Installed the patch. Or have I ?!

[Johnny Rotten]

Ok, I'm going crazy here.

I've downloaded the 1.16f patch from both civ3.com AND apolyton. In each case when I install the patch (which reports that it has successfully updated civ3) and fire Civ3 up, the version on the splash screen still says 1.07. Also going to the prefs screen DOESNT show any added options as per the patch documentation ("Added "Color Blind Help" pref", "Added "Ask for Build Orders after Unit Construction" pref",
"Added "Always Start Building Previously Built Unit" pref" etc).

Basically it doesnt look like the patch installed. If I run the patch again it says its removing the patch. Fire up Civ3 still on change in version number or preference screen. Reinstall the patch a third time, STILL no [apparent] effect.

Is the patch installed or what? Anyone have any ideas?

Running Windows XP Home. 256 megs of ram. 1ghz athlon.

/annoyed

[Baldrick]

Start the game and see what the cap is for the max no of turns to research a new tech. If I remember rightly the max turns was increased from 32 to 40 with patch 1.16f.

[Eby]

I've been having the same problem. The patch seems to install but nothing actually changes. It's nice to know I'm not alone!

Let me know if you come up with a solution.

Paul Eby
peby@uvic.ca

[Eby]

I'm on a PIII-500MHz machine running Win98, btw. I NEED air superiority!

[Eby]

OK, I've found the cause of this problem. When I installed the game originally, I truncated the pathway from c:\program files\firaxis games\civilization III to c:\program files\civilization III. I find extended pathways like that to be REALLY annoying. What's the point?

Anyway, when the patch executible is run it automatically goes to the default pathway. If you don't specify the correct pathway (I'm assuming you did the same thing I did) the patch doesn't clue in to the fact that it has been sent to a non-existance directory. Easy enough to solve as the patch executible allows you to specify the correct pathway.

Having done that, I'm pleased to say that I finally have air superiority capability (along with the other fixes in the patch). A modern war is just unworkable without it. The downside is that I'm now experiencing an annoying bug mentioned by others before: when a unit's turn is done, focus does not automatically jump to the next unit (nor can I perform some unit commands like pass or fortify).

It's been a long time since I've had so much difficulty with a game. Cleary, developers are far too dependent on patches rather than taking the time to develop it right the first time, and it shows with this game.