[CRASH FIX] Startup Crash, "Engine Init" Resolution Error, Windows 11

[WestSaxon]

My Setup:

Windows 11 Pro
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D 8-Core Processor 4.20 GHz
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT
2560x1440 Resolution Monitor
DirectX12 Installed
Latest Drivers Installed

Civ4 Beyond the Sword and Civ4 Colonization
Vanilla not installed
Latest Steam Patches
Both in Beta "Original Release Version"
Not running in Compatibility Mode

The Issue:

On startup, game would stop initializing at "Engine Init", the screen would flicker for about 10 seconds, and then a "Failed to Render" error which included the resolution. Game would not boot.

The Solution

After much searching and testing, I isolated the issue to the combination of Full-screen Mode and the Anti-Aliasing MultiSamples setting in the | Graphics | tab of the in-game options.

Combining Full-screen Mode with any Anti-Aliasing MultiSamples setting other than 0 is apparently the cause of this crash (on my machine, at least).

Therefore, my solution is to enter the game in Windowed mode, set Anti-Aliasing Multisamples to 0, then turn Full-screen Mode on.

"But I Can't Even Boot the Game!

For those who cannot even enter the game to change that setting, you can enter the game by disabling Fullscreen mode in the game's Configuration Settings:

1) Open the game's Configuration Settings .ini file, usually located at
C:\Users\. . .\Documents\My Games\Game Name Here. The file will likely be titled "CivilizationIV.ini"

2) Find the line enabling FullScreen Mode that reads:

; Specify whether to play in fullscreen mode 0/1/ask
FullScreen = 1

3) Change the = 1 to = 0 to change to Windowed Mode. The line now reads:

; Specify whether to play in fullscreen mode 0/1/ask
FullScreen = 0

3.a. Optional) You can also set your game's default resolution in the .ini now. Or you can wait to do so in the in-game options menu. If you want to change in the .ini, do so in the following lines (note, the following example is from a 2560x1440 monitor. Use your own monitor resolution in place of my numbers:

; Custom Screen Height, minimum: 768 - Normal resolutions can be set in-game and will be used when set to 0
ScreenHeight = 1440

; Custom Screen Width, minimum: 1024 - Normal resolutions can be set in-game and will be used when set to 0
ScreenWidth = 2560

4) Save the .ini and exit.

5) Start your game normally. The game should open in Windowed mode. It may give you the classic "Your machine does not meet the minimum specifications" warning, which can be safely ignored.

6) From the in-game Main Menu, go to [Advanced] > [Options] > | Graphics |

7) If you're running a modern machine, set your graphics to "High". Warning This will set the troublesome "Anti-Aliasing MultiSamples" setting to a non-zero value.

8) Set "Anti-Aliasing MultiSamples" to 0. You can leave all other graphics settings on High.

9) You can now check "Full-screen Mode" on the right in the same window. A prompt will say you must restart your game to take effect.

9a. Optional) If you did not set your resolution in the .ini, you can change your resolution in this window now.

10. Once confirming Anti-Aliasing is set to '0', restart your game.

Your game should now launch in Fullscreen. Keep in mind you must repeat these steps for both Beyond the Sword and Colonization, if running both.

[nightinggale]

Nice find. I will keep this in mind.

I few more tips regarding editing the ini file:

Screen width and height can be set to anything when in window mode, including screen resolutions not supported by your computer. Want to try play on a 1024x1024? You can do that. Vanilla Colonization has a lot of screen code, which assumes 4:3 resolutions so results with other resolutions is hit or miss for how well it's drawn. No mod has rewritten all the screen code to get rid of this issue.

SetMaxFrameRate:
Set this to your screen refresh rate + 30 (it's not very accurate). Without this, there are conditions (mainly when the game is in the background) where it will go to 100% GPU load and present 4 digit worth of fps.

AutoSaveInterval:
Set this to 1 to get an autosave each turn

MaxAutoSaves:
How many turns back you want to keep autosaves. Default is 5 savegames and saving every 4th turn, so set it to 20 if you want to still keep 20 turn's worth of autosaves. It can totally be 50 or something else high if you want.

[maniacdriver]

This solved the issue that was keeping me from launching ever since I switched to a Win 11 machine. Thanks!

[maniacdriver]

*sigh* It worked once...

Now it just sits there trying to change the display resolution about 5 times before failing.