Both laptops I tried installing it on had trouble with garbled text, when run against DirectX 9 (Can't run 10 or 11 on XP). Based on others' posts in forums, it is related to having a Mobile Intel(R) 965 Express Chipset Family video card and driver. And with Windows 7 with DirectX 11, for me it still is faster to run in as DirectX 9.
Well, first, just to get the game not to crash, I had to go to Dell and download the latest driver. Then it didn't crash, but the text was garbled.
I also tried downloading the latest from Intel that was newer than Dell's, but that didn't help.
I took a workaround posted on a forum: http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89425 Many thanks to CockedAndLoaded for half of this workaround!
I took that one step further and basically forced uppercase which took out the garbled lowercase letters and looks a lot nicer. Note, this is a temporary workaround until Civ 5 is patched, someday, theoretically.
- Download and unzip https://sites.google.com/site/mafujosh/Civ5WorkaroundFontsForIntel965VideoCard.zip
- Go to the C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\sid meier's civilization v\Assets\UI\Fonts\Tw Cent MT folder on your computer, and copy the existing files to some place for safe keeping. (If it is not in the "Program Files" folder, maybe also look for a "Program Files (x86)" folder. Also, check drives other than drive "C:". If that doesn't work, try doing a file search on your computer for "Tw Cent MT" folder.)
- Then copy the files from inside this zip file into this folder.
- See https://sites.google.com/site/mafujosh/Civ5PatchInstallHelp.wmv for help.
- http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=89425
- http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87615
- http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87613
- http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87532
- http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1439312
- http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=9677165&posted=1#post9677165
- http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=384453
- http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=88789
- Open up the ggxml files.
- Every "glyph" node seems to represent a letter.
- The "CH=" attribute of each glyph node matches up to a letter's ASCII or ANSI value. This value is the number that computers use internally to match up to a letter. Here are some examples of these matchups.
- Basically, I remove the configuration for the lower case letters, and configured them instead to be the same as the uppercase. For other languages, I didn't do this. So you might want to experiment with this for special characters.
- Basically, you can open up the "Character Map" utility that comes with Windows and is in the Start Menu somewhere (probably in Accessories). Find the character that you want to replace with something else. Look at its code. The code in the "Character Map" utility is probably in HEX, so you'll need to convert that to regular decimal (you could use something like this.) Do this for both the character you want to replace, and to the character you want to replace it with. Then look for the lines in the ggxml file with those decimal values in their "CH=" attribute, and copy over the rest of the settings in that row.
UPDATE 2011-10-23:
I don't know if I tried this, but someone claims to have solved this on their PC with "I found that the refresh rate selected in the game was making the fonts unreadable. When I selected a resolution that used a refresh rate that my desktop was using (and that the monitor was supporting), the fonts became readable." on http://forums.2kgames.com/showthread.php?89425-WORKAROUND-Text-unreadable&p=1471350#post1471350
85 comments:
Workin! BIG thanks to you!
wow thank you :::))))
Problems with some german letter but i can play :)
Thank you so much for this - it has worked beautifully! I am still going to see about really fixing the problem, but for now this is fabulous. Thank you so much!
Intel 965 video card user here... ;)
It helped a lot. Thank you very much!
May all the good things happen to you :)
Thank you for taking the time to write this up and share. I'm very grateful!
Thanks man...it really works!!!
Can't believe it, but it works beautifully! THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
No more garbled text!!!!!!!
Thanks so much man. It was the biggest bummer to finally have CIV 5 and...not be able ANYTHING. It was like getting counterfeit Russian (which would be fine if I spoke Russian.
Unbelievable dude. You're the shiznit!!!
Works, 100%. Totally psyched to actually get to play the game without getting a headache.
Thanks for the help! Worked straight away and now I can crack on and conquer all!!
Thanks a ton!
This works wonders and I think I'm in love with you.
This is so great! Thanks!
I can't seem to find the folder with the text on my PC, could I get some help
Anonymous, my first question would be, what folder in the following path does NOT exist on your computer:
C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\sid meier's civilization v\Assets\UI\Fonts\Tw Cent MT
hi mafu,
your blog was great!fixed some of the letters. I'm a bit confused about the last tweaking bits, you say to change the "ch=" bits usually from 30-300 or so...but are you saying we need to change the whole lot bit by bit?
could you upload your finished versions to us?
The steam apps folder does not exist
Anonymous, ok, I don't know where it is then. try searching for a file named TwCenMT14.ggxml on your computer. If that works, try replaces those with the files in my zip file.
Caezar, my finished version is already posted in my blog as a downloadable zip file. My changes only affect 26 lower-case letters of the alphabet. The instructions at the bottom of my blog was a quick attempt to explain how you could theoretically fix other letters (non-English languages), although I myself have not tried and don't have time to look into that.
Sadly it seems not to be there, any other thoughts
Do you have a "C:\Program Files (x86)\" folder?
Thanks! It works
This Works great. When I first saw the garbled text after just paying $50 for the game, I was ready to snap the disk in half. Cant thank you enough.
This worked perfectly. Really easy to do, and fixed the problem. Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for posting this, and for explaining it so clearly. It works perfectly.
THANK YOU IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!
It's working!
Thanks a million for posting this instruction (that even a tech zero as I could follow!) along with those modified files!
Now let us all wait for monday's patch, and hope that it'll sort out the rest of the problems!
You are a genuis! Thank you so much I have spent about an hour looking through the forums and was about to give up till I came across you.
Thank you again!
THANKS A LOT!!I LOVE YOU MAN!!
It worked, I love you.
Thanks man this works for some of the language, but any interaction with other people or with selection of what to build is pretty much non-existent. There are some characters laced in between huge amounts of space. This usual?
Hey Anonymous (of Nov 6th),
I haven't experienced that...
Do you use in the English language or some other language?
It works! Thanks!
Thanks! Works fine for intel G35 chipset family
Amazing man, I would say I almost prefer your little tweak compared to whatever the original text is supposed to look like.
yo there is no "fonts" folder o.o
I Love You Man
Great work around, Mafu! This should be posted on Civilization V's website! It would have saved me a lot of time searching. ;-) THANKS!
Ur the EFFIN MAN mafu :0
damn. this workaround isnt working for me...
neither this or the original workaround seem to change my fonts - how would that be possible?
anyone else finding the workaround now working for them?
Love u buddy:)
Thanks a lot...it's working:)
Andrew, if you do a Windows Search on your computer for those files, do you find them anywhere else?
im not good with computers, so you lost me in ur explanation. i get mostly what you did but i dont even know where to start. im sure if i knew it wouldnt be hard from there
"Dude", do you have a "C:\Program Files (x86)\" folder?
Bob, it's hard to give a better explanation because everyone's computer setup is a little different. I created a video that might help. I added this link to the blog posting: https://sites.google.com/site/mafujosh/Civ5PatchInstallHelp.wmv
Great! Now it is working! Thanks
How they release a game in that condition... Too much searches and time lost to make the game playable
As a software developer myself, I can relate to how hard it is to release bug-free software by a deadline.
You along with Cockedandloaded are AMAZING!!! I was freaking out that I wasn't going to be able to play at all; now I can actually read the text!!!!! Thank You So Much!!!!
Many Thanks.
The fix worked great. Thanks for all the help. My laptop is not not nearly powerful enough to really run Civ 5 right so I guess it is time for a new laptop. Come to think of it, I bought this laptop to be able to play Civ 4.....
For me, if I stick to the "strategic" view, the performance is great and I rarely need to switch out of that view. It took a little while to get used to it though...
Thank you for being the man.
Followed the instructions exactly and it worked perfectly. Now I can suplement my desktop gaming with some laptop action on my commute.
Rock on
You've heard it a hundred times, but Thank You!
I love you man. Seriously.
I've spent days installing, reinstalling, tweaking setups and compatibilities... and this worked like a charm!
Thank you so much.
Hey dude this is GREAT! But I'm having a problem. Whenever I copy down the 14 file in the first half of the work around, it wont let me copy the exact name of it. So what am I supposed to do? If I try to play it with the file having a name with (1), (2), etc in it it just wont work and an error message will come up. Can you help me out man?
thanks mate. you made my day!
I really appreciate the fix you posted, but the thing is: I'm running this on a Mac. All of the files are different.
I was able to find a Fonts folder, but inside it there's only a file called marlett.ttf. There are no ggxml files. The first half of it is unintelligible; the second half is copyright information and other generic statements about GNU.org.
Also, I should probably mention that when I do struggle through the menus and start an actual game, there's another issue. You can't see anything except the menus, the icons indicating where your units are, and the HUD. The main screen that's supposed to display the map and units is completely black.
If you know anything about how to do this for a Mac, that would be awesome. If not, I understand; thanks for looking at this.
Sorry Levi, I don't know a thing about Macs, nor about how Civ 5 works on them... Maybe you've tried, but try the forums (http://forums.2kgames.com, http://forums.steampowered.com, http://forums.civfanatics.com)
Sounds like a really great fix tbh but let's say that some of us don't have the folders your refering to in the Steam Section of Program Files because we didn't purchase it through steam. How can we fix this issue? I'm Running Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit and when I go into my Steam in Program Files there is no common folder in there and consiquently there are no subfolders so no where to drop the Text Files you've graciously given me. Any help would be appreciated.
I don't know where it is installed on your computer. Try opening the "RUN" dialog, type cmd, press enter, and type:
dir /on /b /s Fonts
and looks thru the results to see if that helps you any.
It worked perfectly. Although i do not have Steam installed in my pc, the font folder was inside the game folder itself.
All the video settings are as low as they can get and it still incredibly slow, compared to other games or mmorpgs.
Anyways a new laptop is on its way so i'll just sit back and enjoy.
Thanks again.
Brilliant and easy to do. Thank you so much. Looking forward to playing this after a 10 year + break.
Easy to do and works like a charm. Thanks a lot.
BIG love! Almost wasted £30
Thanks a lot !
Thanks you!!!!
Work fine
ahh thank you, thank you, thank you!! it's working now!! you're the best! :)
Thanks for this. Seems a common problem, though, wonder why Firaxis haven't patched it.
Great work! Now wish you could fix GTA for me. :-)
I don't have that folder.
The SteamApps folder is the final thing I have, from there I cant go on.
I don't know where it is installed on your computer. Try opening the "RUN" dialog, type cmd, press enter, and type:
dir /on /b /s Fonts
and looks thru the results to see if that helps you any.
I found the solution myself by looking through the game Folders.
You can paste the font files to:
C:\Program Files\Sid Meier's Civilization V\assets\UI\Fonts\Tw Cent MT
Game pro's tech support said I was screwed, but this fix worked perfectly. Great work.
Hey man this workesd and I thank you for it. Ironically I thought the problem initially was I had pirated the software and thought it was somehow corrupted. I bought the game and bam problem still there.
So I, and Sid Meier, thank you.
Thanks for this. Seems a common problem, though, wonder why Firaxis haven't patched it.
Hello. And Bye. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. Your solution works like a charm on my 2007 MacBook with an Intel GMA X3100.
Works like a charm! Finally I can play CIV 5 BNW! Thanks a lot!
I am affected by this on Steam, playing on Linux.
Here's what I found: playing in Steam offline mode completely solves the problem!
Would be interesting to know if other people find similar results in offline mode.
I'm running Civ5 on an old macbook. Any idea if your fix would work on my end somehow? Or maybe its just the same and Ill need to hunt dont the folder locations?
I've never used a macbook, and don't have any idea if this would help.
hey mafu my civ 5 is not steam and i tried to look on all disk drivers but nothing appeared up(bc i dont use the steam for it)and even tho i unziped the files nothing changed,same weird letters
I don't know where it is installed on your computer. Try opening the "RUN" dialog, type cmd, press enter, and type:
dir /on /b /s Fonts
and looks thru the results to see if that helps you any.
I have IMac (mid-2014) with Intel HD 5000.
It's working!
Thank you very much :-)
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