CTP won't run in Win XP

[Scheherezade]

Hmm. I tried setting it to Windows 98 compatibility mode first thing; no dice. I tried all the other modes for the heck of it, same thing. Do I need to change the colours to only 256 and the screen resolution way down? I don't _remember_ the game looking THAT primitive, but I'm willing to try whatever it takes...

It would help if I even knew the _name_ of the video card I have or what drivers it has, but I tried looking it up and nothing actually says "Video Card: So-and-so brand" anywhere.
(Obviously it's not the sound card; 'cos the sound works just fine. Gotta be something to do with video.)

Sigh...

...Notorious

[J Bytheway]

If all else fails, to determine what video card you have you can open up the case and google for any promising-looking numbers you see on the graphics card itself.

[Scheherezade]

Erk. Not sure if I, especially with my total lack of technical expertise, want to rip open the guts of a brand-new computer. Tell ya what: If I post whatever paltry technical specs I _can_ find out, can anybody here make heads or tails of them? I mean, when I look it up on the Device Manager.

Okay, according to this, my "display adapter" is something called a VIA/S3G UniChrome IGP. Is that a card, or a driver? Well, I guess it's the card. You know, I'm not _stupid_ or anything, but it would help me figure out what my computer has in it a _lot_ easier if they would flipping CALL it a Video Card. I mean, the heck is a "display adapter"? Do computer components feel they need to be "politically correct" these days as well, or something? :P
("Oh, no, I'm not a BUS port. I'm a _Public Transportation_" port." (snicker))
I make and run my own websites, I'm not _completely_ technically inept; you tell me it's a video card and then I'll know where to find out what kind of video card I have. But "display adapter"? Sheesh.

Anyway, anybody know if that kind of...video card, I _think_, is compatible with CTP, or where I can look such information up? I'd Google it, but I'm not sure how to even _phrase_ the question...

Sorry to be bugging you guys here like crazy about this. Normally I'd also try at the Home of the Underdogs forum; they have all _kinds_ of threads about "(Older Game) won't work in XP, help!" and you can even download Windows 95 emulators from there and everything, BUT, their forum has been down for oh, approximately...forever. That's why I'm bothering you guys. I apologise if I'm being annoying.

...Notorious

[Grandpa Troll]

your not annoying we are here to help..

Gramps

[J Bytheway]

Originally posted by Scheherezade
Okay, according to this, my "display adapter" is something called a VIA/S3G UniChrome IGP. Is that a card, or a driver?

I think that's probably a card. The reason they are called display adapters rather than video cards is, at least in part, because some of them aren't cards at all (e.g. those built into motherboards).

[Scheherezade]

Okay...so that's my video card, or the equivalent thereof, is what you're saying. So...any idea how I can find out whether or not this is compatible with CTP--I mean, at _all_, even with different drivers? I mean, I don't think I'll find much on Google (or anywhere else) considering that CTP is sort of an out-of-print, semi-obscure game; I doubt anybody has really done that much research on it, that it's been _tested_ with that many different cards and other types of computer configurations. When I typed in "Call to Power" + XP the only thing that came up...was this forum.

Any chance it could be something else instead, by the way? I'm trying to think of what else would affect this. If you can think of any other part of the computer that would cause the game to install just fine, play the movies, but only play the _sound_ of the game instead of the picture, let me know. I doubt it's anything to do with the processor being too fast or too slow, and the CD-ROM drive works fine for _other_ games (including, oddly enough, Civ 2...)
That's what gets me, with this new computer--some of my older stuff, including even Civ _1_, will work just fine, but the newer stuff that has movies and realistic sounds and at least somewhat 3Dish graphics...won't. You'd expect it to be the other way around...

Anyway, glad to hear I'm not annoying you guys...yet. One way or another, we WILL get to the bottom of this!...I hope. :P
(Of course, "the bottom of this" could be that the game simply WON'T play on this computer, ever, at all, unless I majorly change its actual hardware. But as long as I _find out_ for sure either way, I'll count that as a useful answer.)

Shutting up finally...

...Notorious

[J Bytheway]

Here is indeed basically the only place where CTP is discussed, and I'm fairly sure this particular problem has never been mentioned, so I think you're exploring new territory.

Another possible culprit is something DirectX-related (in combination with other factors, presumably, since people with up to date DirectX are able to play), but since it's essentially impossible to downgrade one's DirectX version, that would be difficult to determine.

[Scheherezade]

Huh. I seem to be really _good_ at having problems with software that nobody else has ever had, or even thought of. One of these computer places oughta hire me as a beta-tester one of these days... (This is not the first time I've had a "unique" problem with something--it happens to me all the TIME...)

Well..I downloaded the latest version of Direct X, and that didn't fix anything. I am still thinking it might be something to do with the video card or drivers. The box for CTP says that you need your whole computer system to be _100%_ Windows 95/98/NT-compatible--including the drivers for the CD-ROM drive, sound card, video card and input devices. _Man_, that's a lot of things to check, a LOT of things that could be wrong! It'd be just my luck that my new computer just happens to have _everything_ not compatible with Windows 98, at the hardware level.

I tried looking up the website for the manufacturer of my video card, and it seems they do have Windows 98 drivers for it there...BUT...is that going to screw up the rest of my computer? How do I know which one is the exact one for _my_ exact, specific, video card, and will it make _everything_ run in Windows 98 mode, visually, take over the computer, or crash horribly when it meets up with the Windows XP everything else and toast this brand new machine? How can I uninstall it? Is there some way I can have the Windows 98 drivers SEPERATELY, so that they can be used when needed, and not just save _over_ the Windows XP stuff? And last but not least, will this driver even WORK with my particular sound card?

They just don't give you enough _information_. I'm not gonna download programs with scary names full of weird numbers, programs that I don't even understand, and install them on _my_ system without knowing exactly what they do! Nuh-UH!

This is just too scary...it's way too technical to go through for just one game. I might as well give up. Because I can't do this myself, and there is NO WAY I'm going to risk frying my computer. I would have _no_ idea how to get the old drivers back. None.

Sigh...

...Notorious

[kstolzy]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. It must be frustrating to know that others run CTP on XP without any problems. I've been tracking the thread hoping that someone could suggest a solution. I still use Window's '98 and cannot speak from experience about XP.

I do know that you don't want to use Windows '98 drivers with XP. The drivers are written for the operating system. You want the latest (most recent) drivers for XP. You need not fear "frying" your computer with the wrong drivers, but it could cripple the system (meaning you could only get it to run in safe mode) until the proper drivers are installed.

XP is not mentioned on the CTP box because it didn't exist when CTP was released.

Is there any chance that the company who built the computer could help you?

While it's highly unlikely that you could harm the hardware with any kind of software (drivers included), I can appreciate not wanting to risk it if you're not sure of what you're doing.

It's a tribute to CTP that you have tried so hard.

Keith

[Scheherezade]

Well, I was already planning on asking my brother next time he comes over here, about "Can this video card possibly be compatible with Windows 98 games, ever?", stuff like that. As for the latest drivers...I seem to _have_ them, and it's doing no good. It's gotta be the card, but since (a) this computer is brand new and (b) I consider taking out actual hardware components to be a Last Resort that should only be done for Important Reasons (such as: the hardware is broken), I guess I'll just never get to play this game again. Sigh.

And it's the ONLY Civ game that lets you go into the _future_, for real, and have visible, useable, practical Future Techs as well!
Didja know, I am using this screen name because it's the name I used when I played the best Civ game I've ever had? Persians, female leader, default name....GUESS which game! Yep. I built _all_ the wonders, had HUGE totally clean advanced cities, my citizens were so happy they were partying _every turn_ and whenever I took over an enemy city, _they_ started partying the very next turn! My screen name...is from the game I can't play anymore. Sigh again...

In other news, Civ 3 _and_ Alpha Centauri won't work on this new computer either. It's the first two games for me, and that's it. Lucky me, to have a computer that's just so _very_ up to date... (rolls eyes)

Anyway, thanks for trying to help, you guys. I appreciate it.

...Notorious

[Grandpa Troll]

hang in there we may find an answer yet

your bro may be able to shed light

[Casey_Val]

Well, I've got Win XP with SP1 only and CTP in both English and Italian Versions.
I've installed the English one that is 1.0 or 1.1, cant remember, but, it works and quite good, I've installed Beta map editor and it works as well, but when i've installed the patch 1.2 and apolyton pack then it did the same of you, on the load screen with play etc it comes back to the desktop, it might be a patch problem or an incompatibilty problem, you could try to install it again and firstly load it without any mods or patches, then if something well or bad try to install one thing at a time, that's my strategy to find the problem... it works 80% of times....

[Reservoir Duck]

Under Winxp my game didn't work. Nothing happened when I ran the game. In taskmanager no file was running and no blinks or anything on the screen just nothing at all.

Tried the compatability for the .exe file suggested here and game worked immediately so thanks to the people who suggested this.

[Grandpa Troll]

we be one big happy family with a a firm but fair us vs HIM commitment to succeed



Gramps

[Biggles]

If your copy of XP is registered with Microsoft and you click on automatic updates, it will automatically update your video card with the latest MS aproved driver.

Otherwise you can go to the MS update site and do it manually. The site will have already searched your computer and knows exactly what you have.....scary.