The purpose of this thread is to compile the information from the many video card related threads. The video requirements has lead to a good deal of confusion, especially concerning the elusive T+L item. Hopefully this thread will provide quick answers. Thanks to all contributors.

Requirements

T+L = Transform and lighting for future reference.

Minimum Requirements: Video 64MB T+L (GeForce2/Radeon7500 or better)

Recommended Requirements: Video 128MB pixel & vertex shaders

Civ4 uses a true 3d engine (Gamebryo), hence the additional requirements over Civ3.

How to Check

To identify your current card: Control Panel/ Display/ Settings/ Advanced/ Adaper/ Properties. You should see a model number at least. There may also be details for resolutions, graphic chip family, memory, and location. You may not actually have a seperate video card if the chips are on the main board (on-board graphics).

There is an online tool here (http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/) that is associated with GameSpy. This may simply be a lookup using information available from your system, as opposed to a real diagnostic.

Once you know your card specifics then you can check it here: Video Card Specs (http://www.neeyik.info/3dspecs/)

These properties are equivalent to T+L:

Vertex shader version (best) = Not Null (-)
Overall DirectX level = 7 (or better)

Some intel chipsets are not listed. You can find more on those here (http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/). Unfortunately, NO Intel graphics supports T+L.

Also you can compare to the games you know you can run, especially 3d real-time games. The 3d engine is reported to be the same as in Pirates, so that is a dead giveaway. Any recent 3d game where you can change perspective and zoom in with detail should be a good sign, though not proof that your video card is doing all the work.

Your dxdiag includes some 3d diagnostics. Simply run the command 'dxdiag', go to the Display tab and click Test Direct3D. If you don't see a spinning cube then you have problems. Also, the first dxdiag page will show your main board make and model, which is good for looking up docs.

AGP users - you may not be getting the benefit of the AGP slot if the main board AGP drivers are not installed. Look in your device manager under system devices for something like 'processor to AGP controller'.

Picking a New Card

Be advised there is a good chance you can play Civ4 without T+L, assuming you pass the other requirements. You may simply have slower gameplay and/or less graphic details. There are Pirates players who are getting by without a T+L enabled video card.

To upgrade, the first thing you need to know is what card your main board can handle. The vendor documentation is the definitive source. Getting details on your current card is useful for reference. Also, it is a good idea to open your case.

If you open your case and do not see that your monitor cable plugged into a card then you have on-board chips. You may not be able to use a new card, especially if it's a laptop or there is no available slot. Check your docs.

There are 3 types of slots - AGP, PCI, and PCIe. PCIe is the latest, so if you have a PCIe card then your are fine. You probably have an AGP and several PCI slots. The AGP is shorter that the PCI slots, and there will be only one. There are versions of PCI, but it looks to be stable at 2.0.

AGP version is the next consideration. AGP 2 takes 2x/4x cards and AGP 3 takes 4x/8x cards. They are suppose to be backward compatible, but you may not want to pay for 8x when you only can use 2x. Your doc is the best and last source. If you have details on your current card then you know what works. Top of the line AGP cards need 4x minimum.

Once you know your slot (and AGP version when AGP) then it is a matter of matching cards to these and the game requirements.

Recommended Cards

There are many video card vendors, but they all use special graphic processor chips (GPU). Here is an excellent reference for all makes group by GPU type.

Video Card Specs (http://www.neeyik.info/3dspecs/)

These properties are equivalent to T+L:

Vertex shader version (best) = Not Null (-)
Overall DirectX level = 7 (or better)

Buying a Card

Choose your favorite pc hardware store and decide how much you want to spend. Find the card that fits your PC, has 32MB+ and T+L, and not too expensive.

Online vendors: NewEgg (http://www.newegg.com/), Frys (http://www.outpost.com/), CompUSA (http://www.outpost.com/)

Proof that it can be cheap: $40 for ATI Radeon 8500 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102185) - AGPx2/x4, 64M, DirectX8


Edits: Many edits as needed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.

i thought soren said the radeon 9800 meets recommended requirements...

It may meet requirements. That would be good to know for sure.

It may not be recommended to purchase if there are better cards for the same price.

The 9800 should even be above recommended.

Can somebody please tell me what "hardware transform and lighting" means?

I also I have a RAGE 128 Pro, so I doubt that I have that.

Will I still be able to run the game without that, since that seems to be the only requirement I wasn't able to meet.

Turns out I have a relative who has spare video cards so I might just get a new one slotted in anyway.

But please tell me what "hardware transform and lighting" means, I don't know what it is.

Thanks in advance.

Can somebody please tell me what "hardware transform and lighting" means?

I also I have a RAGE 128 Pro, so I doubt that I have that.

Will I still be able to run the game without that, since that seems to be the only requirement I wasn't able to meet.

Turns out I have a relative who has spare video cards so I might just get a new one slotted in anyway.

But please tell me what "hardware transform and lighting" means, I don't know what it is.

Thanks in advance.

It's a programming process used to calculate certain portions of the image being displayed on your screen - usually involved in shadows, amongst other things. This process is usually very CPU intensive, but most modern video cards can do it on their own much faster, leaving the CPU more breathing room to worry about other things. For this reason, most of today's games are relying on the video card havign the function -- the T&L function. Since it's on the video card, it's hardware based (instead of software based, calculated by the CPU), thus the term, Hardware T & L.

That is a good question.

The general idea is that the video card will do the necessary transformations to present the graphics from the player's point of view, especially while it is changing during play.

On top of this add the lighting effects from a point source of light across surfaces, including shading and shadows. If the card can do this then the PC processor can do other things.

I've got a nVidia GeForce FX Go5200 64Mb Ram, will this help Civ4 runs smoothly? Does more Ram on my laptop help? I've got 1Gb.

Can somebody please tell me what "hardware transform and lighting" means?

I also I have a RAGE 128 Pro, so I doubt that I have that.

Will I still be able to run the game without that, since that seems to be the only requirement I wasn't able to meet.

Turns out I have a relative who has spare video cards so I might just get a new one slotted in anyway.

But please tell me what "hardware transform and lighting" means, I don't know what it is.

Thanks in advance.


you don't, your card is on DirectX 6.0 hardware level, which doesn't provide for Hardware T&L.
Here is complete list of graphic cards chips:
http://www.neeyik.info/3dspecs/

cards that are compatible meet both:
*direct x level at least 7
*Vertex shader version (best): TnL or any number (everything but "-")


And Radeon 9xxx series support at least 1.4 shader version, they will do just good as ones supporting 2.0 or higher.

I've got a nVidia GeForce FX Go5200 64Mb Ram, will this help Civ4 runs smoothly? Does more Ram on my laptop help? I've got 1Gb.

There's no way to know, your card is weak speed-wise but has very good techology set. civ 4 shouldn't be demending 3D speed wise, i.e. running 15fps is acceptable where in 3D shooter is not.

Thank you Alamo and Rayanth. A most useful and timely thread.

Does anyone know what a good video card is and how mutch it would cost.

There's no way to know, your card is weak speed-wise but has very good techology set. civ 4 shouldn't be demending 3D speed wise, i.e. running 15fps is acceptable where in 3D shooter is not.

Errr... what do you mean in layman terms? Is it possible to upgrade my graphic card in my Toshiba laptop? I've waited so long for this great Civ4 to be out and all i want is to let it run smoothly....

Errr... what do you mean in layman terms? Is it possible to upgrade my graphic card in my Toshiba laptop? I've waited so long for this great Civ4 to be out and all i want is to let it run smoothly....

laptop video cards are generally onboard, meaning they cannot be changed/upgraded/replaced/etc...

...

Here is complete list of graphic cards chips:
http://www.neeyik.info/3dspecs/

cards that are compatible meet both:
*direct x level at least 7
*Vertex shader version (best): TnL or any number (everything but "-")

And Radeon 9xxx series support at least 1.4 shader version, they will do just good as ones supporting 2.0 or higher.

Ok, so you mean T+L = DirectX7+ and Vertex shader not null on that page.

That's great - thanks!

Errr... what do you mean in layman terms? Is it possible to upgrade my graphic card in my Toshiba laptop? I've waited so long for this great Civ4 to be out and all i want is to let it run smoothly....

In layman terms, means it has all the features of very fast card, but it doesn't have raw speed. Because speed is not issue in Civ4, you shall play well.

What about that same card (nVidia GeForce FX Go5200) but with 32 MB? That's what my laptop has. It's been able to play some games that required 64.

That looks like a great card! I wouldn't worry.

Vertex shader 2.0a
DirectX 9

I've got a nVidia GeForce FX Go5200 64Mb Ram, will this help Civ4 runs smoothly? Does more Ram on my laptop help? I've got 1Gb.

I have exactly the same card and I hope Civ4 will run. I only have 512MB RAM on my laptop, but GTA San Andreas runs quite well on it, even on max resolution. I assume Civ4 is not going to be more graphics intensive than San Andreas, so I guess it should run. Maybe zooming in/out, panning and rotating the map will not be as smooth as it is shown in preview videos.

ok just go here....http://www.srtest.com/referrer/srtest....pick civ4 and it will check ur system to see it will run.....8)

its 64mb graphics card not 32.

The funny thing about the srtest.com site is that I passed for Civilization IV, but I tried other games I owned, like Doom 3 and Far Cry and I failed the minimums for both games, and yet I play both games on low-medium settings perfectly.

I bought a Gigabyte produced ATI 9550 card for 60 bucks at newwgg. It's AGP 4x/8x and my AGP slot is 2x/4x. This card works great! It has a 128-bit memory channel and 256MB of built-in memory. If you don't play hardcore first person shooter games, then any ATI 9550 based card will work wonderfully for civ4. Lots of manufacturers make cards based on this chip... here is a list from ATI's website:

http://www.ati.com/products/radeon9550/partner.html

Another thing I might mention. I chose the Gigabyte card because it's passively cooled (no fan just a large heatsink) and inexpensive. The card is silent :cool: so if you don't like noisey computers, be sure to get a passively cooled card. I'm very pleased with this card and purchased it specifically for civ4. Best of luck to everyone :goodjob:

Your card could fail T+L but still play a game. You simply have your CPU doing some of the work intended for the GPU. The big question is whether the 3d engine allows this.

My own card fails for T+L - ATI Radeon VE 32MB DDR. I intend to buy a new system after Xmas, so I'm waiting to see if it runs.

That Gigabyte deal sounds pretty good.

Thanks for starting this thread, Alamo. Good info for people who need it.

I currenly have a GEFORCE4 MX 420 card in my 3 1/2 year old computer. It is an AGP slot. And I am thinking of upgrading that one.
My question is how can I determine if the AGP slot can handle a 2x, 4x, or 8x card?

lol
Sound Card
Minimum: Yes
You Have: ATI TV Wonder Video Capture
PASS

Doesn't look like a sound card to me. ;)

Thanks everyone. :) It's like I have to take a degree in computers just to play Civ4. :lol:

I currenly have a GEFORCE4 MX 420 card in my 3 1/2 year old computer. It is an AGP slot. And I am thinking of upgrading that one.
My question is how can I determine if the AGP slot can handle a 2x, 4x, or 8x card?

The best way to do this is to obtain documentation from your motherboard or computer manufacturer. You can also check and see what your BIOS reports the slot to be.

AGP came in 3 specifications for the most part. 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 (3.0 will be the last as PCI-E is quickly replacing AGP).

I'd bet that your slot is 2.0 compliant, possibly 3.0. AGP 2.0 takes 2x/4x cards. AGP 3.0 takes 4x/8x cards. Also, AGP is backward compatible unless you have a funny (4x only slot) or a *really* old slot, you can use a 3.0 compliant card in a 2.0 compliant slot (that's what I'm currently doing)... this is especailly true if you have a 'universial' slot (a slot that is not keyed for a specific AGP spec).

The biggest things you'll face is signaling. AGP 2.0 uses 1.5V signaling while AGP 3.0 uses 0.8V but should accept 1.5 volts if it follows the specs as it should. Both Nvidia and ATI follow the specs religiously.

Google around and get your slot specifics before buying. Best of luck. :goodjob:

this post should be modified a bit and put sticky on it.

alancsilver - Your card is good for Civ4 - Vertex=TnL / dX=7.

rtilley - Good slot info - Thanks.

I'm not sure what it takes to get sticky, but there are a bunch already. Feel free to suggest other improvements.

I started this one to try and pull the posters from the other 5+ threads, not to mention the occasional 'Will card XXX work?' threads.

Hmm,this doesn't make sense. I pass the minium, but the only thing that fails at the Reccomended is my Graph. Card...

BUT, it says I have all the things needed (32MB,3d hardware, TnL)
I have a GEFORCE 4 MX 4000...and like I said, I have those. Why does it say that my graph. card fails? >_<

You passed minimum - that's better than me!

It just doesn't like old cards. The recommended spec is pretty tough.

The recommended Specifications are: 512MB of ram, Pentium4 processor, and a recent graphics card (like the Radeon 9800).

The easiest way to find out your system info, including the AGP slot version, is to download and run this tool:

LINK (http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php)

The AGP slot version can be found under the mainboard tab.

That's an interesting site - thanks.

It looks legit to me. If anyone uses this tool then let us know how you liked it.

I still love my ATI X800 XL with 256mb of RAM. I could have opted for the 512mb verison, but I'd rather not break the bank.

Alright, I'm sorry, but this doesn't seem to be answered anywhere:

If I have a card that DOES support all the nifty 3D hardware acceleration stuff like T&L, but DOES NOT have the required memory... will I be able to run the game? (assuming, say, lowest resolution and minimum graphic options)

My laptop - an IBM X31 - has the Radeon Mobility AGP. Advanced enough to support T&L, but only 16MB onboard, and it doesn't share.

Any informed guesses?

That's an interesting site - thanks.

It looks legit to me. If anyone uses this tool then let us know how you liked it.
Of course it's legit. I'm sure I would have been banned a long time ago if I gave out dodgy urls. :p

Btw, if anyone wants more detailed answers to these questions (such as AGP slot versions) you should head over to the computer talk section of these forums. There are some very knowledgable posters there who don't seem to frequent the civ 4 section.

My video card is a Geforce FX 5200 (yeah, I know, it sucks), but it doesn't support T + L lighting. How much will not supporting it effect my performance ingame? On a side note, was T + L lighting in Pirates! because my computer ran that game without a problem.

I'm buying a new computer, but thats going to be around christmas...

I currenly have a GEFORCE4 MX 420 card in my 3 1/2 year old computer. It is an AGP slot. And I am thinking of upgrading that one.
My question is how can I determine if the AGP slot can handle a 2x, 4x, or 8x card?
What's your motherboard? Should be on the invoice somewhere.

The jump from 2X to 4X is reasonably substantial (though not as big as 1X to 2X), there's is hardly any difference between 4X and 8X though.

Don't buy cards that end in 'MX' btw...bad cards., bad..bad cards. ;)

My video card is a Geforce FX 5200 (yeah, I know, it sucks), but it doesn't support T + L lighting.
As I said in the other thread, it does support T/L. Who told you it didn't?
Any cards made this millenium support it. T/L isn't even mentioned anymore on videocards because it is so standard. Think television and colour.

Anyone know if this means it will work or not?

Video RAM: Required - 32 MB , You have - 64 MB
Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Video HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - No

I don't have a flash graphics card, just whatever it was that came with the computer - which runs 2.4ghz, 500meg ram btw.

Anyone know if this means it will work or not?

Video RAM: Required - 32 MB , You have - 64 MB
Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Video HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - No

I don't have a flash graphics card, just whatever it was that came with the computer - which runs 2.4ghz, 500meg ram btw.
No T&L, probably not, or at least not without some wacky issues. I know sometimes people can push specs, but I've seen soooo many problems with games made in the past two years or so for anyone without a video card that has T&L. Not just not running the best graphics, but having the graphics be so messed up that gameplay is severely hindered, not to mention the aesthetic mess entailed.

Luckily Civ 4 doesn't require much, a $40 video card will do quite nicely.

Wow this is a great thread...

My IBM Thinkpad (A21p) graphic card is:

ATI Rage Mobility 128 Ver. 4.00

I did the "srstest" but failed the "T&L"

any insight as to whether i'll be able to run it?

Hmm. I don't think I'll be buying Civ 4 then... $100 is a lot to pay for a game that probably won't work. And a $40 video card in the US is an $80 video card over here... nope. I think I'll stick with Civ3.

I just got a 64MB GEForce4 installed. :D It's a used card I got from my uncle.

And I just did a test on www.srtest.com and I passed the min requirement test.

Huzzah! :D

please mods, could we get a vid card sticky?

@Sub - that card should do great!

@sav - what is your card/chipset? Why $100 for Civ4?

@agoodfella - I don't see your card on the list, but the other Rage cards only have DirectX6, which is bad.

T+L may not be absolutely necessary, but I'm not sure right now.

Is there a Pirates player out there with an older video card w/o T+L?

Hmm. I don't think I'll be buying Civ 4 then... $100 is a lot to pay for a game that probably won't work. And a $40 video card in the US is an $80 video card over here... nope. I think I'll stick with Civ3.

who is charging that $100? Can't you order from the US or when it comes do you get taxed up the ying-yang or something...living in the US I dont understand the mechanics involved in ordering in other countries.

I can run Pirates on an Intel 852/855 GM chipset. Even for the Intel Extreme, that's a bit outdated. Pirates had to run on highest detail, but there was no slowdown or lag, and very few graphic artifacts.

That is VERY interesting, as this chipset does NOT have T+L! (see here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=3195577))

That confirms that T+L is not absolutely necessary with the Gambryo engine!

10x....
now i can quit asking for help on the fourm........

thanx!!!

Well, there is some risk that Civ4 WILL need T+L.

However, even a LoTR game allowed for software emulation. Hopefully an exception will be allowed in Civ4 also.

Can anyone help? I have an AMD Athlon(tm) XP 3000+ with 2.1 GHz CPU, 448 MB RAM, and something called a VIA/S3G UniChrome IGP graphics card (I have DirectX 9.0c, so I know it supports it). Any other info I forgot?

Does anyone think I can or cannot run CivIV? I can play Half-Life 2 with slightly below average settings, still looks ok, though. I can play Halo, but everything is all gray, blocky, and flickering.

who is charging that $100? Can't you order from the US or when it comes do you get taxed up the ying-yang or something...living in the US I dont understand the mechanics involved in ordering in other countries.

It'll be $100NZ retail. I tried ordering through the website linked to from Civfanatics, they never sent me a confirmation email nor charged my credit card, and haven't responded to my follow emails asking what's going on. So I'll just wait till it's in the shops...

Ordering from overseas will be just as expensive, with the added risk of, well, ordering from overseas... you never quite know what's going to happen...

Minimum: 32 MB 3D Video Card with Hardware Transform & Lighting
You Have: Intel(R) 82845G Graphics Controller (Intel(R) 82845G/GL Chip)

It's a 64meg chip, so that should be ok... but this T+L thing is pretty annoying. I don't want flash graphics, I just want a good game!

It'll be $100NZ retail. I tried ordering through the website linked to from Civfanatics, they never sent me a confirmation email nor charged my credit card, and haven't responded to my follow emails asking what's going on. So I'll just wait till it's in the shops...

Ordering from overseas will be just as expensive, with the added risk of, well, ordering from overseas... you never quite know what's going to happen...

Minimum: 32 MB 3D Video Card with Hardware Transform & Lighting
You Have: Intel(R) 82845G Graphics Controller (Intel(R) 82845G/GL Chip)

It's a 64meg chip, so that should be ok... but this T+L thing is pretty annoying. I don't want flash graphics, I just want a good game!

Sav, I have this same graphics controller in my cpu and I'm wondering the same thing: Will it work? Or do I need a new graphics card? I was looking into a new one but I found that my cpu does not have AGP slots, only PCI :sad:
Hopefully i can find a PCI card for around 50 bucks that can run Civ IV if the gosh darn intel graphics don't cut it, which I kind of doubt they will. And then I'll be spending 100 bucks just on one game (I've been trying to save up some money and its been working until now :D )

That is VERY interesting, as this chipset does NOT have T+L! (see here (http://forums.civfanatics.com/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=3195577))

That confirms that T+L is not absolutely necessary with the Gambryo engine!
This does seem to indicate that hardware T&L isn't an absolute must.

I think people who don't have a hardware T&L graphics card need to consider the power of their cpu. If you have a cpu that just meets the minimum requirements then you will probably not be able to run this game. However, if you have a fairly good cpu (say 2GHz plus as a guess) then it may be able to cope with the added T&L calculations, though the game would seem to play a lot slower than a 2GHz cpu with hardware T&L. You would probably also need at least 512MB of RAM in this case.

I imagine that the majority of recent laptops would fall into the latter category.

Of course, if the civ4 installer refuses to run the game without hardware T&L being present then this entire discussion will be pointless.

Yeah, mine's 2.4 or something GHZ, and 502 RAM, so I think it should be ok then... but this result from the SR Test site worried me...

CPU Speed
Minimum: 1 MHz
You Have: 2.6 GHz

Civ IV can run on a one megahertz processer? To hell with buying a new video card, I might just find an old 286 for cheaper!

Wow this is a great thread...

My IBM Thinkpad (A21p) graphic card is:

ATI Rage Mobility 128 Ver. 4.00

I did the "srstest" but failed the "T&L"

any insight as to whether i'll be able to run it?


Wow, you know that driverheaven.net is hosting a contest form ATI to see who has the oldest graphics card. the Rage is right up there with the first cards ever. If you win they will give you a bran new X1080.

Can anyone help? I have an AMD Athlon(tm) XP 3000+ with 2.1 GHz CPU, 448 MB RAM, and something called a VIA/S3G UniChrome IGP graphics card (I have DirectX 9.0c, so I know it supports it). Any other info I forgot?

Does anyone think I can or cannot run CivIV? I can play Half-Life 2 with slightly below average settings, still looks ok, though. I can play Halo, but everything is all gray, blocky, and flickering.

No idea to be honest.

It's not because you have directX9.0c installed the cards supports it. A couple of months ago I had to reinstall my back-up card (GeForce1) and had DirectX9 too, although that card only supports directX7? (No sure on that one).

Never, ever, ever buy integrated graphic cards...never. Buy them second hand if you can't really afford them (as I do). I bought a 3 month old 9800PRO for about 60% of new price.

Ok, my system is 2.2 gigs, 768 ram no t+l and a 64 mb integrated intel card that meets evertything except t+l. Would someone tell me how they think civ4 will run on my computer. I mean, it has good harddrive (2.2) and 768 ram, would that be good enough if t+l isn't required but can be ran on ram or something.

Yesterday I bought a new video card (just for Civ IV!) on sale at CompUSA...

ATI Radeon 9250 with 256 MB memory (http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=316268) (including the hardware transform and lighting) for only $99 (after $30 instant savings).

Ok, if a laptop has the Intel 829156M - aka the Alviso GM - (claims 400mhz, 4 pixel pipelines), is that the same as the Intel GMA? Should I put it on the list of possible laptop purchases, or is it beneath Civ4 standards?

I have a 64MB DDR NVIDIA GeForce 4MX 420 with TVout. Will this be good enough? For some reason, when I run the test at srtest.com it says my graphics/video card has no memory, even though I just installed the drivers to it.

If you meet all the other recommended requirements for CIV4, but less than the recommmended for the graphics card, can you still work the game properly if you perform the recommended install option?

you'll be able to run with 420MX although you could face some speed issues. Civ is turn based strategy, so it won't be bad even if screen movement isn't the greatest.

Please, does anyone have an inkling of an answer to the question below?

If I have a card that DOES support all the nifty 3D hardware acceleration stuff like T&L, but DOES NOT have the required memory... will I be able to run the game? (assuming, say, lowest resolution and minimum graphic options). My laptop - an IBM X31 - has the Radeon Mobility AGP. Advanced enough to support T&L, but only 16MB onboard, and it doesn't share.

Anyone?

Okay, I went to the test site provided by Hajmyis and ran it for Civ4.
Here is a quick summary of what it says:

-Minimum- (failed)
CPU: AMD Athlon (pass)
CPU Speed: 989 MHz (pass)
RAM: 767.5 MB (pass)
OS: Win XP Pro SP2 Build 2600 (pass)
Video Card: WinFast A340 (GeForce FX 5200) (fail)
-video ram: 138 MB (pass)
-3D acceleration: yes (pass)
-Hardware T&L: yes (pass)
Sound Card: yes (pass)

I don't really understand how my video card failed if it passed the three little things. Sure, there is something wrong with the driver at the moment (a dll isn't working, so I'm going to be reinstalling the driver to try again), but would that really cause a fail?

Side note:
I didn't find Sid Meier's Pirates! in the tester, would it be a comparable test, as in would pass/fail of one be the exact same for the other?
I purchased Pirates and tried to play it. From what I understood, I met the minimum requirements. Pirates played really slow and a bit choppy, but it ran.
Then, one of my family members managed to fry our graphics card just working in a word document. It was an old card, so we expected it.

I then purchased our current card (mentioned in test info above). I purchased without knowing that I needed hardware T&L (silly me, I thought all new ones would have it).

So, the first time I played Pirates after that, the game ran very smooth and quickly. There was an occasional hesitation, but nothing major. Since then, any time I play it runs fine until I get into a fight, be it with swords or canons.
I contacted Firaxis for help and they told me to update my video drivers, so I did that. Still failing, I asked again and they told me that my graphics card probably didn't have hardware T&L. I tried finding out if I had hardware T&L and what cards might have it and couldn't figure it out... so I asked Firaxis if they could tell me how... that was several months ago and I still haven't heard from them.

Oh well, according to the list supplied near the start of this thread, and that test I ran, I have hardware T&L, but I still can't play Pirates and I shouldn't play Civ4. *weeps*

Sorry about the long post, my first post and I'm already torturing you all with a long post.

your cad will run it with all little details turned on! maybe time to get newest driver from nvidia.com ?

as for 16MB person- nobody knows! most likely you'll be able as there is AGP Aperture thing - video memory from main memory.

Yeah, I tried to reinstall the drivers for my video card and it said the whql wasn't signed or soeemthing... so I said forget it and installed one from nVidea's site.
Now the video card passes all of dxdiag's direct draw/3d tests and it passes the civ4 playable test. I don't have time to try Pirates right now, but I'll definetly try it asap.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=101639&stc=1&d=1130207423

The funny circle I drew is where I was before...
One question, why does it check to make sure the CPU speed is over 1 MHz? Shouldn't it aim higher?

I was advised of a graphics utility called 3DAnalyze that can help older cards run 3D games.

The 3D Analyzer Tool was created and refined to overcome limitations posed by modern 3D Games and other Applications on several current mainstream 3D Cards.

Basic functionality will equip non-T&L cards with a software substitute.

Advanced functionality will enable User selectable 3D Features not available in many older Cards. Yet, this is presently achieved not by Emulation but by NUL-Rendering. This means, advanced 3D Features the Card is not capable of, are reported as available in Hardware, but have their calls intercepted and the respective 3D Features will not be rendered.

These functions are based upon the premise and ideas, that :
- 3D Games can be launched, that otherwise would fail due to lack of Hardware support.
- No 3D Game should solely rely on a few, isolated rendering features, and therefor loss of image quality by NUL-Rendering 'should' be minimal and acceptable in most cases.


For the stout-hearted, it can be found here (http://www.tommti-systems.de/main-Dateien/files.html).

I think I'm good....

Athlon64 3500+, 2GB of RAM, and a GeForce 6600 GT. And I don't even play games much. Its my compile and development machine. :cool:

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/1867/graphall72tt.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Moved to the Technical forum.

A good thread; shldn't be lost in the mass of GD threads. :goodjob:

@IroquoisPlisken - That card isn't listed, but it looks like a fairly new system. You're probably fine. Did you run the system check? You may want to check your drivers (including VGA main board driver).

@sav + bballaust + karlhegna: No Intels have T+L. The DirectX support is a bit fuzzy. They claim to support them all. OpenGL requires their latest drivers. You should update the drivers at least.

@SenshiNeko: Sorry to tell you, but Newegg has that card for $60 before rebate - it's about 3 generations old.

@Jove: Intel gfx do NOT support T+L. Get a real gfx card if the system is for gaming.

@Gatsby: You should be fine! Check your display adapter properties for memory. I would disregard the system test if that disagrees. Will it work w/lame card? We all want to know!

@lightnng: Maybe someone in the technical forum could answer a low memory. My guess is a 50/50 chance. If 16M+ of video textures must load to show a screen then you will have problems.

Never, ever, ever buy integrated graphic cards...never. Buy them second hand if you can't really afford them (as I do). I bought a 3 month old 9800PRO for about 60% of new price.
I cannot agree with this enough. Integrated sound is fine. Integrated graphics is like buying a car without tires.

This is what I have, anyone tell me what it means on my Dell Inspiron 1150?

Name Intel(R) 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics Controller
PNP Device ID PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_3582&SUBSYS_017F1028&REV_02\3&61AAA01&0&11
Adapter Type Intel(R) 82852/55 Graphics Controller, Intel Corporation compatible
Adapter Description Intel(R) 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics Controller
Adapter RAM 64.00 MB (67,108,864 bytes)
Installed Drivers ialmrnt5.dll
Driver Version 6.14.10.3889
INF File oem4.inf (iMGM section)
Color Planes Not Available
Color Table Entries Not Available
Resolution Not Available
Bits/Pixel Not Available
Memory Address 0xE0000000-0xE7FFFFFF
Memory Address 0xF6F00000-0xF6F7FFFF
Driver c:\windows\system32\drivers\ialmnt5.sys (6.14.10.3889, 720.58 KB (737,874 bytes), 12/31/1979 10:00 PM)

Thanks for all the info everyone. These tech threads have been very useful to me. :king:

If anyone's keeping score at home, I've decided to put off buying a notebook for 8-12 months, as I don't really need one until later anyway and a good one will be cheaper in the future. I'll update my current 1.7GHz Celeron (yes, the wimpy one) with a 128MB 6600GT Ge-force gfx card and 512MB RAM. More gfx than really necessary, but I'm starting to believe the wimpier processor will be just fine with the right support (and not ok with the stock 32MB intel chip). Plus it should be good enough to try some other new games as well. I'm surprised at the number of notebooks out there with hot processors that don't seem to have considered graphics carefully. They cost a fortune and aren't good enough! but if my plan won't work, please let me know...

Has any one tryed the game yet with software T/L? and does it work, and if so is it still enjoyable

Hi folks,

I would guess the game won't run well on hardware without T&L support; it will likely wither be very sluggish or turn off some of the features of the 3D engine, or both. A perusal of the Pirates forums suggests that even T&L capable cards which are light on performance don't handle that game well.

You will pay too much if you go to your local mall and buy a video card from the computer shack therein. Go to an online retailer, such as Newegg (www.newegg.com), or an enthusiast's brick+mortar, such as Fry's.

All integrated graphics solutions -- "cards" built-in to your motherboard -- have very poor performance (except to some extent a small number of enthusiast solutions such as Nforce motherboards). Your graphics are integrated if your system info shows "Intel" as the video card manufacturer (and in some other cases).

Briefly: there are two major players in the video card market: Nvidia with their "Geforce" line and ATI with their "Radeon" line.

Major Geforce series can be determined from the first digit in the model number: Geforce 2, 3, 4, 5xxx, 6xxx, 7xxx. The Geforce 3 and 4 Ti (but NOT MX) series are the minimum you would want for this game. The 52xx and 62xx cards are poor but may be sufficient.

Major ATI series are 7xxx, 8xxx, 9xxx, and, well, Xxxx (and "Rage" cards, which were awful even in 1997 and now belong in museums -- the poor soul in this thread with a Rage Mobility card is, I'm afraid, very much SOL). The minimum you would want for this game is the 8500. The 91xx/92xx and X300 cards are poor but may be sufficient.

A useful display of graphics card performance can be found here:

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041004/vga_charts-04.html#3dmark_2003

for slightly older (and now inexpensive) cards. Cards around the middle of that pack can be easily had for $50-$75 and will provide MUCH better performance than integrated solutions or the execrable Geforce 4MX line. For example,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=GO&Range=1&Category=38&bop=and&Range=1,%201&description=Radeon&srchInDesc=9600

This is my first post here. Very much looking forward to Civ 4.

- C.

A most helpful post. Thank you!
Once you know your card specifics then you can check it here: Video Card Specs (http://www.neeyik.info/3dspecs/)

These properties are equivalent to T+L:

Vertex shader version (best) = Not Null (-)
Overall DirectX level = 7 (or better)
Unfortunately, my card is not listed at the above website. It is an SiS 651 w/ 32mb. Any ideas?

Your dxdiag includes some 3d diagnostics. Simply run the command 'dxdiag', go to the Display tab and click Test Direct3D. If you don't see a spinning cube then you have problems. Also, the first dxdiag page will show your main board make and model, which is good for looking up docs.

I saw the spinning cube. Thats good, right? It says I passed DirectX3d 7 and 8. It could not test DirectX3d 9 because my driver did not support it. Can I assume that since I support 7 that I have this T+L business?

Unfortunately, my card is not listed at the above website. It is an SiS 651 w/ 32mb. Any ideas?


Unfortunately, that's an integrated chipset, and not a good one. According to this site:

http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/desktops/0,39023846,39116998,00.htm

that chipset scores about 1500 in 3DMark 2001, an old benchmark which rates DX7 performance (you want DX8 performance for Civ4). To put that in context, here's rankings of 3D cards circa 2001,

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20020418/vgacharts-05.html

the SiS651 doesn't even reach the performance of a TnT2, which is a 1999 part. The cards at the very top of that chart are now $40 parts and would give you five to ten times better performance, if indeed the game will run at all on the SiS651.

Unfortunately, that's an integrated chipset, and not a good one. According to ...
Well, the only game that I ever play is Civ. And, to date anyways, it has been just fine in the performance department. I cannot imagine that a turn-based strategy game would be all that taxing on the video subsystem. I'm just not sure if the game will even load/run without this T&L support. Unfortunately, I cannot determine if I have it or not. The dxdiag program showed the rotating cube just fine. But, does that use/require T&L support?

Well, the only game that I ever play is Civ. And, to date anyways, it has been just fine in the performance department. I cannot imagine that a turn-based strategy game would be all that taxing on the video subsystem. I'm just not sure if the game will even load/run without this T&L support.

You don't have hardware T&L, and you have an exceptionally slow video system even among those without T&L. You could just try the game and see if it works and, if so, if it runs acceptably. Tough call on buying a new card if Civ is the only game you play because you won't notice any difference at all in other computing tasks.

Note, though, that playing Civ 3 "just fine" doesn't tell you anything about how Civ 4 will run because the latter but not the former is 3D. Also note that being a turn-based strategy game is more or less irrelevant: the engine must still draw a 3D world, and it has to do so at a frame rate such that scrolling doesn't grind the system to a halt (which is why the engineers are exploiting hardware T&L capabilities). Of course, it's not critical you get 60 FPS like it would be for a shooter, but it isn't going to be fun to play at one frame every two seconds.

@lightnng: Maybe someone in the technical forum could answer a low memory. My guess is a 50/50 chance. If 16M+ of video textures must load to show a screen then you will have problems.

That's my thought, but this should imply that by turning off certain effects - such as shading - should help, no?

Your dxdiag includes some 3d diagnostics. Simply run the command 'dxdiag', go to the Display tab and click Test Direct3D. If you don't see a spinning cube then you have problems.

Yeah, I can see the cube in all three modes (directX7, 8, and 9). This is expected as the card does have the hardware accelaration features.

Well, according to Amazon I have about 2 weeks to wait. Hopefully someone by that time could tell me whether my setup is feasible or not... :-)

i have a rage 128 pro ultra gl apg... will it work
i cant play roller coaster tycoon 3...
but can play civ 3 with no probs

Would an Intel 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics Controler that has 64MB of Ram and 3D acceleration be able to run Civ4? The rest of my computer passed the minumum requierments except for one thing on the Video Card feature, which was that I dont have T&L.

I dont want to waste my money on a game that I cannot install or just wont run on my computer. I mean I have played Call of Duty and it required T&L and it ran fine without T&L. But I became more cautious after buying Star Wars Battlefront when it failed to install on my computer just because I did not have T&L (In the middle of the installation, it just stoped and prompted me that I did not have the video card for it :mad:). I realy dont want the same thing happening to me with Civ4 :mad:.

Would an Intel 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics Controler that has 64MB of Ram and 3D acceleration be able to run Civ4? .

I've got the same exact card. I also don't know yet if it would work. That's why a demo version would be great. If one of us find out for sure, we can let the other one know, deal?

I pass and exceed all requirements except one....I only have 16mb of memory on the video card (I'm on a laptop). If I can run Command and Conquer: Generals on medium setting with no lag, Civ4 should run fine right? What do you guys think? I really want to pick this one up this weekend. I've played every version of Civ and they just keep getting better.

Any thoughts/parsings on this exchange from the link to the chat with Firaxis?
_________________________________

CivGeneral: How would Civ4 Handle in computers on a non-T&L video card?

Gogf: total failure to work, or just poor graphics?

FIRAXIS_Trip: T&L... don't know personally I bought a new computer with integrated Intel graphics and the game ran perfectly it was a new computer though, it probably also has T&L

I've got the same exact card. I also don't know yet if it would work. That's why a demo version would be great. If one of us find out for sure, we can let the other one know, deal?

Same here. Let me know too.

Why do Intel video cards seem to be so useless? I've got a pretty good Gateway computer (1.8GZ Pentium 4, 356 MB), but the Intel graphics card is CRAP. I've been wanting to buy Sims 2, but the card isn't supported. I did buy a new Radeon 9500 or something, but I haven't been able to get it to work because the Intel stupid card is wired into the motherboard and I'm afraid to mess the wires to figure out how to disconnect it. So I've got a good $120 video card sitting in my computer that doesn't work. Grrrr, I hope some of you have luck with getting this to run anyway. I don't care if the graphics are slightly sub-par, I just don't want to spend $50 on a game that doesn't work. Please keep us updated!

Why do Intel video cards seem to be so useless? ... [quote]

They aren't "cards," they're just chips which can do limited video processing on the motherboard. They aren't good for gaming because they're designed largely for office use.


[quote]I did buy a new Radeon 9500 or something, but I haven't been able to get it to work because the Intel stupid card is wired into the motherboard and I'm afraid to mess the wires to figure out how to disconnect it.

You don't have to rewire anything! You should just be able to plug the new card in and that ought to automagically disable the onboard video. At worst you have to change a setting in BIOS, which is very easy. Just follow the instructions that came with your card and it should work.

Wow - I was sick for a day and look what happened...

It looks like there are plenty of problems, and I have no hope of keeping up with all of this. I don't know how the moderators do it.

Basically, the minimum requirements were REALLY minimum. People w/o T+L are having major problems.

the graphics of the advisors (and Sid in the tutorial!) are headless teeth and eyes floating by themselves in the air.

I guess it's off to see the wizard...

I was reading all this stuff about directx 7 and 8 capabilities. I have Direct x 9 on my cpu right now and the direct draw test went fine. Is that a good sign or am I grasping at straws?

there is difference between having card that is directx 9 compable and that has full hardware support of it.
For full hardware support of dx9, you need radoen 9500 and higher, geforce 5fx and higher.

O.k. I'm confused. Would you say that it is a good sign though ? I ran that program to see if you meet the sys. requirments and I passed everything even the T&L but I have an intel card and I have not heard good things.

Thanks

OK, I checked the ATI card when I got home and it is actually a 9250. However, since many people are having huge issues w/ ATI cards, I think I will wait a while before I try and buy the game.

You don't have to rewire anything! You should just be able to plug the new card in and that ought to automagically disable the onboard video. At worst you have to change a setting in BIOS, which is very easy. Just follow the instructions that came with your card and it should work.

I got this card for my birthday (last December) and haven't really tried to mess with it for a while b/c I got so frustrated. When I plugged the card in and disabled the Intel driver, I could only get a black screen. I tried a few things but I'm not very good with hardware problems. For some reason it wouldn't work and I read "somewhere" that I had to manually disconnect the Intel graphics controller from the motherboard. I am going out of town for a few days, so maybe I will try to mess with it again when I get back. I really hate the Intel graphics controller anyway. If anyone has any suggestions on how to fix this I would appreciate it! Again I've got Windows XP, 381 MB RAM, 1.8 GhZ Pentium 4, Intel 82845/G

according to the check thing my video card is not good enough (t&l - after i specifically asked the person about the video card when i got the computer this year)
But then people it doensn't really matter if you got a good processor and losts of ram.

So my question, like everyone elses - will it run?
3 GHz
1 G ram
videocard: SiS 661FX

My graphics card hates me.

I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop that meets all (recommended) space/speed specs, but the graphics card is NVIDIA Geforce4 420go with 32MB of ram.

Civ4 opens fine, but some leaders look wonky -- Saladin and Louis are super white and glossy (without textures), and most of the other leaders have "shine" to the textures. Others, like Gandhi and Isabella look more cel-shade flat.

The movies chunk out, and Leonard Nimoy's little ditty with every new game nearly freezes the computer. AND I have black screen of death (i.e., no land textures when zoomed in) once I'm playing.

Any assistance, or do I basically need to buy a desktop computer? Blah.

Just thought I would say thanks here. I dont have the game yet probably will today. I had no idea about anything of video cards or the like so this has Really helped me. I upgraded my drivers which I dont think I have ever done since I bought the comp about 3-4 years ago. oh my vid card is a NVIDIA GeForce4 mx440 so Im lucky I guess that card just meets the requirments I belive so ya thanks for the help.

Update

For a mere 100 gold I have acquired an ATI Radeon 9550 128MB AGPx8.

The only seriously 3d game I have is Treasure Planet (that runs on XP). I could run it before, but I expect it to be perfect and smooth now.

I'm still waiting for the game...

Okay, I test played the games I have to see if the new nVidea drivers for my video card fixed all the bugs.

First, I found that Pirates! functioned fine and couldn't stop playing at any free moment I had for a couple days... hence why I haven't posted in a bit, lol.

Just now, I tried AoM. Most of the graphics had been blanched white when I got the new card, now it works fine.

Then, I went to my favorite game, civ3.
I've been having trouble with hotseat color assignments, the trouble being that the game would freeze.
It didn't fix that problem, so I'll be searching for a thread where a similar issue has been discussed and try and get some help with that.

So, good news and bad news.
Good news is that my computer can handle Civ4.
Bad news is that I don't have an income, so I can't buy Civ4 yet. *sigh*

Hello everyone-

I too am the "proud" owner of a laptop bearing the accursed Intel graphics card... upon loading CivIV I noticed several odd things:

1. (the bad news first) Leaderheads are absent, instead displating disembodied eyes and mouths (the most mobile potions of the heads, I suppose)- very disturbing. Still no workaround for this.

2. (now the good news) I discovered that the AmRev scenario displayed everything properly, while regular gamplay blackened all terrain and created odd lighting effects. So I loaded a regular game, opened modmaker and toggled the entire terrain to visible, then saved as a scenario. Not a beautiful workaround, becasue it gave away the terrain... but at least I can play with more or less normal terrain viewing (except the cows and elephants remain spectral, coming and going at will, though their shadows remain...)

Eric.

What card do you have exactly, as there are more than one intel card around

Judging by the results so far, you simply will have to get a real video card.

Intel just won't support T+L, since most PC buyers aren't gamers.

hi i did a system requirements check from the link on the first page of this thread and i passed the minimum requirements but failed on the recommended in the video card part i have a "NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X" whatever that is i was just wondering if it will affect the game and how. thanks

You'll probably have lag, maybe choppy movies. Go ahead and update the drivers and install DirectX9.0c.

Apparently there are a bunch of game options that can be tweaked to ease the burden.

You'll probably have lag, maybe choppy movies. Go ahead and update the drivers and install DirectX9.0c.

Apparently there are a bunch of game options that can be tweaked to ease the burden.

Was that for me would it be worth my while buying a new video card?how much are they anyway

The recommended is pretty high - Radeon 9800 / GeForce FX5200.

I bought a Radeon 9550 for $100, but I had to do something.

You should wait and see. Gfx cards should be cheaper after Xmas.

is this the kind of thing i need?
the link http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0007W5L8M/qid=1130633818/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_3_1/026-9997973-9031655

Ok- I'm another person with these stupid Intel chips (82865). Being a computer idiot, I have a bit of a different question..

When I bought my "new" computer (Dell), about a year ago, I tried to transfer the graphics card from my old computer to my new one - however, there was no slot that would accept my old card (I think my old one fit an AGP? Sorry - really computer stupid..)- I assume they make graphics cards for different slots, but how do I know what will fit my computer??

I've got a Dell (no jokes, please :) ) DIM3000
Pentuim 4CPU 3.00GHz
2.99GHz, 512 RAM


Any help is appreciated!!!

Your old card would not likely pass muster anyway.

No AGP slot? You can get a PCI card, or maybe even a PCIe, depending on your slots.

You probably are still under support. You can call them and ask what kind of slots you have, or look it up on their website.

What model is it?

Can anyone recommend to me a cheap, decent T & L video card WITH PIXEL SHADING, preferably something with a low wattage?

Also, anyone know of a power supply model that's 300 W that will work on a 3 year old PC with a Pentium 4 processor?

My only Problem that i would have with this game is the Vidoe card because all the rest of the machine is well above the standard. I have an ATI Radeon 9200 SE. Would I need to get a better video card?

Rough specs. I really cannot remember the exact specs.
Athlon - +2.0gh
512MB of RAM

@classical_hero: Your card is at minimum, barely.

@TheDervish: I got a Radeon9550 for $100, but now I wish I had waited. There are numerous issues (especially with ATI). It may be that you really need a $300 card to run the game normally. Things should be clearer (and cheaper) after X-max.

@classical_hero: Your card is at minimum, barely.
So that would mean that It would be best for me to get a better computer then?

If you've the money, then what the heck!

Wait until after Xmas, though. More for less, and there should be more video cards out. There should be a patch or two, also.

Can anyone recommend to me a cheap, decent T & L video card WITH PIXEL SHADING, preferably something with a low wattage?

Also, anyone know of a power supply model that's 300 W that will work on a 3 year old PC with a Pentium 4 processor?

ATI has lower wattage cards then Nvidia. My X800XL PCIe is rated at 300w. My Dell is a 305W PSU. Actually Dell underates their PSU's. I could install a 350w card. I have had no problems what-so-ever with this card. It also will be a good card over the next few years. It is not going to fall behind the tech tree any time soon. I paid $300.00 a couple of months ago. Since ATI has released their X1800 series I can see the 800 series dropping in price fairly soon.

Your old card would not likely pass muster anyway.

No AGP slot? You can get a PCI card, or maybe even a PCIe, depending on your slots.

You probably are still under support. You can call them and ask what kind of slots you have, or look it up on their website.

What model is it?

Model?? I thought that Dell DIMENTION DIM3000 was the model?? (Sorry - computer stupid here..)

I looked online and found this site..http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim3000/en/SM/techov.htm#wp1043338

which seems to indicate that I don't have a PCIe slot - only PCI - so the question arises - what card should I get, and does anyone know if this is going to work??

Mine says "AMD Sempron, 220+, MMX, 3DNow, ~1.5 GHz"

And "960 MB RAM"

Is it going to work?

Is this a good card to play it on Club 3D Geforce 6600 256Mb?

which seems to indicate that I don't have a PCIe slot - only PCI - so the question arises - what card should I get, and does anyone know if this is going to work??


I have the same computer as you except with a slower processor (Celeron 2.4 GHz). This computer was originally purchased with only work in mind, and possibly Civ III. I bought Civ IV and as you probably know, the Intel 82865 integrated video doesn't cut it.

Unless you want to get a NEW COMPUTER (I didn't!), I would recommend the Radeon 9250 (the 128 meg one is fine, as I understand from the internet and from talking to people who work at the store; the 256 meg is redundant). I'm now running the game at highest graphics detail but no anti-aliasing at 1280 x 1024 resolution, and its running fine. That video card only cost 70$ (Canadian) new. I didn't have any problems with the drivers not working, although I haven't seen a wonder movie yet (didn't have any quarries or marble so I didn't bother!).

Hope this helps. I was really upset when I realized that my computer couldn't upgrade to a better video card, but that's the price I paid for not doing research.

Good Luck

Hey thanks for the help - I'm going to head out on the search today to see if I can find the card..

I'm much less pissed at Firaxis/2K games, etc, as I am at my "computer savvy" buddy - who recommended this PoC to me...*sigh*

I have a question. My pc unfortunately has intel integrated graphics :( and it does not have a agp slot so I have been looking into pci cards, specifically the one mentioned above, the Radeon 9250. I have a question though, does it matter if the card is called the PowerColor ATi Radeon 9250 128MB, or Sapphire ATI Radeon 9250 128MB or some other name in front of it? Is this still the same card, or if not, what's the difference?

Take a look at this page:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Manufactory=&PropertyCodeValue=679%3A9534&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=683%3A9610&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=696%3A9642&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&PropertyCodeValue=0&description=&MinPrice=&MaxPrice=&SubCategory=48&Submit=Property
I dont get the difference between all these cards.
Thanks for helping all us "computer stupid" people!

@Tharak: Yes, DIM3000 is the model.

There are plenty of PCI cards. What to get is still an open question. I tried to go something close to recommended, but with all the problems it may be advisable to go higher.

@bballaust: I would shoot higher, and seriously consider paying the Nvidia premium.

I guess it depends on how much you want to spend. I went cheap - $100 ATI 9550. I may regret that decision.

@Libertarian: Processor and RAM are ok. What is the video card?

@Rise: That card is good, nay Great! If you have problems then we're all sunk!

What would be some reccomendations, then, for a good PCI card that will run Civ IV?

And I am still wondering what the difference is with the different names in front of the cards like I asked before, regardless of if those are actually good cards, they are just more for example :)

The first name is probably the card maker, then the gfx chip names.

A recommendation is hard at this point, since I don't have the game yet.

There isn't many PCI cards, apparently. This is about the best I could find - GeForce FX5700LE (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814139166)

What would be some reccomendations, then, for a good PCI card that will run Civ IV?
Best bet I can find so far is this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814103167

@Libertarian: Processor and RAM are ok. What is the video card?That's what I'm trying to determine, really. Someone told me that my video is "onboard", whatever that means. They say it is 64 MB, with generic Windows driver.

(Thank you very much for responding to these questions. You're the only one helping me.)

can anybody recommend a uk based online graphics card seller? i've been thinking of upgrading my 64mb geforce 2 mx400 card for a while now.

i have just ordered a geforce 6600 agp8x card will that run civ4 ok?

There seem to be 4 flavors of 6600, but all should be great mid-line cards.

I bet that hurt the wallet!

£80 that reasonable for that type of card luckly i had my birthday in september so i had some left over

I bought a GeForce FX 5500 256mb for this game but am having difficulty installing, when I install the computer won't start up and the monitor displays a black screen with a blue box in the middle. Has anyone else experienced with their cards when installing?

I bought a GeForce 6600 GT works great. cost me about $320 for it though lol so far civ4 has cost me about $376 :lol:

I bought a GeForce 6600 GT works great. cost me about $320 for it though lol so far civ4 has cost me about $376 :lol:

OUCH! No offense...but you could have got a 6800GT for a few dollars more. I bought the ATI X800XL for $300.00 and it is in the class of the 6800GT. I am sure you can get the X800XL for cheaper then what I paid too.

I have had no problems at all with this card on anything....

Assuming everything's OK on the strict hardware side (i.e., I get the right type of card, etc) -- are there any limitations I should be aware in purchasing a new card?

I've got a Dell 8200, 1.7 P4, 512 RAM, running Windows XP. Certainly not a top of the line rig -- but neither is it one that I feel needs to be completely replaced anytime soon. It's been a great pc -- other than replacing the tower fan recently, not a single problem, ever.

I guess what I'm getting at -- let's say I go top of the line card, 256 RAM.... Would such a high-end card be wasted for me because I'm running "only" 512 on a 1.7 P4? Should I be looking into overclocking my processor as well? Should I plan on another stick of RAM, too? I understand that the card's memory is separate from the CPU -- but don't I reach a point where a great card is wasted unless of the rest of the pc can keep up with it?

It's looking pretty much inevitable that I'm going to need to drop another 1-200 bucks - but would certainly prefer not to overspend if buying a top card would be like getting XM radio for a Gremlin.

Any advice -- and Alamo - your first post was amazingly helpful - would be appreciated.

Zonk,
I wouldn't waste a whole lot of money on a P4 1.7Ghz system. A good mid level card would work. $150.00-$200.00 range. Also go to Crucial.com. they have a Ram checker to see what kind and how many sticks you have. Going up to 1Gb would do wonders.

Thanks, Dood --

I'm pretty sure I'm expandable by at least another stick on the CPU RAM side, so I'll probably take the plunge there. Unlike a vid card, where I'm a little leary about spending too much due to my gaming tastes not really being graphic intensive (except for Civ, I guess ;-), I think extra RAM is always appreciated and rarely a bad idea.

Price-wise, it looks like I can get a 256 card well within the range you listed, so might as well go that route...

One other quick question -- from the forums, it doesn't appear that there's much difference in trouble between NVIDIA users and ATI users.... though it does seem that most folks with an ATI card seem to be paired with AMD chips (or am I just thinking that anecdotally?)

Personal preferences?

I'm fairly handy inside the tower - but by no means an expert, so I'll almost certainly stick with a card from one of the big 2.

Zonk,
I am a owner of 3 Dell systems. That is why I always recommend Crucial.com. They usually have the same exact type brand of memory that Dell will sell you at a higher price. It is either Micron or Samsung. both are good quality. You can go to Crucial's website and click in your Dell model and it will lead you to what you can install. I always replace ALL the sticks with new sticks. I rarely will mix older ram with newer ram. Less problems...just costs more. I think the Dell 8200 has room for 2Gb of memory..I am not totally sure though. So you could get 2 sticks of 512meg ram and call it good.

As for video cards...many people will swear by whatever brand they are using. I myself have owned both Nvidia & ATI. Both have their Pluses & Minuses. I also have an older Dell 4600 with a AGP slot. I installed the 9800pro 128 meg in that one...still works fine today. If I were you I would find some cards that interst you...write down the model and number...then Google REVIEWS for those cards. Read what people are saying. Read the C-Net reviews too. You do not need a super duper card for that older motherboard..or you do not need to buy a expensive AGP card. Save your cash for your next computer with a PCIe slot.

Thanks, Dood --

Your help has been outstanding and greatly appreciated (somewhere soon, there'll be a commission you should get a slice of).

Just got home - and yeah, I'm expandable to 2 gigs.... not sure I'll go all the way, thinking perhaps I'll just double myself to 1 gig.

Unfortunately, crucial.com doesn't seem to carry the type of RAM I need (RDRAM -- which I believe was "supposed to be" the successor to SDRAM.... not sure why it never took off --- until this game, I've had nothing but smooth, quick sailing).

Anyway - I've got a few smaller discount shops I visit that might be able to get me a better deal than what I found at Dell (plus, of course, settling my impatient streak!).

I'm going to shop around card-wise - looks like my options are pretty wide. Based on the forums here, seems like I've got the reqs to shoot for pretty much nailed... relatively speaking, at least.

It's a shame to drop another couple hundy to get in the Civ IV game - but thems the breaks I guess.

I'll let everyone know what I go with and how it works out.

Wish me luck!

Zonk,
Be very aware of Dell's Fussyness over Ram chips. Too bad Crucial didn't have what you need. They guaranty their Ram will work. That is why I use them. You might end up buying it from Dell...sorry to say. Dell's are so fussy that just sticking a ram chip in them will cause more problems then solve.

I forgot about RDRam. One of the main reason it never took off is that it is real expensive.

I have to agree - don't spend $$$ on a new card. Why pay for bleeding-edge PC hardware when you can get the same stuff much cheaper 6 months later.

I've heard that a new gen of video cards is coming soon. That should reduce prices on today's top-end cards. After X-mas is when I plan to get my new gaming system.

ATI farms out to more makers and usally has more shelf space (and discounts). Nvidia has a better reputation for driver support. I got a Radeon 9550 because it was the best card on the shelf for under $100.

Old Dood, I'm glad to hear that the 9800Pro works well with Civ4. I wasn't worried from looking at the system specs, but I saw that thread about new fix for Radeon cards in the general discussion forum and got nervous. I haven't got it yet (I've been tied up in Crusader Kings of late) but will soon do so.

We heard from one Nvidia owner who had the same problem.

ATI owners may have found it sooner just out of chance.

Zonk,
Be very aware of Dell's Fussyness over Ram chips. Too bad Crucial didn't have what you need. They guaranty their Ram will work. That is why I use them. You might end up buying it from Dell...sorry to say. Dell's are so fussy that just sticking a ram chip in them will cause more problems then solve.

I forgot about RDRam. One of the main reason it never took off is that it is real expensive.

Yeah -- hard as hell to find, too. However, was able to find 2 128 meg corsair sticks at Microcenter - plug and play with no problems. Would have preferred a set of 256, but RAMBUS is apparently fussy about matching pairs, and they only had 1 256 in stock (and apparently.... are planning to discontinue carrying them at all).

Price aside ($120 for the pair) - I do think think they run well. Perhaps it's just the system generally, but I've played other titles on friend's rigs with better processors and more RAM and I honestly never noticed any difference in experience on my machine with the same titles. Oh well -- at the time I bought this, they were still supposed to be the "next big thing", apparently just never found a way to make them more price efficient.

Now I have to deal with a vid card issue.... Went with an ATI 9000 (128 meg) from a mom n pop store, only because the box was opened and got a pretty good deal on it. Noticed no driver disk, but figured it would be easy enough to get off the ATI website.

Boy was that a mistake!

For whatever reason, the versions ATI lists require the original install disk (not just the driver -- but actually wants the disk)... so not having much luck right now. My pc thinks I put in a GeForce4 Mx 420 - and so, apparently, does Civ IV.

On the plus side - I did get pseudo in business -- Civ thinks my card is below requirements so eliminates a lot of the graphics (resources unanimated, etc). In turn - this seems to allow the game to run (made it through a few dozen turns, no crashes, no problems).

Googling around for the complete drivers, but looking like I'm going to see if I can return the card... shame, really... its an older card, but I think it would be more than sufficient if I could get the driver situation right.

You mean the ATI Catalyst doesn't take care of you? That's strange.

Are you sure ATI made the card? The driver might be on the mfg web site, like http://www.visiontek.com/.

You mean the ATI Catalyst doesn't take care of you? That's strange.

Are you sure ATI made the card? The driver might be on the mfg web site, like http://www.visiontek.com/.

The manufacturer was actually PNY -- but the card/book/etc said "ATI 9000 pro". Looking back, some of what I was trying to DL and install may have been for other features of the card -- but sure enough, the install kept demanding a disk. No matter what I installed - couldn't get my system to recognize the card (kept insisting it was a GeForce4).

In the end - as cheap as I got the card - it was too much of a pain to deal with, so I returned it. Got an overclocked GeForce 6200 with 256 megs at a with a bigger price tag, but at $90, still a VERY good deal, from what I can tell, and handles civ like a champ.

The one thing I learned from this was always check to see if the store has opened boxes or returns they're willing to unload -- but then be VERY careful to make sure you aren't missing anything!

Good advice.

Fry's tries to discount opened stuff, but it's such a trifle that I never go for it.

Alright, I've got a video question:

Going from integrated graphics to a real graphics card...

I've done all the checking and see that I have a 8x agp slot in my computer so I went and ordered a geforce 6600 that fits....my question is about installation...

Those that have done it, can you give me some advise? I've never done anything like this, and I don't want to destroy my computer lol. Many people have said it's easy, but do I have to mess with my BIOS and stuff like that? That seems scary to me.

No, do NOT mess with your BIOS unless you really need to, and then be VERY careful.

Installing a new video card should be easy. Here's a step-by-step. Obviously you do not need to remove the old card.

If not using on-board graphics then uninstall the old video adapter in device manager (start-run-devmgmt.msc).
Turn off the computer.
Unplug and open the case.
Remove the old video card - watch for a retaining clip, and apply upward pressure to both ends of the card (use the monitor output for the caseward side).
Notice how the output face of the old card fit into the case - there is probably a spot for the bottom end (opposite of the screw slot).
Carefully align the new card with the slot while holding the retaining clip. It should fit snugly BEFORE you start pushing down. If you can't get it lined up then look to see if the card notches line up with the slot (old AGP1 slots are notched differently, I think).
Be sure the output face is lining up correctly.
Push down on both ends gently but firmly until it is seated all the way into the slot.
Put the screw in, if there was one.
Plug it in and power up.
You should get standard VGA graphics first.
Follow the driver install instructions.

There are a few questions about what card to buy.

For what it's worth, my advice is to go up the line of cards until you cry for mercy on the price, then scale back as much as necessary to get a 512MB (or more!) card.

Civ4 is obviously a very memory intensive game, so consider buying more memory, too.

I'm currently playing the game on a Radeon 9600 and graphics display correctly and playably, however, framerates are noticably choppy when there are a lot of land improvements (or a lot of visible terrain in general). 9600 fits the basic requirements in terms of technology, but does not posess the "umph" to handle the amount of detail being thrown at it.

You might try uninstalling all ATI software and installing Catalyst 4.12.

It's kind of hard to find - try here (https://support.ati.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=1328)

Update on my card - Frys just advertized ATI 9600 All-in-Wonder for cheaper than I paid for the 9550. Guess what I did today?

I got a better card, a case of coke, and some change back. To boot, they put that 9550 back on the shelf at a higher price than I originally paid!

Hi

I have a laptop with an ati radeon mobility 9200 card w/ 32 MB ram

According to the online test my system will run civ iv

I just got civ iv and have video problem

According to the online test my system will run civ iv - but i cannot. When I try to start the game, it starts but all I can see is the image of the globe above the med. and the title (Civilization IV) - no menus - so the game isn't really playable.

I assume this is a simple video issue as other people have been able to get 32mb card working, can anyone help. Are there some settings that i should be applying in the ATI control panel that will make this work?

hi alamo,
my system should work but i have frequent reboots.
so i guess it's not just the videocard but the fact i 've got a mobile cpu?
do you think the patch will sort this out?
every other game i've got is running smooth so i'm not inclined to change bios or use older drivers.

amd athlon mobile 3.0 GHZ (starts at 800 mhz then goes up)
1 gig Ram
Radeon x800 xt platinum
win xp pro service pack 2
latest drivers

I bought a GeForce FX 5500 256mb for this game but am having difficulty installing, when I install the computer won't start up and the monitor displays a black screen with a blue box in the middle. Has anyone else experienced with their cards when installing?

I had to buy this to get my game to run as well - are you one of the many of us with the Intel chip set? I went to the Dell site to find instructions on how to install the new hardware - I had to "uninstall" (sort of) the old chip set..wasn't hard (if I can do it, anyone can) - the game works ok with it - not the fastest thing I've ever seen - would be interesting to see it on a good system..

My new rig:
AMD Athlon64 3200+ 2.0ghz 1000mhz FSB
Dual 512MB DDR400 RAM
GeForce 4, TI 4200 64MB (Model Ultra/650) because it was FREE!!!!

I was able to run the game, see the land.. I don't know if I'll get the Chershire Leader problem, as I didn't get to meet anyone. The screen crashed to gibberish after about 3 minutes. I'll look for solutions, but is there any bad news I ought to know about this card?

My new rig:
AMD Athlon64 3200+ 2.0ghz 1000mhz FSB
Dual 512MB DDR400 RAM
GeForce 4, TI 4200 64MB (Model Ultra/650) because it was FREE!!!!

I was able to run the game, see the land.. I don't know if I'll get the Chershire Leader problem, as I didn't get to meet anyone. The screen crashed to gibberish after about 3 minutes. I'll look for solutions, but is there any bad news I ought to know about this card?

By Jove (I just had to say that) that is a solid system. Nothing wrong with that good old video card! It is a solid card. I still have that one in my P3 800Mhz Dim 4100. I use to run it in my Dim 4600 until I got the best (at the time) 9800pro. My ONLY upgrade I would do right now for you is...double the ram at least. you know...since you saved all that money on a video card. ;)

EDIT: Jove...you can at least go to crucial.com and look. That will not cost you anything. Just some window shopping.

By Jove (I just had to say that) that is a solid system.

Go ahead and say it, you're not the first. :)
I'm glad my system looks solid to you. I'm still having some problems. Civ4 crashed the first time I ran it, so I went and checked out WinUpdate (not sure if I actually got SP2 or SP1 :confused: ). I also tried HardPage. Setting Pixel Shader to 1.1 and then Disabled actually created the black terrain problem where there was none before. And the intro video sound is choppy. Setting everything back now...

I'd have to buy all new memory to upgrade it now: only two slots. I thought 1GB would be plenty... so what now?

I'm probably redundant. I'm posting my progress for help while I'm looking for it myself...

I misunderstood you. I read your ram as 512Mb. You wrote dual 512Mb. You mean you have two sticks of 512Mb? then ok...1Gb is the new minimum for today.

As for your service pack...go to Settings...Control Panel....System. The General box will show your system. Mine for example says Service Pack 2.

Okay, I checked that out, I have Service Pack 2.

And yes, it's two sticks of 512MB RAM.

Looks like your setup is even more solid... I guess I ought to expect a little trouble. Hopefully we can get it going.

I tried this:

I then downgraded to 66.93 drivers found here (for windows xp and 2000):

66.93 for xp/2k (http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/winxp_2k_66.93.html)



And it made a big difference. Things that I didn't realize weren't showing up before were visible, the land was there, the intro had <less> choppy sound... And it took 5 minutes this time before the screen crashed to gibberish! (About 5 vertical rainbow cyan lines if that makes sense...)

My old Ti 4200 vid driver is 6.14.10.4523

I have no clue if that will help anyone with a GeForce 4 Ti 4200. I just know I have not upgraded that driver in a very long time. Why should I? It is now Mrs Dood's computer. Seems fine for shopping online and reading email for her. :D

Sometimes Older is Better....

Hmmm, maybe I'll try that one.... I may put this whole enterprise on hold for awhile too. I bet the patch will do the trick. Or the answer will come along. The way to hatch an egg is to sit on it for awhile!

....so if I've got a Laptop that passes all the requirements EXCEPT for the TnL.....am I screwed???? Help!

My Geforce FX 5200 Ultra 128MB has T&L but I still have problems with the game. So in other words the Civ4 game just has problems.

My Geforce FX 5200 Ultra 128MB has T&L but I still have problems with the game. So in other words the Civ4 game just has problems.

I have the same card, only it is not an Ultra. And it simply does not work for me. I have had crashes, the screen works like molassas, and everything is so glacial that I simply have not the patience to keep things upl.

As for the the loading of the game, everything is fine. It is only when the actual map appears and the figures are present does this happen.

I have called support, and currently have sent them a copy of the "dxdiag" from the "run" section. I have yet to hear form them, and it has been three days. I am running out of patience here!

If this is such a great game, then why does my computer have such trouble? I am using XP Pro, 1.28 gig of memory, the 128 meg graphics card, and an Athalon 2400 mounted on a Gigabyte motherboard. I have even removed the latest video driver, at their direction, and used an older one. Still no such luck.

Here is my opinion, Sid and gang have been in a hurry, just as they did for Civ III. I swore that I would not jump right in and get another new one from them, but I got over eager.................again. What a monumental mistake!

You guys can talk about what a great game this is, but if a farily substantial proportion of the paying public are given the "bums rush", then someone is not really interested in putting out a true quality product.

Colour me dissappointed.:confused:

Iwent to the link you provided to test my computer. It said i passed all requirments with flying colors ,but i still can't play the game

Ok I installed this game yesterday and it worked except that the backgrounds and faces wouldn't work, so that the terrain was floating on a dark surface and the faces of the leaders were just mouths and eyeballs floating. So I updated the driver for my video card and downloaded the patch for this game and now it wont start at all telling my its my video card speed or something. I don't know an awful lot about these things, but it came installed on my laptop. The DirectX diagnostic tool says everything is working for DirectX9. It says it's an SIS M650 Rev 00 64MB (I have saved the results of the test if that helps included as attachment). I had assumed as I could play DVDs on my computer it would be a good enough graphics card! Sorry if this has already been covered but I'm not that technically minded when it comes to graphics cards!
Lucy

The results of the test said:

Display Devices
---------------
Card name: SiS M650
Manufacturer: SiS
Chip type: SiS M650 Rev 00
DAC type: Internal
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_6325&SUBSYS_00281025&REV_00
Display Memory: 64.0 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Default Monitor
Monitor Max Res:
Driver Name: SiSGRV.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.2220 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 1/6/2004 22:32:18, 1081216 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
VDD: n/a
Mini VDD: sisgrp.sys
Mini VDD Date: 1/6/2004 22:25:50, 432384 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71ED9-2065-11CF-397B-2220A1C2CB35}
Vendor ID: 0x1039
Device ID: 0x6325
SubSys ID: 0x00281025
Revision ID: 0x0000
Revision ID: 0x0000
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_D ModeMPEG2_C ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG1_A
Deinterlace Caps: n/a
Registry: OK
DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled
DDraw Test Result: All tests were successful.
D3D7 Test Result: Not run
D3D8 Test Result: Not run
D3D9 Test Result: Not run

I was thinking about buying a new computer, but since I seem to be stupid when it comes to computers, I need some help :)

The video card I was thinking of getting is 256mb Nvdidia GeForce 6600, will this work well? Also, and this might be off topic, is there any big difference in having 2gb Ram or 1gb Ram, because it would be nice to save some money.

Thank you :D

It will work fine with that.

2Gb is not essential by any means, 1Gb will be fine. However ... the way things are going with games and Operating Systems (bet your life XP successor will be more memory needed than XP) - it will not be long before 2Gb will be so called "minimum". So if you are able to tighten the belt a bit and go for 2Gb, you will not regret it in the long run

Hey, can anyone tell me whether the game would on a Geforce2 MX 200 with 32 MB RAM?

Some advice please:

I've only got PCI slots (it's a new server I'll use for Civ infrequently) and a widescreen monitor. Any opinions on these cards?

Sapphire Radeon 9250 PCI 128MB DDR DVI TV OUT

XFX Geforce 5200 PCI 128MB DDR TV OUT Retail

Both seem to meet the requirements, with the latter having a better Overall DirectX level of 9

Cheers for your time!

I was thinking about buying a new computer, but since I seem to be stupid when it comes to computers, I need some help :)

The video card I was thinking of getting is 256mb Nvdidia GeForce 6600, will this work well? Also, and this might be off topic, is there any big difference in having 2gb Ram or 1gb Ram, because it would be nice to save some money.

Thank you :D

If you're in the UK I can sell you a GeFORCE 6600LE 256MB DDR PCI-E DVI VO, bought from Misco at a discount - I didn't realise the difference between PCI-E x8 and x16 and hence it is unused.

PM me if you're interested.

I'm thinking of upgrading my outdated nvidia FX5200 128Mb card. Thinking of getting one the top-end ones, 6600 or 6800 with 256Mb. Would need a TV-out too ideally. Only problem is I only have a 300W PSU, would that be enough or does that need upgrading too and if so what to and would anything need changing on the MB like the jumper switches?
Already had some RAM go bad (512mb chip too) due to power loss, seems a flakey power supply anyway.

I've got the Nvidia XFX GeForce FX 5200 256 DDR 8x AGP - TV / OUT card and looking over the page with specs, I could not find this particular card listed. When I installed Civ IV, it went fine till I tried to run it. It didn't display the menu and when I managed to get a game running, there was no interface to be found. I don't know if this card has the T&L capability though I would suspect it does.
Current Spec:
Intel P4 2.93ghz, ASUS P5P800 MB, 2Gb Ram, 256 GeForce FX5200 video, Sound Blaster Lite sound card, 160 Gb HDD - running Win XP Pro (SP2)

I'm saving for a laptop, hope to buy it in May.

The one I'm looking at, link here: http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_series.do?series_name=M2000Z_series&catLevel=2&category=notebooks/compaq_presario&storeName=computer_store

I would customize it to the 2.0 Ghz processor, 1.0 GB of RAM.

The graphics card is the ATI Radeon Xpress 200m. It says it has 32MB of shared video memory, up to 128MB of user allocated video memory. That is all I can find out about it. Would Civ4 run on this computer? Or would I need a better graphics card?

The ATI Radeon Xpress 200m is a chipset, not a graphics card. It was released in March this year. Its a PCI Express DirectX 9 chipset for AMD-based notebook PCs.

Civ IV specs specifically ask for Hardware T&L support, and dont like integrated chip sets (aka Intel 8 & 9 series). However this one is new, and maybe ok, I would contact Firaxis to check if they do support it.

Dont be discouraged by the reply - it may well be ok, but it would be very wise to check with Firaxis .....

Regards
Zy

:D I've got a nVidia GE4 400, yeah lame hey at 32 MBs. My questions are which would be the best alternative to run CIV4 which I've just got, I assume NVidia and which model? I have a P4, 512 RAM, 2.8 GHz CPU. Also I noticed in a previous thread that you can't change the card in a laptop, is this true? If you can, how would I be able to find which card is compatable with my Lappie, I have a Dell Inspiron 8200, and are they difficult to replace? Any help appreciated!!:D

Also I noticed in a previous thread that you can't change the card in a laptop, is this true?

No, Dell Inspiron 8200 can go up to a GF4 Go 440 64MB which for Civ4 is still lame. Also, with these cards the terrain can show up black. Replacing video cards in laptops can be tricky as you need to take nearly everything apart.

http://www.bay-wolf.com/parts_insp8200.htm for the 8200 parts list.

So I hate to revive a thread a year after it's death, but here goes. To start, I just read this entire thread, top to bottom.

I tend to jump onto games late (I enjoy price breaks) and I'm looking at Civ IV (I've been addicted to the series since Civ II). I failed system requirements on the T&L requirements. I'm using an HP Intel laptop with a 915GM/GMS, 910GML Express Chip Set (Integrated Intel chip). I ran the dxdiag command and passed every spinning cube test it gave. I also downloaded Alamo's 3DAnalyze program which looks like it can fake out a hardware requirement.

Basically, I have a pentium mobile processer that runs 1.6Gz (but system requirements rates it as clocking at 2.39Gz) with 512MB RAM. I'm fine with playing at a lower graphics level, and I hope my processor could pick up the T&L calculations, which leaves me with two questions.

1) Is there a requirement or check on installation for T&L graphics hardware?

2) If there is, can 3DAnalyze be a workaround for that?

Basically, I want to know what everyone else asks. Can I play this game? Since I have a laptop, I can't really just get another video card.

How is it working? I almost bought one. I tried Civ 4 & Warlords with a GeForce 5200 and started having problems well into the game.

Can anyone answer why my laptop meets at least the min. specs. to run the game and it freezes the whole kit and kaboodle after a certain point.
First, there's nothing wrong with the install. I use the same discs on my pc and haven't a problem.
Second, follows is what my system has as read by System Requirements Lab:




CPU
Minimum: Pentium 4 or Athlon XP
You Have: 2 processors running - Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
PASS
CPU Speed
Minimum: 1.2 GHz
You Have: 3.00 GHz Performance Rated at 4.50 GHz
PASS
System RAM
Minimum: 512 MB
You Have: 511.0 MB
PASS
Operating System
Minimum: Windows 2000/XP
You Have: Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
PASS
Video Card
Minimum: 64 MB 3D Video Card with Hardware Transform & Lighting (NVIDIA GeForce2+ / ATI Radeon 7500+)
You Have: MOBILITY RADEON 9200 (MOBILITY RADEON 9200 AGP (0x5C61))
PASS
Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card

Video RAM: Required - 32 MB , You have - 64.0 MB
Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Video HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - Yes

Video Card Driver Version (DirectX)
Your driver version number is: 6.14.10.6436
FYI: Your video card driver version is provided for your information, but it is not part of this analysis. But proper video card driver versions are important to the proper operation of your product.
DirectX Version
Minimum: DirectX® version 9.0c (included) or higher
You Have: 9.0c
PASS
Sound Card
Minimum: Yes
You Have: SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio
PASS
Sound Card Driver Version
Your driver version number is: 5.12.1.4011
FYI: Your sound card driver version is provided for your information, but it is not part of this analysis. But proper sound card driver versions are important to the proper operation of your product.
Free Disk Space
Minimum: 1.7 GB
You Have: 28.6 GB
PASS
CD
Minimum: 4X Speed CD/DVD-ROM
You Have: HL-DT-ST DVD+RW GCA-4040N
PASS, but the Speed could NOT be analyzed


Third, I do not have any viruses, ad-ware and such. My hard drive has 25gigs left on it. This is a clean computer that gives me no problems otherwise.

Here's what it does. (I've even changed the game options to Low Resolution)
Everything loads and runs perfectly until after you choose the world and leader options and the Start Game button appears.
I press the Start Game button and I get the starting off screen with Your Leader on it but after I continue the screen show black, other than it says that I have joined the game and autosaving in the top left and it shows the settler in the circle with an arrow, such