New game freeze "Configuring Barbarians"

[MichaelMVP]

I have no clue how this started happening but whenever I create a new game I'm met with it loading the new world but once it gets to "Configuring Barbarians" on the loading screen it just freezes and I would then have to use task manager to close the game. I'm pretty sure I've looked at every possible post/thread about this topic, which there are only about 3 on steam and 1 on this forum but to no help unfortunately. I've tried reinstalling multiple times in different drives and locations, using all compatibility modes and running as administrator also changing High dpi settings and nothing. So all hope seems to be lost at the moment but if anyone can help it would be much appreciated.

Image of when it freezes: https://imgur.com/a/ZmLgY0B

 

[Civinator]

MichaelMVP, there were some civers, who reported about the same problem in their games: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/crashes-on-configuring-barbarians.574397/ They never received an answer.

The Steam version of Civ 3 Complete holds an absurd anomality, compared to normal C3C settings : The last update of the Steam version of Civ Complete by Steam/Firaxis added a new line between "PING" and "Host" (line 86) to the labels text that just says "Unknown". This not only caused a bad mixup in the text of many C3C mods and scenarios, but also some kind of crashes in the game, that were reported to disappear, when the line "Unknown" was deleted in the labels text file. For that reason my C3C mods CCM2 and RARR hold a special Steam patch for fixing that crazy setting in the labels text file.

I don´t know, if this can cure your problem, too - but when all other efforts are not successful, I would try it, but first do a backup of your current labels text file.

 

[SgtSomeone]

Thanks Civinator for the tip. I encountered this issue out of the blue yesterday (with my Steam version) and compatibility settings and things didn't help. I got it to work but don't quite understand what I did, here's the steps I took to resolve in case it helps anyone else frantically Googling.
1. Launch Civ3, start new game. Note it crashes
2. In C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete\Conquests\Conquests\Middle Ages\Text\labels.txt, Delete the 'unknown' value (line 86) and leave it as a blank line.
3. Launch Civ3, start new game. Note that the labels are mismatched but a new game starts. Quit
4. In Steam, right click game>properties>local files>Verify Integrity of Game Files. It found '2 files to reacquire'
5. Game now runs fine?

 

[sylkachan]

Posting here for anyone stumbling upon this from a Google search like I did. I encountered this issue out of the blue yesterday (with my Steam version) and compatibility settings and things didn't help. I don't quite understand what I did, but here's the steps I took to resolve in case it helps anyone
1. Launch Civ3, start new game. Note it crashes on 'configuring barbarians' like above
2. In C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete\Conquests\Conquests\Middle Ages\Text\labels.txt, Delete the 'unknown' value (line 86) and leave it as a blank line.
3. Launch Civ3, start new game. Note that the labels are mismatched but a new game starts. Quit
4. In Steam, right click game>properties>local files>Verify Integrity of Game Files. It found '2 files to reacquire'
5. Game now runs fine?

Still gives me the same error.

It actually only happens to me when using "random" civilizations for the computer players.

 

[Civinator]

To clear this: Delete the added line Unknown in the labels text doesn´t mean to "clean" the added line and left it as a blanc line. It means that this line must disappear.

This helps for the texts of C3C mods and scenarios that are completely messed up by the labels text file of the steam Civ 3 Complete version. There were reports, that it helped for fixing other problems with the steam version of Civ 3 Complete, too. If this could help for the Barbarians problem, is pure speculation.
I don´t have the steam version of Civ 3 Complete and I even wouldn´t accept it as a present.

What really helps is to buy the GOG version of Civ 3 Complete, what is on sale nearly all few weeks for € 1,29 and do the offline installation of Civ 3 Complete. The GOG version has the normal labels text file of C3C. I have that version and all is working very well with the installation and playing the game.

 

[sylkachan]

To clear this: Delete the added line Unknown in the labels text doesn´t mean to "clean" the added line and left it as a blanc line. It means that this line must disappear.

This helps for the texts of C3C mods and scenarios that are completely messed up by the labels text file of the steam Civ 3 Complete version. There were reports, that it helped for fixing other problems with the steam version of Civ 3 Complete, too. If this could help for the Barbarians problem, is pure speculation.
I don´t have the steam version of Civ 3 Complete and I even wouldn´t accept it as a present.

What really helps is to buy the GOG version of Civ 3 Complete, what is on sale nearly all few weeks for € 1,29 and do the offline installation of Civ 3 Complete. The GOG version has the normal labels text file of C3C. I have that version and all is working very well with the installation and playing the game.

Still freezes on configuring barbarians. This only happens when I click on Random player tribes.

 

[Civinator]

Today when testing the new Flintlock exe for C3C, I came for the first time in the same situation with a freeze when configuring the barbarians. The new Flintlock exe allows to pick out a stealth attack target out of a stack, even if there is only one such target in that stack (normally there must be at least two target units in that stack). I tested, if this now could work for a stealth attack by bombardment. I gave a landunit in my CCM 2 mod additional to stealth attack a bombardment value and a bombardment range greater than zero. The stealth attack for bombardment didn´t work, but the game didn´t freeze.

Now I added the precision bomb flag ( a flag for aircraft) additionally to the bombardment and stealth attack - and now it happened: When starting C3C the game freezed while configuring the barbarians... When I removed the precision bomb flag from that unit, the game again configurated as normal without a freeze.

Of course this is only a single observation - but I think this is better than nothing. Strange settings in the configuration of units can trigger such a freeze when configurating the barbarians.

 

[B.O.B.]

Still freezes on configuring barbarians. This only happens when I click on Random player tribes.

I just experienced the same on a custom map I created.
I'm using the No City Limit exe, and because my map was too large, I hit that crash you get when you make more cities than the game can handle.
So I opened my map, deleted some land, and saved it as a new file name.
Then I started getting the hang on configuring barbarians, so I even tried to load the original version of the map and I was still hitting it.

Manually selecting all the enemy civilizations let me in - so thanks for that.

My custom map has all the starting civs laid out in specific locations, with the exception of 1 civ I didn't add. I'm also wondering if it is failing because when I use random it's sometimes trying to spawn the single civ that has no starting point.

Another time I noticed getting constant hangs on configuring barbarians is when I resize (or possibly regenerate) the base custom map. IE, I tried to create a dummy map with the custom rules & scenario properties I wanted, and use that as a template for new custom maps, but while I could get the original dummy map to load, any of the other maps always die at configuring barbarians.