Main Menu Trouble

[SilentWinds]

Here is my little problem....

As soon as I try to run Civilization 3 my monitor goes on standby... After a short while my monitor turns back on and plays the beginning FMV, however when the FMV is finished the monitor goes on standby and I can not see the main menu but I can hear the main menu music... I do not believe that I have any patches for the game (unless there are some on the cd) I have downloaded the most recent available patch for my video card... I do not have any patches for Civ 3 however, nor do I know where I could get any...

My computer specs are

Intel Pentium 3 Processer
863MHZ
128MB Ram
Windows XP Professional version 2002
18.9Gb
1.15Gb free space
Maxtor 52049H3 disk drive
48x cd rom
Nvidia Riva TNT2 Model64/64 pro video card
ViewSonic Professional Series PF775 Monitor
-Video input 200MHZ

I dont know what to do and it is very frusterating... I dont know what it could be, we installed the game on my friends computer and it runs fine so the cd itself is not the problem... I have heard that it could be the binkw32.dll file but I am not sure, I have also heard that many people have bink32.dll.... Is the binkw32.dll file corrupted? What are some tips?

[Kloreep]

http://apolyton.net/civ3/

Click on Patch Center to get the latest patch. You'll be glad you did. (Though some things are already patched. Civ3 GOTY is the latest version of vanilla, I think Civ3 gold is the latest version of PTW, and I believe Civ3 Complete is the latest version of Conquests.)

I'm not sure about your video problem. You could try finding an updated version of the bink dll. You could also try disabling the opening video: put PlayIntro=0 in the appropriate .ini file.

[vmxa1]

What is the desktop settings? You have to be in 1024 iirc to get it to work. although we have a work around thread someplace.

128MB is so small for XP that running a game like civ3 could be a problem. You should be able to get more memory for that box so very cheap, I would do that right away.

You may want to take a hard look at what is on your HD to free up a bit more. Check the recycle settings to be sure it is not to high.

To test the diesktop, just right click on it any place and check the properties.

[SilentWinds]

I may have gotten those patches off of the Civilization 3 website, unless the Apolyton patches are somehow different... My desktop settings are at 1024x768 @32pixels.... I have tried searching the internet for bink32.dll and binkw32.dll however I have only encountered forums where people are having similar problems and they are looking for an update for it... Unfortunately I have not found any links to such an update... Thanks for the help I will try it all out and get back to you guys to see if it works

[Kloreep]

Re: Main Menu Trouble

Originally posted by SilentWinds
I may have gotten those patches off of the Civilization 3 website, unless the Apolyton patches are somehow different...

They're not different, it was just the place I knew had them for download. Firaxis works just as well.

If you want an updated bink .dll, you might try installing the bink player. I'm not sure if the player uses the bink .dll or not, but if it does, you could try copying it over to Civ3.

[alva]

My desktop settings are at 1024x768 @32pixels....

Take my advice and switch to 16bit colors ( instead of the @32), you should get a decent overall performance increase.
Also listen to what vxma said and get some extra memory presto.

[vmxa1]

I have not keep up on the video cards for some time, but does that TnT support direct x 9?

[alva]

Civ3 worked fine on my Riva TnT and does so the current card I have ( Geforce 1 SDR, don't laugh ).
I think mine only DirectX7 compliant though I do have DirectX9.c installed.

Of course, it could always be a driver problem, wouldn't be the firt time.

[SilentWinds]

I have heard someone mention that windows xp professional is unable to use direct x... or that it does not actually need the program... I have tried to install the program and when I was searching through the program files it just had a bunch of pictures of different controllers and stuff like that, I could not actually find an icon to run the program or anything like that (I am very unfamiliar with direct x) I have tried to install Direct X 9... I will go out and get me some memory today after I get paid, I will try figgure out if I can run civilization 3 after I install the new memory...

[vmxa1]

Direct x comes with XP. I think the min level was 8.x. The SP1 iirc comes with 9.x and SP2 comes with 9.x.

Civ3 and its expansion packs all require one level of directx or another. IIRC, 8.1 was the min level for vanilla and 9,0 for C3C.

The game comes with the required version, so during installation of it, you will be told that you meet the requirements or asked to install.

Anyone that said XP PRO (my OS for some time now) cannot use Directx has no idea of what they are talking about.

[SilentWinds]

Ok, phew... I was hoping that it may not have installed or something like that... Thanks a million for all the help

[alva]

I have heard someone mention that windows xp professional is unable to use direct x...

Not certain here but I think that's Win2000 you - of whowever told you this fib - are thinking about.

[SilentWinds]

Ok, I posted another forum topic about whats going on with my computer now... I cant run the game because the cd seems to be undetectable... I get an error when I start up Civ 3 saying that I need to insert the cd... well when I do that, I get the same error message saying I need to insert the cd into the drive... Its quite annoying... Do you know what I should do? I feel like I have made some progress from before but well, now I cant get into the game Do you guys know anything that I can do?