Patch 1.61 Installation Issues

[DKL]

Hello All,

This is bound to seem like ancient history, but I thought I'd ask just the same.

I've had Civ-IV for some time. No sooner did I get it, I got very busy and it sat collecting dust on my shelf for *some time*. Against my better judgement (...you know how much time it takes up...) I started playing recently. I see that there are not only add-on packages (...like I said - ancient history) but also a patch for the original Civ-IV package: 1.61.

I figured I'd install it, but I'm getting error messages and the install fails.

The first error occurs as the InstallShield Wizard is setting up. I get an error message reading: "String OBJ_STATUS_DISKSPACE_SPACE was not found in string table". Clicking OK (only option) cause it to disappear and the Civ IV 1.61 setup screen occurs. It starts into its gyrations and then spits out a dialog like this:

Dialog caption: Feature transfer error

Feature: Default Feature
Component:
File:
Error: Catastrophic failure.


Now... I haven't been a software engineer for 25 years without knowing that "catastrophic failure" implies that something might be slightly wrong.

Has anyone seen this? Is there a workaround?

OS: Vista Business
Previous CivIV version: 1.09

Thanks for any help.

[DKL]

Ooh... it's more fun than I thought.

I see from another CIV site that there's actually a 1.74 patch (which, oddly, isn't on the official Civ4 site). I also noticed that I can use the game's "Check for Updates" function.

IT tells me there's a new patch available: Patch_174. Clicking Install brings up a "Downloading..." dialog, showing it "Downloading 0/-1 byte". It gets all the way to 0% and then says: Download failed. The patch failed to download successfully".

...um... any *other* ideas?

Thanks again.

[DKL]

The fun never ends...

...downloading the 1.74 patch separately and installing it manually throws up the same "String OBJ_STATUS_DISKSPACE_SPACE was not found in string table" error.

THEN... (most fun of all)

"The setup has detected that version 1.09.000 of Sid Meier's Civilization 4 is already installed. This setup is not compatible with this version. You will have to uninstall the previous version before installing this version."

Seems almost like too much of a good thing...

[Theben]

Did you buy disk or download. Downloads such as Steam don't work with regular patches.

Try uninstalling and re-installing, straight to 1.74.

Better yet get the Beyond the Sword add-on pack and upgrade to 3.19.

[DKL]

The Original CIV-IV installation is from original CD's.

[self biased]

i had the same problem while installing civ4 on my wife's laptop. are you using vista? is this just vanilla civ4? i've found that i had to patch the vanilla civ4 before installing BTS.

[Ming]

I've had very little luck using the automatic update portion of the game. I would recommend doing the upgrade to the latest patch by getting it from this site or Civ Fanatics. I've never had a problem when doing that.

[DKL]

Vanilla Civ-4, Vista Business. Tried both update paths (through the gamemenu and download/install directly).

Ixnay on the Atchpay.

[self biased]

i'm guessing it's some sort of spooky interaction with vista. something similar has happened when my wife tried to install diablo 2. however, it looks like you were able to actually install Civ 4 and are just looking to patch it.

[Xarborizon]

Wow

This is a recent thread! Neat! DKL, you must be my twin. I just started playing this game 4 days ago, and wanted to play online today.

So, hey, if you still havent figured out your problem, I have created an account just to answer your question.

Please install the Civilization 4 patch 1.61 FIRST, theeennn install Civ. 4 patch 1.74.

Here is the following website I downloaded from.

If 1.61 patch still gives you problems... I... don't know what else to say. Also, about Windows Vista being the problem-- BS! I've had Vista for 2 years. No biggie problems. It's just a different setup from XP.

Okay. Enough chatter. Here's the link.

http://www.firaxis.com/support/support_detail.php?gameid=6&patch=1

[Dinner]

Steam downloads only work with steam patches which is why I never ever buy a game through steam. Failing that I find a reinstall solves most problems especially if you've been using patches which might have modified some of your files.

[DKL]

Still, no sight of land...

Please install the Civilization 4 patch 1.61 FIRST, theeennn install Civ. 4 patch 1.74.

Here is the following website I downloaded from.

If 1.61 patch still gives you problems... I... don't know what else to say. Also, about Windows Vista being the problem-- BS! I've had Vista for 2 years. No biggie problems. It's just a different setup from XP.
[/url]

Tried the suggested version of 1.61 patch - presumably they're all identical anyway. Same problem as in my first post.

Maybe I'm just as happy with my 1.09 version...

[Robert]

maybe deinstal civ4 completely and remove everything, then try a new install, start the game, and patch it through the auto-update.

[DKL]

Deinstall / Reinstall...

Yes, well.

I thought I'd try to deinstall Civ-4 and reinstall it. Running the original Setup.exe (or through the control panel/deinstall) InstallShield throws the same error: ""String OBJ_STATUS_DISKSPACE_SPACE was not found in string table".

I'm guessing that InstallShield is hoping to display the amount of disk space (plenty, not worried), but I'm not sure if the error causes it to stop initialization (junior programmer at InstallShield?) or simply proceed. Now it would seem as if the deinstall may (or may not) work, but if the RE-installation is as messed up as the patch installation (i.e.: InstallShield is having problems with my configuration in general), then I may not get it reinstalled, even from the original media.

Then again, that might solve the problem of me playing just one more turn until 4:30 in the morning...

[Willem]

If you're running it on Vista, you might want to try downloading and installing DirectX 9 from Microsoft. The game uses DirectX 9c which doesn't come with Vista, it only has DirectX 10 by default.