Navigate to the Compatibility tab and check the compatibility mode box to un-gray the dropdown menu beneath and choose what previous version of windows you want to run your game in. A 10 means this pc game is perfect in all regards and will appeal to every gamer. Please login to add your score for World of Warcraft Classic Value played on the pc. The game should install just fine from its original optical media discs. Simply place the first disc in your computers optical drive and follow the on-screen prompts. If installation does not start automatically, browse to the CD in Computer/This PC and run the “Autorun.exe” file manually. You can try game in compatibility mode. Right-click on the game setup file and click on ‘properties’. Click on the ‘compatibility’ tab and check the box ‘Run this program in compatibility mode for’ and select a previous operating system from the drop down menu. Click on ‘Apply’ and click ‘OK’ and run the file.
Genre: Strategy
Release Year: 2005
Developer: Firaxis Games
Publisher: 2K Games
Age Rating: Everyone
Playability Status: Perfect
Tested On: Windows 10 x64
Availability: Copyright retained - Still sold
Desert Island Discs is a radio show broadcast here in the UK on the poshest of stations, BBC Radio 4. In the show, various celebrities and politicians choose which particular gramophone recordings they would choose to be stranded with if they found themselves on a desert island. Should Radio 4 ever decide videogames were culturally relevant and subsequently launch “Desert Island Games”, then it’s a fairly safe bet that Sid Meier’s Civilization series would feature frequently. In the fourth instalment of the game, the rules are remixed and the graphics are tarted up, but the engrossing turn based strategy remains as compelling as ever.
Installation
The game should install just fine from its original optical media discs. Simply place the first disc in your computers optical drive and follow the on-screen prompts. If installation does not start automatically, browse to the CD in Computer/This PC and run the “Autorun.exe” file manually. At the end of the installation process, the installer may offer to install Xfire. Unfortunately the Xfire service shut down some time ago, so simply skip this part of the process.
If you’re installing the Steam version, installation is automatic and managed from your Steam library from within the Steam program itself.
Patching
Before starting your quest for world domination, you should install the latest patch. Users who purchased the game on Steam do not need to install any patches, as the Steam service itself keeps the game fully up to date. For those of us playing using the original retail version, you should download and install patch 1.74. You can download the patch here.
Once the patch has downloaded, simply run it and follow the on-screen prompts.
Uncivilized copy protection
The retail DVD versions of Civilization 4 are protected with a copy protection system known as Safedisc. Unfortunately, citing security concerns, Microsoft removed support for Safedisc protected games both in Windows 10 and, retrospectively through Windows update, in Windows 7 and 8 as well. Unfortunately this means that in order to play the retail version on a modern PC, you will need to obtain a de-protected or cracked version of the game. Due to copyright laws we can’t link to this file directly, we can tell you however that the cracked version of the game we obtained was by a group called “Reloaded” and had an MD5 hash of AE3B47863E7D88636A5C87D90643E845. As always, take extra care on the shadier parts of the internet when looking for these files.
When you obtain the cracked Civilization 4 executable, you simply need to replace the existing one. Use Windows Explorer or File Explorer to browse to the games installation directory, by default that is “C:Program Files (x86)Firaxis GamesSid Meier’s Civilization 4”. Find “Civilization4” or “Civilization4.exe” and rename it (e.g to “old”). Now, copy over the de-protected Civilization4 file. Once it is in place, you can start the game from the Start menu or screen normally.
Graphics and other settings
Civilization 4 isn’t a game that’s big on fancy graphical effects, but that’s no reason why it shouldn’t look as pretty as possible. From the games main menu, choose “Options”, then on the window that appears, choose the “Graphics” tab. The window shown below should then be displayed.
Some settings here are down to personal preference, for instance “Show Health Bars”, while other settings affect the visual quality of the game. For the most part you can simply set every setting to the maximum. You should set the following options as shown below for maximum visual quality:-
Globe View Buildings Disabled – Deselected
Full-screen Mode – Selected (unless you wish to play in windowed mode)
High Detail Terrain – Selected
You can also set the games screen resolution from this window. Generally you should set this to the highest available option. If you use a widescreen resolution (such as 1080p, 1920×1080) some of the games cut-scenes may appear a little stretched, but the game itself should look fine.
Troubleshooting
“Please login with administrator privileges and try again” or similar error when starting the game – This is the games copy protection failing to initialise, you will need to find a crack/hacked version of the game or purchase the Steam edition instead.
Multiplayer and other notes
It is possible to play Civilization 4 in multiplayer mode, though the services that facilitated this originally have long since shut down. 2K games very generously started a program whereby customers could get a free Steam key for their copy of Civilisation 4. Since the Steam gaming service includes Multiplayer functionality, this meant that Civilization 4 is fully playable online again. You can find more details of this offer here. This program is due to shut down in June 2017, so hurry if you want to take advantage of it.
The game is also compatible with direct IP connections and therefore compatible with the Evolve gaming service, however we haven’t tried multiplayer using this program so we cannot comment on how well it works.
Save games for Civilization 4 can be found in C:Users(your username)AppDataRoaming
, or, if you’re running the Steam version, in C:Users(your username)DocumentsMy GamesSid Meier's Civilization IVSavessingle
.
Screenshots
…but they soon find high-tech ways to kill each other.
As Microsoft Windows progresses not all older games and programs are going to work or work properly. Below are recommendations for getting older games working in your version of Windows and issues you may encounter.
Unable to install or run game
Install from command line
When running the game, make sure you are running the game through an MS-DOS window or command line. If the game reports any errors, they are not seen since Windows closes the command line window after the program has completed.
Use 8.3 format
Make sure the name of the directory or subdirectory of where the game is being installed is no longer than eight characters. Although Windows supports longer file names and directories, older MS-DOS games do not. For example, do not install older games in the 'Program Files' directory and instead, create a new 'Games' directory.
Check for patches
If the game developer is still in business, check for patches or updates that may help resolve issues you're encountering.
Change compatibility
If you are running Windows 95, 98, ME, or XP, change the compatibility of the program by right-clicking the shortcut, selecting Properties, and clicking the Compatibilitytab.
Use a boot diskette
If your computer uses FAT16 or FAT32 and not NTFS create a boot disk and boot from that diskette to run the game.
Memory related issues
If you are encountering memory errors, such as not enough EMS (expanded memory), XMS (extended memory), or conventional memory, when attempting to run the program, follow the following steps.
- Right-click the shortcut for the program and select Properties.
- Click the Memorytab. If you do not see a Memory tab, skip this section.
- On the Memory tab, you can adjust the amount of memory as needed for that program. Unless you know how much memory the program needs, try setting these values to Auto.
By default, many of these settings are set to 1024. Users should also set the initial environment value to the highest value of 4096.
Sound related issues
Specify sound settings in game
Some older MS-DOS games do not auto-detect your sound card and use the sound card settings from the autoexec.bat and config.sys. If the game allows you to specify the sound settings in the game, use the common settings: INTERRUPT=220 IRQ=5 or 7 DMA=1.
Remark sound settings in autoexec.bat
If you're running Microsoft Windows 95 or 98 and are encountering sound issues, edit the autoexec.bat and rem out any line that begins with BLASTER=. If you changed anything, save the files and try to run the game again.
Configuring sound in autoexec.bat
If you're still having issues and you are running Windows 95 and 98, try changing the sound settings by adding the following line in the autoexec.bat.
If you are running a game that requires an autoexec.bat or config.sys file, these files can be created in the root directory with the sound settings.
Run Old Pc Games On Android
Determining your sound card settings
Users can view their sound card resources by viewing the properties of the sound card in Device Manager. Users running Windows 98 can also check their sound card settings through the System Information program by following the following steps.
- Click Start > Programs > Accessories
- Click System Tools
- Click System Information
or
- Click Start > Run
- Type msinfo32
Sound emulators
Can Old Pc Games Run On Windows 10
If you cannot get the sound to work in DOS, companies also provide software sound emulators that in some cases can enable your sound card to work through MS-DOS. A great example of a free sound emulator is VDMSound.
Video related issues
Not all video cards, even the latest & greatest video cards, support all VESA modes. Before continuing, make sure your video card has the latest video drivers.
Other recommendations
How To Run Old Pc Games On Windows 7
If, after following the recommendations above, you're still unable to get your MS-DOS game working properly, try the following recommendations.
- Consider trying an emulator program, such as DOSBox.
- If the game is an older version of a Windows program, run PE Explorer to adjust the SizeOfImage value to a value compatible with Windows 2000 and Windows NT. You can download this program from Heaventools Software.
- Create a dual boot with Windows and MS-DOS.
- If your computer uses FAT16 or FAT32 and not NTFS, create a boot disk and boot from that diskette to run the game.
- Consider purchasing an older computer dedicated to playing older games.