"Your movies did not install correctly"

[profbighead]

Hi, I'm new to all this so bare with me. I have a viao laptop with a Nvidia GoForce 6400 video card. I've tried reinstalling the game several times, but after about five minutes, the game completely locks up, then restarts, then before windows can even boot it restarts again. Now, before the intro movie loads, a little message pops up and says, "Your movies were not installed correctly." This only showed up after the game had frozen. When I start it for the first time after I install it, there's no message. Has anyone had any experience with this? Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix it? I'd appreciate any help I can get.

 

[crunch]

There's an option in the ini file called NoIntroMovies (requires patch) and NoMovies. Use these to disable movies.

General solution:
uninstall the game, erase all remaining civ4 folders (under program files and under my documents\my games), reinstall civ4, patch to version 1.61. reinstall directx, get latest graphics drivers...

If this won't help, post details of your computer: CPU, RAM, graphics...

 

[profbighead]

I have tried reinstalling the game, drivers, and direct X several times, it lasts longer when I turn off the movies but as I get further into a game and more units are active, the game freezes. One thing I noticed is that when I have my resolution in the game higher, it lasts longer, which I thought was weird. I have a 1200x800 monitor and it works great at that resolution, when I lower it though, it'll freeze after a few minutes. I think my computer is pretty good, I'm sure it could use more memory, though.

Processor
Intel® Centrino™ Mobile Technology
Intel® Pentium® M Processor 750 (1.86GHz1 , 2MB L2
Cache)
Front Side Bus Speed
533MHz
Chipset
Intel® 915PM
Memory
512MB PC-3200 400MHz DDR2 (512MBx1)
Expandable up to 2GB
Graphics
NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 6400 with TurboCache™10
supporting 128MB

 

[crunch]

Do you happen to play large maps? Try things like low details, disable audio/movies etc., smaller maps, check if your crashes are less frequent. Ensure good ventilation. Close all background apps when running civ (instant messengers, antivirus programs...). Magical ini file option: ClampMaxFrameRate (or something like that) = 60.

 

[profbighead]

I did everything you suggested and the weird thing is that the game runs longer on higher settings. It freezes after an hour or so, but that's better than 2 minutes. I'm really stumped by this.

 

[matt4446]

Try turning all the power saving options off. Any particular points it crashes, or seems random?

Try adjusting the profile in Nvidia manager and set to high performance (right click desktop->settings->Geforce xx -> Performance and Quality Settings -> Application: Civilization4.exe ;Active Profile: Civilization 4 -> click on the System Performance check box -> change slider to High Performance

(if you've changed your graphics drivers to 90.** + change it to classic mode )

If that fails might as well change it back, unless it has a beneficial effect to you.

Also try removing all background applications - p2p programs, anti-virus... see if it has the same effect.

Matt