Win ME and CIV IV?

[jimlrogers]

Gang,

Hoping for some experienced Christmas cheer.

I still run Windows ME, since it still works fine with my fairly decent machine. No money for XP, and further hardware upgrades are not going to happen.

Can I install CIV 4 on my machine? I can run the demo just fine. I also play a lot of City of Heroes/Villains, and the graphics there seem at least as demanding in terms of my machine. I realize that the box specs demand XP, but I'm hoping that is more of a recognition of the existing standard than a requirement.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

[jimlrogers]

Shameless *bump*

Merry Christmas!

[Enigma_Nova]

I run Windows 2000 (As you can pirate it easier than WinXP ... yarrr) and Civ runs fine.
Dual 3.4Ghz CPU, 1GB of 333Mhz RAM (Going to have to upgrade that), and a 9600 Radeon video card (with 256Mb of RAM).

[ghen]

2000 is extremely close to XP in terms of operation, ME is a whole 'nother ballgame. Unfortunately its so freaking olllld (say it like napoleon would!) that I'm suprised anyone that knows how to work a forum is still running it

[aebbeka]

You know, for only twice the cost of Civ4, you can get an XP upgrade. How can you stand using Me? It was awful...

[Enigma_Nova]

With the right programs, you can get an XP upgrade for 0% of the cost of Civ 4! irate:

EDIT: Needs pirate smilie

[jimlrogers]

While I appreciate the sentiements of the replies so far(though I'm not into pirating), none of them really addressed my question. I know others have had problems with ME (not me in nearly 6 years), and I know I can buy (or steal) a XP upgrade (though the documented problems with that are also well-known). I simply do not want to. I don't want to spend $150 to buy a game that I know my machine can run just fine, and possible introduce many other issues. I *can* run the Demo just fine, and simply want to know if anyone has had any experience installation problems using ME. I can't afford to upgrade my entire machine, esp. since it works just fine as it is, and am basically on hold until it quits working.

Happy Holidays

[grutz]

Unfortunately (for you at least) Win ME runs on a completely different kernel than 2000/XP. I am a programmer, and the WIN32 API is very different between the operating systems (ME is based on Win9x, it's essentially a prettier, more user friendly when it works version of Windows 98). Because CIV IV is using a lot of newer technology, I wouldn't expect it to run properly. Most likely, Firaxis placed a OS check in the Installer. I don't have any WIN ME machines, though, so I can't verify it, but I would be very suprised if it worked.

[Nikolai]

Enigma, you should be careful promoting piracy, it's not particulary liked by the admins. You could risk problems with them, and I presume you won't have that to happen, will you?

[JimMac]

Someone over at CivFanatics was able to play with ME untill the latest patch 'improved things'

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=149649

[Petek]

Originally posted by jimlrogers
While I appreciate the sentiements of the replies so far(though I'm not into pirating), none of them really addressed my question.

The short answer is that I'm not aware of a single person reporting that Civ 4 runs on a Windows ME system. On the other hand, no one has reported that Civ 4 fails to run merely because the OS is ME.

I've followed the discussions on this issue due to personal interest: I was running ME, but bought a new computer just before Civ 4 was released. I'd read that ME wasn't supported, so I upgraded.

Here's a thread in which the question was posed. Someone else (a highly reliable source, IMO) replied that he got the game to run on Windows 98:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=141183&highlight=windows+me

Since ME is more recent than 98, and is in the same "line" of operating systems, I think that it's probable that Civ 4 could possibly run on an ME system.

However, I think that the real question that needs to be addressed is whether your hardware is up to running the game. If you have your original hardware (esp. video card and CD/DVD drive), it's likely that you will run into problems.

I'm not sure about the significance of you being able to run the demo.

EDIT: I hadn't seen the preceding post when I posted mine.

[jimlrogers]

Thanks to Petek and JimMac for the thoughts and links. Neither were definitive, but CivFanatics' ME player's experiences with the latest patch make me suspicious.

Maybe I should just start a "I love ME, but can't play CIV" thread? Or just post a link to where someone can subscribe money for me to go to XP? Just kidding, send money to Apolyton first.

Thanks again to all!