Okay, this might not actually be a real bug...

I have been having a ridiculous problem with Final Frontier on Beyond the Sword. It only happens in that mod. Between every turn, there is a wait, sometime as much as two minutes (!)

Anyone else know anything about this problem? Anyone else have it?

Changing the graphical settings doesn't help, playing windowed doesn't help. I have the newest patch (3.19).

Macbook Pro 2.33GHz
3GB RAM
OS 10.4.11
Radeon x1600 G-card

Is this early in the game, or later on? How big is the game you are playing?

AS the game goes on, the slow downs get longer. Happens on bigger maps.

Hmm. Well I would guess it's to do with the scale of the map, the complexity of the unit graphics - I notice there are some seriously large animated structures, for example.

If you want to attach a save that exhibits the problem, then I can see if it behaves the same on my system, and, maybe, have a look at what's using up the time between turns.

I would guess (not having tried FF yet) that due to the large amounts of code changes there is going to be a performance hit. I'm guessing its because of the Python callbacks. Actually, just looking at the files, there is only one callback not turned on.

Really nothing you can do, other than upgrade your system (not even close to worth it, since yours is still pretty modern imo) or remove the callbacks and wind up changing the gameplay. (not an easy task, either.)

I'd just say playing smaller maps is really the most realistic option. You could take some of that art out as well, but again its difficult to say which units to replace and you'd again be taking away from the mod.

I expected better from an official Mod (I mean, this is on the freakin' disc!), but I guess Aspyr just got lazy. Again.

The thing that I don't understand is that the game only slows down between turns. During the actual turns there are no graphical hiccups at all. The Supernovae and Black Holes spin perfectly, and those are the only really large structures that come to mind.

I guess it just really frustrating.

I guess Aspyr just got lazy.
A little harsh unless you have some evidence that it's Aspyr's fault!

Have you checked whether Final Frontier runs significantly faster with your preferred settings in Windows on comparable hardware?

I don't think Aspyr has to take any responsibility for improving performance of Civ4 or its mods beyond the level of the original Firaxis product.

Firaxis disabled a number of Python callbacks specifically because they were significantly slowing down the game. In order not to break existing mods they allowed modders to reenable these callbacks if they needed them, which as Flintlock notes, Final Frontier reenables all but one of them.

This is not an Aspyr issue, its how Civ, Python and FF itself are designed.