I'm sorry, but I think your information is incorrect on several levels:

- All versions of Civ4 Complete are DRM-free after applying the latest patch.

- The expansion that is a remake of Colonization is not part of the "Complete" edition, it's a separate game. There was an "Ultimate" edition sold in Europe which included it, but the "Complete" edition doesn't. You can buy "Civilization IV Colonization" as a separate game though. I'm not sure which version(s) Amazon is selling, it might be worth checking for those who can shop there.

- GamersGate often does lowers prices during an ongoing sale. They currently have a 2k week (with many games being 50% off), and they have daily deals with games that are reduced by even more. This has been the case since I shop at them, I don't understand why this is up to debate.

You're entirely correct in your assessment that Civ4 is an excellent game though. :)

With regard to when to buy, the best way is probably to issue orders about the games you're interested in, but not complete them until the sale is over. If the games don't get even lower in daily deals, then you have at least 10 days to complete the purchase. If a game _does_ get cheaper in a daily deal, you can just cancel the respective order at no cost, and buy it for the cheaper daily deal price. This way, you're not risking to wait until it's too late and the prices have returned to normal.

Does it? I don't even know whether or not the GamersGate version comes pre-patched to the latest version or not. The latest patch should be 1.74 if I'm not mistaken.

I had a friend with the Direct2Drive version and he claimed to be unable to patch out the DRM with the latest patch, and resorted to cracking it. There was a similar situation with Civilization III. I picked up the Direct2Drive version, and it was DRM-free, but now nobody else seems to sell it digitally without DRM at the moment. I would assume that the GamersGate and Amazon versions of that game are both fully patched, but simply opted to utilize SecuROM, while Direct2Drive did not.

I don't know. All I know is that I can confirm that there is no DRM in the Amazon version of Civilization IV Complete, and no DRM in the Direct2Drive version of Civilization III.

Umm...

Civilization IV: The Complete Edition Download Features

Sid Meier's Civilization IV
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Warlords Expansion Pack
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword Expansion Pack
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization

From the Gamersgate description. Also, if you pull up the Amazon link, you can really easily see it in the box art...

You're mixing up the basegame and CIv4 Complete. Civ 1.74 is the latest patch for the basegame. The latest patch for the Complete edition (if it doesn't come pre-patched, which it should) is 3.19.

3.19 should remove SecuRom for all versions except the D2D version, since that one uses it's own proprietary copy protection, so that the official patches couldn't be applied to it. That's the problem with shops adding their own DRM.

I have never heard of a DRM-free basegame. Is the Civ4 basegame DRM-free on Amazon? That would be a surprise for me.

I did not know that. All I did know was that Amazon offers it DRM-free, and without the necessity of patching out the DRM at that.


I've never heard of this Ultimate edition. So there's another version of Civilization IV Colonization that I've never even played?! o_O

Then what's the difference between Colonization in the Ultimate edition and the Colonization in the complete pack?

If you had read my final paragraph in it's entirety, you would have known it was in response to a user that argued that GamersGate had never and would never do such a thing, and I was previously unable to bring to memory an example where they had and therefore unable to argue against that point, nor did anybody else do so in my stead. Perhaps you should have argued against said person during that moment in time, but you were conveniently absent. ;)

Ultimately, it doesn't really matter anymore anyway.


Yes. Yes I am.

Then you're looking at a different version than me. When I click on the game I linked to, I don't see Colonization mentioned anywhere, you can trust me that I check such things before making wild claims. :) . Interesting. What's the price for the version you're looking at?

$6.24

To be honest, the whole subject of Civilization IV versions is not my area of expertise. I currently have Civilization IV Complete installed, launching Civilization IV itself and checking "about this build" states 1.74, and I wasn't even aware until now that there was a separate patch for the complete edition, as I assumed they were all treated as four totally separate games as far as patching and launching them was concerned. I'll have to research this matter further, as I'd believed I had the latest version up until now.

I can, at least, confirm with complete certainty that this is true. Right out of the box, it never asks for a single key, Amazon doesn't provide any, there's no DRM. I haven't tried to reinstall it, but I recall it running an installer for Civilization IV and two of it's expansions (I don't recall them being optional), and then automatically launching a separate installer for Colonization afterwards.

So yes, be surprised. :D

That should be about right. My disc version used a disc check which was removed in the latest patch. I checked to see if it had serial keys and there aren't any. But then what kind of SecuROM (if i does have that) would the digital version have? It can't be a disc check and if its anything else then its been added in. I know some Ubi soft games are DRM free with the latest patch on the disc version but have unremoveable Tages on the digital version. This could also be the case here.

The publisher simply chose to label the editions in a confusing way.

After the release of the last Civ4 expansion, but before the release of Civ4 Colonization, an edition called "Civ4 Complete" was sold worldwide. This edition contained the CIv4 basegame and its two expansions.

Then, Civ4 Colonization was released as a separate game. It was never seen as an expansion to Civ4 (and it is a standalone product), though I can easily be mistaken for one, granted.

Then, an edition called "Civ4 Ultimate" was released in Europe. This edition contained the Civ4 basegame and its two expansions, and Civ4 Colonization. It was not available in the US.

I don't know if a version that was called "Complete", and included COlonization, was ever sold in the US. Your statements indicate that it is. If so, then there are two different versions of "Civilization IV Complete" are/were being sold in the US: an earlier one which didn't include Colonization, and a later one which apparently does. However, this later version then seems to be US-exclusive, since Europeans still get a "complete" edition that excludes Colonization.
You probably do have the latest version. You just chose to run the basegame (v1.74) instead of the final version (which is Civilization IV Conquests patched to 3.19). Run COnquests and check the version number, you should be good. :)

Thanks - I think I figured it out now, thanks to your info. :)

GamersGate actually sells two different versions of Civ4 Complete.

One is being sold in Europe (including the UK), it does not contain Colonization. Its product code (seen in the link) is DD-CIV4CEU. European customers are automatically directed to this product page and cannot access the other one.

The second version is being sold in the US, it does contain Colonization. It's product code is DD-CIV4C. US customers are automatically directed to that product page and cannot access the European one.

So for the people who can get it, the US version is the infinitely better choice, since it includes everything that the European version has, plus Colonization, for the same price.

Might be resolved if you contact GG about it then. The Steam 'Civilization IV complete Edition' includes Colonization (also in EU), and has done so for years. Maybe it's a mistake for GG, or perhaps they're simply still stuck selling keys for the old version? Seems somewhat unlikely in digital retailing.

This is somewhat weird. Note that the Mac version of Civ4 Complete does contain Colonization for EU customers (http://www.gamersgate.com/DDB-CIV4CEM/civilization-iv-the-complete-edition-mac-bundle). So does the Steam version, as mentioned by Pheace (http://store.steampowered.com/sub/4323/). Maybe contacting GG could resolve this...

edit:
However, the GG EU page shows this box art: http://www.ovestream.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Civilization-IV-Complete-edition.jpg
This does indeed seem to be the version without Colonization that Psyringe is talking about.

Yep, already doing so. I'll keep you posted if I get new info. :)
See above. :) Thanks for the additional info about the Mac version, added it to my request.

I just received a very quick reply from GamersGate. The files are distributed as they received them from the publishers, there are indeed different versions for Europe and the US. They haven't checked whether Colonization might be included in the European version after all, but have no reason to believe that it is. Wikipedia also backs this up: "The game was re-released along with both of its expansions in 2007 in an edition entitled Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Complete; the North American version of this compilation was released on May 12, 2009 in a DRM free package that contains the core game, the two expansions, and the 2008 Colonization remake." (bolding by me)

I'm not sure if or why Steam is selling a version _with_ Colonization to Europeans, but it could be a Steam-managed bundle. Meaning, the publisher sends Steam the files without Colonization to distribute on the European market, and Steam decides to bundle that product with Colonization.