Microprose Problem FAQ
George
Microprose sent this to me. Thought I would pass it on.
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Due to the overwhelming amount of email requests that we are receiving hourly,
we compiled the following Civ2 suggestions in a form of a FAQ. Reading
individual messages and replying to them would take several weeks to
accomplish, that's why we decided to help you quickly with this FAQ. The
information below should solve most or all of your problems, however if you
feel you need additional help, please send us a message with the subject line
reading: ADDITIONAL Civ2 Help. Thank you for purchasing Civilization 2, we
hope you're enjoying the game.
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Civilization II -- Frequently Asked Questions (24-Apr-96)
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Q: Where can I get the latest patch for Civ2?
A: The latest patch is now available for download. If you're having
problems and you haven't downloaded the latest patch yet, DO IT! The patch
can be found on our ftp site (ftp.microprose.com, under "new versions"), our
web site (www.microprose.com, under CivII, "latest"), or on Compuserve or
AOL. It can also be downloaded from our bbs (510-522-8909) under the
filename, PATCH109.ZIP.
Q1: I can't hear music, even though the CD is in the drive.
Q2: When I select "Pick Music", it tells me this option is not
available unless the CD is in the drive, but it -is- in the drive.
A: The music in the game is straight redbook CD audio. This means that
you can put the Civ2 CD into any CD player, and the music should play just
like any regular music CD (except for track 1). In order to hear the CD audio
music, you must have the following:
1) The Civ2 CD in the CD drive.
2) The proper (and up-to-date) Windows MCI CD audio drivers for
your soundcard loaded.
3) A CD audio cable connecting your CD drive to your soundcard.
This last is part of the standard system configuration and is probably
present unless you installed your sound card or CDROM drive yourself.
If these conditions are satisfied, the music will play. If you do not have
recent soundcard drivers, you should contact your soundcard
manufacturer for an update. Also, there have been reports of other CD programs
(e.g. Microsoft FlexiCD) causing a conflict with the game. In this case,
disabling these other programs should fix the problem.
If you're having problems w/ the music, you may want to check if you can
play a regular audio CD on your CDROM drive. Once you can do that, you
should be able to hear music with Civ2.
Q: I am getting a "Page Fault" error.
A: Make sure you have the latest driver for your video card.
Otherwise, follow the instructions for GPFs, below.
Q1: I am getting a lot of GPFs in the game.
Q2: I am getting "SMEDS Application Errors" or "PORTALLOCFAILED"
messages.
A: There are several possible causes of this problem:
1) The initially shipped version of Civilization II turns out to
-require- a sound card in order to run properly. If you don't have a sound
card, you'll need to download the patched version.
2) The next most likely problem is a lack of global memory space.
Even when you have the required amount of physical memory, it is possible for
other applications, or disk cache programs, to drain these resources.
a) Usually the best solution is to increase the amount of
virtual memory swap space you have available: Go to Control Panel, 386
Enhanced, Virtual Memory and increase your swap memory to 32+megs. You'll
need to make sure you have enough disk space to accomodate the swap file, of
course.
b) If you're running Windows 95, it will usually manage your
virtual memory for you correctly. However, you must have enough disk space
available for Win95 to create and use a swap file.
c) The above will usually eliminate the GPF's, but you may
also be able to improve performance by freeing up physical memory,
particularly by reducing the size of your disk cache if you have a large
one.
3) If your problem is a GPF at 0041:00000343 (or thereabouts), the
problem is that WinG installation was somehow skipped when you installed the
game (it is supposed to be installed automatically). To install
manually, run WINGSET.EXE in the WING directory on the CDROM. You'll also
want to install Video for Windows manually by running VFWSETUP.EXE from the
VFW_INST directory.
4) We are aware of problems with certain models of "Cirrus Logic"
and "Diamond" brand video cards. In most cases, these problems can be solved
by updating the Windows video drivers. If you have a Cirrus Logic card, new
drivers can be found at "ftp.cirrus.com". If you are using any
other brand video card, we recommend checking your drivers to make sure they
are up-to-date. If you are using older (buggy) drivers, they can
cause problems. Generally speaking, most GPFs can be solved by updating your
Windows video, sound, etc drivers!
5) Especially, if you're receiving a GPF in "WING.DLL", it probably
means you are using some kind of "RAM Doubling" software (e.g. RAM Doubler,
SoftRAM), which seems to cause a conflict. To fix the problem, you must
disable these programs before starting the game. We have also noticed
conflicts with some CD-ROM accelerator programs.
6) "Disk Doubler" software has also been found to cause occasional
problems.
7) If you've tried all of the above and you're still having GPF's
whenever you discover a new technology, try renaming/deleting the file
GET_INFO.EXE from your Civ2 directory. You won't get the fancy civilopedia,
but you will get the beta civilopedia. In this case, the problem is some
conflict with the Authorware package we used to do the hypertext
Civilopedia.
8) We have encountered rare cases in which the Windows
configuration itself is at fault; somehow Windows has been corrupted
since it was installed, possibly by some other application or by a
faulty "uninstall" procedure for another application. Several users with
mysterious problems have cured them by reinstalling Windows (I know, ugh).
Obviously this is a last resort. If you decide to reinstall Windows, you must
then reinstall all of Civ2, including WinG and Video for Windows.
Q: I am receiving "Error -8 in Module 4, data 0 0" and "File open
failed MODULES.DB"
A: When CIV2.EXE is run, its working directory must be set to your
CIV2 directory (typically C:\MPS\CIV2). Check the properties on your Civ2
icon to make sure its working directory is set correctly. If you've been
trying to start Civ2 in some unorthodox way (e.g. under File Manager or
Explorer), try starting it w/ the designated icon/shortcut.
Q: The game tells me to run "VFWFIX.BAT" on the CD but I cannot find
it!
A: Actually, the file is "VFWFIX.REG" and you can still run the file.
If you double-click on the file in the File Manager (Win3.1) or "My Computer"
(Win95), the information in the file will be added to the Windows registry and
the problem should be fixed. Sorry for the confusion.
Q: The "Civilopedia" causes a black screen.
A: This will happen if you have Win95, and did not install the pedia
files to the hard drive, and are playing with the CD. You'll simply need to
download the latest patched version.
Q: The text in the game is unreadable, or I receive a Truetype font
error.
A: Make sure that truetype fonts are enabled on the Control Panel.
Also, Adobe Type Manager has a known incompatibility with the Authorware
tool we used for the hypertext Civilopedia. You'll need to disable ATM, and
*tell it to use resident fonts*.
If you've tried all of this and you're -still- getting text in "Greek",
we've had some success by actually uninstalling the Symbol truetype font
(under Control Panel, Fonts), and then removing the font file (SYMBOLE.FON)
from the WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. This is a somewhat crude and last ditch
solution.
Q: I am having problems running the videos in the game.
(Particularly if they always show up as black squares).
A: Try reinstalling the "WinG" and "Video for Windows" programs (these
programs can be found in the appropriate subdirectories on the CD). When
re-installing, make sure that you agree to all the licensing questions and you
should restart windows so that the changes take effect.
To reinstall WinG, run WINGSET.EXE in the WING directory on the CDROM.
To reinstall VFW, run VFWSETUP.EXE in the VFW_INST directory on the CDROM.
Q: The heralds appear but they aren't animating (Win 95 machines
only).
A: You are probably using the 32-bit Indeo driver. You can check this
by looking for a file called IR41_32.DLL in your C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.
If this is the case, you can either uninstall the 32-bit version and install
the Video for Windows on the Civ 2 CD, or you can wait for a patch which we
hope will be ready soon.
Q: I received a "Can't find WinG" error message.
A: Some computers have their Windows System directory write-protected.
To fix it you need to change this attribute and reinstall both WinG and Video
for Windows.
Q: The game can't find the CD after I have been playing for a while.
A: If you open the CD-ROM drive during the course of gameplay, the
game will stop recognizing the presence of the CD. For now, the only fix
is to not to open the CD-ROM drive during the course of gameplay. We are
working on improving the game's recognition of the CD for the version 1.07
patch.
Q: I get strange shifting colors when the Wonders videos are played.
A: Switch your video display to 256 color mode.
Q: I have a Soundblaster compatible sound card and I am getting slow
sound effects.
A: You probably need updated drivers. The older drivers can't handle
all the calls we're making to the sound card.
Q: I have a NexGen system and I'm not getting any video (High Council
or Wonder Movies.)
A: Video for Windows will not install to a system with a 386 processor
and Windows seems to think that NexGen systems are 386 when they are
actually 486 or higher. You need to run the program called CPUID that
comes with the system before entering Windows, and then try reinstalling Win
G and Video for Windows. Other non-Intel chips may also have this
problem.
Q: I have a Soundblaster sound card and I'm having problems with the
sound effects.
A: For Win 3.1/3.11 users: Download the most recent drivers from the
Creative Labs web site.
For Windows 95 users: Change the IRQ from 10 to 5 (Win 95 will not detect a
hardware conflict here, but the sound card will not function properly.
Different machines seem to have different problems with the IRQ set to
10, but changing the IRQ to 5 seems to invariably solve the problem.)