New member seeking technical advice.

[Kodika]

Hi, I am a new member and want to get into strategy games. The trouble is that I do not have a desktop but a laptop. I have an HP G60 217-EM Notebook with an AMD Turion Duel-Core RM 72 processor and a GeForce 8200 M G video card. I have 1407 total available graphics memory, 256 MB of dedicated video memory and 1151 MB of shared system memory. I have 2.8GB of Ram (system memory 2,814 and graphics memory of 1,395). My operating system is Vista 32 bit (Service Pack 2).

I was also hoping to play the game Empire: Total War and went to the site "Can You Run it?" to see if my pc could run the game. It said that it passed the recommended requirements but when I visited the site www.twcentre.net I was told in no uncertain terms that my laptop was totally unsuitable as it does not have a good enough graphics card or gpu to copw with any of the Total War Games.

I was also thinking in buying a Civilization game, so I asked the guy who was helping me on that site whether my pc could cope with either CIV 3 or 4. He said that it could, but that it could not cope with CIV 5. (That was confirmed by "Can you Run it?"). He also gave me a link to your site.

However, before deciding which game to go for, I thought I would post on this forum to see whether members on here agree that the games will play okay on my laptop. It would also be helpful to get some advice as to which game will work better on my system. Another consideration, not having played any Civ games before, is which game would be best to start with?

As I am a complete novice, any help that anyone can provide will be appreciated

[Kodika]

I see nobody has yet replied to my thread. When you do, could you please confirm whether CV 3 and 4 will both work okay with Vista. (I intend getting the complete versions of both games which I understand are fully patched.) Am I correct?

[CommandoBob]

Originally Posted by Kodika

I see nobody has yet replied to my thread. When you do, could you please confirm whether CV 3 and 4 will both work okay with Vista. (I intend getting the complete versions of both games which I understand are fully patched.) Am I correct?

Civ3 Complete is fully patched. I think there is a patch for Civ4 BTS that was not included in Civ4 Complete.

Civ4 will do OK on Vista on a default install. The save games will be in 'My Documents' (default).

Civ3 and Vista/Win 7 have issues on the default install, since the default install, including saves, is in Program Files. If you install to a different directory ('My Civ3' ?) you should be okay.

Civ3 was designed to run on Win98/Me/XP computers. I think your laptop will have no problems running the game. But I would add an entry in the civ.ini file to keep the screen resoltion the same.

[CommandoBob]

Originally Posted by Kodika

However, before deciding which game to go for, I thought I would post on this forum to see whether members on here agree that the games will play okay on my laptop. It would also be helpful to get some advice as to which game will work better on my system. Another consideration, not having played any Civ games before, is which game would be best to start with?

As I am a complete novice, any help that anyone can provide will be appreciated

Well, since is the Civ3 portion of the civfanatics forum, start with Civ 3! Start on Chieftian level, as Rome, and try to rule the world.

Civ4 is a very different game from Civ3. For me, at the moment, it seems like it has too much eye-candy that doesn't enhance the game. I much prefer the combat animations in Civ3 to Civ4.

[EvilConqueror]

I've played Civ 3 and 4 on a computer with Vista for several years now. I've never encountered any major issues.

[Kodika]

I am very grateful to CommandoBob and EvilConqueror for your responses to my thread. Your replies are reassuring. I will try out Civ 3 Complete first. Are there any advantages in getting the disk version of the game, rather than download the game from Steam?

Questions for CommandoBob: Forgive my ignorance, I am not very computer savy. Why are there problems when one default installs to Program Files? Could you explain how I go about adding an entry in civ.ini file to keep the screen resolution the same?

[EvilConqueror]

Originally Posted by Kodika

I will try out Civ 3 Complete first. Are there any advantages in getting the disk version of the game, rather than download the game from Steam?

I still like to have actual disks of my games but having the game through Steam probably would have saved my eject button from hundreds of presses over the years.

I think it just boils down to personal preference.

[CommandoBob]

Originally Posted by Kodika

I will try out Civ 3 Complete first. Are there any advantages in getting the disk version of the game, rather than download the game from Steam?

I just like having the physical disks for things I consider important. And I don't like having a game 'check-in' with its masters every time I play it.

Questions for CommandoBob: Forgive my ignorance, I am not very computer savy. Why are there problems when one default installs to Program Files? Could you explain how I go about adding an entry in civ.ini file to keep the screen resolution the same?

The default installation issue is how Microsoft made Vista and Win7 more secure. In earlier versions, users could make changes to anything stored in the Program Files folder. In Vista/Win7, you had to have special permissions to do thiings there. Data could be saved in that folder but you could not find it later. Players would do a normal install of Civ3, start a game, save it and then not be able to find their saved games. Instead of tweaking the user settings (which can be done) it seems easier to install Civ3 someplace else beside in Program Files. In Civ 4, which was designed with Vista in mind, the game put it saves in a folder under My Documents.

On the .ini file, you need to go to Technical Support FAQs, post #2, which has all the main ini file parameters. Warning: this file is not created until after you save your first game. So if you look for it right after you install the game you won't find it.

In addition to the KeepRes and Video Mode entries, also add NoAIPatrol=1 to keep the barbarians moving around.

[Cryptic_Snow]

How can you tell if you have the newest patches for Civ 3? What do I need? I have Civ 3 Complete Edition by the way.

[Kodika]

I am very grateful to CommandoBob and EvilConqueror for your latest replies to my thread. I think I will opt for the physical disks. Am I correct that I will save space on my hard drive if I do that compared to downloading the game?

Thanks CommandoBob for your explanation about why it is not recommended to install Civ 3 in Program Files and for the link to the .ini file. That is very helpful.

Cryptic Snow - If you see CommandoBob's first reply to my thread you will note that he confirmed that Civ 3 Complete is fully patched.

[EvilConqueror]

Originally Posted by Kodika

I think I will opt for the physical disks. Am I correct that I will save space on my hard drive if I do that compared to downloading the game?

I'm not sure but the system requirements on the box and on Steam's website are the same (1.7 GB). Though, if you haven't already downloaded Steam's software you'd be saving the space that would take up (about 1 GB I believe).

[Kodika]

Thanks for the further info' EvilConqueror.

[CommandoBob]

Originally Posted by Cryptic_Snow

How can you tell if you have the newest patches for Civ 3? What do I need? I have Civ 3 Complete Edition by the way.

Civ 3 Complete is fully patched for each version: vanilla at 1.29f, PTW at 1.27f and Conquests to 1.22c. The version numbers are in the bottom left hand corner of the main menu screen.