Sid Meier's Civilization IV
Developers | |
---|---|
Firaxis Games | |
macOS (OS X) | Aspyr Media |
Publishers | |
2K Games | |
OS X | Aspyr Media |
Engines | |
Gamebryo | |
Release dates | |
Windows | October 25, 2005 |
macOS (OS X) | June 30, 2006 |
Reception | |
Metacritic | 94 |
Taxonomy | |
Monetization | Expansion pack |
Modes | Singleplayer, Multiplayer |
Pacing | Turn-based |
Perspectives | Bird's-eye view |
Controls | Point and select |
Genres | 4X, TBS |
Themes | Historical |
Series | Civilization |
⤏ Go to series page | |
Sid Meier's Civilization | 1991 |
Freeciv (unofficial) | 1996 |
Sid Meier's Civilization II | 1996 |
Civilization II: Test of Time | 1999 |
Sid Meier's Civilization III | 2001 |
Sid Meier's Civilization IV | 2005 |
CivCity: Rome | 2006 |
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization | 2008 |
Sid Meier's Civilization V | 2010 |
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth | 2014 |
Sid Meier's Civilization VI | 2016 |
Sid Meier's Civilization VII | 2025 |
Warnings
- The macOS (OS X) version of this game does not work on macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or later due to the removal of support for 32-bit-only apps.
Key points
- Mod friendly.
- Active community.
- If you own the retail version, you must request the multiplayer patch.[1]
- Steam version online multiplayer has been transitioned to Steamworks.[2]
General information
- Official Downloads page (patches, SDK, etc.)
- Civilization Wiki - A detailed wiki for all Civilization games and their spin offs
- Civilization Fanatics' Civilization IV section
- Civilization Fanatics' Civilization IV Forums
- GOG.com Community Discussions for game series
- GOG.com Support Page
- Steam Community Discussions
Availability
Source | DRM | Notes | Keys | OS |
---|---|---|---|---|
Retail | The Complete Edition is DRM-free. Individual versions of the game include SafeDisc v4 DRM[Note 1], but it can be removed for Beyond the Sword and Colonization through patches. | |||
GamersGate | ||||
Complete also available. | ||||
GOG.com | Complete Edition. Includes Civilization IV: Colonization. | |||
Green Man Gaming | ||||
Humble Store | ||||
Steam | All versions available, including Complete Edition. | |||
Amazon.com (unavailable) | ||||
Mac App Store (unavailable) |
- SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).
- Civilization IV Steam key exchanging services was discontinued on June 4, 2017.[5]
DLC and expansion packs
Name | Notes | |
---|---|---|
Civilization IV: Warlords | ||
Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword |
Version differences
Retail DVD version
- Civilization IV: Gold contains the base game and Warlords.
- Civilization IV: Complete contains the base game, Warlords, and Beyond the Sword, and was released before Colonization.
- The similarly named Civilization IV: Complete Edition contains the base game, Warlords, Beyond the Sword, and Colonization on a single DVD. It contains an updated DirectX installer and contains no DRM. The individual games still require patches to the current version.
Steam version
The tutorial for the game is only available through the base game installation, and the Warlords expansion contains exclusive scenarios which are only available through its installation. All other gameplay contents and features are included in Beyond The Sword; if you do not need the base game tutorial and Warlords scenarios, you may uninstall them respectively. Colonization is a standalone game which does not overlap with Beyond The Sword.
Essential improvements
Patches
Detailed installation steps
A very thorough set of instructions on how to install Civilization IV and its expansions are available here.
Skip intro videos
Instructions[6] |
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Game data
Configuration file(s) location
System | Location |
---|---|
Windows | %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization IV %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Warlords %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword |
macOS (OS X) | |
GOG.com | %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Civ4 |
Steam | %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization IV\ |
Steam Play (Linux) | <SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/3900/pfx/[Note 2] |
Save game data location
System | Location |
---|---|
Windows | %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization IV\Saves %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Warlords\Saves %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\Saves |
macOS (OS X) | |
GOG.com | %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Civ4\Saves |
Steam | %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization IV\Saves |
Steam Play (Linux) | <SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/3900/pfx/[Note 2] |
Save game cloud syncing
System | Native | Notes |
---|---|---|
GOG Galaxy | ||
OneDrive | Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers. | |
Steam Cloud |
Video
Graphics feature | State | WSGF | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Widescreen resolution | |||
Multi-monitor | See the WSGF page for a fix. | ||
Ultra-widescreen | |||
4K Ultra HD | UI does not scale with resolution and is extremely small in 4K. | ||
Field of view (FOV) | |||
Windowed | |||
Borderless fullscreen windowed | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
Anisotropic filtering (AF) | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | ||
Anti-aliasing (AA) | |||
Vertical sync (Vsync) | |||
60 FPS and 120+ FPS | |||
High dynamic range display (HDR) | See the glossary page for potential alternatives. |
Input
Keyboard and mouse | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Remapping | See the glossary page for potential workarounds. | |
Mouse acceleration | ||
Mouse sensitivity | ||
Mouse input in menus | ||
Mouse Y-axis inversion | ||
Controller | ||
Controller support |
Controller types |
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Audio
Audio feature | State | Notes |
---|---|---|
Separate volume controls | Music, Sound Effects, Speech, Ambience, Interface. | |
Surround sound | Up to 8.1. | |
Subtitles | ||
Closed captions | ||
Mute on focus lost | ||
EAX support | EAX 4.0. |
Localizations
Language | UI | Audio | Sub | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
English | ||||
French | ||||
German | ||||
Italian | ||||
Japanese | Retail only | |||
Polish | Retail only | |||
Russian | Retail only | |||
Spanish |
Network
Multiplayer types
Type | Native | Players | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Local play | 18 | Hot seat |
||
LAN play | 18 | Removed from Steam version after the Steamworks update. | ||
Online play | 18 | Non-Steam versions require a GameSpy ID. | ||
Asynchronous multiplayer | Play via email |
Connection types
Type | Native | Notes |
---|---|---|
Matchmaking | ||
Peer-to-peer | ||
Dedicated | ||
Self-hosting | ||
Direct IP | Removed from the Steam version.[2] Install the beta to regain access.[7] |
Ports
Protocol | Port(s) and/or port range(s) |
---|---|
TCP | 2033, 2056, 3783, 6500, 6667, 28900, 29900, 29001 |
UDP | 2302-2400, 6500, 6515, 13139, 27900 |
- Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.
Issues fixed
DirectX issues
- To ensure the original game and its expansions run properly, install the latest DirectX End-User Runtimes. This is not a problem with the Complete Edition, which installs the correct DirectX version automatically.
Failed Initializing Python
- Caused by discontinued support for Python 2.3 in OS X Yosemite 10.10.
Copy Python 2.3 back into OS X[8] |
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Other information
API
Technical specs | Supported | Notes |
---|---|---|
Direct3D | 9 | |
OpenGL | macOS/OS X only. | |
Shader Model support | 3 | [citation needed] |
Executable | PPC | 32-bit | 64-bit | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Windows | ||||
macOS (OS X) | 32-bit only.[9] Colonization does not support PowerPC processors. |
Middleware
Middleware | Notes | |
---|---|---|
Audio | Miles Sound System | |
Interface | Scaleform | |
Cutscenes | Bink Video | |
Multiplayer | GameSpy, Steamworks |
System requirements
Windows | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum | Recommended | |
Operating system (OS) | 2000 | XP |
Processor (CPU) | Intel Pentium 4 1.2 GHz AMD Athlon 1.2 GHz |
Intel Pentium 4 1.8 GHz AMD Athlon 1.8 GHz |
System memory (RAM) | 256 MB | 1 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | 1.7 GB | 3.8 GB |
Video card (GPU) | Nvidia GeForce 2 ATI Radeon 7500 64 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible | 128 MB of VRAM |
macOS (OS X) | ||
---|---|---|
Minimum | Recommended | |
Operating system (OS) | 10.3.9 | 10.4.7 or later |
Processor (CPU) | PowerPC G5 (970) 1.8 GHz Intel 2.0 GHz |
PowerPC G5 (970FX or 970MP) 2.0 GHz Intel 2.0 GHz |
System memory (RAM) | 512 MB | 1 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) | 3.5 GB | 3.5 GB |
Video card (GPU) | Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 ATI Radeon 9600 64 MB of VRAM | Nvidia GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL ATI X800 XT Mac Edition 128 MB of VRAM |
Other | Intel integrated video chipsets (GMA 950) are not supported. | This game is not supported on volumes formatted as Mac OS X Extended (Case Sensitive). |
Notes
- ↑ SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows 10[3] 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.[4]
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
- File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data.
- Use Wine's registry editor to access any Windows registry paths.
- The app ID (3900) may differ in some cases.
- Treat backslashes as forward slashes.
- See the glossary page for details on Windows data paths.
References
- ↑ multiplayer patch request
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2K Online Server Migration from GameSpy Technology – 2K Support
- ↑ Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16
- ↑ Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Verified by User:Plokite Wolf on 2022-03-31
- ↑ Direct IP and Installing Pre-Steamworks Civilization IV (Unsupported) on Steam – 2K Support
- ↑ http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=530804
- ↑ MacOS Catalina, 64-bit, 32-bit, and related Questions – Aspyr Support