Civilization IV - Invalid Saved Files

panos_rx · January 30th, 2006

Hi to all of you guys.

I'm in a desperate position, therefore I decided to ask your opinion about a problem that I am facing with Civ4.

I have installed the game at an external USB HD (consequently, in a different folder than the one recommended by the default game settings). In addition, I have applied the 1.52 patch.

The problem is that I cannot load any saved game. Whenever I ask to load a previously saved game I get a message that the "name file" is not a valid saved file.

Has anyone ever faced a similar problem, and if you have, how did you resolve it?

Thanks in advance for your response.

john428 · February 3rd, 2006

When saving your game make sure you exit the game and turn your computer of properly.

MrFancypants · February 3rd, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by panos_rx

Hi to all of you guys.

I'm in a desperate position, therefore I decided to ask your opinion about a problem that I am facing with Civ4.

I have installed the game at an external USB HD (consequently, in a different folder than the one recommended by the default game settings). In addition, I have applied the 1.52 patch.

The problem is that I cannot load any saved game. Whenever I ask to load a previously saved game I get a message that the "name file" is not a valid saved file.

Has anyone ever faced a similar problem, and if you have, how did you resolve it?

Thanks in advance for your response.

The problem could be that the game saves files on your primary HDD in the folder created by windows for user-files. Look if the saves are really there, maybe Civ4 doesn't know how to copy the saves to that folder from an external HDD.

A workaround might be to install the game on an internal HDD.

panos_rx · February 6th, 2006

This weekend I had the time to conduct few more testings with the game in order to resolve the problem.

I tried to installed the game in the internal HD of my notebook, but I had no luck - the problem remained.

Then I installed it in my desktop, and finally everything worked perfectly - the problem of invalid saved files resolved. What was the problem? The only difference between the two machines was the operating system.

The notebook runs on Windows XP Home - Greek edition whereas the desktop runs on Windows XP Professional English Edition.

Thanks for your response.

***JokeAss*** · February 6th, 2006

Another possibility could be that you have patched.

Have you updated lately? Coz saves between patches don't work...

***Master Bob*** · February 12th, 2006

I must dissagree with that statement. I have upgraded my copy of Civilisation 4 from 1.0 to 1.09 to 1.52. The saves (that were not corrupted by the crash) still work. My only problem is that when my copy of Civilisation 4 crashed (1.0) a couple of my saves appear to have been damaged. You try loading them and when it gets to finished, a high pitched noise that changes blasts through the speakers.

Still, back to your problem. JokeAss, do you mean saves from a newer version not working with an older one? That would be a more likely thing.

Still, I say GET THE LATEST PATCH!
It fixed all my problems (other than those saves), why shouldn't it fix yours?

If you are not blessed with broadband though (like me), on the 16th go down to your local news agents and grab a copy of PC Gamer. It has the latest patch (1.52). If you don't have 1.09, while I recomend upgrading one patch at a time (1.0 - 1.09 - 1.52) I suppose you could just install 1.0 to 1.52.

Another idea could be that Civilisation 4 just doesn't liek laptops. It's not the operating system because it says on the back of the box that it's compatable with all XP operating systems.

Wait a minute, it also says you need Service Pack 1 or higher installed. Do you have SP1 or SP2 on your laptop?

***JokeAss*** · February 12th, 2006

Well, yes.

The thing I meant, was that you made saves, and perhaps reinstalled. Were just trying to help

*sniff*...

Anyway, I say Get the latest patch.

***Master Bob*** · February 12th, 2006

Oh well, right or wrong, all help should be appreciated by the person needing it, in this case panos_rx, who doesn't seem to have replied to any of the recent posts. Lets hope his problem's been fixed.

panos_rx · February 15th, 2006

I apologize for my late response.

I don't know if Civ4 does not like laptops, but mine runs on Windows XP SP2 - Greek Edition with all the latest updates from either Microsoft and IBM (it is a Thinkpad). On the other hand the desktop runs on Windows XP Professional SP2 - English Edition, again fully updated.

I have patched the game to v.1.52 from v.1.0 directly, and I have no problem palying it on my desktop.

Once more thanks for your replies

***Master Bob*** · February 15th, 2006

Well, I'm out of ideas. Still, if it runs on your desktop, use it on that.

If you've got the latest patch and SP2, I can't think of any other explanation.

You could look in the Civilisation 4 manual, and readme. If they don't show up anything, and you're desperate, try emailing the developers (Firaxis) for help.