Installing under Windows 7

[Sicnarf]

I noticed something strange when installing Civ3 in Windows 7. The install appeared to work fine, but when I went to run the game, the shortcut didn't work. Investigation showed that the registry entries had been added, but the game had not actually installed on my hard drive (despite all indications to the contrary during the install).

Anyway - the fix:
1.) Don't use the autorun when the CD gets inserted.
2.) Open windows explorer and use that to view the CD contents.
3.) Right-click on "setup.exe", and choose "properties".
4.) On the "compatability" tab, check the option to run in WIndows XP compatability mode.
5.) Also check the "run as administrator" option.
5.) Close the properties window.
6.) Double-click on the setup.exe icon - it should now install properly.

NOte: If you already installed and it didn't work, then the first time you run setup like this, it will actually uninstall the game, and you need to run it a gain to install.

Note 2: You should also do the same steps for any patches you install (compatability mode, run as administrator).

Ainwood Which version of Win7 are you using? Home Premium or Pro?

 

[ainwood]

I'm actually using the release candidate beta. Its the Pro version though, apparently.

 

[milr]

The candidate release was Win 7 Ultimate.

 

[user0002]

I bought Civ3 complete since it was so inexpensive and it's useless, it doesn't work on my computer. I have Windows 7 x86, I followed the installation advice here but it doesn't work. After clicking conquest, ptw or civ3 icons nothing happens except task manager shows conquest running and won't even shut down by selecting end process.

So how do I get it work? I read a steam forum topic

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=778017

and people got the steam version working by making a new registry file but I don't have a steam version. Help anyone?

EDIT: Never mind. I used the method from steam forums with a few changes of my own and it works now.

 

[god_money]

The basic Conquests editor will open on mine, but none of the Conquests edit files themselves will open... I've looked all over but can't figure out what the issue is.

Help!

 

[aqua99]

Anyone have success installing or running Civ 3 with Windows 7 Enterprise?

Thanks for any tips!

 

[Puppeteer]

VirtualStore - phantom and resurrected files

Depending on compatibility settings, Windows 7 does not allow the application to write to the program directory and tries to prevent the user from doing so. So save games, .ini updates and other files can wind up in VirtualStore which is usually under C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\ and then the relative path from C:\ (such as Program Files (x86)\Infrogames Interactive\Civilization III\Conquests\Saves ).

That causes confusion because you might uninstall the application, but these VirtualStore files still exist and become active again when you reinstall and override the files in their original locations.

Try installing in a different location

I've tried this three times with a fresh Win7 Home Premium and Professional installs, and not only is it working well, but I can mod graphics, change .ini's and use CivAssist II or MapStat.

Either start with a clean Win7 install or uninstall all Civ3 programs (I have Civ3, PTW and Conquests CDs so there are multiple installs) and clean any Civ3 files out of VirtualStore (usually C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\Infrogames Interactive\Civilization III\ ). (The AppData folder is hidden.)

Reinstall, but change the install folder to C:\Users\Public\Games\civ3 . (I didn't have to run as admin, but I did navigate to the setup.exe on the CD rather than use the "install" button on the CD splash screen.) You can type in the location during install or create the Games\civ3 folders ahead of time and then navigate to them. If you have the original game plus expansion CDs, the expansion CDs will install themselves to the same location.

Change compatibility mode for each civ3 flavor to Windows XP. There are several ways to do this. The simplest is to right-click the desktop icon(s) and choose properties, then the compatibility tab, then the "Run this program in compatibility mode for" checkbox should be checked. Repeat for Civ3 shortcut, PTW shortcut and C3C shortcut. A more thorough way is to locate the exe files those shortcuts point to, choose "Change settings for all users" and then set the compatibility mode checkbox there.

CivAssist II and MapStat can be installed in their default locations. (CivAssist II needs Dotnetfx 1.1.4322 installed first. I had a copy lying around; I'm not sure where to download it from nowadays.) I have to run CivAssist II in Windows XP Compatibility mode, but MapStat seems to work unmodified on Win7.

Enterprise, Ultimate and Professional editions

Anyone have success installing or running Civ 3 with Windows 7 Enterprise?

Thanks for any tips!

You should be able to run a virtual Windows XP Mode with Enterprise. Instructions are in this post. You could also install to a different location and run in XP compatibility mode.

 

[Ozymandius]

I thought that it finally loaded ready to play and suddenly I get error code 28.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Got it..

SOLUTION TO THE CODE 28/LSANS FONT ERROR

Hi all, I've just solved the Code 28 error problem for playing Conquests:

1. Go to your Civ3 folder
2. Go to the Conquests folder
3. Rename LSANS.FOT to -LSANS.FOT (or anything you like)
4. Play the game!

Some information: The LSANS.FOT file tells Conquests to load the LucidaSans font (used by Civ3) from "C:\BreakAway\Civ3\Conquests\LSANS.TTF". If this file isn't in this path, then it won't find the file and an error will be generated. Delete/rename the file and it will just load LucidaSans without problems.

Stupid or what?

Hope this helps anyone who is still having this problem! Atari's "support" sucks!

PS - I've re-posted this in a new thread as people seem to be having difficulty finding it. Maybe someone could sticky it?

 

[TheOverseer714]

I have had no problems playing, but when I tried to save, it had no save format, i.e. (Shaka of the Zulu, 10AD.SAV). I saved it in that format and it seems to work. Now how to find files and modify them is another story, i want my old, useful windows explorer back...

 

[ronocthede]

I GOT THE BONUS PACK WITH CIVCITY ROME AND CIV 3 AND I INSTALLED CIVCITY IT WORKED BUT CIV 3 WOULD NOT OPEN THE INSTALLER I DID THIS AND IT WORKED

 

[Capt Redde]

Been a while since I've been here! I have a question, got win7 home prem.
loaded civ3 and conquests, where are the save games stored I cannot find them to delete them?

 

[Ozymandius]

Try installing in a different location

I've tried this three times with a fresh Win7 Home Premium and Professional installs, and not only is it working well, but I can mod graphics, change .ini's and use CivAssist II or MapStat.

IT WORKED!!!! Hours of pain and suffering, a year of withdrawal. CivAssist Icon popped up... you are the

 

[Puppeteer]

Been a while since I've been here! I have a question, got win7 home prem.
loaded civ3 and conquests, where are the save games stored I cannot find them to delete them?

VirtualStore, usually C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\Infrogames Interactive\Civilization III\ , and then the appropriate Saves folder. The AppData folder is hidden.

IT WORKED!!!! Hours of pain and suffering, a year of withdrawal. CivAssist Icon popped up... you are the

Thanks! Glad I could help.

 

[frostyty1]

My sons game works on my work laptop, Windows 7 x64 but does not work on our home computer, Windows 7 x64. The funny thing, we upgraded both the laptop and the home computer on the same day (2 different copies - just to stay legal). I followed Ainwoods advice on the home computer, hasn't worked yet. Ainwood (or anyone else) what other ideas do you have?

Thanks,
-Frostyty1.

 

[vmxa]

Not sure what Ainwood suggests, but what is the issue you are having? I just installed running as Admin and set up the properties to use admin and have no issues.

 

[Lanzelot]

Ok, I had C3C running on a Win7 Netbook for a couple of months now, and everything was ok.

Today I tried to start a multi-player (PBEM) game on it, and the following happened: when you get to the settings screen, you can't modify any of the settings (map size, type of game, time out, etc.). You can't even add players to the game!! (Let alone start it... )
The only way out is the TaskManager...

Has anyone else seen this so far?!

Thanks, Lanzelot

 

[vmxa]

Is there an app being used to handle the PBEM that needs to run as Admin? Not played a OBEM is years. Also check on the MP forum.

 

[Lanzelot]

Is there an app being used to handle the PBEM that needs to run as Admin? Not played a OBEM is years. Also check on the MP forum.

I checked in the TaskManager, and the only .exe that looks like it is related to Civ, is the usual Civ3Conquests.exe.
Could you quickly go into the PBEM setup screen and check, how it looks for you? Then I'd know at least, whether the problem is caused by Win7 or by the fact that I'm running on a Netbook. (Had to twist and tweak it quite a bit in order to make it run under 1024x600 resolution... perhaps that's the problem.)

Thanks, Lanzelot

 

[Luke365]

I noticed something strange when installing Civ3 in Windows 7. The install appeared to work fine, but when I went to run the game, the shortcut didn't work. Investigation showed that the registry entries had been added, but the game had not actually installed on my hard drive (despite all indications to the contrary during the install).

Anyway - the fix:
1.) Don't use the autorun when the CD gets inserted.
2.) Open windows explorer and use that to view the CD contents.
3.) Right-click on "setup.exe", and choose "properties".
4.) On the "compatability" tab, check the option to run in WIndows XP compatability mode.
5.) Also check the "run as administrator" option.
5.) Close the properties window.
6.) Double-click on the setup.exe icon - it should now install properly.

NOte: If you already installed and it didn't work, then the first time you run setup like this, it will actually uninstall the game, and you need to run it a gain to install.

Note 2: You should also do the same steps for any patches you install (compatability mode, run as administrator).

I've tried this but still can't get the program to run. Is it because I'm running the Windows 7 Starter edition on my netbook?

 

[brikbradford]

I've tried to fix problem and start game for lot of times but noting happened till now. What did i done ?

I was install w7 ultimate from wxp without formating hard drive and in that case civ3 conquests does not worked.

After format C and installing w7 ultimate on formatted hard, conquests working better and faster than worked on xp and there is no need for changing compatibility settings for civ3.exe or changing the name for lsans.fot file.