Graphic Problems & System Crash

[sns222]

When I run Civ 4 on my Desktop, I have encountered two major problems....I downloaded and installed the 1.76 patch, but it failed to correct either of them....Currently I have 512MB of RAM and a 128MB Graphics Card with a 2.1 GHZ processor

First, when I am viewing diplomatic screens, the opponents faces are not viewable...All I get are floating Eyes, Noses, Mouth, and whatever other body parts the system choses to show me...VERY ANNOYING, but not fatal to game play....

However, after a period of game play (I got as far as 1650AD), the graphics will completely crash and I will end up with system errors with a black screen and purple text and unable to read anything and I am forced to reboot the system and the problem will continue if I attempt to load and continue the same game....

These problems did not occur on my laptop which has an even slower processor....

Any Ideas?

I am at about the end of my rope with this version...

Thanks In Advance....

[Crossfire]

Have you upgraded to the newest video driver?

[sns222]

not as of yet...it's an on-board videocard VIA/S3G

I figured it's from S3 Graphics, but when I went to their website, I couldn't find that model listed....

another thing I thought of, is that my HD is still FAT32, so I've decided to try installing it on another HD.....

I thought of unistalling DirectX 9c, and reinstalling, but I can't figure out how to do that...and Microsoft of course won't allow you to download DirectX 10 unless they validate your Windows....

I'll try and update the driver, since the thing seems to crash less than 20 turns into the game even after I've tried reinstalling it....

Thanks Again

[Solver]

What make of the video card exactly?

You're lucky to run the game at all. S3 on-board graphics chips are crap, most of them probably wouldn't run the game at all. Invisible leaders are one of the main signs that your video card is unsupported.

[sns222]

I'm waiting to upgrade to a 256MB card...

It's a DeltaChrome IGP chipset....

I'm currently sifting through S3G's website for an updated driver hoping that will fix the problem...

Thanks again...

[Solver]

Drivers are unlikely to fix anything. Your card is probably not supported by Civ4, so as I said, you're lucky to have the game running whatsoever.

As soon you get a real video card, you should be seeing improvement.

[sns222]

Thanks Again for your help...

Interesting that on-board for desktop has problems, but not onboard Laptop video cards...

Thanks once again

[Solver]

Lately, laptops are getting equipped with better cards. Such as nVidia Go or Mobility Radeon series. While weaker than their respective "full" desktop counterparts, these cards are still miles ahead of the integrated Intel, S3 and such chipsets that are frequently installed on desktop PCs.

[Bkeela]

Drivers make things infinitely worse if you have an ATI card.