CTP won't run in Win XP

[Grandpa Troll]

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU!

[Biggles]

WOOOOO.

Actually I found it very useful.
I also, did not know what video card was on this computer. Went to MS and there it was, listed, together with the latest driver.

[Grandpa Troll]

xp auto detects latest drivers which is very handy indeed when reinstalling OS..

BUt this isnt what this thread was about

this is about the file system and saving any MP Games and the inability to reload them


Gramps

[Shaddar]

Here is one that I haven't seen posted here yet, and have never experienced myself.

I have loaded CTP back onto my system recently (Win XP) and when I run the program, it starts but when the opening screen comes up, none of the buttons have any writing in them. The buttons still work, but I don't know what is what?
I have tried compatability and updated my video card. Tried Patch 1.2
Any other suggestions out there? Or anyone had this happen to them?

Shaddar

[J Bytheway]

Originally posted by Shaddar
I have loaded CTP back onto my system recently (Win XP) and when I run the program, it starts but when the opening screen comes up, none of the buttons have any writing in them. The buttons still work, but I don't know what is what?

<wild guess>Perhaps your fonts are missing or corrupted?</wild guess>

In fact, I did have this happen to me when running CTP2-AE, but it went away when I recompiled, so I never discovered the cause.

[Shaddar]

Any idea where I would look to replace them or to discover if their are missing?

Shaddar

[thehappies]

I just installed CTP on a windows XP machine and at first it didn't work. When I changed the compatability to Win98--single player games worked fine. However, when I double click on my files from my PBEM games, they won't open. It does the same thing that happened before I changed the compatability. Any ideas of why the single player will work but I can't open the PBEM files?

[thehappies]

I messed around with things a bit and now when I double click on PBEM files, it just brings me to the starting video sequence and then the usual game to start a new game or load a single player game. But it won't open the actual turn for the PBEM game. I'm baffled.

[J Bytheway]

Originally posted by thehappies
I messed around with things a bit and now when I double click on PBEM files, it just brings me to the starting video sequence and then the usual game to start a new game or load a single player game. But it won't open the actual turn for the PBEM game. I'm baffled.

What is the association with .csg files?

[thehappies]

When you say 'what is the association with the csg files', I'm assuming that you mean what application does it point to for opening them. It says "unknown application" right now. But it does open ctp to the main menu when I double click on them. I read the readme file and I opened and closed ctp like it said to try to get it to work right--but it didn't change anything. It also says 'type of file: csg file' and I think it should say 'civilization call to power saved game', right.

p.s. A friend of mine named Kim married a guy named John Bytheway . . . I think.

[J Bytheway]

Originally posted by thehappies
When you say 'what is the association with the csg files', I'm assuming that you mean what application does it point to for opening them. It says "unknown application" right now. But it does open ctp to the main menu when I double click on them. I read the readme file and I opened and closed ctp like it said to try to get it to work right--but it didn't change anything. It also says 'type of file: csg file' and I think it should say 'civilization call to power saved game', right.

When you go to the explorer options, file types tab, what does it say under CSG? Check under the "Advanced" button (or whatever it's called) as well.

p.s. A friend of mine named Kim married a guy named John Bytheway . . . I think.

There are more John Bytheways around than most people would expect.

[Grandpa Troll]

Originally posted by J Bytheway





There are more John Bytheways around than most people would expect.

But none as important to us as you

[thehappies]

On the 'files type' tab it says "csg file". And that's it. It doesn't really say anything further when I click on the advanced button. Near the bottom of the dialogue box, where it says "opens with"--it's followed by nothing. I'm assuming this is the problem. It's not pointing to the right application to open the file. Should it be pointing to civctp.exe? I just tried clicking the change button and selecting the civctp.exe program as the one to open it, but it doesn't seem to be letting me chose that as an option for some reason. I keep trying to select it as the program to open the files and it won't show up as an option on the list of programs to open it with.

Could this have something to do with the fact that, to get it to run at all even on a single player game, I had to change the compatability to windows 98?

Ugh.

[J Bytheway]

I would be able to help you more if I ever read this thread while I was running Windows, but I never seem to do so... I'll try and remember to have a look and find out what it should say when I next boot into WinXP.

[thehappies]

Beautiful. Thanks for the help.

[Addled Platypus]

See GT...

I am not alone with this issue

I feel the pain, and I cant keep up with the jonz'n

[J Bytheway]

thehappies:

In Explorer, Tool->Folder options->File types.

Find the CSG extension, click 'Advanced...', select the 'Open' action, click 'Edit...' and ensure that the 'Application used to perform action' field reads:

[Your CTP directory]\ctp_program\ctp\civctp.exe -l"%1"

The most likely problem is the lack of the argument at the end. You should also ensure that the executable listed here has the correct compatibility settings.

[thehappies]

Hooray! It worked! Thanks Bytheway! FYI, I had to change the syntax to:
[Your CTP directory]\ctp_program\ctp\civctp.exe" -l"%1"

note the extra quotes, Before I did that it kept saying it couldn't find a program by that name.

Again, MANY thanks.

[thehappies]

One last question. Everything appears to be working correctly now running the game on Windows XP, except that when I play a PBEM turn and try to send an emissary to another player from the diplomacy dialogue box, the game crashes and I get the following error message:

Abnormal termination
Your game terminated abruptly.
Report problem to activision?
CRC: DB2A-28BF

To make things even weirder, it only does this when I try to send an emissary to one player in particular, (the Dornheimer). Sending an emissary to the other player that I have contacted at this point in the game works just fine.

Any ideas.

Thanks again, O wise ones of the XP complaint thread.

[thehappies]

Additional note:

I tried to play the turn on my other computer running windows 98 and it did the same thing. So apparently the problem is not with windows XP.

Any ideas or suggestions to correct the problem would still be welcome.

Thanks

[J Bytheway]

I'm afraid I have no ideas there - I can recall no similar problem being mentioned before.

[thehappies]

Oh well. It was worth a try. Thanks anyway. At least it's mostly working.

[PHuijts]

Hi, when I first tried Civilization on my new computer with Windows XP, I also encountered some difficulties. For me, the solution was found in "messing around" a bit until it does work. (Using space bar and Alt-Tab combination; see below).

The message I got the first time was that I was missing some kind of video program that was automatically a part of previous 'Windows versions, but which was not included in Windows XP. If I wanted one, I had to buy it...

For now, it actually works without this video program.

When I start up, I first get the screen where you can choose "Play". I choose that option.

Then, I get a black screen, quickly followed by a small black window in the middle of my desktop; the desktop behind it is enlarged. I hear the sound of Civilization.

Then I hit the space bar. That helps.

Then either the multiplayer - single player - credits - quit screen appears automatically, or I have to select it from my taskbar down at the bottom of my screen.

If I get stuck in this starting-up process, using Alt-Tab will work. This minimizes the game window and leads you to any other opened windows , or to the desktop. Relaunching the game from the task bar then usually works to get one step further.

The only problem I have is that my space planes won't load. Maybe this is a symptom of Windows XP incompatibility... I don't know.

[kstolzy]

Are you loading space planes by putting the units to sleep in the city to which you send the space plane?
(Some units are too large to load, thought I doubt that is the problem.)

[PHuijts]

Well, yes, I tried that too. But only with a Space Engineer. Not with any other kind of unit. It didn't work with the Space Engineer.

[J Bytheway]

Originally posted by PHuijts
Well, yes, I tried that too. But only with a Space Engineer. Not with any other kind of unit. It didn't work with the Space Engineer.

Space planes should be able to carry space engineers. Nevertheless, I suggest you try again with other units/circumstances.

[Captain Moroni]

I've got an XP problem I don't see a posting on yet. I can't find anything anywhere on the internet. CTP runs initially, but if I try to access the library, either from the screens menu or from any other link to it, the program crashes. After freezing for a minute, it pulls up the error: "Civilization: Call to Power has encountered a problem and needs to close."

I've reinstalled latest versions of audio and video, as well as the game itself. I've tried different compatibility modes. I've tried turning off all startup group programs and several services. And it's still doing the same thing.

Any ideas? Please! I can't figure out what to do without the library!

[echogamma]

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I found a solution to my problem with CTP under winXP.

I had no video on startup, and could only get into the game 50% of the time. I was missing the video codec used by the intro movie, wonder movies, and great library clips. The codec is iv50. It can be obtained for free here .

Hope this helps someone enjoy this excellent game

[Captain Moroni]

I FINALLY found the solution to the problem I posted earlier. On the "Single Player" menu before game play begins. I went to options and just unclicked the "Great Library Animations" button. Now the library works. No super animations. Oh well. So I recommend if anyone has any kind of error that occurs as soon as they go to the library, try unchecking that option, because this seems to be the primary difference on that screen.

[Shao170]

i ran it in win2000 compatibility mode and it worked thanks Gramps =]