Strange Video Crash

[CaptAmerica]

first my specs:
Athlon 64 3400+, ATI Radeon 9600 64meg, 1gig Ram, 80 gig hd, 20 gig free.

the game crashes between 1 - 2 turns, upto around turn 15 - 20 depending on how far i am into the game (the further i am in the game the shorter the span between.

the crash is video card related, and says:
FILE:\main\civilization4.bak\SDKs\Gamebryo2_0\CoreLibs\NiDX9Renderer\NiDX9VBManger.cpp Line:1018

i have uninstalled drivers, updated drivers, tried omega drivers, reinstalled the game, tried with patches... i've tried everything i can think of to curb the problem but it still resides. the game tells me to lower my video settings, which i have on the lowest setting, though i know my laptop should beable to handle it easily, because it can play HL2, Doom3, Quake 4 with out any problem, on their medium settings. is there a DirectX setting somewhere that i can tweak? or a directX file that could be corupt somewhere? im at a total loss, this thing has been goin on for as long as i have had the game, and i just now got fed up enough with it to seek outside help. if you need any more information just let me know, thanks.

 

[crunch]

You can always try to reinstall DirectX. Do you also crash when playing smaller maps? Do you play with your laptop in a pillow with your fan covered so that it overheats?

You stated that you crash faster with advanced game; therefore, try to eliminate other apps running in background. Turn off everything superfluous in game and in ini file (e.g., movies, audio, animations...). Your computer can be overheating. Try clamping the max frame rate in the ini file. Try putting your laptop on two sticks so that air flows under it...

 

[wompie]

I am having that problem too....though it isn't as frequently as yours...and I get another error saying insufficient video memory.

My specs are:
Pentium 2.66GHz O/C to 2.9GHz
Ati Radeon 9600 SE 128mb
768mb DDR266 System Ram

 

[wompie]

Do you play with your laptop in a pillow with your fan covered so that it overheats?

You stated that you crash faster with advanced game; therefore, try to eliminate other apps running in background. Turn off everything superfluous in game and in ini file (e.g., movies, audio, animations...). Your computer can be overheating. Try clamping the max frame rate in the ini file. Try putting your laptop on two sticks so that air flows under it...

I've closed every other program except for civ4, there's no side on my max tower so i don't think it's overheating, plus i check up on the temp every now and then and it's fine.

 

[CaptAmerica]

yeah its not an over heating issue, i've already checked that it does it even if i hold the laptop up in the air. and the vents are all clear because i just did my anual clean out of the internals. i also get that video error about video memory. i wonder if its something with 9600 cards? im trying again on a fresh install with the 1.61REL patch and so far i've had two turns with no crashing. i havent tried it yet on a smaller map, that will be my next try if this doesnt work.

also, i've streamlined this notebook to be a gaming notebook, so theres absolutely nothing runing that doesnt need to be.

 

[wompie]

Well, ima get the new omega drivers for my card (9600SE)....see if that works....if it does ill post back

 

[CaptAmerica]

if you use the games own client update function it downloads the new 1.61REL patch, it fixed it for me i was able to finish the game with out a single crash.

 

[wompie]

Using the newest Omega drivers for ATI cards i got through the game almost perfectly with no crashes....and no choppiness with movies or gameplay