Civ3 problem

To the Major Geek it may concern:

Thank you for helping out. I have Civ3 Complete and it will not load. I had a
similar problem when I tried the game for the first time; however, I was told
at that time to disable DirectDraw. That solved the problem. Since that time I
have played about 60 hours with no problems. That includes other programs running
in the backround like virus and firewall (ZoneAlarm). I have not insalled any other
during the time of this occurrence nor I have not updated ME or IE. I have installed
the patches for the game and the Conquests part. DirectDraw remains disabled and
Direct X 9.0c tests OK. I also have updated the drivers for my Nvidia MX400 card.
I have tried to start the game by shutting down all non-essential programs and dis-
connecting internet connection from wall. No luck, same message:
Civ3conquests has caused an error in binkw32.dll--Civ3conquests will now close.
When I close the dialog box I cannot use the computer until reboot (black screen).
I have a Dell Dimension 8100
Pentium 1.4 ghtz Processor
SoundBlaster sound card
512 RAM
40 gbts of hard drive space
Windows ME 4.90.3000, IE 6.0.2800.1106
(these specs are well in excess of the game requirements)
So, here I am again expanding my tiny knowledge base by seeking help on a perplexing
problem.

Mr. Robin Loebel

 

Running Civ 3 and that error through google I came up with a couple useful bits of info.
The first was that binkw32 is used to play compressed movie files. The second is that the error can occur for a few game related reasons.

1. It's a pirated copy of the game (not saying yours is, just saying the pirated versions are known for this error) When I searched google for Civ 3 binkw32 error, 90% of what I found was related to the "cracked" pirated version of the game. Solution: Go buy the real game

2. You do not have current Civ 3 patches, especially 1.29. Solution: Download the patches. I know you said you'd gotten all the patches, but it doesn't hurt to double check.

3. binkw32.dll has become corrupted. Solution: Try reinstalling the game. Make sure you do a complete uninstall including cleaning up stray registry entries and deleting folders (might want to set aside save game files, if that's important to you, but take them out of the Civ 3 folder and put them elsewhere)

 

I bought the game on Amazon from Amazon, so not an
illegal copy. Uninstalling and reinstall seems to have
worked. We will see!? Considering the time it took to do
it, I hope I have better luck. Take care.