PLEASE HELP! I can´t install Civ3!!!!

[Alex]

I tried to install the game but the installation froze at 54%. I waited for 10 minutes, but nothing. All the while, my HD was in a frenzy activity, judging from the small red light always on.

I had to reboot my machine, and when Windows started again, I saw that the game had apparently been installed. Hmmm... Let´s try to start it, I thought. The game automatically skipped the intro movie and then I was looking at the beautiful menu screen. But something must be wrong, I said to myself. Yep. I tried to click on all the buttons on there (yes, I tried to click twice), but nothing happened.

Now comes the worst part. I tried to reinstall the game, but the uninstall program starts to work and then finishes its activity, saying to me that everything is fine. Guess what? The uninstall didn´t work, so I could not install the game again!! I got mad, screamed at the machine, and then decided to try another method: Norton CleanSweep and Norton WinDoctor. Those two programs managed to uninstall Civ3 from my machine, but now I am afraid to install it again and face the same problems I had before.

Please, don´t tell me that I´ll have to wait for the patch...

Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

[Ignis Fatuus]

When you installed the first time was Norton and/or other Virus protection software running/ If so, disable it and try again.

[Alex]

Ignis: thanx for the reply.

I disabled all the programs that were running on the system tray prior to the installation. But your words made me wonder... probably I have not disabled ALL of the programs running on the background, because I did not use Ctrl-Alt-Del.

I'll try that. Maybe it works.

[cavebear]

Did that work? I have at least a dozen running in the background and I don't even know what they are for. But I'm afraid to delete them.

[Alex]

cave: it worked. I finally could install Civ3, but I chose the "minimum" install over the "typical" install (which the game chooses as standard). With the "minimum" setup, the game installed without flaws.

Now I am having a different kind of problem: this game is sooo slooooow... Sometimes it takes 30 sec to open an advisor screen, even if the game is played on the "cleanest" environment possible. Sound stutters, music crackles... I tried to disable the sound, but to no avail.

Granted that my system is extremely low-tech: K6-2 500 Mhz, 64 Megs RAM, Viper v770 video card (32 Megs), WinMe. But it is above the minimum requirements, so the game should run fine. Yeah, I know... game developers are always fairly... ahem... optimistic... about the min reqs, so they can sell even more.

But the torturing question encroaches in my mind... Do I have a terrible machine for Civ3 to play fine or the game is somehow flawed and a patch can fix these issues? Only time will tell...

[morb]

K6-2 500 Mhz, 64 Megs RAM, Viper v770 video card (32 Megs), WinMe.

x_x

[Ignis Fatuus]

Cavebear,
Before starting up any game, you can turn off everything in your task bar EXCEPT explorer and systray these are the ONLY 2 programs you need runing to start with.