Is there hope, or should I just give up?

[Frewfrux]

I have Civ IV and Beyond the Sword. Ever since I installed the expansion the game has continually crashed. Many different kinds of crashes too. I am at the point where I am about to delete it from my hard drive and return the product to the retailer for a refund (I bought insurance).

The recommended specs are 1.8GHz Pentium 4 or AMD, I have 2.2 GHz AMD; 512 MB RAM, I have 1 Gig; 128 MB Video Card, mine is 128 MB; I have the latest version of Direct X, more then enough hard drive space, and made sure I was running the latest driver for my video card.

I really don't want to start flaming anyone, I just want to play the game. Let me know if you can help. The crashes are: My computer reboots and when it comes back up sometimes there's a message saying it was an unknown driver that caused it, my computer freezes and I have to do a hard reboot (no error message), I try to reload a game and it crashes telling me there's a memory error, the graphics in the game are gibberish on any graphics setting except the highest, I get an error suggesting I lower my graphics setting, an error (this is a new one) says that a thread is caught in an infinite loop, and finally, after a crash I can't restart the game without rebooting my computer (not always, but often).

Now, when I say I have insurance, I only have it for the original game, not the expansion. The original game works fine. If I return it I will return both so that I get at least some of my money back. I would prefer to play the game.

Can anyone help? Is there somewhere I can mail my expansion disk to to get a new one (if that's the cause)? Has anyone else encountered this plethora of errors despite their good quality machine? Should I just go back to FreeCiv or is their hope?

 

[Boom22]

What model is your video card?
I had the same problem because of a Radeon 8800 128MB card now I have 9200 128MB

 

[Frewfrux]

Radeon 9800 Pro, and I recently made sure my video drivers were all up to date.

The game just crashed again, saying that it failed to allocate memory. When I tried to take a screen shot it said that there was not enough memory available to create the bit map. When I tried to open notepad it told me that I couldn't because there wasn't enough memory to run notepad.

 

[Frewfrux]

Sorry, I forgot operating system: Windows XP Pro with the latest service pack.

 

[Boom22]

Hoo boy this sounds bad. I'm out of ideas.

 

[ezwip]

A 128 mb pci card is not going to run this game.

A 128 mb agp card is probably going to have some trouble with this game.

A 128 mb pci express card should run this game, but it is still going to be slow at times.

If you continue to run a 2.2 ghz amd you need to upgrade to a gig of Kingston Hyperx, Corsair, or something of the like in your memory slots. Then you need to go get a 256 mb (or greater) pci express card. You should be able to pick one of these up for 75-125 dollars. Hopefully you don't need to upgrade your mother board, but you need to check if you have a pci express slot. In total plan to spend about $150 bucks to upgrade your computer to a gaming machine, and you will be shocked by the speed gain. You will find that you'll be able to play any game on the market except supreme commander. That game is a serious resource hog. Don't take the game back. Your problem is in the upgrade. That box is misleading. I guarantee that the specs listed on that box will not run this game properly. It will run, but it will suck.

 

[burlicconi]

Yes, I had the same problem. Actually, it was with Vanilla version two years ago, but the problems are very similar. Computer freeze with blue screen with message that driver is non_equal, or beginning dump of physical memory... I tried several times and once I played 4-5 turns before everything crashed. Then I gave up.
After 2-3 weeks I tried again- I was boring and say to myself why not to try again... And everything works fine. I read that defragmenting HD can help. Also, must set up lowest video graphic. I have recommended spec with exception of video card, and also got message about below recommendations.
Try to google your error message, I think I had to change virtual page size...

 

[ezwip]

You can follow burlicconi's advice and get the game running, but you will never be satisfied. Every other good game you buy will play like syrup too. Just fork out the cash. Keep in mind if you buy a new comp later you can replace the generic ram and graphics inside of that with the quality parts you put in your old machine. Also, do not go out and buy a gig of generic ram. I said "name brand". They sell them specifically timed to speed up your games.

 

[GrandWazoo]

This will not solve your problem but just as a word of advice, stay clear from ATI video cards. I always had problems like that with ATI cards before and then I switched to nVidia and never had a single problem again. I'm not saying you should switch card but the next time you are about to buy one, do yourself a favor and go with nVidia.

 

[Yzman]

My computer also constantly has graphical crashes in this game like either things will dissappear off the screen or the screen turns black and I have to forcefully restart. I just deal with it for now.

 

[Frewfrux]

In total plan to spend about $150 bucks to upgrade your computer to a gaming machine, and you will be shocked by the speed gain. You will find that you'll be able to play any game on the market except supreme commander.

It's quite frustrating that this is the only game I own that I have this issue with. While the expansion is the most recent game I've bought, I have others that are more recent then Civ IV, and they all run fine. I hate to spend $150 in order to play one game. That's a little ridiculous.

The box is misleading? Did they know that those specs were not going to run the game? If they did, then they basically lied to the consumer (and still are by continuing to include them on the boxes). If they didn't then they are incompetent.

Either way, I don't have a spare $150 at the moment so this game is going back to the retailer.

The Civ series had a nice run for me (I have all of them save one expansion), but I'm done now. I have little patience for this kind of run-around anymore.

Thanks for the tips guys. Maybe I will see you in the future, maybe not.

 

[Yzman]

Game is going back? How exactly are you going to return opened software?

 

[Frewfrux]

EB Games gives you the option of buying insurance when you purchase software from them. This is a 'no questions asked' kinda thing and you can return even opened software. I have the insurance for the main game, but not the expansion (I figured the requirements would be the same...silly me). I've used this insurance before, but never after this long. It might have a time limit on it, not sure. Even if it does, I can always sell it to them used and at least get some money back (though, not much).

 

[Goodgimp]

The game just crashed again, saying that it failed to allocate memory. When I tried to take a screen shot it said that there was not enough memory available to create the bit map. When I tried to open notepad it told me that I couldn't because there wasn't enough memory to run notepad.

Brother, that should tell you the problem doesn't lie with the software itself. At the time of the crash, your computer:

-Failed to take a screen capture
-Failed to open NOTEPAD

If your computer at the time of the crash cannot successfully load Notepad of all things, how can you expect it to be running Civ correctly? A game more resource intensive on such a massive scale that I lack the english to properly describe the difference?

At the very least, it sounds like a format is in order. You may also have a physical problem somewhere in your memory, I would suggest running a memory test (google search for a utility).

 

[Gre_Magus]

A 128 mb pci card is not going to run this game.

A 128 mb agp card is probably going to have some trouble with this game.

A 128 mb pci express card should run this game, but it is still going to be slow at times.

I actually run the game (at reduced graphic settings, one figure per unit, etc.) on a laptop w/ 32mg agp card and 512mg of ram.
The lower quality graphics do not in any way take away from the fun for me.
Is it slow? Probably compared to a lot of other people's experience.
Is it fun? Definitely.

 

[Jperkinson]

I have Civ IV and Beyond the Sword. Ever since I installed the expansion the game has continually crashed. Many different kinds of crashes too. I am at the point where I am about to delete it from my hard drive and return the product to the retailer for a refund (I bought insurance).

The recommended specs are 1.8GHz Pentium 4 or AMD, I have 2.2 GHz AMD; 512 MB RAM, I have 1 Gig; 128 MB Video Card, mine is 128 MB; I have the latest version of Direct X, more then enough hard drive space, and made sure I was running the latest driver for my video card.

I really don't want to start flaming anyone, I just want to play the game. Let me know if you can help. The crashes are: My computer reboots and when it comes back up sometimes there's a message saying it was an unknown driver that caused it, my computer freezes and I have to do a hard reboot (no error message), I try to reload a game and it crashes telling me there's a memory error, the graphics in the game are gibberish on any graphics setting except the highest, I get an error suggesting I lower my graphics setting, an error (this is a new one) says that a thread is caught in an infinite loop, and finally, after a crash I can't restart the game without rebooting my computer (not always, but often).

Now, when I say I have insurance, I only have it for the original game, not the expansion. The original game works fine. If I return it I will return both so that I get at least some of my money back. I would prefer to play the game.

Can anyone help? Is there somewhere I can mail my expansion disk to to get a new one (if that's the cause)? Has anyone else encountered this plethora of errors despite their good quality machine? Should I just go back to FreeCiv or is their hope?

I had all kinds of crashing problems... Radeon 9800 Pro.... W2K.....

I finally set the AGP acceleration to 0x from 8x. rebooted to make sure the changes took place. Never had a crash again.

Dunno if it will work for you, but worth a shot.

Kind of sucks that I have to turn that off just to get the game to be stable... I mean, com'mon Firaxas...

 

[Premier Valle]

@Frewfrux

have you tried to increase virtual memory?, if you can't open notepad perhaps this will help.

have you tried reinstalling the game?, it sounds to me like corrupt game files.

do you run other demanding applications while you play?
are you certain you comp is virus free?

EDIT:
BTW, the black screen of death may happen because of GPU overheating!

 

[Love]

HAVE you 300 meg left on you C disc like i do?

 

[azzaman333]

I say give up.

 

[bob_x]

"Radeon 9800 Pro"

May have been hot when it was new, but now it's ancient technology.

Sadly, you will need to buy a new computer, because the new video cards aren't compatible with your old AGP slot.