Is There Still No Fix For The Xml Problem

[Leo_Lermite]

Have a look here.

Who knows...

[akyi]

Tried disabling audio hardware acceleration. No luck.

And after checking the info from the post from our comrade from France, I looked a little deeper into my audio setup. Even though I'm not using the onboard audio, there IS something wrong with those audio drivers. Now when I try to update them, it tells me no drivers are installed AND it doesnt show up in my Device Manager now.... To make matters worse, the drivers setup app no longer work. Ouch, I'm hosed.

If anyone has a suggestion, shoot.

[skraut]

http://www.apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=142372

Yeah there's no help really... I've gone through everything a few times, and come to this conclusion.

I think the problem is the SoundMax driver, I tried installing the newest ati southbridge drivers for my laptop, even though they wern't suggested, but the sound driver is integrated into the south bridge, so I had some hope.

But it didn't work either. I still haven't reached anyone at Take2.

[Raion]

Is it just a bad CD or DVD that you got?

The crc.dat files and others should be in your profile (well like Administrator) and in Application Data folder then something else like My Games folder and there are a bunch of files there -- all *.dat files!

Yep and under the folder name you selected to install the game to, so there are three sections to the install of Civ IV. The folder you install the game to, the My Documents folder - My Games - where saved games and autosaved games are at, unless you save like I do, in the real install path where I placed them, and also with the above for the Data Files which I have no idea what they are for, unless for copy protection - -other files that are needed for the game whatever they are -- maybe some files for saved games so data is stored or something for the game to speed it up perhaps! That is where the cache folder is and the Profiles folder also is!

Did you install in the Administration Profile of your computer. I did not leave the All Profiles checked box on the install, but only installed with Administrator Privileges!
Perhaps those files are in the All Users Profile if you did not uncheck that checkbox with the install of the game, and you must go to the Profile -- All Users -- to play the game perhaps. Since I am the only one on my computer, I play on the Administrator Privileges level like most games use to have before!

[akyi]

my assumption, based on the number of people who have fixed this exact problem by fixing their sound drivers, is that Civ4 actually creates these necessary files/directories at first run. i have yet to run it once.

I also have a single user computer and have tried the following configs: installing as my user account (has admin rights) with and without checking the "install for all users" checkbox; installing as a different user account (with admin rights) with and without checking the "install for all users" checkbox.

I've looked for that crc.dat file on a machine where install WORKED and only found it after I booted it the first time. It appears (i could be wrong) to be created on first run.

[skraut]

Just a bump...

In 2 Weeks I have been unable to launch the game even once.

I also have not recieved an email response from Take 2

I have also been unable to talk to a living human at Take 2's Phone support.

They've posted all kinds of workarounds for all types of programs.

Do they even know this is an issue??

[jockins]

crazy as this sounds there is a workaround for this. just prior to launching civ4 start an audio file in media player. the audio must be playing when civ begins to init. for what ever reason it apears that civ4 wont recognise the sound card and fails the init. but if you have and audio file playing (video may work too) the game can recognize the audio card. personaly i have a soundMAX intagraed card that hasn't had any new drivers in a year. but this worked for me. other than that the game plays fine now. a little bit of slow down later in the game but I figure that's because it's a huge map. hope this solves the problem for you.

[skraut]

It worked perfectly. To think I went as far as to reformat, and all I needed to do was listen to some music in the background.

It's insane that something so small caused such a big problem, I guess that just goes to show you what problems they truely have there.

[Raion]

Well, first it may not be a problem for the game, if the Drivers for the sound card do not make it known that the sound card is in your computer. In other words, a detection program running to install the game would never see your sound card, because the Drivers from the sound card manufacturer is the thing that is really bad.

If it is not known what is in your computer, then why would a program seeking your sound card -- not find it. Because the Drivers from the Manufacturer of the sound card is the real problem, and the detection program would have to jump through hoops and involve more coding -- because all the other sound cards could be found -- except yours -- and that is from the Drivers or the Registry of your Drivers of the sound card, and not a problem with the other program -- in case that this program -- is Civ IV. Faulty drivers are still provided by manufacturers even though Microsoft explicitly states what is needed so other programs can find anything, but the Drivers were not actually made correctly according to Microsoft -- specs! That does not make Civ IV bad - that makes the drivers for the sound card -- not correctly done!