Framerate survey

[popewiz]

Ok, go to http://www.fraps.com and download that program. Play a game of Civ 4 and check out the frame rate you're getting. If you feel like it, post your system and the framerate in addition to voting in the poll.

P4 1.7 GHz
GeForce FX 5500 128MB
768 MB DDR RAM
Sound Blaster Live!

I get between 9 and 12 FPS on all graphics settings (high, medium, low).

[Subtestube]

To make this any use, you might also want to post your graphics settings. If someone's getting 150 FPS on a 7800 or X1800, but they're running lowest details, no Antialiasing, and at a low resolution, it doesn't mean much.

[Umm241]

P4 3 GHz
GeForce FX 5500 128MB (81.85)
768 MB ram
Sound Blaster Live! 24 bit

I get 10 FPS looking pretty close up at a single city at the start of a game. about 7 FPS if I zoom out right before the world view. In other words, pure crap.

edit: oh yes, playing on medium graphics since I see no difference anyways.

[Al'Kimiya]

I have about 1fps when running in fullscreen and 3-5fps in windowed mode, the intro movie jumps between 1 and 10fps during stutters. No difference in low/high graphic settings nor different screen resolutions. Even tried a couple of different graphic drivers (some older and the newest).

I have an Intel P4 3,0GHz, 1GB RAM, Geforce FX 5200 128MB, Realtek AC'97 motherboard integrated sound, WinXP SP2.

[popewiz]

I think this will give us a good idea of how bad the problem really is. I know there are some of you who are getting the game to work real well. But below 10 FPS just doesn't cut it with a PC that meets all recommended requirements.

[BobsYourUncle]

I'm getting between 25 and 40 (in my current game, 17th century), 1280x1024 graphics options on high, 4xAA. It drops to about 12 in globe view, but that's not really a problem, globe view isn't that useful anyway.

specs:
Athlon64 3200+
1GB DDR400
Nvidia 6600GT 128MB

I am getting choppy music in all the game videos though, that is annoying - is there any known fix for it?

[Henry Ford]

yeah no joke, there are some serious gaming machines out there that the game plays like total crap on.

I know jack about programing but from what i gather it has to be a memory leak, and something to do with the video card files.

i "play" it on a p3 800 256meg, radeon 7000 32 meg.

on dual size map, one other civ, i have no wait time between turns,(in reniss era) um when its scrolling to other places in the map it runs like shti. when i zoom out it runs like shti. the videos are choppy as hell. i only see eyes and such on the diplomacy screen. at the setting though , i have had no crash.
which i find odd, being my computer is from 2000. anyway i have a new box in the mail, when i gets here ill post my frame rate.

I think all this is going to pass in due time and civ will be civilized again.

[BobsYourUncle]

Originally Posted by Al'Kimiya

I have about 1fps when running in fullscreen and 3-5fps in windowed mode, the intro movie jumps between 1 and 10fps during stutters. No difference in low/high graphic settings nor different screen resolutions. Even tried a couple of different graphic drivers (some older and the newest).

I have an Intel P4 3,0GHz, 1GB RAM, Geforce FX 5200 128MB, Realtek AC'97 motherboard integrated sound, WinXP SP2.

the FX 5200 isn't a great card, but you should still be getting better that you are :/ Have you checked to make sure your nvidia driver settings aren't over-riding applications settings for AA/AS? FOr newer drivers you should be able to right click on the desktop, and go to nvidia display from there and check performance settings. If you don't have that option, try going to properties -> settings -> advanced -> then the tab for your video card.

[alexti2]

I think something is definitely wrong. I'm getting stable 13(!) fps on 1024*768 with low quality and all effects disabled. At 1600*1200, high quality and all visual whistles enabled I have the same 13 fps. So what is holding frame rate back?

[opkoad]

Originally Posted by alexti2

I think something is definitely wrong. I'm getting stable 13(!) fps on 1024*768 with low quality and all effects disabled. At 1600*1200, high quality and all visual whistles enabled I have the same 13 fps. So what is holding frame rate back?

Well, in your case, it's NOT your video card. Your video card must be performing a lot better than the rest of your system, because from what you've described, it's clear that the video card is mostly sitting around doing nothing, waiting for the rest of the system to "deliver the goods". If the rest of your system was keeping the video card busy, you would notice a greater effect on framerate when you change graphics settings.

Here's an analogy. Imagine you and a bunch of people are in a long line at the theater, waiting for the guy to check your ticket. He can't process everyone fast enough, but you and everyone else in line have your ticket in hand, all ready to go. If he could just work faster, you'd all be seated already.

Your video card is waiting on the rest of your system. Whether the bottleneck is the CPU, memory, hard drive, I don't know. Post your system specs and we might figure out what's slowing you down. Include operating system (what version of Windows), CPU speed (how many MHz), size of memory (how many GB), and amount of free hard drive space.

And keep in mind there is always a bottleneck (a pipeline can only move as fast as its slowest component). So if you improve the performance of the rest of the system, it may be the video card that keeps you from getting any better performance. But by that point, performance may be entirely satisfactory.

[Al'Kimiya]

Originally Posted by BobsYourUncle

the FX 5200 isn't a great card, but you should still be getting better that you are :/ Have you checked to make sure your nvidia driver settings aren't over-riding applications settings for AA/AS? FOr newer drivers you should be able to right click on the desktop, and go to nvidia display from there and check performance settings. If you don't have that option, try going to properties -> settings -> advanced -> then the tab for your video card.

No driver overrides, I even selected image quality for full performance over quality.. nothing seems to change the frame rate. I, did however set the SyncInput=1 in the ini-file, which at least made the mouse stutter a little less in-game. I can play, but it is an expected delay. I ordered a new card, a Radeon 9600Pro, it should run the game better when I get it

[alexti2]

Originally Posted by opkoad

Well, in your case, it's NOT your video card. Your video card must be performing a lot better than the rest of your system, because from what you've described, it's clear that the video card is mostly sitting around doing nothing, waiting for the rest of the system to "deliver the goods". If the rest of your system was keeping the video card busy, you would notice a greater effect on framerate when you change graphics settings.

Here's an analogy. Imagine you and a bunch of people are in a long line at the theater, waiting for the guy to check your ticket. He can't process everyone fast enough, but you and everyone else in line have your ticket in hand, all ready to go. If he could just work faster, you'd all be seated already.

Your video card is waiting on the rest of your system. Whether the bottleneck is the CPU, memory, hard drive, I don't know. Post your system specs and we might figure out what's slowing you down. Include operating system (what version of Windows), CPU speed (how many MHz), size of memory (how many GB), and amount of free hard drive space.

And keep in mind there is always a bottleneck (a pipeline can only move as fast as its slowest component). So if you improve the performance of the rest of the system, it may be the video card that keeps you from getting any better performance. But by that point, performance may be entirely satisfactory.

It's easy to see that the problem has nothing to do with the hardware. For example, one can run compiling in the background, which has virtually no effect on fps.

More interesting experiment is to start Civ4 in a window. In my case it produces 13 fps. Now I switch to another application (such that its window won't obscure Civ4 window). Console where compiling is going will do fine. Now Civ4 fps jump into 90-100 range. Good. As long as Civ4 doesn't have focus it has no problem drawing. Now we move the mouse over Civ4 window carefully avoiding the menu area. FPS are still around 100. Now we bring mouse over the menu pointing to "Play Now" (still no clicking). Suddenly FPS drop to 13fps again. What's the difference? Apparently that running ">>>"

[eddavatar]

Athlon 64 3.2ghz+
Radeon 9600 (Omega Driver, Card OCed to 330/220) 64MB
AC97 Sound
512 RAM

1-2 FPS >_>

Athlon 1.4 thunderbird
GeForce2 GTS 32MB
SB Live 5.1
256 RAM

Something around 10-12 FPS

Kinda sad that my 4 year old printer server's outperforming my Mid Spec laptop.

[popewiz]

Ok, I just found a great fix for anyone with an nVidia FX series card. The fix is posted somewhere else on this forum, but basically you need to download a program called nVHardPageSE (do a google search). Then start up the program and go to the directX page, change the pixel and vertex shader options to 1.1. This has given me between a 40-90% FPS boost depending on what is on the screen and it's sooo much better.

[Subtestube]

Originally Posted by popewiz

Ok, I just found a great fix for anyone with an nVidia FX series card. The fix is posted somewhere else on this forum, but basically you need to download a program called nVHardPageSE (do a google search). Then start up the program and go to the directX page, change the pixel and vertex shader options to 1.1. This has given me between a 40-90% FPS boost depending on what is on the screen and it's sooo much better.

Just bear in mind that this fix WILL hurt your "IQ" (Image Quality), and it will do so in ALL games that use Shaders of a greater version than 1.1.

[MerakSpielman]

Now really, a framerate poll in the Tech Support forum? Stacking the odds in favor of lots of votes for low framerates, aren't you, by assuring that only people with problems running the game get a chance to see the poll?

I'll bet you the statistics change if you make this same poll in General Discussion.