No backgrounds- text almost illegible

[amaia]

Hello, I apologize if this is a known issue but I can't find anything similar in the first several pages, also it is a hard thing to define to search for!

I had Civ 4 original version, and today downloaded Beyond the Sword (both from gamesplanet) , but now when I use it it looks like this (I normally use Spanish version but I've changed it to english so there's no confusion):


http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx143/erin_amaia/2civpantalla4.jpg
http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx143/erin_amaia/2civpantalla3.jpg
http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx143/erin_amaia/2civpantalla2.jpg
http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx143/erin_amaia/1civpantalla1.jpg

There is the same problem in full screen mode etc. I downloaded patch 3.19 but it is the same. I'm on windows vista, my video drivers are up to date, I believe.

Before I give you lots of information on my system etc, is this a known problem that is easily fixable?

 

[amaia]

UPDATE : I think this is the same issue, but went unresolved :

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=311854

 

[ori]

Welcome to CFC

is this windows vista or xp?
if vista: did you install the games with administrator rights?
it looks like some files are either missing or not accessible (the latter being much more common).

 

[amaia]

Hi, yes it's Vista installed with administrator rights, I've tried reinstalling, etc.

My first thought was that background texture being missing too, but really I don't know what I'm looking for in terms of trying to fix it. It's curious that it has happened to other people also, who all downloaded it from gamesplanet.

 

[ori]

just checking: you did run the installers with admin rights (i.e. right click on them and choose run as administrator)?

 

[amaia]

Yes, after your first reply I uninstalled and reinstalled running it as administrator, just in case, but still no difference unfortunately!

 

[ori]

is this just in bts or also in civ4?

 

[amaia]

Just Bts, not civ 4.

 

[ori]

please open
my games\beyond the sword\civilizationIV.ini
and set all items with log in their name from 0 to 1 (its 5 of the last 6 entries in that file - not the last one though). Save the file.
then start the game and open as many faulty screens as possible - then close it and post all contents of my games\beyond the sword\logs as a zip file attachment here.

 

[amaia]

Ok, well for some reason in MyGames it is still listed as Civilization 4 so I found these files at My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4 , no mention of BTS

I changed the 0s to 1s and played around on the game a bit, here is the log file , I apologize if it is the wrong one, I'm not the most computer orientated of people!

 

[ori]

there should have been a second folder called beyond the sword - that is being produced the first time the game starts up...
is the my games folder write protected?
did you ever start civ4 after you installed bts?

 

[amaia]

I apologize, you were right! Here is the right log file, I hope. Bear in mind I can't really access many screens in game because buttons like end turn etc are not visible, so you're just clicking around blindly.

 

[ori]

still my question remains - did you open civ4 after installing bts? the reason is that those logs showed that the version is 1.61 - which should not be the case in one that has bts installed...
that said: your bts is not patched to date - try to get the 3.19 patch from gamesplanet

 

[amaia]

No, I never opened Civ 4. I only opened the civilizationIV.ini in the Civ 4 folder in MyGames, before I realized there was another parallel one for BTS.

On my "about this build" page (with the brightness turned up so it's almost readable!) it says 319, and then build 3.1.9.0 with something about May 2009. This is the newest patch no? The game came with 3.17, and I downloaded 3.19 it before I gave you the log.zip so I'm not sure what's going on there.

Again please tell me if I'm being stupid and thanks for you ongoing help!

 

[amaia]

Ok, HERE is the right log file, I must've posted the old one :

 

[ori]

it is patched ok now - the weird thing is that the error messages that I usually see when the background is missing are not there
in fact there is nothing that indicates why there would be a problem.

are your graphics drivers updated?
is anti-aliasing turned on? if yes turn it off.

 

[amaia]

Turned off anti-aliasing in game and on video card. Graphics driver is up to date also. No change, argh!

 

[amaia]

Also, do you think it is a problem on my end or in the download itself from gamesplanet? It seems curious that the only other thread I found on the problem (linked in an earlier post), features all people who downloaded from there.