Fixing Civ4 Problems: START HERE!

[OutFlanked]

Delete your autosave file in your My Docs directory for those whom deleting cache and getting to the game screen then getting booted. Do it Everytime.

1st thing it does at the main game screen startup is create or access? a autosave.

Works for me.

Standard map, low graphics, no sound, no movies, no autosave. Nearly all background programs stopped or not loaded. 1280X1024(Edit : Sorry that's 1024X768...oops). I will only update Net frame as a last resort.

On another subject, for those that the game runs out of the box, good for you and I hope your right that the game runs for 95% of users...but us 5% have got our asses kicked since the release.

I guess its just not better to respond either way sometimes.

Jim

EDIT : I can now load a saved game, and as long as I don't switch to another game...I don't need to delete the cache or the inital autosave.

[Agalla]

Hi...

I got CIV4 recommended requirements met:

ATHLON 2800+
512 MB
MSI FX 5500 128MB

but the game runs terribly slow!

I updated Nvidia drivers (downloaded 81.85 version) (in nvidia-> desktop managers -> about -> versions it says: 6.14.10.110005 in almost every file).

I´m running Civ in 1024 x 768, LOW graphics detail...

And it´s too slow, it´s unplayable...

Well, thanks in advance...

[Moonbars]

Originally posted by Civfreak1970
Michaeld the game has a pretty bad MEMORY LEAK which is causing your crashes to desktop!

Civfreak1970

Civfreak, please post a screenshot showing your task manager memory graph increasing as Civ4 leaks memory.

[Civfreak1970]

Graph!

Sry been really busy testing this game! When I find time I will send a pic!

Im glad my fix has helped some of you! (Very Happy!)


Okay...I know forsure its a MEMORY LEAK!.... The game works great on all levels excepty Huge map 18 Civs where it will drop after 1700AD on Que because of all the units and world map showing. Yet on all maps when it gets into 1700+ it really starts to slow down alot but still runs fairly good on my machine yet I do feel bad for others who I would think are problably almost freezing do to this MEMORY LEAK!

Civfreak1970

PS..Please keep posting if my fix works for you!

[trancer72]

I just wish a fix would come out, I have tried everything on the list and nothing works. It all ends up with a black screen whether it be 10 minutes or 15 minutes of gameplay.

P4 2.0Ghz
1Gb RAM, 1.5 Gb Swap
nVIDIA GeForce Ti 4200

[brill]

Yeah, its gotta be, because when I first start playing, it runs fast between turns, but then it slows down progressively until I'm waiting 3-4 minutes between turns. And my computer isn't doing anything, no cd spin, no hard disk spin, nothing, just chilling. And every once in a while, the game crashes to the desktop, but I can just get right back to it. This is so stupid.

[Moonbars]

Anybody who thinks they have a memory leak, start task manager before you start civ, goto the performance tab, and look at the level of memory. then start civ, if it leaks memory you'll see the memory graph rise. You may also see the memory level sit higher after you exit (or the program crashes) civ

[DocMWood]

Let me see if I have this straight....

I have a computer that meets all the requirements on the box....

There's a list of 12 known problems.....

And now I'm going to have to go back to college to get a degree in computer technology so I can get the game to work? I'm a smart guy, and I'll grant that half the things listed are easy to do, but some of those seem a bit excessive to play a game I paid the company good money so I could, well, play it.

You've got to be kidding.

Why not patch the game?

[Civfreak1970]

Im with you Doc!

Hey Doc!

I totally agree with you!

[trancer72]

After trying every possible fix suggested between here and civfanatics, nothing works. I know my card supports T&L and all other requirements are met.

But here is the ONLY error I get from any of the logs.

LSystem.log

building:Art/Structures/Buildings/Grocer/Grocer.nif does not contain a node called SHADOW. Its shadow, if present, will be corrupt!

building:Art/Structures/Buildings/Colosseum/Colosseum.nif does not contain a node called SHADOW. Its shadow, if present, will be corrupt!

building:Art/Structures/Buildings/BombShelters/BombShelters.nif does not contain a node called SHADOW. Its shadow, if present, will be corrupt!

Now there are only 2 files that list these items and they are under.

Sid's Civ 4\Assets\XML\Buildings\

And the 2 files are

CIV4CityLSystem.xml
CIV4PlotLSystem.xml

Now before anyone goes and blames my computer for the error, I am contantly dealing with this language and no other program run or created has had an error.

[Lord Diamond]

I have a Windows XP Media Center system with 2 GB of memory and a 3.2 Ghz Intel processor. I had installed Civ4 fine, but it wouldn't play properly because I had onboard video. I then installed an ATI card (all I had available) and started having the problems everyone else has listed. I decided to uninstall Civ4 and start from scratch. Now I can't even install the program! I even deleted all old Civ files and anything that mentioned Civ.

This is the error I get half way through the installation before the second disk is requested:

Feature Transfer Error

Feature: Default Feature
Component: Civ4 Component
File: D;\data2.cab
Error: Data Error (cyclic redundancy check)

Please point me in the right direction! This is driving me insane. If you can, I would love an email to ded127@aol.com. I will keep checking back here as well. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

[Shadowlord]

Memory usage increasing over the course of the game doesn't necesssarily mean there's a memory leak; After all, the game has to keep track of progressively more cities, units, improvements, etc, as the game progresses.

Agalla: Try this: Download RivaTuner, install it, run it, and drop pixel shader to 1.4 and vertex shader to 1.1 - you can either do this for all games or just for Civilization 4. I'd do it for all games, since the FX series seems to have terribly bad performance with PS & VS 2.0. To do it for just civ 4 you'll have to use the 'add new profile' button (or 'scan registry for existing profiles' if you've already got a profile for it in the nvidia performance settings), but if you want to do it for all programs make sure you see "Global driver settings" instead of "Personal settings for [some game name here]".

To actually lock PS and VS at a lower level, click the button to the right of the "Customize..." text, then click the DirectX button (the second button from the left), then go to the Shaders tab. You should see two drop down boxes, one for pixel shaders and one for vertex shaders. Change pixel shaders to 'force 1.4', and vertex shaders to 'force 1.1', and then hit OK. It'll want you to reboot, and you should let it.

Some people suggested dropping pixel shaders to 1.1, but from what I read, the FX cards should do just as well with 1.4 as with 1.1. I'm not 100% certain of that, and it can't hurt to test the performance at the default, at 1.4, at 1.3, at 1.1, and with shaders disabled entirely. To test that really well, each time you test it you'd need to reboot the computer, wipe Civ's cache files, run Civ, and load a saved game, check performance at a city, from the globe view, at the ocean, in fog-of-war'd terrain, etc. Of course you'd need something to show you the framerate too, since just estimating it could be misleading.

P.S. In windows XP and probably 2000, you could make a .bat file to wipe the cache plus run Civ IV after wiping it. Once you've made this file (You could call it cleancache.bat and put it in your Civ IV folder), change the Civ IV shortcuts to point to your cleancache.bat instead of the Civilization4.exe. When you run the shortcuts, then, the cache will be cleared and then the game will run.

Here's what to put in cleancache.bat:

@echo off
cd "%appdata%\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4"
del cache /q /s /f
cd "C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4"
start Civilization4

Note: I don't have the game, but I'm pretty certain I got the paths right. Although the 2kgames Civ IV support site says the default path is "C:\Program Files\Sid Meier's Civilization 4", their screenshots contradict this by showing the installer (in an express install) putting it in "C:\...\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4" (the "..." almost certainly being Program Files). Their screenshot of the PAK extractor also shows it being inside a "Firaxis Games" folder. As for the appdata one, that one I'm 99% certain of. In any case, perhaps someone could make sure this actually works and slap me around a bit if it doesn't. :P

[Spocko]

Re: CTD

Originally posted by Tomas1931
Increased Virtual memory to min 2.5 max 2.5 Playing on standard map so far no further crashes Also feel it a memory issue or the way the game is handling it As I have 1 gig RAM memory and a 256 nvidia Ge Force 5700 card

I was disappointed to have sluggish game performance at late stage of the game (already won Diplo victory), and I would leave the game to see a yellow triangle complaining about virtual memory is low.

I too increased memory to min 1920 max 1920 (768mb RAM; virtual memory was only 384mb!), updated my ATI video drivers (Radeon 9200 - drivers were old) and my SoundBlaster Audigy drivers (old drivers) - result: CIV4 SCREAMS!

I built a 50million population at Chieftain level, 8 other Civs, and the time I wait between moves is now only about 10 seconds, and on my turn, the game responds as crisply as it did in the early stages of growth.

I can't wait until everyone gets to share my Civ4 experience

[somebloke]

I too initially had the rendering problems and couldn't play the game at all.
I looked at my graphics card settings and played with the hardware acceleration and then the game worked fine. That was on my P3-800 with ATi graphics card.
I then tried it on my other computer, AMD-1200 with GeForce2 graphics card and haven't had a problem playing it.

But I do have a problem with one of the in game features that I haven't seen anyone else with.
When i select a settler as my active unit, its supposed to show what resources each tile produces on the map. Unfortunately it shows that almost every tile on the map produces 2 food, whether its a plain or hill (except mountains and desert) although when i pass my cursor over each tile, the tool tip will give me the correct resource ouput for the tile. This also happens when I'm in the city view and/or when I toggle yield dispaly. This is just a visual thing, my city still appears to be using the resources correctly.

Anyone else with this problem?

[Enough]

Originally posted by Lord Diamond
I have a Windows XP Media Center system with 2 GB of memory and a 3.2 Ghz Intel processor. I had installed Civ4 fine, but it wouldn't play properly because I had onboard video. I then installed an ATI card (all I had available) and started having the problems everyone else has listed. I decided to uninstall Civ4 and start from scratch. Now I can't even install the program! I even deleted all old Civ files and anything that mentioned Civ.

This is the error I get half way through the installation before the second disk is requested:

Feature Transfer Error

Feature: Default Feature
Component: Civ4 Component
File: D;\data2.cab
Error: Data Error (cyclic redundancy check)

Please point me in the right direction! This is driving me insane. If you can, I would love an email to ded127@aol.com. I will keep checking back here as well. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

I had the exact same install error and I found this to work perfectly:

1. Use MSCONFIG to close background applications

Before starting the installation go on the desktop to START/RUN and type in "msconfig". When the menu appears, click on the GENERAL tab, if it is not already at the front. Under STARTUP SELECTION, select SELECTIVE STARTUP, and UNCHECK the selection LOAD STARTUP ITEMS. Click APPLY and then OK, and reboot the system and retry the installation.

At any time, you can always go back into the MSCONFIG menu to change back to NORMAL STARTUP, or SELECTIVE STARTUP and replace the checkmark next to LOAD STARTUP ITEMS.