Game unplayable on reaching the Modern Era

GeneralTacticus · April 2, 2002, 06:30

Whenever I enter the Modern Era in any of my games and save the game, it won't load

. It just sits for ages on 57% and when I press Ctrl+Alt+Del it says 'not responding'. Does anyone know what to do about this?

steelehc · April 2, 2002, 06:37

How long is ages? Sometimes it takes me 2/3 minutes to load. Let it wait for a while.

Steele

Thrawn05 · April 2, 2002, 09:22

Quote:

Originally posted by GeneralTacticus
Whenever I enter the Modern Era in any of my games and save the game, it won't load

. It just sits for ages on 57% and when I press Ctrl+Alt+Del it says 'not responding'. Does anyone know what to do about this?

What are you system spec? That would help better understand your problem.

Raion · April 2, 2002, 16:16

Got the lastet patch at www.Civ3.com

May have something to do with it.

Version 1.17f

Also, its a big game to load up in the modern age.

Dis · April 2, 2002, 16:27

you're not missing much

GeneralTacticus · April 2, 2002, 18:48

Well, I can't actually say how long the game sits for, but when I say 'ages', I meen the f*cking thing DOESN'T LOAD. The loading period takes longer and longer as I go further into the game, until it just stops in the Modern Age. I have the V1.17f Patch, so no having it is probably not the problem. How do I actually find out the system specs? I know I have Windows '98, how do I find out anything else?

Capt Dizle · April 2, 2002, 19:01

Click on Start, then Run, type in dxdiag and then start writing down stuff. Sytem info, sound and display. Type this in notepad (start, accessories, notepad) and title it system info and place in My Documents in a folder called system info.

Paste it here. While you are in dxdiag, look at everything and see if there are errors. Post them here if you like and someone can probably help you.

Civ3's minimum specs are too low. As far as I am concerned its a pig and should be uninstalled, but take care when you do because it leaves crap all over the place.

I think you should buy SMAC and join the elite of TBS hardcore gamers.

Capt Dizle · April 2, 2002, 19:03

One thing you can do is shut down everything running in the background memory. Ctrl-Alt-Delete and end task everything but explorer and systray.

That might help but if I were you I would UNINSTALL THIS PIG

GeneralTacticus · April 2, 2002, 19:15

Well, the info I got was:
OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 98 (build 2222)
PROCESSOR: Intel Pentium III, ~800MHz
MEMORY: 128MB RAM
PAGE FILE: 86MB used, 1834MB available
DirectX Version: Version 8.0 (4.08.00.0400)

Quote:

I think you should buy SMAC and join the elite of TBS hardcore gamers.

I already have SMACX, and I love it, but I also have Civ 3, and I like playing that too.

star mouse · April 2, 2002, 19:26

Quote:

Originally posted by GeneralTacticus
MEMORY: 128MB RAM

Although it's not needed for CIV3, you might want to spend a little money to get some more RAM. For less than you spent on CIV3, you could get another 128 to 256 Mb of memory and make your system run a bit faster.

Thrawn05 · April 2, 2002, 19:50

Quote:

Originally posted by GeneralTacticus
Well, the info I got was:
OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 98 (build 2222)
PROCESSOR: Intel Pentium III, ~800MHz
MEMORY: 128MB RAM
PAGE FILE: 86MB used, 1834MB available
DirectX Version: Version 8.0 (4.08.00.0400)

You sure do meat the minimum requirements. Make sure you are not running any other program, even the ones that are the system tray.

Also, are you able to load save game files in other games? If there is a problem with other games, your HD or somthing in between is currupt.

Capt Dizle · April 2, 2002, 19:58

Its probably just the game. Adding another stick of ram may not fix it.

Try to send the file to someone and see if they can load it.

Coracle · April 2, 2002, 22:43

Quote:

Originally posted by jimmytrick
One thing you can do is shut down everything running in the background memory. Ctrl-Alt-Delete and end task everything but explorer and systray.

That might help but if I were you I would UNINSTALL THIS PIG

I guess we all keep hoping Firaxis will eventually get it right.

The reality is they will try to sell us a new edition with minimal improvements.

reefer addict · April 2, 2002, 23:03

im playing on my wifes piece of sheep comp with 64k. never had a problem loading but the bigger the map, the longer the wait

GeneralTacticus · April 2, 2002, 23:30

Quote:

Also, are you able to load save game files in other games? If there is a problem with other games, your HD or somthing in between is currupt.

No problem loading saves from other games,or even from Civ 3 before the Modern Era. Here are the twi Modern saves I have.

Grey Knight · April 2, 2002, 23:41

I tried opening the files, however I got an error which typically comes from using an edited BIC file. What mod are you using?!?

FWIW, "slower and slower" sounds like you're just creating bigger and bigger files, that's all. Try a defrag, thay may help things if you are running out of RAM to load the entire game file and are swapping to HDD (aka using virtual memory).

Cheers,
Shawn

GeneralTacticus · April 3, 2002, 00:30

The .bic file I was using wasn't downloaded, it was just built on the basis of 'hmmm, think I'll change this' over time. Actually I lost it recently, and I can't remember all the changes I made, but I made the ones I could remember in a new file. Here it is.

Raion · April 3, 2002, 04:20

Ah, somewhere along the way, I think someone said that the game can be broken by changing that file too much.

But then, if one is changing it while playing the game, it will not work.

One Civ3mod.bic file for the entire game, is what they said.

Otherwise, the game may be corrupted by changing the *.bic file during the playing of the game.

I do not know if you did that or not.

GeneralTacticus · April 3, 2002, 04:47

Unfortunately, I did edit the .bic file during the game. Actually I never heard you shouldn't. I shall remember that. Anyway, though, it seems a very odd way for the game to be corrupted. The problem didn't kick in till the Modern Era, and was specific to it. It didn't tell me the save was corrupted either.

Capt Dizle · April 3, 2002, 11:25

Well, at least we got to the root of the problem.

Carver · April 3, 2002, 11:59

Quote:

Originally posted by reefer addict
im playing on my wifes piece of sheep comp with 64k. never had a problem loading but the bigger the map, the longer the wait

What's that? A Commodore 64 running Civ3? Now, those are low system requirements.

reefer addict · April 3, 2002, 12:27

Quote:

Originally posted by Carver

What's that? A Commodore 64 running Civ3? Now, those are low system requirements.

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 98 (4.10, Build 1998)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
Processor: Intel Celeron, MMX, ~400MHz
Memory: 64MB RAM
Page File: 52MB used, 1595MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 8.0 (4.08.00.0400) ive actually finished mp games of civ2 in a day with this pig if weed wasnt more expensive per ounce than gold i would probally be using some kinda supercomputer but......at least civ3 runs well

Carver · April 3, 2002, 12:35

Quote:

Originally posted by reefer addict

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 98 (4.10, Build 1998)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
Processor: Intel Celeron, MMX, ~400MHz
Memory: 64MB RAM
Page File: 52MB used, 1595MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 8.0 (4.08.00.0400) ive actually finished mp games of civ2 in a day with this pig if weed wasnt more expensive per ounce than gold i would probally be using some kinda supercomputer but......at least civ3 runs well

Was that for my benefit? Apparently, you meant to say 64MB, not 64k. Chow.

Mongoose · April 3, 2002, 13:54

Quote:

Originally posted by Carver

Was that for my benefit? Apparently, you meant to say 64MB, not 64k. Chow.

Chow? Or did you mean Ciao?

Raion · April 3, 2002, 14:33

Sorry, I meant that the saved game would be corrupted.

Not the game itself, because the saved game would have been saved with a different *.bic file in use, so when the new *.bic file is used, the main game might not know what to do with it.

So, if the same *.bic file is used, then the game should still play.

Well, that's what they said somewhere here in this maze.

Number Four · April 3, 2002, 16:25

jt: you sure are helpful for being so bitter about this game. You are an interesting participant here. You hate the game, but post nearly every day. You seem to want everyone to follow your lead, but here you are offering TRULY HELPFUL advice. Enigmatic.

Good luck with whatever game it is you play.

No offense intended here, but would you better off lurking around the shelves at your local software dealer encouraging shoppers not to buy Civ3, than trying to convert people away from a game they already have?

*****

I bought Civ3 last week and played one game with a disappointing ending (domination victory) and am in the middle of my second. I really enjoy it, but am admittedly, not a hard-core gamer. I think my favorite thing about it is the resources- that is a great addition.

Thanks to ALL of you who are answering the questions posted here. I am learning by reading.

-#4

GeneralTacticus · April 3, 2002, 20:50

Quote:

Not the game itself, because the saved game would have been saved with a different *.bic file in use, so when the new *.bic file is used, the main game might not know what to do with it.

I knew what you meant, I was talking about the save game too. I'm just saying it seems a very strange way for it to be corrupted.

Coracle · April 3, 2002, 20:59

What happens to me near and about the Modern era is the following, and it is so annoying it may cause be to uninstall the game.

A unit just continues to repeat over and over a command; it doesn't end the command and stop so I can go on to the next unit. It just sort of hangs there as I wait and wait for it to stop and I can move on.

Eventually, after MINUTES, it may stop, or, I ignore it and go to an Advisor or something else. In worst case scenarios I have to Save and reload the game.

All this drags out the tedium of the Modern era far too much.