Crash to Desktop: Support and Debug

[DocMWood]

Like other folks, with the patch AND the INI changes Egress1 listed above, I can finally play the game. Does crash occasionally, but I can usually get 1-2 hours between crashes, so that's not so bad. Also like others, it's made the movies not want to run (which ran fine before the changes...at least before the crashes), and did make the game run slower, but at least it runs and I can play the stupid game. I agree with "not great, but playable," and note that is much better than "great, but not playable." Looking forward very much to the next patch, but at least I can have some fun while I wait.

Also worth noting, I don't get crashes to desktop anymore, but when it does crash even CTRL-ALT-DEL won't work. Requires turning off the computer manually and restarting. Might also be useful that crashes seemed to occur most often when scrolling across maps trying to find things.

[swat-spas2]

Originally posted by DocMWood

Also worth noting, I don't get crashes to desktop anymore, but when it does crash even CTRL-ALT-DEL won't work. Requires turning off the computer manually and restarting.

Ditto. Most of my crashes occur right at the beginning of a new turn though (usually after a reload of an advanced game). Occasionally it will destabilize after a few turns, but it will not crash, though I do have to quit the game when this happens. And occasionally it will be several hours of stable and entertaining gameplay. And I don't have the greatest system yet.

[Grimreepr]

CTD's

I contacted Firaxis cunsumer support and talked thru the CTD's I was having. The fellow on the other end of the line had me check DXdiag and a couple of other things. Everything he had me check passed, by his standards.

He then stated to me that I would have to wait until the patch (1.09) was repatched, since the update caused alot of system glitches and CTD's. He then stated that I should totally un-install Civ IV and re-install it to get rid of the 1.09 version that sems to be causeing people ALOT of problems.

The ONLY problem I had before updating was monument specials were choppy video and sound, nut I COULD play the game. After I did the update, specials played fine, but random sys lags with cpu useage drops and HUGE mem consumption spikes has made the game unplayable.

Firaxis knows of this problem, they are fully aware that their patch was no fix and in actuality caused more issues than it dealth with. Dont bust your noggin looking for a fix, it isn't your settings that needs fixing, it's one thing, THEIR CODE! And whats more, their own customer support admitted they knew it was a serious issue.

Take a look at the vast configurations of machines that are CTDing. It ins't one make of vid card or sound card, it's all makes and models.

these people report no issues with other games other than civ 4. A temp fix I guess is what people are looking for, at least until the next patch comes out. There is no way ANY consumer should have to totally reconfig their system for a single product. In the world of automobiles, this would generate a massive factory recall.

[CivNonFreak]

Re: CTD's

Originally posted by Grimreepr

these people report no issues with other games other than civ 4. A temp fix I guess is what people are looking for, at least until the next patch comes out. There is no way ANY consumer should have to totally reconfig their system for a single product. In the world of automobiles, this would generate a massive factory recall.

Good thing it ain't a automobile.

They know about it, they are working on it. Unless someone one this forum KNOWS what lines of code to change and what to change it to, there ain't a whole lot left to do but wait. B!tching sure isn't going to make the fix come any quicker.

In my case, all I had to do to make it work well enough to play (very rare crashes, all recoverable) was roll it back to 71.89 Nvidia driver (1.00) or change some lines to the INI (1.09). Compared to BOTF or some of the MMORPGs, this is cake.

[mike2h]

p4 prescott 3.4, 1gig ram, 6800ultra, audigy2, xppro, game mounted on seperate 74gig raptor, 2.4 gig fixed swap file on another seperate hd.

no problems before patch, pretty much anything listed above has happened since.
for what it is worth the nv 80 series drivers seem to aggravate the problem. the assorted crashes happen a lot less using the 7803.

[Just_Matt]

Better but not great

The fixes from the other forum worked, mostly

AllowScreenShots = 0
SyncInput = 1
D3D9Query = 1
LoggingEnabled = 1

But I still see chunky problems after the Herald movies (dunno what they are called in Civ IV, you all know what I'm talking about). I'd like to turn them off but so far I can't find the setting. Here's what I've got for movies:

; Show movies using hi-color, not true-color (may be faster)
Bink16Bit = 0

; Copy ever other scanline during movie playback (faster)
BinkInterlace = 0

; Set to 1 for no in-game movies
NoMovies = 1

Ideas?

ALso, after getting dropped back to 4 bit video I figured out that I can WIN + L to start to switch to another user and then come right back. After that I was able to manually reset vid settings.

P4 3.6g
1g RAM
nVidea 6800 Pro 256mb
XP Pro SP2
only Firefox, AVG, and nVidea control panel running in the background

>> EDIT

Still crashing more often than it should. I notice that after enabling logging in the .INI file the game stops using the Windows Application Event Log. This is unfortunate because I don't see where the stop errors are listed in the CIV IV logs.

[Zydor]

There is a Major Memory issue in Civ IV. A fix has been produced that really does work. The thread is sprinting towards 32,000 hits at the time of this post - all in 4 Days!

Its not a dubious amateur hack. If you get CTDs - slow down - reboots - massive save files etc - go now to this thread, its put Firaxis to shame

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=146309

Regards
Zy

[Indepth26]

Hey All,

Looks like this thread is gone cold but I'm experience the CTD also.

I've got:
Intel Due Core 2
1g of Ram
7600 GT (Nvidia)

I've sent an email to take2 support email but haven't received any response what so ever.

Has anyone out there found a solution to this issue, I'm assuming this game was tested with very old graphics drivers and hasn't been addressed at all with the new hardware out there.

If anyone has any insight or can point me in the proper direction please let me know.

[Petek]

First thing to do is to apply the latest patch (if you haven't already done so).

If you already did this, or if patching doesn't help, then you should consider whether you have a problem with overheating (esp. the video card).

If that isn't the case, then please answer the following questions, or provide the requested information:

1. Do you have vanilla Civ 4 or warlords?
2. Does the CTD occur at various times, or always at the same point? In different games or only one game?
3. Post your DXDIAG file (Start, Run, DXDIAG, wait for program to finish, select Save All Information, attach file to your reply).

Petek

[Indepth26]

Hey Petek

The latest patch did nothing to solve the issue.

To answer your questions:
1. Installed just Civ 4, warlords was doing the same thing so i uninstalled both and re-installed civ 4

2. CTD occurs at various times, but usually within 5 minutes or so

3. Attached is my DxDiag as requested

I know it's not an issue with over heating.

I've got no problem with other games, City of Heroes and Ghost Recon.

Thanks for your help

[Petek]

I don't see anything in your dxdiag that points to a problem.

Next suggestion is that you might have a conflict between Civ 4 and some service or startup program. IIRC, one person got CTDs until he disabled his firewall software. You probably already know that you can use the msconfig program to manage your startup options. Try turning off all but the essential services, etc. and see if that makes a difference.

Your system seems to have all the power needed to run the game at its highest settings. Even so, you might want to consider setting various graphics options to lower settings, or play on smaller maps, just to see if that makes a difference.

Good Luck!

[Indepth26]

Just want to let anyone who is interested know the game still ****s the bed, I've tried that fix found from the other board but it just causes more issues.

The game is isn't meant to be played for more then 10-20 minutes. I'm a little shocked 2k and Fraxis would've let it's status stay like this considering Civ has, sorry had, a lot of fans. Not a single reply from their support jokey's it's too bad I won't be buying another game from them again.

Thanks for all your help

[Guy Saults]

Check OS

DXDiag reports your OS is XP Pro with Service Pack 1? If that is true, then try updating your OS if possible.

[Indepth26]

It's actually Win XP 64 bit edition so it's not on the same line of service packs as the 32 bit version.

[snoopy369]

Perhaps that's the problem? Aren't there still a lot of issues with drivers and such for XP 64?

The fact that it crashes after a particular amount of time says to me:
1. Overheating
2. Memory issue
3. Driver-related (slow) corruption

If you're solidly convinced it's not overheating [ie, you have a temperature monitor on it], I would check to see how much RAM it's eating when it crashes [run it for a while, check every minute or so how much RAM it's using ... windowed mode is good of course].

I'd also strongly suggest trying a newer, or older, vid card driver. Fixes for one problem often create a new one ...