# Civilization IV keeps crashing



## Giddy (Feb 7, 2008)

I have recently installed Civ IV complete, after having unresolvable problems with Civ III. 

I have only played one game of Civ IV (Not yet able to finish it) but I find that it keeps crashing, so that even with the "auto save" every 4 turns, I have to try to save after every turn so as not to have to go back and do stuff again. I have not yet tried Warlords or BTS, which came with the pack, although they are installed. I have actually now reached a stage where it crashes every time I try to save. It says "Waiting for other civilizations", but there is no movement on the screen, and then after about 20 seconds the screen goes black and the computer reboots. I note also that since installing the game, my "Welcome" screen now wants me to click on my user icon to get the computer to finish booting. Previously, as my wife and I are the only two users and we both use the same user account, it used to finish booting automatically without having to click on the "user" icon. How do I get this back the way it was? I suspect that this is game related as the game automatically named me the same as my "user" account name without asking for a player name. I am not very computer literate (dreaded words!) so although I am sure that the answer to my problem is in this forum, I have not been able to identify it. 

Could someone with a bit a patience PLEASE give me a pointer as to what I shoud do to stop the game crashing after every turn.

I might add that I have run the utility on this site which confirmed that my computer is up to spec to run the game, and I got all green ticks on that for Civ IV. My computer is about a year old, and I run Windows XP home edition SP 2. Other details of my machine are:- Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.0GHz
Memory: 990MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 6150
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 6150
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0240&SUBSYS_81CD1043&REV_A2
Display Memory: 256.0 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 960 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0011.6921 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 12/5/2007 01:41:00, 5773568 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
VDD: n/a
Mini VDD: nv4_mini.sys
Mini VDD Date: 12/5/2007 01:41:00, 7435392 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-4100-11CF-FA68-C6A103C2CB35}
Vendor ID: 0x10DE
Device ID: 0x0240
SubSys ID: 0x81CD1043
Revision ID: 0x00A2

DVD/CD-ROM Drives
------------------------

Drive: D:
Model: SONY DVD RW AW-G170A
Driver: c:\windows\system32\drivers\cdrom.sys, 5.01.2600.2180 (English), 2/28/2006 12:00:00, 49536 bytes

I don't know what all the above means, but I copied what I believe are the relevant bits from the DxDiag.txt file. I can attach the whole file if required

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## Cardboard Box (Sep 4, 2007)

Hello

Hmmmm, try your other games out. One of my games, the elder scroll 4: oblivion made my computer go into the user accounts, even though I am the only one on the computer. 

I suspect that if the other games don't work as well, its a graphics driver problem. If so google around for graphics drivers untill you find the same driver as your card. If all your games don't work, then it can't just be civilizations 4 stuffing the computer up.


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## Giddy (Feb 7, 2008)

Hi,
I have updated my driver - I have version 169.21 for my nVidia GeForce 6150 card - the most up to date available according to the nVidia website.

I had Myst 3 Exile and the Sims 2 on my computer (Both now removed) and they played fine - no problems.

I have also tried disabeling my anti virus program, and shutting down all unnecessary applications running on the machine, with no change. 

The game seems to let me get to the middle of the 19th to early 20th century without trouble, and then suddenly the freeze, and on rebooting I get another one to five turns before another freeze and reboot.

Hows that for a nutty problem? - Hope there is a solution out there!!


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## Giddy (Feb 7, 2008)

I reported the error to Microsoft, and they came back with the following:-

"Manually decrease hardware accelleration for your video adaptor.

This procedure prevents the display device driver from programming the hardware incorrectly, but you might lose some display functionality and performance. Although you can increase the hardware acceleration settings to regain functionality and performance, these settings increase the chance that the issue will occur again. For maximum stability, leave hardware acceleration turned off. 

Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Display. 
Click the Settings tab, and then click Advanced. 
Click the Troubleshoot tab, move the Hardware Acceleration slider to None, and then clear the Enable Write Combing check box. 
Click OK, and then click OK. 
Note: This procedure prevents the display driver from programming the hardware incorrectly, but you may lose some display functionality and performance."

When I moved the slider completely to "None", Civ IV refused to load, but when I moved it two places to the left, the program loaded, and seemed to last a bit longer before freezing. Although this proceedure did not stop the computer freezing, is it possible that the answer to my problem lies somewhere here? Are there other adjustments that I can make?


HELP!!!


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## Giddy (Feb 7, 2008)

Somewhere, someone knows the answer to my conundrum - 

If you know who it is, please ask them to send me the secret!!


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## Giddy (Feb 7, 2008)

At last!!

I have been given the answer!

Someone suggested changing the parameters in "Civilization4.ini", and this has solved my problem. Oh Joy!


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

Someone beat me to it 

Just curious, what did you change in the file?


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## beepbeepheavy (Apr 22, 2008)

please let me in on the secret! i too have everything up to date and experience the crash after about 5 - 10 turns... it driving me crazy! please help...


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## beepbeepheavy (Apr 22, 2008)

would you mind telling me what you were going to tell Giddy?


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## jscb1 (Dec 20, 2004)

Whatever fixed it, please tell me too. I get the bloody thing to run for about 15 minutes before it first crashes. Then, when I reboot, the last few blue blobs on the Windows XP startup screen have hreen streaks in them. I can then play Civilization IV for about 5-10 minutes at a time between crashes and freezes.


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