Installing Civ 4 on Windows 7/Vista (32-/64-bit)

Installing Civ IV on Windows Vista / 7 / 8 / 8.1 /10

NOTE: Vanilla and Warlords no longer run on these versions due to changes to security, however BTS runs well with 3.19 patch. - However this workaround may work - and this tip

Background
I have played Civ for nearly two decades now and on various versions of Windows from Win 3.x through Win9x/2K/XP up to today's Windows 10. In addition, I have worked as an IT engineer for over 20 years. My method for installing games has worked flawlessly throughout this time. Others experiences with Windows 7 may also help.

Windows Vista and later versions (7/8.x/10, etc), have changed the security model for the usual folder that the games are installed in (i.e. c:\program files\), has additional protection. In addition a normal user is now no longer an "administrator", with full control over all files. Win7/Vista is a different OS (i.e. internally known as Windows 6.1/6.0) versus Windows XP/2000 (i.e. Windows 5.1/5.0), so they have changed quite a few things since it Civ 4 was first released. As Civ 4 was written well before these changes the usual install can have issues further down the line (e.g. when you add or change mods).

UPDATE: I have now used these same procedures on Windows 10 - 64-bit and can confirm that they work.

NOTE: I do not have Civ 4 Complete, but if you can find the individual setup files on the DVD media provided, you should be OK.

For Steam-based versions please read these tips that map help - http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=13976028&postcount=16

Installation Procedure

Preparation

1: Download all patches for the Civ 4 versions you have in advance to another folder (e.g. c:\TEMP)
- -
Civ4Patch1.61, Civ4Patch1.74, Civ4WarlordsPatch2.08, Civ4WarlordsPatch2.13, Civ4BTS_Patch_v3.17, Civ4BeyondTheSwordPatch3.19

You may want to save these to another external drive, should you need to rebuild your PC or get a new one

2: Open Windows Explorer and create a new folder in C: drive called GAMES
This will avoid the additional security protections that have been placed on the "C:\Program Files\" folder

3: Be sure you have all the necessary Install Disks for Civ4 and it's expansions.

4: May need to update your DX9 files. Click the icon below to take you to the download page


5: You should also add Windows 7 SP1 32/64-bit or Windows Vista SP2 - 32-bit or 64-bit
NOTE: Windows Update will do this for you automatically

6: Ensure all your Graphic Drivers are up to date.
Select your driver by clicking on the appropriate logo below

For laptops and others with integrated graphics please use your manufacturers website


Installation

NOTE1: You will need to "Right-Click" on the "Setup.exe" file and then "Run as Administrator"
NOTE2: For all installation setups you will need to run the "Custom" option, to allow you change the default installation folder to C:\GAMES\

Civilization 4

4: Insert the Civ 4 disk and then browse to the folder run the setup as mentioned in NOTE1 and NOTE2 and then select the custom folder as C:\GAMES\CIV4 and then follow the prompts

5: Right-click on Civ4Patch1.61 and "Run as Administrator" and then follow the prompts

Civilization 4 - Warlords
If you are not installing Warlords go to step 8

6: Insert the Civ 4 Warlords disk and then browse to the folder run the setup as mentioned in NOTE1 and follow the prompts

7: Right-click on Civ4WarlordsPatch2.08 and "Run as Administrator" and then follow the prompts

8: Right-click on Civ4Patch1.74 and "Run as Administrator" and then follow the prompts

9: Right-click on Civ4WarlordsPatch2.13 and "Run as Administrator" and then follow the prompts

Civilization 4 - Beyond the Sword
This expansion is now "Large-Address-Space" aware, meaning if you are running on Windows 7/Vista x64 and you have more than 4 GB of RAM, you will have up to 4GB available for you, which is especially useful on really large maps and custom mods you may download from cfc

10: Insert the Civ 4 Beyond the Sword disk and then browse to the folder run the setup as mentioned in NOTE1 and follow the prompts

11: Right-click on Civ4BTS_Patch_v3.17 and "Run as Administrator" and then follow the prompts

12: Right-click on Civ4BeyondTheSwordPatch3.19 and "Run as Administrator" and then follow the prompts

If you still are having problems you may find the answer in the Fix-it-List thread

For installing custom Mods
Install in the following folders for the version your mod has been written for.

C:\GAMES\CIV4\Mods - Civ4 vanilla Mods
C:\GAMES\CIV4\Warlords\Mods - Civ4 Warlords Mods
C:\GAMES\CIV4\Beyond The Sword\Mods - Civ4 BTS Mods

If you still have problems with your custom mod you have downloaded from cfc please contact the mod author directly in a post in the appropriate forum and many major mods have their own forum to help users of their mods.

These steps above should help with most of the problems you have with running Civ 4

Please feel free to comment and add additional suggestions to the above.

See also this thread for other assistance as well. Has another suggestion as well regarding Data Execution prevention
This may help around copy protection issues

 

Thanks kiwitt! Your instructions and links to the patches worked perfectly, including the note about skipping the Warlords install. I went from Vanilla to patch 1.61 to patch 1.74 to BTS to patch 3.17 to patch 3.19. I am now grinning big because I can watch the BTS videos and wonder movies for the first time. (Neither my old laptop nor its desktop predecessor would run the videos.) Also appreciate the advice of copying the patch files to a CD for safekeeping in my game box. Your post came at a very timely moment as I was preparing to run the gauntlet of conflicting Win7 install advice. A few months ago I pulled my hair out trying to get BTS installed on the new laptop. I had decided to try it again tonight, so great, great timing.

One thing you might want to add or note. The installation asks if you want to install Xfire, register the game, and do something else, and I unticked each of those three choices. I was a tad unsure whether those were required in some way.

 

Hello,

I have read the forum and have tried all the disk will not launch and my setup give me an error code(below). I have checked my direct X and have un the fix-it application, nothing seams to help. I am at my wits end on this one.

first the disk will not auto-launch, i have tried to run the application manually but receive :

The application was unable to start correctly (0xc0000006).

Thanks.

 

That is a windows generic error.

Sounds like a faulty CD possibly

 

dont believe thats it as the disk was used on other pcs.

just got a new computer with this operating system.

 

Have you right=clicked and run as admin

 

yeah, several times...

 

It might pay to search out a solution in one of the links I googled.

As I said it is a common Windows error so the solution may be in those.

 

know any good forums to start my search?

 

search for this ""0xc0000006" site:microsoft.com" in google

 

im told that i need directx 9.0c to play civ 4 and i was wondering if you could tell me how i can check if i have it on my laptop, im pretty bad when it comes to computers so any help would be greatly appreciated

 

When you run the installs it will install any DX9 files you may need.

NOTE: You must run as admin as I said above.

 

Thanks, ive got some more questions if you wouldnt mind answering them

How do i create the new folder GAMES in the C: drive?

I am getting the gold version of the game and im told that it has the patches for it, so do i just patch from 3.17 to 3.19 for BTS?

Again i really appreciate the help

 

Ouch!! You have never created a new folder to store your files into.

That is outside the scope of this article, but one of these links will help
"How to create a folder in windows"

As to the versions I am not sure what Gold contains.

 

This fix is slightly flawed all you need is BTS 3.19 that updates all the other civ 4 games anyway

always run windows update once a week helps too check the hidden ones also

 

Hi and thanks for the directions on how to install it to minimize problems. Any chance you can give us a way to completely uninstall it so that we can re-install using your method? Thanks, NG

 

In Win7/64 I was able to uninstall it using the Windows Control Panel/Programs/Uninstall function.

 

I'm following your instructions but getting an error halfway through the installation process. It reads:

Feature Transfer Error
Feature: Default Feature
Component: Civ4 Component
File: D:\data.cab
Error: Data Error

 

Have you checked the install on another PC to see if their is a problem with the disk

 

No; it was installing fine before I changed the installation directory to a new folder, it just claimed CivIV was incompatible with Vista. The disc worked fine before I had my computer's graphics card changed. They must've done something else as well, though, as it removed all my programs and now keeps Civ from working. I'm pretty sure the problem isn't the disc.