How to play massive maps w/out lag?

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ZergMazter

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Since civ 3 launched i've been wanting to play those massive maps like 'Test Of Time' world map that is like 360X360, but i never again tried it after my first experience. Turns would never end because it was so laggy.

I got a top end computer, but i doubt its the computer the one lagging, but the game itself.

What do i have to do to make it playable and reduce lag? If im doomed to get 3-5 min turns then nvm cuz in that case i would rather play smaller maps. Thanks...
 
You should also be aware that even if you reduce the lag, animations and micromanagement of hundreds of units still will require quite a long time. Reducing the diplomatic options will reduce late game micro (why would you want to trade maps every x turns when all the world is already discovered ...)
 
If the lag is before your end of turn, i.e. before you hit the button, I'll offer a suggestion. If it's after you've hit the button, then it's just the AI playing its turn and the more AI, then the longer the wait.

Lag before the button press to end the turn:
I noticed this and it was to the point I couldn't even drag the map around. A solution is to always keep one unit active. The lag occurred after I had fortified every unit in my turn. (The time I wanted to move around my empire and take care of business.) I found by always having one unit not fortified, the lag disappeared.

As mentioned above and before, trade matters. In my own game I've got small wonders taking care of trade. Also known to cause lag are immobile units and auto-producing buildings whose selection has been corrupted. (meaning, in the editor, the unit selection has shifted to, perhaps, an unbuildable unit.)
 
Thanks... and yes wuhjah i noticed that too by accident. I wonder what causes that terrible lag. It doesnt always happen but when it does happen u cant miss it lol. And I wonder if its a good idea to play on that big of a map with 31 players lol.

Also does that mean that i have to kill all trade? Could i just have palaces trade or would it also bring that lag while processing a turn? Thanks
 
It's only the improvements that allow air & water trade that matter, because of computing every possible trade route. If the only improvement is only available in the capital then you've got as many ports as factions - a much smaller number, so less lag.

AI naval units will compute every possible path to their destination iirc. If I'm remembering properly the more ships the more lag. Wouldn't matter except in scenarios such as AoI with massive navies - coping with lag time is extensively discussed in its thread.
 
The way that I play on massive maps, say 300 X 300 and above, without limiting air and water trade, is to severely limit the number of civilizations in the game and watch how many barbarians I add to it. Raging Barbarians will also slow the game down, especially if you boost them a bit like I do. The killer for lag on massive maps is the trade routes calculation. Unfortunately, that get recalculated every turn, rather than remember and checked for updates.
 
there are a couple of other options as well. cut out espionage or certain parts of it, tech trading, map trading, and even some diplomacy like mutual protection pacts and the like. but cutting out air and/or sea trade is the best way to chop down turn times, imho at least :)
 
I limited Air trade to coastal cities only and i can already notice a bit of improvement, but i think im gonna just make those posts only available in the capitol city next time. Thx for the suggestions, I've been dying to play huge maps for a decade now. I bought my first civ 3 like on 2004 if i remember correctly and i've been waiting ever since :hammer2:
 
I am not sure if civ3 is able to use the advantages of a modern i7 (compared to an i5) but obviously a faster processor is better than a slower one. RAM might also be useful but the processor is usually the bottleneck.
BTW i run Civ3 on a I5 4670@3,4GHz and it works fine:D
 
I run on:

I-5 4430 3.0... what the heck does all that stand for?
Ram 8G. My PC is only about 1-2 years old and im assuming its already outdated? I dont see no quad core anywhere. All i see is I-5 :/
 
ZergMazter said:
I run on:

I-5 4430 3.0... what the heck does all that stand for?
Ram 8G. My PC is only about 1-2 years old and im assuming its already outdated? I dont see no quad core anywhere. All i see is I-5 :/
Click to expand...

It means you are using an i5-4430 Intel Chip which has 4 Cores (Quadcore) and the 3.0 means you are running at 3.0 gigahertz which is pretty fast. And 8 GB of RAM is very good.

i5's aren't bad. Most people have an i5. i7 used to be the newest/best chip line by Intel but now they have some i8's.

I have an i7 2600K which runs at 3.4 gigahertz on a superfast ASUS motherboard with an SSD drive. So my machine runs really fast. I'm worried that my mod (when I finish it) will run too slow for most people.
 
Gray Wolf said:
I'm worried that my mod (when I finish it) will run too slow for most people.
Click to expand...
I like large maps & handle the lag time creatively. Make a sandwich, pay more attention to the podcast I'm listening to, check my email, post on the C&C forum ...

Did anyone mention changing the animation flags? In the in-game preferences deselecting animated moves and battles helps a lot. Unless it's one of the really creative animations people make here, spending five minutes watching two AI factions pound each other is not as much fun as pounding them yourself.

And this from El Justo:
El Justo said:
it is strongly advised that before you load AoI v4.0 that you go into the 'Preferences' tab on the civ3c title screen and 'Disable Wonder Initiation Pop-ups' (or something to that effect). you see, the first turn is littered w/ these annoying pop-ups if this feature isn't enabled. once you get to your first turn, simply go back into the 'Preferences' tab while in-game and then re-enable the 'wonder pop-ups' so that you can be apprised of any wonder activities from that point forward. ...

...
additional recommended settings (for ultra fast turn times!):
shut off 'show enemy moves'
shut off 'show friendly moves'
*be advised that game play is not compromised in the least bit w/ these settings. all visible in-game movement on the map will be determined solely by the line of sight of your units.
Click to expand...
" ultra fast turn times!" is tongue in cheek. It's minutes, not hours.
 
Blue Monkey said:
I like large maps & handle the lag time creatively. Make a sandwich, pay more attention to the podcast I'm listening to, check my email, post on the C&C forum
Click to expand...

Excellent time management! I like the sandwich part. :)

Did anyone mention changing the animation flags? In the in-game preferences deselecting animated moves and battles helps a lot.
Click to expand...

Yea, I usually have it turned off unless the game starts getting real intense. Then I like to watch all the battles.
 
hi bud :wavey:

thanks, Blue Monkey, for posting that snippet. it's true :) turn times drop dramatically if several steps are taken. i remember when i used to mess with all that stuff and the first times i saw the decreased turn times. it was like magic! :lol:
 
It worked for me. I even load my games in about 5-10 secs now. The only bad thing is that if i colonize an island or continent with no other civs in it, then i cant have any kind of resource trade, and must depend solely on that island's/continent's resources.

I made an improvement with air trade available with currency that requires the capitol city to be built. But its ok cuz now everyone gets to use the nice units i added for civs without resources, and it more challenging holding colonies.
 
If you want ports for the above situation but not the turn times: make them expensive, ridiculously expensive. Not required, but i'd also make them one of the improvements that gets destroyed when taking a city. On a premade map you can also make them require a resource within the city limits, so only a specific number could be built.
 
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