Hi people, im new here:)

I started to play civ some years ago and in the last year i played Beyond the Sword. It was quite good but i got bored fast... (a bit because of the cheats, lack of skill and endless turn loadings)

Now i was wondering to play again. My questions are:

Are there any good content/patches since... maybe octobre that made the game better/different? Are there still endless turns?

thanks for the help provided:)

Welcome to Civfanatics!

simple answer to should you play again? yes and keep playing as long as its still fun!

If you want it to be more interesting not cheating makes it more of a challenge, if you want to get better at the game there is an area of this site called the war academy which has some guides on how to be a better player.
If by endless turns you mean the game takes too long try playing on quick speed


If you want to look and see if there is any new content the best place would be the modding forum

Yes... no cheats this time:P

But for example, did i play version 3.17? no right? cause it has some new stuff/fixes/etc etc and it might be more interesting. I dont like a lot to play quick games :(

nothing has changed much and you will probably get bored again. The patches don't make anything faster and the mods are variations of the core game- nothing more.
I suggest a good ol shoot'em up game where you can run around with hands in front of you holding some kind of interchangeable weapon.

If you get bored by endless turns late game, then troytheface may have a point, but perhaps an RTS like Warcraft III would do the trick. Otherwise, you could try tiny maps.

Doesn't sound like Civilization is your cup of tea... maybe try a real-time variant like Rise of Nations or Empire Earth or Age of Empires.

I meant endless turns because of the loadings... too slow.
Well i prefer CIV compared to those games.

Maybe i will try it again

Use a Normal Sized map, or Large/Huge w/ 11 Civs instead of 18.
A game w/ 18 civs will take twice as long (for the most part) between turns as one with 11 (on a large/huge map).

Though you will likely find with Normal/Large + ~18Civs or less is much faster than Huge+18. I'd play around with settings for map size & #civs til you find the sweet spot for your PC (in terms of time between turns).

Also I will note a couple settings you should add to your CivilizationIV.ini

; Dont show the game background during movies - may speed up movie playing
HideMovieBackground = 1

; Set to 1 to page units out when non-visible
DynamicUnitPaging = 1

; Set to 1 to page unit anims out when the unit is non visible
DynamicAnimPaging = 1


Also if you install BlueMarble, use the LowRez Texture option.
AntiAliasing turned down to ~2 or the x2Q (Nvidia Option) will improve performance.

Anyways, enjoy :-)

How long your turns take depends on how much you have going on in the game as well as how good your PC is. I would suggest trying a normal or small map to see if the turns go quicker.

There have been 2 patches in the last year or so, and patch 3.17 was just last week. However, they mostly fix bugs rather than add content.

It could be down to the computer he is using.

What spec PC have you got?

It does help having a intel Core 2 duo and 2gb of ram and a good graphics card.

That being said it should work on a P4 with a reasonable budget graphics card and 1gb ram. I think this game is more memory hungry than graphics.


In turns of time a turn takes on a normal sized map for me this isnt too bad.

I hardly think Firaxis would make a game where at start of each turn your asked a question.

Would you like a good average or poor turn? Each turn you select an option and your moves are done for you.

Five hundred clicks later from you selecting good turns and naturally being firaxis you still have a 1% chance of losing. Bring on that spearman versus the tank i say. Hehe.

I honestly feel if turns were too short its because the game lacked contents and fun.

Although Warcraft 3 is a fun game. For me it lacked depth in gameplay at times compared to civ 4. Although the missions were good.

i find loading times to be MUCH improved with 3.17 on my computer, was getting tired of the game before as well, since it would take 30-45 sec every time it loaded a diplo screen.

must be some fail settings somewhere i imagine, since it cant be my hw (8800 sli, x2 5200+, 4g ram, game runs on raptors in raid).

but i'm enjoying it again, its like a whole new game now to me ...

Check modified assests the game will become "fun " again.

At present i run it on a core 2 duo at 2.4ghz with 4gb ram and 256mb 8600gts Nvida graphics. Currently using a 22 inch screen at full screen resolution on huge maps. Seems fine.

I think with all games you just have to get into the game to enjoy it.

I will try it again:)

Can i DL all the patches i need here in the forum?

All you need is 3.17, and would highly recommend Solvers Unofficial.
If yer starting from scratch, CIV, (then optionally warlords), BTS, 3.17, then unofficial.
That is one nicety at least, That will patch CIV to 1.72 and Warlords to 3.13

My idea was BTS

Welcome to the Forums Rastajoint. :beer:

Definitely BTS with 3.17 patch AND Solver's Unofficial 3.17 patch.

If it didn't hold your attention before, what makes you think it will if you try it again?

Skip it and move onto something else. Civ isn't your thing. You either love it or you hate it; there is no in-between with Civ.

Whats that unoficial version btw?

Whats that unoficial version btw?

Look at the following sticky link:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=279724

Any more tips or things to fix in the .ini so that the game isnt so slow?

To answer your initial question, I'm going to go with: no.

kek , but 2 bad, i didnt follow ur advice:P

today, playing in marathon, around turn 600 i was already feeling a not so smooth turn waiting :X hehe