Installing Civ 4 on Windows Vista / 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10 / 11 (32-/64-bit)

[Chazcon]

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 I recommend that STEAM is installed in its own folder - e.g. C:\STEAM - please read these tips that may 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

Bravo mon ami, this worked perfectly on a Windows 10 machine on 03/01/2023. Thank you!

 

[Naponroy2]

Hi all,

I just got Civ IV working yesterday. It used to work on this computer, even with windows 10, then it stopped one day, after Windows update . After looking for a while, I gave up, but now, a few years later I came across the following solution and it went from my game not even loading to it working as it used to. The short is... Windows has disabled support for a driver in the game (and in other games pre-2008), and now the game won't work unless you force MS to recognize the driver again, which has been delisted. Luckily, I did it yesterday with no IT background, just follow the SECOND METHOD here on this page. It worked like a charm, like it was 2010 again.. The first method on the webpage didn't work for me, windows denied it, so I tried Method 2 after a disk install, everything was good. so there was no need to rebuy on Steam. My computer is a WIndows 10 64-bit. I applied the fix to Civilization IV - Beyond the Sword v.3.19

Origin of the fix here: https://appuals.com/enable-secdrv-sys/

NOTE: This works because although the driver was deactivated by windows, it was still present on my computer as it is an older one. Newer ones might not have the driver at all, but there is a fix discussed in the comments on the above web page.

A lot of Windows 10 users are complaining that they are no longer able to run games from early and mid-2000’s that use the old-style DRMs (Macrovision’s SafeDisk version 2 and under). There is no evidence pointing towards the SECDRV.SYS file unless the user checks the Event Viewer for the crash log – the game simply fails to start while running it with Admin access, but no error message is triggered.

Method 2: Enabling SC Start SecDrv service via Registry Editor​

Another method that will allow you to enable the DRM file required to play legacy games on Windows 10 is via Registry Editor. This operation is recommended if you want to make a more permanent change that will keep the service enabled even after you restart your computer.

But keep in mind that this process makes the turning off of the service a little more awkward than Method 1. If you prefer this fix instead of the first one, follow the instructions below to enable the SC SecDrv service via Registry Editor:

1. Press Windows key + R to open up a Run dialog box. Next, type ‘regedit’ inside the text box, then press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open up Registry Editor with admin access. When you are prompted by the User Account Control (UAC), click Yes to grant administrative privileges.Regedit Command
2. Once you’re inside the Regedit Editor utility, use the left-hand section to navigate to the following registry location:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\
   Note: You can get there manually or you can paste the location directly into the navigation bar and press Enter to get there instantly.
3. Once you get to the correct location, move over to the right-hand side, right-click on an empty space and choose DWORD (32-bit) Value.Creating a Dword value
4. After you manage to create the Dword value, name it secdrv.
5. Next, double-click on the secdrv Dword value, set the Base to Hexadecimal and value Data to 2.Adjusting the value of the secdrv service
   Note: If you ever want to disable the service again, simply reverse engineer the steps above and set the Value Data of the secdrv to 4.
6. Close Registry Editor and launch the legacy game that wouldn’t open previously.

In case this method didn’t work for you, you can just follow the instructions again and undo what you have done.