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From humble beginnings as a prehistoric tribe of hunters and gatherers, to a far-flung future of extra-terrestrial colonization, players lead their people to dominate Earth and beyond in this era-spanning game of empire-building. A true living legend of computer game design, Sid Meier invites strategists to conquer the world all over again, in this fourth edition in the influential Civilization series.

Sid Meier’s Civilization is widely recognized as one the greatest PC game franchises of all-time. Heralded as one of the top ten games of 2005, Civilization IV is a must-have for gamers around the globe. Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: The Complete Edition includes Civilization IV, plus all three expan. Civilization IV will comes to life like never before in a beautifully detailed, living 3D world that elevates the gameplay experience to a whole new level. Civilization IV is a must-have for gamers around the globe! FEATURES.Faster-Paced Fun – Gameplay has been streamlined for a tighter, faster, and more compelling experience. Civilization IV makes use of basic 4X strategy principles, with players controlling an empire and being encouraged to 'explore, expand, exploit and exterminate'. Players choose from 18 different nations and compete with some of the best-known world leaders in history, all with the aim of being the most powerful.

Many of the most significant additions to this version of Civilization involve customization. The tech tree remains the roadmap to scientific and industrial advancement, but there is now more than one path to milestone discoveries. The religion model offers more customization as well, and players can now better use the power of faith to spread their culture, or they can choose to have no state religion at all, boosting scientific endeavors.

Combat has been enhanced in Civ IV, to give more individuality to veteran units and to balance away occasional historical mismatches sometimes noticed in earlier editions of Civ. More than one leader character is available for many of the traditional opponent nations, and the game will play differently depending on who is in charge of rival empires. In all, Civilization IV is designed to offer players a game world of unprecedented sophistication and realism, whether they aim to win it through warfare or culture.

Civilization IV is polished. The title screen is simple and uncluttered, but sports as a background an animating image of the globe which, if you show a little patience, changes quite spectacularly between day and night. And this is indicative of the game as a whole. Everything has been completed to a very high standard, and everything gels together really well.

The graphics, of course, are leaps and bounds ahead of those in Civ III. The Gamebryo engine - used previously in Sid Meier's Pirates! - plants this epic strategy game into a beautifully rendered 3D world. What's more, there are animations now for the terrain and terrain improvements (not just for units), which really gives the sense of a living world rather than simply a very detailed map. Possibly the most novel aspect of the game's look, to my mind, is the ability to smoothly zoom out from an angled close-up on one city to a view of the whole planet - actually pictured as a globe!

As promised, the look of the game has been enhanced across the board. The animated leaders, still cartoonish in style, but much more detailed, are in. Wonder movies (axed from Civ III) are back, showing in seconds the evolution from blueprint to construction to finished product. (Exciting too: wonders are now visible on the map.) Even if it doesn't match the technical brilliance and graphical intensity of leaders in other genres, Civ IV still goes toe to toe with them in terms of polish and just looking good.

Music continues to be a strong point for the series. Civ IV features an MP3-quality soundtrack made up of what I will tentatively call 'World Music' (liking it doesn't mean I know what it is). Impressively, the score strikes a near-perfect balance between being enjoyable and remaining in the background - it enhances the game without distracting from it. The only complaint I can muster about the music is that there is apparently not enough of it, meaning that every now and again one is left merely with the ambient sounds of the game world. (That, and the ever-popular noises of battle.)

In terms of gameplay, Civ IV is the biggest departure thus far from its predecessors. Firaxis emphasized that they were making Civilization again from the ground up, rather than just taking Civ III and pushing out in new directions. Civ veterans will note that units' attack and defense scores have been replaced by a single 'strength' rating. Each unit then has various bonuses and special abilities - spearmen are better against mounted units, archers get a 'first strike', et cetera. What's more, as units fight and gain experience, they can be promoted, giving them extra individual bonuses (you can, for instance, have a particular unit which is good at guarding cities, or one geared towards fighting in jungle).

Civ IV in fact has slightly less combat units than were present in Civ III, pointing to a move away from the dominating role of war in previous games. The change is not drastic - conquering the world by force is still very much an option. But the key word is option. Civilization IV makes more peaceable roads to victory both viable and gratifying. (The latter Civ III failed to achieve, in my opinion - cultural victories always felt like an abrupt and unfulfilling end to the game.) This is due in part to the more exciting and vibrant world created by the 3D engine, but credit must also go to the changes in game rules and dynamics. For instance, excessive expansionism is no longer always advisable - there are penalties for having large numbers of cities. Furthermore, the 'war' of culture has been made far more interesting by the inclusion of features like religion.

Yes: the Civ series has finally gotten religion. Admittedly, it arrives in a very watered-down and non-controversial form. The game includes seven different religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, and Taoism. (I say 'different', but in fact they are all the same. No religion confers any different bonus or penalty - they are simply a device for uniting or dividing nations.) Each religion is tied to a technology, and the first civilization to discover the appropriate technology founds the religion attached to it. The main advantage in founding a religion is having access to intelligence on any city which shares that religion - in other words, you can spy on others of your faith.

Because of the advantages of spreading your religion, you can build Missionaries, who establish their religion in other cities (friendly or otherwise). Civ IV contains a number of non-military units like the Missionaries (making it seem, at times, a little like the Call to Power games - Activision's Civ-clone series). Obviously there are Settlers, and the Worker unit from Civ III remains; Spies, handled differently in III, are also back in as units. The Great Leaders of Civilization III have evolved into 'Great People' (of various callings), who can be added to cities as 'super-specialists' or sacrificed to create special buildings or trigger a 'golden age'.

Another exciting change to the game is the way that you define your system of government. The static forms of government from older Civ games (Monarchy, Republic, Communism, etc) have been overthrown and replaced with a more complex and versatile system. For each of five spheres - economy, government, labor, law, and religion - you choose from one of five different 'civics'. So, if you so desire, you can support freedom of speech and freedom of religion, while still embracing slavery and hereditary rule! Different rulers are predisposed to certain civics, and other civs may well try and force you into becoming more like them (choosing civics they approve of, or adopting their state religion).

The interface has also undergone a revolution. Firaxis have implemented elements of the Real-time Strategy style, trying to make all elements of the game operable on the main screen. Fans of intense micromanagement can still access specific screens for cities, international relations, and the like, but controls for the bulk of the game (and the relevant information) are now all on hand while you scroll around the map. While this might not be to the liking of all returning fans (I'll admit I still haven't totally warmed to the system), it does make Civ IV more accessible to new players. Perhaps most helpful are the info windows which pop up when you hover over buildings, units, technologies, et cetera - cutting out repeated trips to the 'Civilopedia' is a blessing even to old hands like myself. (What I can't understand, though, is why the informational pop-ups for the micromanagement screens appear in the far corner of the screen. Perhaps we're being discouraged from using these screens...)

For many, the game's standout feature will be its multiplayer capabilities. All of the previous Civs originally shipped with only single player mode (though both II and III added multiplayer in expansions or later versions). Civ IV allows for Internet play, - with the option to play out turns simultaneously to avoid the otherwise objectionable waiting times during opponents' turns - 'hotseat' (several players on a single computer), and Play By E-Mail, adding even more potential for world domination.

The Civilization series is famous for epic scale and addictiveness, but it is also renowned for its replay value. Admittedly, only time will tell if Civ IV stands the test of time - but all signs point to myself and countless others returning again and again, in months and even years to come. The replay value, of course, will shoot up further once the modding community kicks into gear. Civ IV ships with an editor, allowing players to create their own maps, and to make some basic changes to the game's rules set, but Firaxis will also be releasing the resources for more serious modders to substantially add to and change elements of the game, further enhancing the game experience.

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Civilization IV looks amazing, and seems to be every bit as addictive as its predecessors. I'm going to vouch for it being the most impressive Civ game to date, and quite possibly the best game of this year. Civilization will never be everyone's cup of tea, but anyone with even the slightest interest in strategy games should be grabbing a copy ASAP.

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

People who downloaded Sid Meier's Civilization IV have also downloaded:
Sid Meier's Civilization 3, Age of Empires III, Civilization 2, Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings, Sid Meier's Pirates!, Sid Meier's Civilization V, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Civilization

Civilization 4 Mods

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.

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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.

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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

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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.

Civilization 4

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

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…but they soon find high-tech ways to kill each other.