Fixing Civ4 Problems: START HERE!

[cesareDH]

Video card

I just installed a new Radeon 9550 card after talking to a tech. about CIV4 specifically, and he said that ATI card would be more than enough.

I was reading in MS Help & Support that the "standard" 1566MB of Virtual Memory might not be enough for some of the more demanding games; that it might have to be increased. I have tons of HDD space so I increased it to 4095MB, and so far (knock-knock) it hasn't locked up/restarted on me. Now it'll probably do it as soon as I post this.

I ran 2 seperate memory tests on my Kingston 512MB PC4000 chips and the memory passed 100%.
Thanx

[cesareDH]

Re: Fixing Civ4 Problems: START HERE!

Originally posted by snoopy369
Edit by Solver. Please note that the official Civ4 1.61 patch is available for download and should be applied to your game.

Fixes for general crash problems [list=1][*]Make sure your OS is fully updated. This means if you run Windows XP, you should be at SP2. [*][b]Make sure your Video Card drivers are updated

After very carefully doing all the above I still had a crash and reboot. Here's what MS had to say:

Problem caused by ATI Graphics Driver

This problem was caused by ATI Graphics Driver. This program was created by ATI Technologies, Inc.. ATI Technologies, Inc. does not currently have a solution for the problem that you reported.

Recommendation

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


The following troubleshooting steps might prevent the problem from recurring.

Download and install an updated version of ATI Graphics Driver from one of the following locations:
Microsoft Update
ATI Technologies, Inc.
If an updated driver is not available for ATI Graphics Driver, check with your computer manufacturer.
If you are running the latest version of ATI Graphics Driver, contact ATI Technologies, Inc. for your support options.
Additional information

If this problem continues to occur with the latest product updates for ATI Graphics Driver, we recommend you get assistance and troubleshooting information directly from ATI Technologies, Inc.

I've made a complete report to ATI and am waiting for them to come up with a solution. I would hope that everyone else having problems using ATI video cards will file a report with them.

[snoopy369]

Virtual memory is not the problem. Memory is not the problem either, more than likely. (However, passing a memory test doesn't mean it isn't overheating. It just means it's not permanently damaged.)

Have you taken my above advice as to whether your card might be overheating? That's the most common cause of late game crashes and/or crashes after having played for a while.

Download this:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/atitraytools/189/

or something like it (there are a few). Don't use it for overclocking (please!) but use it for temperature monitoring. As you play, watch how the temperature rises... if the temperature goes very high (say, 70°C) then that's your problem right there.

[cesareDH]

Again, the peoblem is ATI

Originally posted by snoopy369
Download this:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/atitraytools/189/

if the temperature goes very high (say, 70°C) then that's your problem right there.

Thank you very much. The program I had didn't cover my mainboard.

Temp. on my slave drive is 37C and the primary drive is 41C with game running. I have about 5 fans in that machine; including a 90mm sucking in from the front and an equal 90mm blowing it out the back. A 60mm fan sucking in directly from the outside blowing on the heat sink. Heat is not the problem.

Microsoft says it's ATI's problem and they don't have a fix. Yet. After all the things I've tried, I know in my own mind that it's an ATI display driver conflict with CIV4. I don't have any problem with other games. I don't know how to fix it, but I know what the problem is.

Either the creators of CIV4 or the ATI people need to modify something. Maybe the two parties should get together and find the fix.

Thanx again.

[Rcoutme2]

Aaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhh!!!!

My game gets to a random point and then the computer goes into shut-down mode!! This never happened before; so what is going on?

Help?

[LROrlandini]

Problems Loading saved Games

I use the 1.61 patch with Windows Media Center, and everytime I try to load a saved game it says that it's either corrupt or that the game failed to uncompress game data. I can only load the first autosave at 4000BC, that doesn't solve s***. I'm pretty sure it's this f****** Media Center (bugged) edition, If anyone knows how to solve this mail me to l.r.o@hotmail.com or post a reply here(if you could send a email it's easier for me... thanks

[snoopy369]

LR ... I don't know exactly what that problem is caused by, but there may be some indication it happens more commonly on larger maps. Try a small or even tiny game, will that load properly? I'd also make sure your game and the save game directory are both NTFS (or both FAT)... not sure if that could affect things but who knows.

Also make sure you have the newest MSXML parser... that could affect things. Then try installing MS .NET perhaps?

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Rcoutme2
Aaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhh!!!!

My game gets to a random point and then the computer goes into shut-down mode!! This never happened before; so what is going on?

Help?

Sorry to hear that Rcoutme2... I suggest checking heat and temperatures, usually when your computer just suddenly restarts it is a failsafe because the temperature is too high. Consider getting motherboard monitor (mbm) and seeing what the temps are when Civ4 is running. You may be running to high and want to get a better cooling solution and/or drop graphical elements.

If it is all of a sudden, it's possible either something isn't working as well as it used to in the cooling or just the chip department, or you have something running now that is increasing the heat.

[snoopy369]

Re: Again, the peoblem is ATI

Originally posted by cesareDH


Thank you very much. The program I had didn't cover my mainboard.

Temp. on my slave drive is 37C and the primary drive is 41C with game running. I have about 5 fans in that machine; including a 90mm sucking in from the front and an equal 90mm blowing it out the back. A 60mm fan sucking in directly from the outside blowing on the heat sink. Heat is not the problem.

Microsoft says it's ATI's problem and they don't have a fix. Yet. After all the things I've tried, I know in my own mind that it's an ATI display driver conflict with CIV4. I don't have any problem with other games. I don't know how to fix it, but I know what the problem is.

Either the creators of CIV4 or the ATI people need to modify something. Maybe the two parties should get together and find the fix.

Thanx again.

You say "drive" indicating hard drive... what are the temps on your video card(s) and on your cpu? Those are going to cause the crashes, not the hard drive (typically). I have five fans also on my old Tbird and still overheated with certain programs (Civ4, in fact) with both the Tbird and the GPU (nvidia 5500 something). The new one (x2) doesn't overheat of course. I still blame heat for any full reboot after a time of playing... although memory could of course be related.

If it's an ATI driver problem, then just roll back the driver. I don't think it's a major driver conflict, though, because... frankly, it works on my ATI card fine, with various different driver versions, and works on thousands of others. Don't assume it's a general problem, when most of the time it's something specific to your computer (although it could be something beyond your control). They *do* make it work on the vast majority of systems, but the price we pay for having lots of options when it comes to PC configuration is compatibility issues... get an Xbox if you want full guaranteed compatibility

[Rcoutme2]

Thanks Snoopy

[Aro]

Originally posted by psh_psh
i found a site that said install the update then use the nocd patch for that version of the game. It worked for me

Where? Where can I find this "no cd patch"? Or, at least, how can I fix this?

I'm receiving the error "insert the correct cd on the drive..." after I installed the last patch. Before the patch, the cd was recognized. It's a new brand computer, and the Civ IV vanilla works fine after patched.

[Mattes]

I got a Notebook Olivetti of 2gb RAM with Windows Vista: the game starts but I see it very bad, with something like constant 'refreshings' over and over again...
What can I do? I'm downloading the newer DirectX hoping it will works...

[snoopy369]

You'd want to provide more information than that. What model of laptop (Olivetti what...?) It might not have an adequate graphics card, for example, to handle the game.

[Mattes]

My model of laptop Olivetti is "Olibook 520-2370 VHB". 2Gb Ram / 160Gb Rom / Widescreen 14.1" XGA TFT LCD / Vista Home Basic with lasts updates...
I never added it nothing, probably it has not a graphic card... But I heard that a guy made it to install and play the CIV4 in his Olivetti model that is before the mine, of 1GB Ram...
I already installed the last DirectX...
...It's kind of annoying, I played in a maniac way the Civ2 of Playstation and of the computer, I really wanted to test this last one...

[snoopy369]

RAM isn't necessarily relevant ... the graphics card is what is important.

It's possible the refreshing is due to a problem with the screen resolution - what resolution is your native display resolution? You may need to simply change the resolution of Civ to your native resolution, or run it in Windowed mode. I'd try windowed mode first (uncheck 'Full Screen' in the graphics options); if that is not the problem, try changing the resolution of the game to your default (it MUST be at least 1024 wide, is the only limitation).

What resolution do you natively run at?