Time Victory Bug

[oneperson]

Hello everyone, I have only recently purchased Civ 4.
However, once I attempted to start a regular game by using the 'Play Now' button, I noticed that it, in 4000 BC, said, in the top right corner, '10 turns left!'
and indeed, after 10 turns, the notice 'so and so has won a time victory!' popped up. Even when I did a custom scenario with time victory disabled, the '10 turns left!' was still there, and after ten turns 'You have been defeated!' popped up.

I have tried reinstalling but it hasn't solved the problem. I am thinking of going into the civ 4 files and changing this, but frankly, have no idea what to do. Any suggestions?

 

[ori]

Your Civ4 version is not (detected as) a genuine one. This feature is active in pirated versions...

 

[oneperson]

I bought it from Wal-Mart...

 

[ori]

I bought it from Wal-Mart...

Bring it back. Seriously this is a "feature" that is part of the files that you cannot change, if the game thinks this is a pirated version it will give you the 10 turns game. I do not know of any workaround and in any case it would not be legal on this forum to share one - since that would apply to really pirated versions as well...
If Walmart does not take it back you can always contact take 2 customer support and tell them Walmart sold you a pirated version and ask what you should do...

 

[oneperson]

Okay, thanks, I'll go yell at them for now.

 

[ori]

Okay, thanks, I'll go yell at them for now.

One thing that you might look at before doing that (yeah I had some so I remember things better
Do you have a Virtual CD Drive installed? I seem to recall some post here from 2 years ago that someone had this problem because while he used the cd from his normal drive he also had a virtual drive installed and Civ thought you tried to bypass the protection on the CD...

 

[oneperson]

Although some people say it is piracy, I AM using a No-CD patch...
(Personally, having to put the CD in everytime you play the game IN the 21st century is kinda dumb.)

It just occurred to me that that may be the problem.

 

[ori]

Although some people say it is piracy, I AM using a No-CD patch...
(Personally, having to put the CD in everytime you play the game IN the 21st century is kinda dumb.)

It just occurred to me that that may be the problem.

Yes that might be it - the game does not like nocd patches

 

[KMadCandy]

Do you have a Virtual CD Drive installed? I seem to recall some post here from 2 years ago that someone had this problem because while he used the cd from his normal drive he also had a virtual drive installed and Civ thought you tried to bypass the protection on the CD...

as long as you're here...

i'd read about civ4 not liking that, and i did have one of those, so i uninstalled it. my problem isn't at all like the OP's, it's that my drive doesn't recognize the disk. windows explorer actually acts funky, freezes up for a while, it's all haunted and stuff. this happens only with the civ4 disks, so i figure my drive and something about the firaxis/take2 piracy protection don't get along, i keep trying and eventually it admits that i have the disk in there.

i don't think my issue is related to a virtual drive, but i'm 10,000% permanoob about computers. if this sounds to you like it might possibly be what's making them argue with each other, it would be worth the effort to (have hubby) go through and make sure that all traces of that virtual drive are gone. what do you think, miles apart or maybe i didn't get it all out so firaxis/take2 think i'm a pirate yarrrrrr?

thank you even if you have no idea, my hero

 

[ori]

Just a random list of things that come to mind in your case:
- a virtual drive can screw your game even if it is imperfectly removed - make sure the registry is clean of any traces
- do you have a removable drive or a second cd drive? if yes there might be a solvable problem
- do you by any chance use an ipod or any other device that might use software like DLA from Sonic to determine drive letters? if yes remove it.
- did you update the firmware of your drive? if no do so

 

[Matty R]

Although some people say it is piracy, I AM using a No-CD patch...
(Personally, having to put the CD in everytime you play the game IN the 21st century is kinda dumb.)

It just occurred to me that that may be the problem.

I use a No-CD patch AND I've got a Virtual Drive installed, but I've never had that problem.