Spooky area of map - help!!

[spare_brain]

The CIV3 program crashes (and I'm thrown back to Windows screen where I can restart the game) when I have to interact with a certain portion of the map, say:

1. I exchange the World Map with any country that has that portion of the Map (my guess).
2. Exchange Territory Map with the Nation that is on that affected area.
3. Take my boat next to that area (appears to be at the edge of the map).

This occurence happens very frequently with different games I am playing. I have seen this happen when I am playing a scenario (where I generated the map using CIV3Edit) or a regular game with a "Large" or "Huge" Map.

My computer is a Dell P3/1GHz with 512MB RAM and a TNT64 Graphics Card. The OS is Win 2000. I have patch 1.21f installed for CIV3.

Any expert opinions or hints as to what I am doing wrong?

sb

[Ethelred]

There are several possibility causes that I can think of.

The file is corrupted. Especially if you are playing a game that you started with the orginal version and not a more recent game.

You are playing a modified game. If so this is by far the most likely cause. There could be something in that region of the map that wasn't handled properly in the mod.

You haven't installed the W2K service packs your were supposed to install before playing the game.

You don't have Direct 8.1.

You need the latest version of your video card drivers or the sound card.

I think the second is most likely followed by the first.

[spare_brain]

Good checklist! But it still conks out!!

The file is corrupted. Especially if you are playing a game that you started with the orginal version and not a more recent game.

Actually, the pattern repeats (though with randon parts of the maps) no matter how many times I start a fresh game. By fresh game I mean either a new game, or one that starts with a scenario created using CIV3 just a few minutes earlier. I have a fresh install of CIV3, with the patch 1.21f, after a HDD reformat recently, so I can rule out older files.

You are playing a modified game. If so this is by far the most likely cause. There could be something in that region of the map that wasn't handled properly in the mod.

Well, above reply covers this. It has happened multiple times with several diferent files/games.

You haven't installed the W2K service packs your were supposed to install before playing the game.

I have Service Pack 2 installed. My guess is that that is a fairly new one. Isn't it?


You don't have Direct 8.1.

Actually that is what I installed when installing Win 2000. Is there a concrete way of checking the exact version of it?


You need the latest version of your video card drivers or the sound card.

This could be the doozie. The drivers are from Dell. As a precaution, I scoured the site and got the latest drivers when installing OS. Maybe this is secretly throwing the wrench in.


Thanks for the reply. Looks like not many are having this problem - can't find references. Is it possible that my resolution is not kosher and I need to play at a lower level??

sb

[Ethelred]

Actually that is what I installed when installing Win 2000. Is there a concrete way of checking the exact version of it?

The Civ III installation process is supposed to do that.

There should be a program on you PC that can check it. In Windows XP the program is found here

C:\WINDOWS\system32\dxdiag.exe

Just double click on dxdiag.exe and then look around on the main page. It should give the version of DirectX.

I have Service Pack 2 installed. My guess is that that is a fairly new one. Isn't it?

I don't have W2K but I think that is the latest Service Pack. There may be other upgrades as well since then but not in a Service Pack.

This could be the doozie. The drivers are from Dell. As a precaution, I scoured the site and got the latest drivers when installing OS. Maybe this is secretly throwing the wrench in.

Quite possible. Dell doesn't make video cards they only install them. Go to:

http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?PAGE=windows2000

For the latest drivers from Nvidia. Unless you know which specific card you have anyway. If you know the card maker you could try the manufacurers site but this one should do.

You will have to reboot after installing the new drivers of course. Fortunatly Nvidia is much better at their drivers than ATI is so you shouldn't have any problems useing the newest official drivers. I have to deal with ATI myself so I have learned a lot of tricks for getting those things to work.

Is it possible that my resolution is not kosher and I need to play at a lower level??

I don't think that would cause a map problem. The games native resolution is 1024 by 768 so if you are using that you shouldn't have a problem. There were problems with playing in higher resolutions but those may be gone with the latest patch. I wouldn't know as I use 1024 myself for nearly everything.

[thereaderrabbit]

argh...

I'm having the exact same issue. When I download a map or make my own, CivIII starts kicking me out after getting a few hours into the game. The timing of the crashes primarily revolve around exchanging maps or making profitable technology trades.

My computer is up to date (I do keep current drivers for my Quake3 fun). So the system is homemade with an Athlon1800+, 700MB+ RAM, GeForce4 4400, and is happily running WinXP. I also have patch 1.21f installed for CIV3.

-Reader

[Ethelred]

Thats a somewhat different issue from the one he said he had. Frankly I have a suspicion that he WAS running a modified game anyway.

Most likely its the modifications that are crashing you. You may want to try a reinstall and then reapply the patch. Uninstall, install the game then the patch and you may want to run the patch twice. Some have said it first uninstalls some stuff the first time around. I don't remember if I did it that way or not. It seemed to me I ran it once and it was fine.

Don't modify the original .bic unless you make a copy of it first. The only reason to mod the original is if you NEVER plan to play anything but your mod. Save your mods as a scenario if you want to be safe.

[thereaderrabbit]

I've already removed and reinstalled the game and the latest patch a few times. I've never modified the game at any point. I’ve rebooted the system between installations and deleted the Civ related directories. The maps that I've obtained on-line were from the http://www.civ3.com/ web site.

The thing that has me stumped is that the game seems 100% fine when I play it's generated maps. It's once I try a '.bic' file that I'm in for a thrashing.

-Reader

PS. thanks for getting back to me so quickly

[zulu9812]

did u check the rules of the user-made maps?

[Ethelred]

Originally posted by thereaderrabbit
I've never modified the game at any point.

Yes you have. You even say so in this post.

I’ve rebooted the system between installations and deleted the Civ related directories. The maps that I've obtained on-line were from the http://www.civ3.com/ web site.

The thing that has me stumped is that the game seems 100% fine when I play it's generated maps. It's once I try a '.bic' file that I'm in for a thrashing.

-Reader

PS. thanks for getting back to me so quickly

You are playing a modified game whenever you use a .bic file other than the one from the disk or the patch. .bic filles are where the mods go. It can be a scenario or a modified default file but either way its modded.

Many of maps include modified .bic files. Some of the maps on Civ3.com for some STUPID reason do not have (or at least didn't) every thing they need. I know that at least Marla's World Map was that way anyway. Marla's map is or at least was missing the small ship the mod makes available to four civs. It will crash if the graphics aren't there.

The fact that game works fine as long as you don't use a map you downloaded makes it clear that its the map and not the game or your system that is the problem.

[thereaderrabbit]

Nope, I never checked or played around with the rules at any point.

When I said I never modified the game, it was to refer to the fact that I've never attempted to alter the files associated with my CivIII installation.

As far as at least my ‘.bic’ file goes... I'm still not sure why it crashes. The map I made has no special rules and I didn't 'edit' the units/graphics.

-Reader

[zulu9812]

Originally posted by zulu9812
did u check the rules of the user-made maps?

As I say, did you? A lot of maps change the rules, which might be crashing your game. The fact that it only happens when you play with these maps makes it very likely.

[thereaderrabbit]

here is one such game right before a crash. If I end the round it's all over for me

-Reader

[Willem]

Originally posted by thereaderrabbit
Nope, I never checked or played around with the rules at any point.

When I said I never modified the game, it was to refer to the fact that I've never attempted to alter the files associated with my CivIII installation.

As far as at least my ‘.bic’ file goes... I'm still not sure why it crashes. The map I made has no special rules and I didn't 'edit' the units/graphics.

-Reader

If you've created your own map, then you've modified the game rules. Just try making a different map, obviously the first one is screwed somehow.

[thereaderrabbit]

I've added a save of the a crashing map two posts up. The map is called "Bullseye" and I got it right from "http://www.civ3.com/maps.cfm". I don't understand why it crashes at the end of this turn.

Could someone try this map, and let me know if it crashes on their system too? Thanks.

-Reader