Warnings
- GameSpy online services have been shut down (see Network for solutions).
Key points
- Disc/retail versions can be migrated to Steam by contacting 2K Support.[1]
General information
- Civilization Wiki - A detailed wiki for all Civilization games and their spin offs
- Apolyton Civilization Site's Civ III section - A huge forum dedicated to all Civilization games and their spin offs. Modifications for the game can be found here
- Civilization Fanatics Center's Civilization III Page
- GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
- GOG.com Support Page
- Steam Community Discussions
Availability
- SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).
DLC and expansion packs
Name |
Notes |
|
Civilization III: Play the World |
Required for multiplayer support. |
|
Civilization III: Conquests |
Contains all content from Play the World. |
|
Version differences
- Civilization III Complete is a complete version with both expansion packs.
- Gold Edition contains Civilization III and Play The World.
- Play the World adds additional civilizations, game modes, and multiplayer support.
- Conquests adds additional civilizations and scenarios to the game, as well as new government types and other features.
- The Game of the Year Edition contains the original game with a bonus CD containing additional maps and behind-the-scenes videos.
Essential improvements
Patches
- Patch v1.22 Rev A is the latest patch for the OS X version.[4]
Unofficial
- fan patch v8 - Multiple fixes to v1.22 Conquests.
- Fitted Irrigation with Farm Houses - Makes irrigation look more natural and not jut out into the water.
- River Deltas - Covers up the problem where some deltas are too far out to sea and others are too recessed
- Fixed Transport Window Leftovers - Fixes left over artifacts from the transport window
Skip intro videos
Edit conquests.ini in game-folder[citation needed]
|
- Go to
<path-to-game>\Conquests\conquests.ini and open with a text-editor.
- Add the following Line at the end of the file:
PlayIntro=0 .
Notes
- Works for alle Release-Versions of the Game (Steam, GoG and Retail).
|
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
Save game data location
Video
Set KeepRes mode[citation needed]
|
- Open the configuration file (
Civilization3.ini or Conquests\conquests.ini ).
- Add the line
KeepRes=1
- Save your changes. The game will now run at the desktop resolution as borderless fullscreen.
|
Set windowed mode[citation needed]
|
- Open the configuration file (
Civilization3.ini or Conquests\conquests.ini ).
- Add the line
KeepRes=1
- Add the line
Video Mode=1152
- Save your changes.
-
Video Mode is the horizontal window size, with the vertical height calculated based on the 4:3 aspect ratio.
- The game window will have no border.
- The game area can't be resized after the game is launched - doing so causes graphic corruption and may crash the game.
|
Input
Audio
Audio feature |
State |
Notes |
Separate volume controls |
|
|
Surround sound |
|
|
Subtitles |
|
No spoken text. |
Closed captions |
|
|
Mute on focus lost |
|
|
Localizations
Language |
UI |
Audio |
Sub |
Notes |
English |
|
|
|
|
Hungarian |
|
|
|
Fan translation, link #1, link #2. |
Japanese |
|
|
|
Retail only |
Spanish |
|
|
|
Retail only, download. |
Network
- Civilization III: Play the World is required for multiplayer support
Multiplayer types
Connection types
Ports
Protocol |
Port(s) and/or port range(s) |
TCP |
3783, 6500, 6667, 28900, 29900, 29901 |
UDP |
2302-2400, 6500, 6515, 13139, 27900 |
- Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.
Issues fixed
Compatibility settings
Issues with the game may be corrected with compatibility settings. For the Steam version go to <path-to-game>\Conquests\
and right click on Civ3Conquests.exe
. Select properties and set the compatibility settings. This can cause serious performance issues on windows 10.
No music or sound effects during diplomacy
This is an error caused by a Windows 10 update limiting sound to two channels.
Other information
API
Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
OpenGL |
1 |
|
Executable | PPC | 16-bit |
32-bit |
64-bit |
Notes |
Windows | | |
|
|
|
macOS (OS X) | | | |
|
Install the version 1.22 Rev A patch for Intel support. |
Mac OS (Classic) | | | |
|
|
Middleware
System requirements
Windows | Mac OS (Classic) | macOS (OS X) |
Windows |
|
Minimum |
Recommended |
Operating system (OS) |
98 |
ME, 2000, XP |
Processor (CPU) |
Intel Pentium II 400 MHz | |
System memory (RAM) |
128 MB |
256 MB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
1.8 GB | |
Video card (GPU) |
DirectX 9.0b compatible | |
Notes
- ↑ SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[2] or Windows 11 and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.[3]
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 When running this game without elevated privileges (Run as administrator option), write operations against a location below
%PROGRAMFILES%
, %PROGRAMDATA%
, or %WINDIR%
might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore
on Windows Vista and later (more details).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
References