Help! Civ won't run

Knecht · September 17, 2001, 21:04

I have an odd problem. Hope someone can help me.
Last weekend my memory went south and, although I have replaced it and everything seems fine now, it apparently wrote some naughty code to my harddrive and now CivII won't open. There doesn't seem to be an uninstall utility for CivII and it doesn't show up in Add/Remove Programs so I just deleted the whole thing and reinstalled. Still wouldn't run. I did the same thing again but reinstalled it to my backup harddrive and still couldn't get it to run. Short of reformatting, I can't think of anything else to do. Anyone know where some sneaky line might be buried in Windows/System or some other sub-basement that might be causing this? Thanks in advance for any input.

Gramphos · September 17, 2001, 21:30

Version of Civ?

Knecht · September 17, 2001, 21:54

I don't really know. I can't find any edition or build number anyplace and I gave the manual away. I think it must be the original version though; I've had it for years. It isn't multiplayer and it isn't gold, if that helps.

Gramphos · September 17, 2001, 22:00

Try to get the 2.42 patch. It should be somewhere on this site.

Also make sure that you reinstall the Video for Windows, and WinG (can be found on the CD).

If that doesn't help: Have you made any changes to the hardware configuration?

Knecht · September 17, 2001, 22:55

Tried the patch and reinstalling WinG and vfw but it's still hanging. Sometimes it just locks up and lets me back out through control/alt/del and the close program dialogue but half the time it locks up completely and I have to reset. When I try to reinstall CivII, it's giving me a weird error message, something about the autorun.exe module.
Not sure what you mean by changing the hardware configuration but as far as I know I haven't done anything but put a new stick of memory in.

Cedric Greene · September 18, 2001, 07:13

Might be a registry problem, have you tried installing it into a different directory? Doesn't make a lot of sense but this has helped a few people.

Gramphos · September 18, 2001, 09:30

Yo can try to rename or move the civ.ini file, but I don't know if it can help.

Lefty Scaevola · September 18, 2001, 10:33

Reinstalling winG would have been my bet, but you have already tried that. Maybe the opening vido is crashing because of a missing or corrupted driver, try reinstlling the lastest indeo drivers.

Knecht · September 18, 2001, 10:40

Tried deleting and reinstalling on my second partition with a new folder name (e:/civ/civ2) and got what I would call mixed results. The first time I tried opening it, it seemed like nothing was happening but at least it didn't lockup. I was distracted by a phone call and when I came back it had (after several minutes apparently) gotten around to opening Civ. I got the language dialogue and the herald dialogue and after another long hesitation was allowed to go in and start a game. Went all the way through choosing preferences, etc., was told I had discovered mining and roads and so forth, and then it just stopped at the logo screen and would go no further. Backed out finally through the close program dialogue and then windows crashed. When I got back up and tried again, it was locking up just like the bad old days. In re the civ.ini file, I did think of deleting it along with the mps folder before reinstalling but it never made any difference (I have looked in it and everything seems okay). I also considered a registry problem but I'm not really certified to go in there without a map, native bearers and a great white hunter. Guess it's reformat time. Bummer.

Gramphos · September 18, 2001, 11:02

IIRC Civ2 only requires Windows 3.1, and therefor has no settings in the registry. The only registry problems that could be are if the WinG and or Video for Windows don't work.

Knecht · September 18, 2001, 19:08

Well, I think I've IDed the problem (though I remain unable to fix it). I located and deleted all of the WinG files in Windows/System (which, in terms of bytes, seemed okay) and reinstalled WinG. During the reinstallation I got a General Protection Fault in the WINGSET.EXE module. Though I remain ignorant of what this mysterious program does, I am fairly convinced that it's the source of my trouble. At this point, I deleted Civ, civ.ini, and all the WinG files and reinstalled Win98. I knew this wouldn't help but I did it anyway because that's just the kind of guy I am. I reinstalled CivII and got the same GPF in wingset.exe. Any ideas on fixing this (short of reformatting)?

Knecht · September 22, 2001, 15:15

Finally reformatted and reinstalled Civ II. Still won't run. Installed it from the same disk on my neighbors system - works great. Computers @##$%&*!!!!!!

Cedric Greene · September 22, 2001, 19:13

Since you've reformatted do the following:
Use the Windows Update feature (if it's available) and get all critical and compatability updates.
Go to www.ligos.com and download the latest Indeo video drivers and codecs.
Try to install WinG again.
Install Civ 2, say no when it asks to install the Indeo drivers.
Does it work now?

Knecht · September 23, 2001, 11:02

Well, I tried everything you suggested but it's just spooks. You can't get rid of spooks.
You know, after I reformatted, Civ II installed with no errors or GPFs (except that it wouldn't run, of course). When I reinstalled this time (after the MS and Indeo update and after deleting Civ and civ.ini and the WinG files) I got a GPF in wingset.exe and in vfwsetup.exe as well (never got that one before). Anyway, thanks for trying.
It's just spooks. You can't get rid of spooks.

Knecht · September 23, 2001, 14:27

Fixed it.

I remembered fixing something else this way a couple of years ago:

Device manager/CDRom properties/Settings/turn off Direct Memory Access (uncheck DMA).
Easy (when you know how).

But I still believe in spooks.