Civilization II: Test of Time

This page is for the enhanced 1999 release. For the original 1996 and expanded 1998 releases, see Sid Meier's Civilization II.

Civilization II: Test of Time

Developers
	MicroProse
Publishers
Retail	MicroProse
Retail	Hasbro Interactive
Chronicles release	2K Games
Release dates
Windows	July 28, 1999
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Modes	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing	Turn-based
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view
Controls	Point and select
Genres	4X, TBS
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	Fantasy, Historical, Sci-fi, Space
Series	Civilization

Warnings

SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see Availability for affected versions).

Civilization II: Test of Time is an expanded version of the 1996 4X turn-based strategy game Sid Meier's Civilization II and its expansions. It features a refreshed interface, a 32-bit executable, multiplayer capabilities similar to the ones in the 1998 Multiplayer Gold Edition, and various new scenarios in both realistic and fantasy/sci-fi settings.

The game received a single official patch after release. However, a bug from the Multiplayer Gold Edition persists where the AI players are in an uncooperative or worse attitude towards human players at all times.

The game requires an unofficial patch to resolve compatibility issues such as crashes when a text box appears, a problem which causes the game to reserve all CPU resources that it can, and game bugs such as the aforementioned AI attitude bug.

General information

Civilization Wiki - A detailed wiki for all Civilization games and their spin offs

Apolyton Civilization Site's Civilization I & II section - A huge forum dedicated to all Civilization games and their spin offs.

Civilization Fanatics' Civilization II section

Civilization Fanatics' Civilization II Forums

Catfish's Cave - fansite for Test of Time with installation guides and various resources

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail		SafeDisc v1 DRM.

SafeDisc retail DRM does not work on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).

Essential improvements

Patches

The latest official patch is 1.1, available for English and German versions. Aside from bug fixes, this patch is necessary for running fan-made scenarios.

The version of the game from the 2006 Civilization Chronicles bundle requires this repackaged patch instead.

Unofficial patches

Test of Time Patch Project (TOTPP)

Includes the 64-bit compatibility patch, a CPU usage fix, a no-CD patch, and multiple bug fixes. It can also replace the Red Book audio system with DirectShow to play local MP3 music files instead.

All of its features can be turned on and off.

v1.1 must be installed first.

May cause an alert from anti-virus software. This is a false positive.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\CIV2.DAT

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	<path-to-game>\Original\*.sav <path-to-game>\ExtendedOriginal\*.sav <path-to-game>\Fantasy\*.sav <path-to-game>\Midgard\*.sav <path-to-game>\SciFi\*.sav

Video

General settings

Graphics settings

City report settings

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed		No fullscreen mode.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
High-fidelity upscaling		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)

Input

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Mouse acceleration		Uses OS cursor.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support

Audio

Music track choice window

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music and effects are separate but can only be switched on/off.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio
Red Book CD audio		The Test of Time Patch Project optionally switches to MP3 support via DirectShow.

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
French
German
Japanese				Japanese release only.
Russian				Download

Network

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
Local play		8	Hot seat
LAN play		8
Online play		8	The official multiplayer service was shut down.
Asynchronous multiplayer

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Issues fixed

'You must have Civ II Test of Time installed in order to install this update.'

This error message indicates indicates the currently installed version of the game is not correctly installed in the registry, so the patch cannot detect the game.

This occurs in the version of the game distributed in the 2006 Civilization Chronicles expansion.

Update game using the Chronicles version of the 1.1 patch

When trying to play a video, the game crashes or goes to a blank screen

Enable Indeo codec; see Troubleshooting guide.

Building a city crashes the game (64-bit OSes)

Use unofficial patch

CPU runs at 100%

The game, due to being built around the limitations of then-modern CPUs, is designed to always use as much of the CPU as possible. This is now unnecessary.

Use unofficial patch

Corrupted graphics when loading a save game

When saving a game, make sure to save the game in the correct sub folder. If you play Original, save in the Original folder. If you play ExtendedOriginal, save in the ExtendedOriginal folder. When playing a scenario, save in the scenario's folder. Saving in the main Test of Time folder will mean that the save game will not use the proper graphics when reloading.

'Failed to load game: file is in obsolete format'

Update the game to v1.1

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	6
WinG

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Mods

Test of Time Graphics Mod Pack

Replaces standard graphics with more colorful and detailed units which take advantage of the updated game engine.

Lacks animated units.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	95
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 166 MHz	Intel Pentium 200 MHz
System memory (RAM)	16 MB	32 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	60 MB
Video card (GPU)	SVGA 2 MB of VRAM DirectX 6.0 compatible