NVIDIA Driver Woes with a Happy Ending

[eljeffe]

I bought the game the day it game out, and the only problem I had was a mislabeled "Play" cd. I read of all those having graphical problems, but the game had been running seemlessly for me.

Unltil I updated my drivers. I went from Forceware 71.89 to 81.85 and the game clearly objected to this change. After updating (twice, I might add, just to make sure I got a clean install) I experienced frequent freezes. Often while scrolling around to look at other civs all the graphics except the ground (i.e. Trees, buldings, units) would vanish for a 10 second freeze. After an hour of playing, the CTD would come. Sometimes less. Last night I couldn't play for more than 15 miunutes without a CTD.

Another problem was that my refresh rate overrides were being ingored making my monitor incapable of diplaying anything on higher resolutions without my first lowering my desktop refresh rate.

So this morning I rolled back the drivers to 71.89 and all is well. The game runs fine. No more freezes, no more CTDs, and refresh overrides are adheared to.

Hopefully my experience will help others--or possibly the devs. The game is great, it's a shame so many are having these graphical issues.

For the record.

AMD Athlon XP 2700+ @ 2GHz
1GB DDR
GeForceFX5200 256Mb
SB Audigy Platnum Ex

 

[Sorceresss]

I went from Forceware 71.89 to 81.85 and the game clearly objected to this change. [...] So this morning I rolled back the drivers to 71.89 and all is well. The game runs fine. [...] GeForceFX5200 256MB

Go figure : I have a GeForceFX5200 128MB, and it has worked flawlessly for the past 10 days...with the recent 81.85 Forceware drivers !?!

 

[madman1981]

NVidia has 81.87 out.

http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_winxp_2k_32bit_81.87.html
http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_winxp_2k_64bit_81.87.html

 

[Sorceresss]

NVidia has 81.87 out

THxxx...but if your Civ IV works fine with your present nVidia drivers (whatever is their version number), update to 81.87 (or even 81.85) at your own risk & peril...

...and I would dare say the same concerning the upcoming Firaxis patch : if your Civ IV version 1.0 works fine (as it has been, in my case, for the past 10 days), update with the patch at your risk and peril.

My Civ IV performs perfectly (to my taste) : I will not set myself up to ruin that positive experience by "beta-testing" the first patch (or the 81.87 drivers).

 

[valamas]

NVidia has 81.87 out.

32 bit: http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_winxp_2k_32bit_81.87.html
64 bit: http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_winxp_2k_64bit_81.87.html

I have edited above

 

[Jove]

Apparently I need the XP x64 Edition of windows to install these drivers. Hmmm, never heard of that one...

 

[RedRum4Fun]

Please note it is a BETA driver..lol...though it may go nicly with your beta civ4

 

[madman1981]

Apparently I need the XP x64 Edition of windows to install these drivers. Hmmm, never heard of that one...

You chose the 64bit one, so yes. Choose the 32bit one for regular XP.

 

[gibbie99]

Hi all, I've also been having wierd problems, very random CTDs. THis has happened on games other than Civ4, for quite a while. Anyway when I learned the other poster downgraded his video drivers, I thought i'd try it. I run a Leadtek WinFast A6600 GT. I installed the drivers shipped with the card (ver 6.69 of the forceware drivers I believe), and ran Civ4; I played for about 2 hours with no CTD. Obviously I'll have to spend more time to see if the issue is really resolved, but this is a good start.

 

[eljeffe]

I posted the same original message over at Apolyton and found several people who had the exact same experience as I did with the newer drivers. Like me, rolling back to the 71.89 drivers has cleared up all the issues for them.

In the interests of science, I put 81.85 back on this morning, and all the same symptoms came up. After rolling back, they went away.

As someone above said, if your game runs fine with the new drivers, great, but for those experiencing these issues--most identefiably, frequent hangs characterized by all the graphics except the terrain vanishing--71.89 has worked wonders for a few people including myself.

 

[Jove]

Okay, silly of me not to pick the 32bit version... On install, I got the ominous message that this product has not passed Windows Logo testing to verify its compatibility with XP, warnings, etc... Same story on the Omega drivers. It's worked for you, so I'll try it this time...

Edit: Ok, I installed it, it didn't seem to help. Maybe even a little worse...going back to 81.85 for now. I'm glad it worked for you though

 

[Sorceresss]

Like me, rolling back to the 71.89 drivers has cleared up all the issues for them. In the interests of science, I put 81.85 back on this morning, and all the same symptoms came up. After rolling back, they went away.

I take your word for it. I have experienced NO problems whatsoever with the 81.85 drivers (and I am not the only one). Go figure : a puzzling mystery. I wonder if there is more than computer "science" at play in this whole CivIV weirdness.

 

[MURDERMASS]

I've got the exact same problem that eljeffe encountered...I'll try the 71.89 drivers and pray that it helps

 

[Big Ev]

Now thing here is, who's to blame and who will fix it?

Will it be an nvidia fix or a firaxis fix?

 

[Me=Civ God]

Now thing here is, who's to blame and who will fix it?

Will it be an nvidia fix or a firaxis fix?

It's all Firaxis's fault with thier lazyass programmers doing no joys for improving our gaming expernice on Civ4 it's just nothing than a cash cow for 1 1/2 month..

 

[Calantyr]

I've been having exactly the same symptons as you on the latest drivers and the beta driver. If I don't post in this thread in an hour rolling the drivers back about 6 months worked...

And then I'm going to have to install the latest ones whenever I wan't to play X3. What a bloody pain.

 

[Greatfellow]

after trying that 81.85 driver, and got rid of every new problem that had cropped up. Also, I believe my video card simply runs better outside of CIV IV also, with the older drivers. I'm using version 78.01.

By the way, you are aware of the VIA AGP to CPU COntroller driver issue? Once I switched from Via's version of the controller (part of its 4-in-1 Drivers set) to the MS version of the controller, my card improved a lot. TONS. For instance, i have a 256 meg BFG 6800gt OC, and it runs all sorts of stuff fabulously, but soon as i installed its drivers on a new harddrive using the VIA 4-in-1 driver CD, it was stuttering on CIV movies, and just perforning in gemeral like it had the flu. Swithed out the AGP to CPU Controller and solved it all.