My CivilizationIV.ini file keeps getting deleted

[IronCrown]

This problem is not new in BtS, but as it's still there, I'll describe it here.

Every time I quit the game, it deletes the CivilizationIV.ini file in the MyGames folder. When I start the game the next time, all settings are reset to default. This means:
-The player name I always use is gone, instead my real name is there (sucks for MP)
-my choices for game options are lost (map type, victory conditions etc)
-chipotle mode is gone (I use it sometimes to test map scripts)
-difficulty is set to chieftain (lol)
-Autosaving is reset (I like to let the game autosave every two turns instead of every four)
-The intros play on game start (I like to have them disabled)

This is quite an annoyance. Anyone else having this problem? If I edit the ini again and start the game my settings are there, until the next program start. So it's definitely not because of my settings.

This is how my ini should look like:

Spoiler :

[GAME]

; Sealevel options are SEALEVEL_LOW/SEALEVEL_MEDIUM/SEALEVEL_HIGH
SeaLevel = SEALEVEL_MEDIUM

; Climate options are CLIMATE_ARID/CLIMATE_TEMPERATE/CLIMATE_TROPICAL
Climate = CLIMATE_TROPICAL

; Worldsize options are WORLDSIZE_DUEL/WORLDSIZE_TINY/WORLDSIZE_SMALL/WORLDSIZE_STANDARD/WORLDSIZE_LARGE/WORLDSIZE_HUGE
WorldSize = WORLDSIZE_SMALL

; Game Name
GameName = MyName

; Save Path - relative to working (Civ4) folder
FileName = 0

; Account Username
Nickname = 0

; Email Address
Email = MyEmail

; DirectIP Host Address
DirectIP = 0

; In-game Alias
Alias = MyAlias

; Move along
CheatCode = chipotle

; Map Script file name
Map = Pangaea

; GameType options are singlePlayer/spLoad
GameType = singlePlayer

; Pitboss Turn Time
PitbossTurnTime = 0

; Max number of turns (0 for no turn limit)
MaxTurns = 0

; Game Options
GameOptions = 0000000000000000

; Victory Conditions
VictoryConditions = 1111111

; Handicap for quick play
QuickHandicap = HANDICAP_MONARCH

; GameSpeed options are GAMESPEED_QUICK/GAMESPEED_NORMAL/GAMESPEED_EPIC/GAMESPEED_MARATHON
GameSpeed = GAMESPEED_NORMAL

; Era options are ERA_ANCIENT/ERA_CLASSICAL/ERA_MEDIEVAL/ERA_RENAISSANCE/ERA_INDUSTRIAL/ERA_MODERN
Era = ERA_ANCIENT

[CONFIG]

; Enable Trilinear Filtering for the Minimap
MinimapTrilinearFilter = 1

; Enable Tree Region Cutting
CutTrees = 1

; Allow Camera Flying
AllowFlying = 0

; Number of seconds to accept live game list updates from GameSpy (-1 for initial snapshot only, 0 for no live updates
GameUpdateTime = 10

; Bandwidth options are modem or broadband
Bandwidth = broadband

; QuickStart - SinglePlayer games only!
QuickStart = 0

; Dont show the game background during movies - may speed up movie playing
HideMovieBackground = 0

; Enable/disable background music
PlayMusic = 1

; Allows some memory savings *** ALT-TAB WILL NO LONGER FUNCTION ***
MemSaver = 0

; Use managed interface textures (may be safer but shouldn't be needed, uses more memory)
GUIManagedTextures = 0

; file format (TGA,JPG,BMP), Warning: TGA requires a lockable buffer which can lower performance
ScreenShot Format = JPG

; Enable voice over IP capture and playback
EnableVoice = 1

; App Selects Specific IP to use for Multiplayer
SelectIP = 0

; Disable caching of file system (may slow initialization)
DisableFileCaching = 1

; Disable caching of xml and file system (may slow initialization)
DisableCaching = 0

; Disable PAK memory mapping (May affect performance)
DisablePAKMemoryMapping = 0

; Don't skip frames if falling behind
BinkNoSkip = 1

; Copy entire image each frame, not just dirty pixels
BinkCopyAll = 1

; Show movies using hi-color, not true-color (may be faster)
Bink16Bit = 0

; Copy ever other scanline during movie playback (faster)
BinkInterlace = 0

; Specify whether to play in fullscreen mode 0/1/ask
FullScreen = 1

; Set max frame rate clamp (0 means none)
SetMaxFrameRate = 0

; Set to 1 to put PitBoss to sleep when no players are connected
PitBossSleep = 1

; Set to 1 to page units out when non-visible
DynamicUnitPaging = 1

; Set to 1 to page unit anims out when the unit is non visible
DynamicAnimPaging = 1

; Set to 1 for no tech splash screens
NoTechSplash = 0

; Set to 1 for no intro movie
NoIntroMovie = 1

; Set to 1 for no python exception popups
HidePythonExceptions = 1

; The maximum number of autosaves kept in the directory before being deleted.
MaxAutoSaves = 15

; Specify the number of turns between autoSaves. 0 means no autosave.
AutoSaveInterval = 2

; Enable Audio
AudioEnable = 1

; English(0),French(1),German(2),Italian(3),Spanish(4) - Defaults to user-installed language
Language = 0

; Determines which user profile is loaded on game start
UserProfile = Default Profile

; Sync input to smooth interface (may run slower)
SyncInput = 0

; Force numlock always on while playing
ForceNumlock = 0

; Specify a Mod folder (Mods\Mesopotamia), '0' for none
Mod = 0

; Don't show minimum specification warnings
HideMinSpecWarning = 0

; Random seed for map generation, or '0' for default
MapRandSeed = 0

; Random seed for game sync, or '0' for default
SyncRandSeed = 0

; Email address from which Pitboss reminder emails are sent
PitbossEmail = 0

; SMTP server authentication login for Pitboss reminder emails
PitbossSMTPLogin = 0

; SMTP server for Pitboss reminder emails
PitbossSMTPHost = 0

[DEBUG]

; Number of turns to autorun before exit (0 for no limit)
AutorunTurnLimit = 0

; Set App on Auto-Run
Autorun = 0

; Enable D3D9 Queries
D3D9Query = 0

; Custom Screen Height, ex: 768 - Normal resolutions can be set in-game and will be used when both values are set to 0
ScreenHeight = 0

; Custom Screen Width, ex: 1024 - Normal resolutions can be set in-game and will be used when both values are set to 0
ScreenWidth = 0

; Establish connection to Python Debugger
HAPDebugger = 0

; NetComm Port
Port = 2056

; Create a dump file if the application crashes
GenerateCrashDumps = 0

; Enable the logging system
LoggingEnabled = 0

; Enable synchronization logging
SynchLog = 0

; Overwrite old network and message logs
OverwriteLogs = 0

; Enable rand event logging
RandLog = 0

; Enable message logging
MessageLog = 0

; Break on memory allocation order #
BreakOnAlloc = -1

(personal information substituted with "Myxxx")

And this is how it looks like after the game has reset it:

Spoiler :

[GAME]

; Map Script file name
Map = Fractal

; GameType options are singlePlayer/spLoad
GameType = singlePlayer

; Pitboss Turn Time
PitbossTurnTime = 0

; Max number of turns (0 for no turn limit)
MaxTurns = 0

[CONFIG]

; Don't show minimum specification warnings
HideMinSpecWarning = 0

; Random seed for map generation, or '0' for default
MapRandSeed = 0

; Random seed for game sync, or '0' for default
SyncRandSeed = 0

; Email address from which Pitboss reminder emails are sent
PitbossEmail = 0

; SMTP server authentication login for Pitboss reminder emails
PitbossSMTPLogin = 0

; SMTP server for Pitboss reminder emails
PitbossSMTPHost = 0

 

[ainwood]

Can you give some OS details? What OS are you using? Do you have administrator rights? Are you playing from the same account as the game was installed under?

It seems to me that the game might be looking in one place (the wrong one) for a .ini file, not finding it, so creating a new, default one.

I presume this is the .ini file that is under \my documents\my games\?

 

[taketounwanted]

This problem is not new in BtS, but as it's still there, I'll describe it here.

Every time I quit the game, it deletes the CivilizationIV.ini file in the MyGames folder. When I start the game the next time, all settings are reset to default. This means:
-The player name I always use is gone, instead my real name is there (sucks for MP)
-my choices for game options are lost (map type, victory conditions etc)
-chipotle mode is gone (I use it sometimes to test map scripts)
-difficulty is set to chieftain (lol)
-Autosaving is reset (I like to let the game autosave every two turns instead of every four)
-The intros play on game start (I like to have them disabled)

This is quite an annoyance. Anyone else having this problem? If I edit the ini again and start the game my settings are there, until the next program start. So it's definitely not because of my settings.

This is how my ini should look like:

Although this is not a fix of the bug, you can easily fix this using windows permissions!
edit the ini as you please, and then make sure permissiosn on the file are set, so you can only READ not WRITE it! I wouldn't spend more then 20seconds on this bug, reporting it already took you at least 5times more time then just setting the permissions properly, if you dont know how to do that, setting the file into READ ONLY mode might work as well

 

[ainwood]

Although this is not a fix of the bug, you can easily fix this using windows permissions!
edit the ini as you please, and then make sure permissiosn on the file are set, so you can only READ not WRITE it! I wouldn't spend more then 20seconds on this bug, reporting it already took you at least 5times more time then just setting the permissions properly, if you dont know how to do that, setting the file into READ ONLY mode might work as well

Yes, but that would also stop him actually changing any settings as well.

 

[IronCrown]

Making the file read-only was the first thing I did. It is still deleted. (You cannot edit a read-only file, but you can still delete it.)

Btw, even if this would work it would be a poor workaround because my last settings wouldn't be remembered, they would just be fixed once and for all.

@ainwood: Win XP SP2 with admin rights, same account (there's only one).

 

[taketounwanted]

Making the file read-only was the first thing I did. It is still deleted. (You cannot edit a read-only file, but you can still delete it.)

Not if you do it by PERMISSION!

Btw, even if this would work it would be a poor workaround because my last settings wouldn't be remembered, they would just be fixed once and for all.

I assume you are able to open the ini file in WORDPAD and edit whatever you want your settings to be manually..don't get me wrong, i understand this is a bug/failure or antyhing, just telling you, there are easy ways(PERMISSIONS!) to edit the ini manually to whatever you wanna use, and then restrict the permissions so the game can't delete the file.
could also set permissions on the beyondthesword executable to run it as any specific user(add a civ4run user to your windows) and set the executable to run as this user..then on the permissions you set that your actual windows user can edit the ini, but the civ4run user, who es executing the game itself, has no right to do so...indeed ingame you can't change the settings in the ini file then, but you can do it manually without the file beeing deleted all the time...it's not a fix, but it's a one time setup to avoid you getting frustrated because settings are deleted each time you exit the game!