Civ5 using DX11 Graphics: The way it's meant to be played!

I have a GTX 260 and running at 1920x1200 the framerate is a lot worse in DX10 mode than DX9 mode.

I don't know if it's been said because I haven't read the whole thread, but from the screenshots it just looks like they've made the textures more detailed for the DX10/11 version, which could explain why DX10/11 is slower. Maybe they programmed it and found the two versions looked identical and thought "hey, we have to make DX11 look better somehow" so reduced the texture detail, greyed out AA and turned off refections for DX9. I mean, DX9 is perfectly capable of producing amazing graphics - remember the Crysis fiasco, where they decided to to cripple to DX9 version to promote it as a DX10 game - which worked until people hacked the config files, whereupon the two versions looked the same (with DX9 version running faster).

If you need to zoom in past what's allowed by default to see the difference, you have to wonder whether the extra detailed textures are worth it. How about some comparison screenshots at normal magnification?

Re: water reflections, there's a setting in the GraphicsSettingsDX9.cfg file called
ReflectionLevel = 0
I haven't tried changing it, but it's set to 1 in the DX11 file and 0 in the DX9 file. Maybe someone could try changing it and take a screenshot of the difference.

Panda_Power said:

Starting a new game running Fraps the FPS seem to be capped at 60 because it doesn't go any lower and doesn't go any higher.

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Yes - that's the effect of "Wait for Vertical Sync", or "vSync" as it says in the options screen. It synchronizes the frame rate with the refresh rate of your monitor.

rbj2001 said:

If you need to zoom in past what's allowed by default to see the difference, you have to wonder whether the extra detailed textures are worth it. How about some comparison screenshots at normal magnification?

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I believe that the unit ones were actually default zoom, but cropped. Click on the screen shots to get the full, uncropped versions

^ Possibly... I don't play zoomed as close as it will go myself though. Was thinking at normal playing zooms.

Also it looks like you have shadows turned off in the DX9 version?

rbj2001 said:

Also it looks like you have shadows turned off in the DX9 version?

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No, they were turned on.

Turning off "shadows" completely messes up lightning in the game. It's only option I would no one advise to turn off.

Panda_Power said:

I have a similar system I built myself and I play the game in DX11 mode with all settings on high:

i7 920 @ 3.8GHz
XFX 5870 (ATI CCC settings at maximum quality)
6GB RAM
26" monitor @ 1920x1200
Windows 7 64bit

Starting a new game running Fraps the FPS seem to be capped at 60 because it doesn't go any lower and doesn't go any higher.

I then loaded my current game where I'm on turn 235 and things are pretty busy and playing at my usual zoom level I get between 45-50 fps, but if I zoom all the way out it drops down to around 35.

Changing my settings from "quality" to "performance" would probably speed things up, but it plays OK for me.

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That is believable scaling considering I have 4890/PII955 which are just about as weaker as they should be. I am also using this post to apologize to you (and only you), because I was angered by much misinformation on this thread.

I have read the full thread but maybe missed an answer to this question: Theres a way to avoid the tile textures to be regenerated every time i move the map? Not sure if im clear in my explanation...it happens to me that first i get grey tiles, then a first pass of tile textures which are quite plain, then the definitive, nice looking ones...it doesnt prevent play, but seems sloppy. Got a I3 with ATI HD5750, 2gb of ram (not enough for task manager, game and the rest use like 2,4), winxp sp3.

ainwood said:

No, they were turned on.

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Hmm... it's not like DX9 can't do shadows so it's weird that we don't see them.

I suppose a fair comparison really has to be between the versions at identical frame rates.

I'm running DX9 rather than DX10 on my GTX260 because it's faster. What I'd really like would be an option just to set the framerate (60 fps for me please!) and let it do the best it can while maintaining that.

I notice very little deference plus the texture sucks on both haha.

Hogar313 said:

I am also using this post to apologize to you (and only you), because I was angered by much misinformation on this thread.

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I appreciate that, thank you!

Peace

Does anyone have a recommendation for buying a new laptop that will meet or exceed the recommended specifications for CIV 5? I have a budget of about $2,000

you can buy a very powerful (custom) computer that comfortably exceeds the recommended specification of civ5.

in fact i can get all the parts for a custom build PC that is top of the line, and i mean that, for just 2019 dollars.

dweebit said:

Someone tell me why a sales pitch for an unnecessary graphics card is stickied here. Civ used to be about game play, not shiny .

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Because he got bribe, i mean sent a new gfx card from nvidia and had to repay the favor somehow. PR being the easy quick way

So any difference in performance between DX9 and DX10/11?

Also any website/person has done a break down of how each setting effects performance?

Why is AA not possible in the dx9 version of the game? (except by forcing it through the Nvidia control panel)

TheLean said:

Why is AA not possible in the dx9 version of the game? (except by forcing it through the Nvidia control panel)

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So that the DX10/11 version looks better. If they enabled all the effects from DX10/11 in DX9, there would be no reason to play DX10/11. A modern game can only be really good if it requires the latest hardware to run.

Well does AA have any noticeable effect on the looks?

I.e DX11 AA off vs DX11 AA 2,4,6,8 on.

Bino said:

I have read the full thread but maybe missed an answer to this question: Theres a way to avoid the tile textures to be regenerated every time i move the map? Not sure if im clear in my explanation...it happens to me that first i get grey tiles, then a first pass of tile textures which are quite plain, then the definitive, nice looking ones...it doesnt prevent play, but seems sloppy. Got a I3 with ATI HD5750, 2gb of ram (not enough for task manager, game and the rest use like 2,4), winxp sp3.

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Get Win7 and use DX10/11 mode. Texture regenerating there only happens on start (when first time you see some part of the map) and never again. It is also fast.

One of the devs explained it in some article. DX10/11 mode uses better detailed, yet also better compressed textures (decompressed on the fly by use of compute shader feature of DX11), which are loaded faster into the game, since they take less memory.

Mathalamus said:

you can buy a very powerful (custom) computer that comfortably exceeds the recommended specification of civ5.

in fact i can get all the parts for a custom build PC that is top of the line, and i mean that, for just 2019 dollars.

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Only problem with that is you probably need knowledge of how to build computers to do it. I know nothing, and would probably run into compatibility issues. Plus if there are any problems, theres no one to help.

Carl5872 said:

Only problem with that is you probably need knowledge of how to build computers to do it. I know nothing, and would probably run into compatibility issues. Plus if there are any problems, theres no one to help.

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You don't need much knowledge to build a computer. Also if you get someone on the forums to vet the components you shouldn't have an issue. Also for help there the internet as well.

But just 2000$? That isn't cheap