It never occurred to me until recently but Battlefield 2 and Civilization 4 had 2 things in common as far as my computer was concerned: both prompted me to install/upgrade Directx 9.0c and both crashed on me, whether I was in the actual game or idle in the main menu.
Before realising that Directx 9.0c was possibly the problem, I thought it was something more simple than that. I gave my computer a format and a fresh installation of WindowsXP, along with drivers for my motherboard, sound card and graphics card which I knew were stable. Civilization 4 and Battlefield 2 still crashed on me. So... after realising both games prompted me to install Directx 9.0c and crashing on me no matter what, I decided to try something.
I gave my computer another fresh installation of WindowsXP and made sure no old files were left over from my previous installation. I didnt bother installing Battlefield 2, I wouldnt have time for it after buying Civilization 4. I installed Civilization 4 and when I was prompted to install/upgrade Directx 9.0c, I selected 'No' -- installation was complete. I launched Civilization 4 but an error message jumped out at me:
"This application has failed to start because D3DX9_26.DLL was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem."
No big deal, I thought. This error message was probably due to my decision of not installing/upgrading Directx 9.0c when prompted. I searched for said .DLL file on www.google.com. Within 5 seconds I had found 'D3DX9_26.DLL' -- you can see for yourself here.
I downloaded the 'D3DX9_26.DLL' file and extracted it to my Civilization 4 folder. I launched the game... and guess what? Civilization 4 has never crashed on me since. Before applying this 'tweak,' Civilization 4 used to freeze on me within 30 minutes of launching the game, forcing me to reset my computer the "cold way." I played for 5 hours last night (I couldnt sleep, honestly) without a hitch.
If your game of Civilization 4 keeps crashing, give this trick a whirl. Though, if you've already installed/upgraded Directx 9.0c, I cant see this working until you either remove Directx 9.0c using a third-party tool, and installing a fresh version, or giving your computer a format.
Apologies for the long post.
EDIT
Forgot to mention, here are my computer specifications, if it matters:
WindowsXP + SP2
K7N2 Delta, Nforce2 Chipset + 4.27/5.10 Hybrid drivers
ATi Radeon 9800 Pro + 5.11 ATi Catalyst Drivers
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
1GB (Dual Channel) RAM
Before realising that Directx 9.0c was possibly the problem, I thought it was something more simple than that. I gave my computer a format and a fresh installation of WindowsXP, along with drivers for my motherboard, sound card and graphics card which I knew were stable. Civilization 4 and Battlefield 2 still crashed on me. So... after realising both games prompted me to install Directx 9.0c and crashing on me no matter what, I decided to try something.
I gave my computer another fresh installation of WindowsXP and made sure no old files were left over from my previous installation. I didnt bother installing Battlefield 2, I wouldnt have time for it after buying Civilization 4. I installed Civilization 4 and when I was prompted to install/upgrade Directx 9.0c, I selected 'No' -- installation was complete. I launched Civilization 4 but an error message jumped out at me:
"This application has failed to start because D3DX9_26.DLL was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem."
No big deal, I thought. This error message was probably due to my decision of not installing/upgrading Directx 9.0c when prompted. I searched for said .DLL file on www.google.com. Within 5 seconds I had found 'D3DX9_26.DLL' -- you can see for yourself here.
I downloaded the 'D3DX9_26.DLL' file and extracted it to my Civilization 4 folder. I launched the game... and guess what? Civilization 4 has never crashed on me since. Before applying this 'tweak,' Civilization 4 used to freeze on me within 30 minutes of launching the game, forcing me to reset my computer the "cold way." I played for 5 hours last night (I couldnt sleep, honestly) without a hitch.
If your game of Civilization 4 keeps crashing, give this trick a whirl. Though, if you've already installed/upgraded Directx 9.0c, I cant see this working until you either remove Directx 9.0c using a third-party tool, and installing a fresh version, or giving your computer a format.
Apologies for the long post.
EDIT
Forgot to mention, here are my computer specifications, if it matters:
WindowsXP + SP2
K7N2 Delta, Nforce2 Chipset + 4.27/5.10 Hybrid drivers
ATi Radeon 9800 Pro + 5.11 ATi Catalyst Drivers
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
1GB (Dual Channel) RAM
