Covered in darkness! :( :(

[Stromprophet]

I had this same issue with my Geforce 4 MX 440, I uninstalled my microsoft windows driver and installed nvidias driver from their website and it worked.

I find that highly ridiculous. I have the T & L and the requirements but I still had this issue. And i still have graphical bugs even though the black map is gone now.

[nbarclay]

I'm having the darkness problem with a Radeon 7500, which the Civ 4 official web site explicitly lists as the minimum graphics card required for ATI users as of last I checked. (My card is the All-in-Wonder variant, with 64MB RAM.) This is definitely a bug in the game, not merely a problem with people trying to use hardware that's not up to spec.

[aceshigh]

Originally posted by nbarclay
I'm having the darkness problem with a Radeon 7500, which the Civ 4 official web site explicitly lists as the minimum graphics card required for ATI users as of last I checked. (My card is the All-in-Wonder variant, with 64MB RAM.) This is definitely a bug in the game, not merely a problem with people trying to use hardware that's not up to spec.

I'm in the same boat. If you're looking for a work-around to play on a 7500 (not 7500 mobility), I managed to get it working decently on my system by installing the 4.12 version Cat drivers and using ALT-F once in game for 'satillite view' (Civ2 style overhead cam). Works pretty well for me, save for a few nagging graphical glitches (water has some weird looking triangle thing going on). Playable without revealing the whole map though. Your milage may vary.

[ElConejo]

Originally posted by nbarclay
This is definitely a bug in the game, not merely a problem with people trying to use hardware that's not up to spec.

And thus, we can hope and pray that it will be fixed via patch.

[sezyew4242]

More info for those with GeForce4 MX video cards

I thought I'd post the follow-up and resolution to my problems running Civ IV with a GeForce4 MX video card. Hopefully, this will help a few other people in the same boat.

As those of you with GeForce4 MX cards know, this card is supposed to be just fine for running Civ IV, but I've gotten the impression that I wasn't alone in having the fog-of-war/darkness problem despite having an adequate card. For me at least, the problem was indeed the drivers....which is what I suspected from the beginning.

For some reason, the drivers that came with my computer (an 18-month-old HP Pavilion) weren't sufficient (which still strikes me as bizarre). When I tried to install the newly released drivers from Nvidia (available at www.nvidia.com), the Install wizard kept crashing (still no clue if this is due to a corrupted file or a prob with my computer). So I thought I'd try installing an older set of drivers (but still newer than the ones I had). These are available here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp-2k_archive.html

These installed just fine, but when I started up Civ I now got a warning that my system wasn't up to the game's minimum requirements and that some graphics features had been turned off and I might experience problems. HOWEVER, the darkness problem was gone! The fog-of-war effect now worked perfectly. Still trying to figure out how the game thought my system had degraded but was now displaying things more accurately.

I finally fixed the prob completely by downloading and installing the *international* version of the newly-released drivers. Civ IV now seems to be running perfectly and my "sub-standard" computer seems to have been magically transformed into one that Civ IV actually likes.

[ElConejo]

Thanks for the in depth information!
I wish I had a GeForce to take advantage!

[snowgirl]

Re: More info for those with GeForce4 MX video cards

Originally posted by sezyew4242

I finally fixed the prob completely by downloading and installing the *international* version of the newly-released drivers. Civ IV now seems to be running perfectly and my "sub-standard" computer seems to have been magically transformed into one that Civ IV actually likes.

My graphics card is the same as yours sezyew4242, and everything went the same way for me as well, other than the fact that the drivers installed okay at the first attempt. I also got the warning that my set-up was insufficient too, which I wasn't at all pleased about, given that my system meets or exceeds all of the relevant recommendations.

Did you play the game much at that point though, i.e. before you installed the International drivers? I'm wondering if, after installing the International drivers and no longer receiving the warning when you opened the game, did you notice any clear improvement in comparison to the previous drivers?

[TheMadMick]

Originally posted by nbarclay
I'm having the darkness problem with a Radeon 7500, which the Civ 4 official web site explicitly lists as the minimum graphics card required for ATI users as of last I checked. (My card is the All-in-Wonder variant, with 64MB RAM.) This is definitely a bug in the game, not merely a problem with people trying to use hardware that's not up to spec.

Exactly, and I also want to point out I have no problems with AOE3 whatsoever even though my card dosen't support T & L, even though it requires it.

If it was my video card, there would be no workaround, i'd be screwed and I wouldan't be able to fix it, at all. So hopefully when they release the patch it won't be half-assed just because many belieave it's a video card issue when it's becoming more and more apprant that's it's not.

[scitllz]

The only way I have been able get rid of the black void (seeming how I have that problem too) is to cheat. I went into "Seid Mier's Civilization 4\_Civ4Config". I changed the line that said "cheatcode= 0" to "cheatcode= chipotle". I then went into the game and while playing i pressed "~" and a message box appeared. I typed in "Game.toggleDebugMode" and the ground appeared! But then it was still messed up. The border lines were all over then place and made no logical pattern on the game map, plus, like sezyew4242 said, I dont want to start the game out with the entire map illuminated, no fun, not enough challenge, or at least thats the illusion.

I have all the system requirments, and according to my civilization box the game should technically work... and it is'nt. So Firaxis, 2k games, and whoever else helped in creating this game should sure as **** get going and help us people out so we can play without any problems!

[vladoche]

yo,

i have an intel card, and it sucks, big time, while i am waiting for my new radeon 9200, still a crappy card, i have been able to solve the black terrain issue, thanks to the civfanatics forum.

You need to go to the civa folder in programs files, then xml, terrains, and in the xml file for terrains, change all the 0,bmaps> to 1,

by the way i know this is not very clear, but if you go the the civfanatics forum and lokk at the issues concerning intel cards, you will find the appropriate directions.

and for those who say civ 4 is crap.
i run a celeron D 2.93
512 ram
and intel chip for video

the game runs slow, true, but it's still 100% better looking, playing than civ 3. What people need to realize is that we are in 2005. the games should be better, need more memory and run on better computers, otherwise, i wouldn't buy them. Should they stop developping new playstations and xboxs? no peple will simply adjust when they can.

[vladoche]

I'm playing with the same card as mentioned in the first post, low settings, animations off, audio off (just in case), and most importantly, with the file C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Assets\XML\Technologies\CIV4TechInfos.xml edited to 1 for all starting techs.

copied from the forum over at civfanatics

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=141036

worked for me, might for you.
truly, this game is awsome, which i could play all day

[scitllz]

gggaaaaaaaa!!!

I tried it doing the reconfig of "CIV4TechInfos.xml" folder and it didnt work. But I have question for those of you who have had success, namely vladoche. Are your countries borders all messed up? Just curious. The reason being is this: I went to the file "Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\_Civ4Config" and changed the line "cheatcode= 0" to "cheatcode= chipote". Then I went into the game, and while playing I pressed "~" and got a message box in which I typed "Game.toggleDebugMode". After doing this I could see the ground, but the borders of my country (and the computers countries) were all really messed up. Ideas anyone?

[ikajaste]

Borders have not ever been messed up for me.

You may be interested in checking out the hacks I've collected from these forums at my site.

[scitllz]

I figured it out and the game works!! (at least for me). I'll tell ya'll what i did. I opened up the game, clicked on advanced, and then clicked on check for updates. After a nice little download the game worked! I felt like such a loser because i had been searching for an answer for so long but I was so happy I didnt bother pulling out the gun.

Anyone that might try this, make sure you disable your firewall or allow civ4 passage to the internet if you have a firewall. And second of all, make sure you have all of the updated drivers you need for your graphics card. To find out where your drivers are on the internet, go into start, click on run, and type in the box "dxdiag". You should at this point get another window. Click on the tab that says display. Then you should get a bunch of information. Look where it says "manufacturer". Lets say for example it says "ATI technologies Inc.", then go to "www.ati.com". By the time you get to the correct website for you, it should be fairly easy to navigate around the website to find the appropriate drivers. If you still have problems, I would email usa@take2support.com and give it up until they can give you an answer. Im going to go play some civ4 now, bye bye ya'll

[Franklinnoble]

The patch just came out a few days ago... the auto-update wouldn't have worked before then.