Missing mouse cursor using Windows 7

[spear70]

I've just purchased a new laptop (a Sony VGN-NW26M) with Windows 7 pre-installed. After going through all the basics of installing the latest MS updates and creating the start-up (reinstallation) discs I decided to dust-off Civ 4 and start playing again after a lengthy hiatus.

I did a basic installation from the disc and then ran the 1.74 patch. I then ran into the d3dx9_32.dll problem which was quickly resolved after viewing the advice in this forum (thanks guys) but I'm having problems with my mouse which I'm finding hard to resolve.

Regardless of whether I use the mouse pad or a USB mouse, whenever I run the game I can't see the mouse pointer. The pointer is 'there' as I do see the on-screen items highlight whenever the pointer must be over them but there is no pointer to be seen on screen which makes it extremely difficult to control!

If anyone can advise on how to sort this out then I'd be extremely grateful as I'd love to start playing Civ again.

 

[spear70]

Okay guys, in case it's of any help for anybody else experiencing similar problems. After much gnashing of teeth, hair tearings, and after search after search after search I found a solution that works for me.

Try turning off pointer trails. I usually prefer to have trailers turned on for a laptop but I guess I can learn to adjust.

Anyway turning off the trails (in control panel) worked a treat.

Time to go forth and conquer!!!

 

[Mynybyt]

I had exactly the same problem in the same situation... with my new laptop HP 6530b. As you said, removing the the trail of the mouse solved it.

An entire day off, re-installing almost every single driver and program (for nothing) instead of re-writing the History.

Thanks a lot for your time you spent to share your solution.

JC

 

[Xeer]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
This was driving me crazy.
Over Thanksgiving I received a new laptop as an early Christmas gift (17-inch screen, almost-full-size keyboard, multi-core CPU, much RAM and hard-drive space + a TByte-sized external USB drive, Windows 7 64-bit. Not bragging, just to show the system is more than capable of running Civ 4.)
Like spear70, I prefer mouse trails on a laptop screen, so I couldn't see the mouse pointer, just the results of moving it around blindly. I uninstalled, re-installed, both Civ and my mouse drivers, but no change. Finally I did a forum search on "missing mouse pointer" and this thread was the first result.
Normally I wouldn't bump a thread from 18 months ago, but if I had this problem, there's a good chance someone else is struggling with it also.
Again, thanks.