C4 doesn't work on Windows 7

[salsarow]

Ok, greetings...I'm new to this forum so please forgive me just jumping in and presenting my issue.

When I first upgraded to Win7 x64 I had some issues with the game crashing in the editor mode and then later in the game...was told by my geek son that it could be that Win7 x64 cannot run the NetFramework version that comes with the game since that is 32 bit. With some tweaking I did get the game to work...then Win7 updated and it quit again...wouldn't work at all. We tried several things and finally got it loaded and working...tho it would crash if I tried to give orders to a Market or a warehouse, particularly if it was an "Exotic Market".

The more I played it the more it crashed and finally, again, wouldn't play at all.

So I uninstalled and defragged the HD and now it will not load at all. We run into "cyclic redundancy check D:\data2.cab"

Researched that, not sure I really understand this, but apparently it has to do with scracthing on the CD, which is about 5 years old...so not a shock. So I've ordered a new game set.

But in this process we ran across and anomoly that I'd like to share.

If you uninstall Caesar IV (CIV) and then reinstall, any user saved games or scenarios are still ghosting on your HD from the prior install. You have to search the C drive for the name you gave the games, or the scenario you were building, erase them or any corruptions they had will return when you reuse those names.

In the meantime, I'm waiting for my new CD set from eBay.

Tomatoes are ripe!

[Keith]

CRC errors usually do indicate damage or trouble reading the indicated file on a disc. Minor hairline scratching doesn't usually cause a problem unless there are a huge number of them. A large scratch can be fatal. There are disc repair kits out there where you can restore a damaged disc to service.

Sometimes a crc error can be due to fingerprints and dirt on the disc.

You can also try doing a hard drive install, if you can get the disc to copy all the files and subfolders on it to a folder on your hard drive then run the setup.exe from that folder.

If the user files you saved in the game have errors or damage, it's probably a good idea to remove them before reinstalling the game. If they don't you can usually leave them if you reinstall the game to the same path as the previous install.

[salsarow]

Well there aren't any deep scratches, but there is a plethora of them. Hadn't thought of the CD buffer...maybe I'll take it to a friend and get it buffed...but I already have a bid in on a replacement.

[Keith]

I saw one disc repair kit demonstrated on the news several years ago. They took a music disc and a game disc and rubbed them with sandpaper than put them into a device called Skip Doctor and both discs worked after that. I mentioned this elsewhere on the board back then. The only thing is that these devices aren't cheap, especially for fixing just one disc.

http://www.digitalinnovations.com/fix-scratched-discs/skipdr.html

[CaesarIVmod89]

Keith, would it be at all possible for someone to post the Dat2.cab file. Please, those white dots are pinholes that prevent dat2.cab from installing with the GUI or being copied to a desktop folder.

[Keith]

Sorry, that sort of thing isn't allowed by TM on their forums.

New copies of the game CD can be bought online:

http://www.amazon.com/Caesar-IV-PC/dp/B000EDPQMU

You can get a PC download version of the game at:
http://store.activision.com/store/atvi/en_US/pd/ThemeID.22106500/productID.126907900?resid=VDBOzwoydREAANjc6IMAAAAM&rests=1412452047580

Note: Activision is where Sierra went when it merged. So they hold the Copyrights.