Topic: Civilization IV

[Dracho]

The patch has been released:

Update Civilization IV to version 1.09 with this patch.

Changes:

Increased cost of Apollo Program.
Increased SS parts cost.
Animal Husbandry reveals Horses.
Tweaked Rifling, Chemistry, Steel, and Railroad tech costs.
Increased late-game tech costs.
Can now add two specialists in size 1 city with Mercantilism.
Final score is now modified by difficulty level.
Speed up load times.
Global performance enhancements.
Added:

Include WB map size in the description field.
Save login name.
Added password encryption.
Added regenerate Map Button to World builder Map Mode.
Checkbox for using low resolution textures.
More logging for init failure.
Minspec / video memory checking.
Added ability to change to and from fullscreen while in-game.
Holding "shift" during startup will clean out the cache.
Improved bink playback, added ini options.
Fixes:

ATI issue Failed to Init Renderer Fixed.
Multiplayer Lobby list jump problem and lobby crash fixed.
Fixed war weariness calculation bug.
Units maintain their name when upgraded.
Fixed Gold-for-Gold diplo exploit.
Fixed no research choice overflow exploit.
Fix for voice initialization crash.
Fix addressing takeover AI and retirement OOS.
Fixed issue with diplomacy text being always used in its first form in the translator.
Popups, screens, and diplomacy properly cleared when exiting from main menu.
Games protected by admin passwords (only) cannot be loaded if the version is different from the one that created the save.
Fixed bug where player could not offer any deal to other human in PBEM/Hotseat.
Sorting by date on domestic advisor now works.
Fixed bug where settlers could not move if the strategy layer was selected.
Fixed Ironworks.
Fixed AI units not obeying open borders rules on declaration of war.
Fixed bug that prevent placing of units in world-builder.
Fixed bug that prevented gifting of units to a human player.
Stack attack infinite loop fixed.
Civic screen update fix (wasn’t showing the right maintenance and anarchy values).
ctrl-g crash fix, optimized city bar art.
Fixed right-click menu crash.
Intro movie crashing problems.

[Commander La'ra]

What issue did you have?

Something about my ATI card the game didn't like.  Tried a long, involved fix that didn't work, then tried the shorter alternative fix and the game started running...much to the dismay of anyone who actually likes to, you know, talk to me.

[Dash Jones]

What was the shorter alternative fix?

[Lieutenant_Q]

A lot of Star Trek fans play Civ, and visa versa.  I got my hands on a mod for C3C, that was Birth of the Federation.  Playable races were Federation (Earth), Klingon, Romulan, Borg, Domninion, Cardassian, Ferengi and Q.  Game could start in several eras, that would determine what minor races were involved.  The only start i played in depth was the 2063 start, which was default.  Was kinda wierd to encounter Q in 2085, and the Bajorans in 2156.  The creators of the mod did find a way to keep the Borg and the Dominion in their respective quadrants until the TNG era though.  Parts of the game weren't fleshed out perfectly, but the game did run quite well, and was surprisingly balanced, since it was mostly naval actions anyway.

Unless the naval rules get a serious make over, I don't expect to see a good Star Trek mod for Civ IV.  Without the ability to bombard planets it just wouldn't make a good Star Trek game. 

[FPF-SCM_TraceyG_XC]

Excellent game... my only gripe with it was that, like CivIII, you could not modify terrain as you could in CivII (when Explosives was researched).

But... CivIV is much more moddable... alas, they wrote the damn thing in Python... 

Have already started to mod the game... first thing I did was change the terrin production back to CivII numbers, lol (so desert and mountains would produce something again)... and, removed the obsolence on Obelisks and Monasteries (this just seemed silly really, especially since Stonhenge gives you a free Obelisk in every city so you cant actually build any, and they all disappear once it becomes obsolete).

They are also releasing a SDK for CivIV in early 2006... and when they do, I can finally have modifiable terrain back again (aka Call to Power style).

[CaptStumpy]

Anyone else having CTD problems after they are deep in-game? Seems like my comp gets overloaded *cusses and gets ready to buy more ram*.

Yes. Having some annoying CTDs, hangs and graphics corruptions. Appears to be related to my Nvida GeForce card.

Have yet to be able to get through a game.

[J. Carney]

Anyone else having CTD problems after they are deep in-game? Seems like my comp gets overloaded *cusses and gets ready to buy more ram*.

Yes. Having some annoying CTDs, hangs and graphics corruptions. Appears to be related to my Nvida GeForce card.

Have yet to be able to get through a game.

I've got a top-end ATI 9600 card myself... so we know it's not a brand-specific problem.

[FPF-SCM_TraceyG_XC]

I've got a nVidia 6600GT and have on occasion noticed graphic corruption but only after the game has been running for awhile. Also, I've noticed the game begins to get slower and slower after awhile, this appears to be because the game is a huge memory hog and even with 1GB of RAM, its eventually starts using virtual memory on the hard drive. I think the memory useage is why the game crashes after an extended period. Havent had it crash on me yet though.

[Commander La'ra]

What was the shorter alternative fix?

Downloading this little unpacker thingee that would unzip some of the graphics files for you.

Stupid me tried the long-ass one that involved deleting my graphics card drivers and reinstalling them first.

[Dash Jones]

Could you give me a link to that?

Oh, and for the one that listed that ST mod for Civ3, if you have a link to that it would be appreciated as well!

[Lieutenant_Q]

The Star Trek mod is for Civilization III Conquests.  I didn't know that until AFTER I had downloaded (conquests couldn't even install on my computer), I was able to get it going on my brother's computer.  I found the eras went by far too fast...seems like I just got that NX class and now it wants me to build Constitutions.

Link is http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=119970

[Commander La'ra]

Could you give me a link to that?

Not a prob.  This is the issue where you get that 'failed to initialize renderer' message.  There's two solutions on the page:  The first is the first one I tries and took a long time and didn't work.  The second, down at the bottom, took maybe three minutes and got the game running...

Civilization IV ATI Fix

[Dash Jones]

Thanks for the fix.

Hmm, only for Civ III conquests...

I only have the original Civ III, mayhaps I'll need to look for Conquests if I can find it anywhere.  Can't get the forum link to load up...but will keep trying.

[Dash Jones]

I got the link to load up for the forums.  Thanks.

[FPF-SCM_TraceyG_XC]

Has anyone tried modding this game yet themselves by editing the XML files, or added in someone else's mod? (from Apolyton or CivFanatics).

I've tried out the Blue Marble Mod, this replaces the terrain textures with NASA satellite images to make them look more realistic. It looks pretty good. 

[Lieutenant_Q]

I haven't done much with the mods yet.  I given thought to writing my own WWII mod, but I want to wait until I completely understand XML.  I am not a coder and will never profess to being such.  I am a little miffed about the shift from the ease of Modding with Civ III to what they have now.  That being said, I have installed the patch from Harkonnen, and I have to say that the game runs much more smoothly than it did before.  I hope that the developers will consider incorporating his fix into the game, I think it needs it for stability issues, especially on lower end machines.

[SkyFlyer]

I'd give it an 8.5/10


It was a b*tch to get running on my computer (ATI video card... but the patch fixed it).

Also, that thing has a huge memory leak...


If I play a game, I usually have to reboot at least twice to finish it.

Once I get to around 1800AD, the game is taking up 750mb of memory (ram and virtual).

They really need to fix that.... considering I only have 512mb of ram.

[Lieutenant_Q]

If I play a game, I usually have to reboot at least twice to finish it.

Once I get to around 1800AD, the game is taking up 750mb of memory (ram and virtual).

They really need to fix that.... considering I only have 512mb of ram.

Try the Harkonnen patch, I have 386 mb RAM, 850 Mhz Processor, with 128 MB of Video Memory and the game runs very smooth up til about 1990ish.  Even on a Large Map.  I have yet to try a Huge map yet, that may be my next game.

You can find the Harkonnen Patch at: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=146309

[SkyFlyer]

If I play a game, I usually have to reboot at least twice to finish it.

Once I get to around 1800AD, the game is taking up 750mb of memory (ram and virtual).

They really need to fix that.... considering I only have 512mb of ram.

Try the Harkonnen patch, I have 386 mb RAM, 850 Mhz Processor, with 128 MB of Video Memory and the game runs very smooth up til about 1990ish.  Even on a Large Map.  I have yet to try a Huge map yet, that may be my next game.

You can find the Harkonnen Patch at: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=146309

Thanks... I'll give her a go this weekend.

[Lieutenant_Q]

well, I have to say that the huge map was an utter failure, but considering that my computer is below the minimum specs, I'm not complaining too much.  Large seems to be about as big as I can handle.  It ran fine until I uncovered half the map in my attempt to circumnavigate, then it started to bog down.