I LOVE IT, BUT IT'S TOO SLOW - Let's tell Sid

Ambreville said:

I didn't say it was crippling. It's just way slower than CIV II/III.

Click to expand...

I disagree. civ 3 turns with a lot of civs and huge maps are still slower (AI turns) than civ4 late in the game even with my recent PC. Some of the civ3 WW2 scenarios are unbareable to play because of the long AI turns.

Smidlee said:

I disagree. civ 3 turns with a lot of civs and huge maps are still slower (AI turns) than civ4 late in the game even with my recent PC. Some of the civ3 WW2 serinaros are unbareable to play because of the long AI turns.

Click to expand...

In view of everything that's been brought up in this thread so far, it would seem that for an equal map size and CIV number, CIV4 tends to be a lot slower than CIV III. I don't remember having to wait so much in CIV III as I do now in CIV when playing standard maps with, say, six or seven CIV's.

But the OP was max out the civs (24) and huge maps. Both civ3 and civ4 is runs pretty well with standard settings. In fact It seems like it takes no time to finish civ4 games with standard settings. Also Civ4 was designed with multiplayer in mind (unlike civ3) so a SP lags is nothing when compared to MP. Still when you maxed out both games turns becomes increasing long (civ3 more so).

Smidlee said:

But the OP was max out the civs (24) and huge maps. Both civ3 and civ4 is runs pretty well with standard settings. In fact It seems like it takes no time to finish civ4 games with standard settings. Also Civ4 was designed with multiplayer in mind (unlike civ3) so a SP lags is nothing when compared to MP. Still when you maxed out both games turns becomes increasing long (civ3 more so).

Click to expand...

Perhaps so, but you know what, I'm not interested in maxing out anything. Heck, I can't even run the maxed out games in CIV4. I don't play MP, and it wasn't something discussed here so far, but I'm sorry to hear MP is even slower than SP -- it doesn't bode well unfortunately. Pound for pound, my impression is that for standard play, CIV4 ends up being much slower than CIV III. I never had the kinds of delays in CIV III that I'm having with 4. Maybe your computer is different than mine and it would explain why you're not seeing the same things. Obviously I'm not alone in this observation.

I think back to Civ3 turn times with horror. When Civ3 came out, I had a decent computer - not top of the line, but it met the recommended requirements. I remember trying to play with the most civs possible - in the Middle Ages, AI turns took several minutes, and later I've even had AI turns take 7 minutes and more. Eventually, I just gave up on playing on such settings.

Civ4 has never been that annoying for me. When I started playing it, I had a computer that's pretty much like the recommended requirements of Civ4. On large maps, AI turns were very quick up until the late game. I have a more powerful computer now, and only get slower turns on huge or gigantic maps with 20+ civs.

I understand people ave different configurations, but I think that with a computer that meets or approaches the recommended requirements, wait times can't become unbearable, at least not without playing on maps that are bigger than any official maps. Of course, you can make a map of any humongous size with the modding tools, to the point where turns will take 5 minutes in the Classical age on a 3 GHz machine...

Smidlee said:

I disagree. civ 3 turns with a lot of civs and huge maps are still slower (AI turns) than civ4 late in the game even with my recent PC. Some of the civ3 WW2 scenarios are unbareable to play because of the long AI turns.

Click to expand...

Ahhg, some ww2 scenario? Ok how bout every other type of scenario or regualar epic for that matter? Civ3 is much faster now, as in today then Civ4 is currently at this same moment.

This is undenablely true when comparing A standard huge map between the two titles, and when comparing any amount of Civs played at the same time. Civ3 is just faster smoother Period. If You have to go digging up some rare exception/scenario to say differant your only looking desperate to defend you cause. Why? Civ4 is good in other ways just celebrate those and be happy

T.A JONES said:

This is undenablely true when comparing A standard huge map between the two titles, and when comparing any amount of Civs played at the same time. Civ3 is just faster smoother Period. If You have to go digging up some rare exception/scenario to say differant your only looking desperate to defend you cause. Why? Civ4 is good in other ways just celebrate those and be happy

Click to expand...

I'll agree with the above. The comparison between CIV III and IV kinda crept up in the thread, but I think it's a parallel issue. The point made by the original poster was that CIV4 is just plain slow. For most of us with basic, average computers, its true regardless of CIV III's woes. Undeniably, CIV4 is a good game. It would be GREAT if it ran faster. Hey, one can dream on, right?

Still I feel Firaxis does deserves credit in both improving the AI and the AI speed in civ4. Yet this requires the GPU to handle the graphics instead of the CPU.
It's seems it the cities themselves with all their buildings which requires huge amounts of ram thus slowing down the game itself. Since Civ4 uses a lot more ram and GPU than civ3 then of course it will run slower on an older PC.

Restart each 3 hours the game and buy MBRam up to 1GB should solve a lot of slow down problem...MB RAM is not that expensive nowadays

CIV3 in the late game with 32 CIVS(was it that?) was even more slower than standard size-12CIVs(that is what I normally play) in lategame in CIV4

Arlborn said:

Restart each 3 hours the game and buy MBRam up to 1GB should solve a lot of slow down problem...MB RAM is not that expensive nowadays

Click to expand...

::sigh:: I suppose I'll have to spring more cash for add'l mem. Oh well.

Classic tactics with predictable results" tell the guy its not the game thats desinged badly its your computer ! " Nope, no memory leaks or congestive time incurments with Civ4, its you slow ass computer". (thats past req specs!)

Now "go out a buy some more memory cheapo!" Then you can play with any size map, with any amount of Civs and play maxed on both, all the way deep into the modern era! Trust me! " My computer runs Civ4 perfectly"

( exerpts from the Offical fan boy response to critisism guide )

T.A JONES said:

Classic tactics with predictable results" tell the guy its not the game thats desinged badly its your computer ! " Nope, no memory leaks or congestive time incurments with Civ4, its you slow ass computer".

Now "go out a buy some more memory cheapo!" Then you can play with any size map, with any amount of Civs and play maxed on both, all the way deep into the modern era! Trust me! " My computer runs Civ4 perfectly"

( exerpts from the Offical fan boy response to critisism guide )

Click to expand...

Agreed i have 4096 megs of ram and it is still slow in the industrial ages. And i have a fast processor.

T.A JONES said:

Classic tactics with predictable results" tell the guy its not the game thats desinged badly its your computer ! " Nope, no memory leaks or congestive time incurments with Civ4, its you slow ass computer". (thats past req specs!)

Now "go out a buy some more memory cheapo!" Then you can play with any size map, with any amount of Civs and play maxed on both, all the way deep into the modern era! Trust me! " My computer runs Civ4 perfectly"

( exerpts from the Offical fan boy response to critisism guide )

Click to expand...

Yeah, right...

Here's another person who reported an improvement with additional ram. Of course improvements could vary with different PC.

I have a G if RAM and 3G processor 256mb graphics card and mine is still sower then I would like. When they put down minumum spec they should have in mind that people want the most out of what the game offers.

I recently upgradeed from 512 RAM and it made a bit of difference, 3especially if you have i tunes running at the same time.

Smidlee said:

Here's another person who reported an improvement with additional ram. Of course improvements could vary with different PC.

Click to expand...

"For times when arguments are not going the way you desired, make sure to have supporting links from aother member of the fellowship on hand..... make sure posts that work against the most common complaints are included"

( exerpts from the Offical fan boy response to critisism )