Need Help On PTW Will not load

UniSage · January 1, 2003, 12:28

I Installed PTW every thing went fine until i click on the play button..All I get is a pointer with a small disk on it,just spins around...It will not load up to the main screen ..Any Suggestion will be great...Oh I run windows 98 and have Nvidia Geforce4 MX420 my pc is compaq 7470 128mb ram and 20gb...Just to let you know I dont have no problem running Civiliation 3..And I also updated the patch for ptw and still get the same thing...

Sheik · January 1, 2003, 13:45

I would say that you either have a pirated version of the game (this is because a copy of PTW will install but not play) or you have problems with the protection on the disk. I think the protection system is Securom and that shouldn't create the problems.

The best thing you can do is e-mail infogrames tech support and they will respond shortly. They are usually very prompt in their replies.

chairmanmeow · January 1, 2003, 17:43

I had a similar problem. I uninstalled both Civ 3 and PtW and reinstalled them, and the problem went away for a while, but then came back. I tried putting the CDs in my CD burner instead of the regular CD drive, and afterwards, everything worked fine. I think my CD drive may be going bad.

Raion · January 2, 2003, 13:39

I had a CD from SamSung that did not read a game CD. The other better CD drive did.

Head is probably not lined-up, or needs cleaning.

Jahi · January 2, 2003, 17:02

i've had problems getting my combo dvd/cdrw to read the PTW disk to install or launch the game. i went out and found a no cd patch and now it works just great.

UniSage · January 3, 2003, 19:32

Sheik I dont think it is a priate version since it cost me 29.00$..And The way to find out is through Infogrames if it is..Which I doubt..I do have a cdrw burner which my system was clean last month..But Once in awhile the game will connect to the main screen after 30 trys <<<

alva · January 3, 2003, 23:53

Maybe this will help
http://www.ina-support.com/faq/civ3question_pc.asp

UniSage · January 4, 2003, 11:32

Thanks all for your Help

I email Infogrames tech support..I hope I can get going on the PTW...Cant wait to join and play on line..Let you all know if they can help me or not...Again thanks.Now i wait for Infogrames

Jahi · January 4, 2003, 17:00

k, here is what I have to do when running the game with the CD. if it just spins and spins I eject the disk manually(with a paperclip), put the disk back in, and relaunch it again until it works.

the other method i've gotten working was to wack the cdrom so that it de-stabilizes the cd spinning so the drive has to slow down and can then spin back up. that also sometimes works (and is the only way I can install the game too)

disregard my previous comments, that seems to be taboo around here (not that i blame them at all). but the suggest fix wont work for me either. It completely does not address my problem. I’d explain it but I know how to get around my problems and am quite happy with my solutions.

exciting huh?

UniSage · January 4, 2003, 18:15

I tried the Sledge hammer on it,but the only thing I still got was that blasted pointer with the disk on it

.Im just waiting for infogrames to email me back

If they cant reslove this problem..Well the store going to give me my money back..

Jahi · January 5, 2003, 00:20

lemmie know what you hear, i'll be interested to see the responce.

Hockeyyyyyyy · January 5, 2003, 06:02

It may be beacuse when the game wuz installed a file wasn't read right, but wuz still read so it wuz put on. Just uninstall both Civ 3 and PTW and then reinstall them.

UniSage · January 5, 2003, 09:15

Hmmmm I Unistalled I reinstalled.I reformat my hard drive x2..I took things off my pc to the bear min.I spent to many Hours trying to get PTW to work:

I think Infogrames knew they had this problem,along with many others not to mention...I should ask them to pay me for the troubles I spent trying to get there game to work

Jahi · January 5, 2003, 15:07

buy a cheapo cdrom for 40$ and put it in the system. otherwise, PM me and we can work on it offline. since i've been a civ freak since civ I i need my civ fix and can understand needing it

Raion · January 5, 2003, 17:14

Don't know what else to tell you. I have had an old Creative 4 year old CD that works better than a newer CD drive. Cheap is how they make them, and I also had a newer one that I took out, as the spin-up time and the noise was unbearable. I bought another $50 CD from Acer that does work, even in Ultra DMA mode. I can use my old CD from Creative. I can use the Read/Write CD drive, but some CD drives are just sh*t.
Plus, clean the CD of the game. Sometimes even a new CD has to be cleaned. Check your mode in your Setup of the computer, if not Auto Mode, then select the mode that will work something like PIO-4 mode or something.

I usually found out that it is the CD drive for some reason, and unless the disk is bad to begin with (and they do make bad CD's), you may have to return it or get another CD of the game. Mine works fine.

But, and I did not do anything about it, The Limited Edition copy of Civ III had marks on the CD when I first bought it. I still have it, as I think it works, but I bought the cheaper version of the game, so I have two copies.
I am just that way.

Old LP records use to be the same way, no matter what I did, some just had scratches on it from the factory.

The quality, I think, has gone down, since maybe the demand is up.

on CD's that is.

Oh, well!!