".
Now all the videos should be played normally.

UPDATE:
If you don't have K-Lite pack or don't want to install it then you can just use separate Codec Tweak Tool from this pack (https://www.codecguide.com/download_other.htm).

 

[Blake00]

Been meaning to post this for over a year now! I just wanted to add an alternative option to this thread (that I use) in that if you don't want the big K-Lite codec pack and you just simply want Indeo video then this site has the codec with instructions on getting it working on modern OS's.
https://soggi.org/misc/articles/Intel-Indeo-video-audio-codec.htm

That site has been around for many years but just in case it goes down...

I've backed up the whole page and downloads on webarchive here:
http://web.archive.org/web/20211009...sc/articles/Intel-Indeo-video-audio-codec.htm

And I've also put a copy of the file and the support info on a CFC downloads page here:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/intel-indeo-video-audio-codec-for-civ2-mge-videos.29545/

Also please note that sometimes I've seen people tinkering with codec files and wondering why they still don't get working videos in-game because they've failed to notice that Civ2's videos play directly off the Civ2 CD. So if they don't have the CD in the drive or a working mounted CD image file then no amount of playing around with codecs is going to help them lol! However it's also worthy of note that the video folders (called VIDEO and KINGS) on the CD can be transferred to the game install folder on your harddrive.

.

 

[CmmdrHolst]

I found an easy way to enable Indeo codec back if you have K-Lite pack installed.
Find and run in Start menu: "Manage 32-bit VFW and ACM codecs". Scroll down.
View attachment 479361
Select checkbox "Indeo 4".
Click "Apply & Close".
Now all the videos should be played normally.

UPDATE:
If you don't have K-Lite pack or don't want to install it then you can just use separate Codec Tweak Tool from this pack (https://www.codecguide.com/download_other.htm).
View attachment 494929

This did it for me, just registering the DLL didn't work. Enabling the 4.1 codec here did the trick, thanks!