Of Patches and Expansion Packs

[Enkidu_Warrior]

Ok, I had very little trouble with Civ 1.09, so skipped the 1.52 patch. But last week, I bit the bullet and decided to install the 1.61 patch.

Ever since, the graphics on my system have just barfed. Tons of stray polygons whizzing by, particularly as I mouseover a unit or tile with an animation, or mouseover a menu (eg the options menu). It's not long (less than 10 turns), before this is all too much, and my graphics card loses the plot, and I'm forced to reboot (even after alt-tabbing out, the graphics problems extend to the desktop).

Needless to say, it's unplayable.

I've pre-ordered the Warlords, and am hoping that my problems will magically go away. My plan is to do a complete uninstall/re-install of CIV, vanilla and then the expansion pack.

My questions are many:

- Has anyone else had problems with the patches, particularly 1.61?

- Does anyone know if the patches are stand-alone, or if you need to install all of them?

- Will Warlords incorporate all the patch fixes, or will I need to install those first?

Any tips or shared experiences would be most appreciated.

cheers
EW

ps - system specs: 3.4ghz P4, 1GB DDR Ram, 800mhz motherboard, Radeon 9700 graphics card, Windows XP Pro, SP2 (fully updated)

 

[crunch]

Warlords will update your original civ to v1.61. This cannot be avoided (it seems). Now that 1.61 is causing issues to you, bummer... Perhaps some newer (older) drivers, fresh directX, different graphics options would help.

 

[Enkidu_Warrior]

Yep, I contacted the PC manufacturer to send me the latest graphics card driver, turned all the graphics settings to Low, turned off all animation, set textures to low, and still happening. Also double checked directX, and I'm fully up to date.

Went back to a vanilla install, patched to 1.09 (due to Failed to Initialize Renderer bug), and re-did the PakBuild graphics extract and I'm -still- getting it.

I loaded up some other games to be sure, and the graphics are all fine in those.

bleagh

EW

 

[Enkidu_Warrior]

Problem solved!

It turns out, the 1.61 patch and/or Warlords are using some functions that required a VGA BIOS upgrade of my motherboard.

Many thanks to my manufacturer, ITC, for helping identify and fix the problem.

To anyone having stray polygons and other video-related problems, please consider contacting your manufacturer about getting the necessary software, and instructions, for upgrading your VGA BIOS

cheers
EW