First Impression on iMacG5 1.8GHz GeForceFX5200 2G RAM

Hello everyone,

I'm from Sydney Australia, and just registered here today.
I got my copy this morning and installed it on my 1st generation iMacG5 20" (1.8GHz, NVidia GeForce FX 5200 @ 64MB VRAM and 2GB RAM) running MacOS 10.4.7 with all the latest updates.

Well, to begin, the graphics at all levels are jagged with lots of dropped frames. The background music even fails to play except for the first 5 secs at the start of a game, then you only hear the odd warning and other sounds. All settings are on low (was the default when first launched).
It's real frustrating to move your units at times as the computer feels like it's chocking on itself when it's the AI's turn (with the standard size world). It feels like playing Civ3 'large world' on low end G4 with not enough RAM.
Screen real estate was a little disapointing even though I've increased it to 1680x1050 (only thing I changed from default), but then it could just be the way the game is. It's slow to zoom in and out of the main map. I think with a 128MB VRAM graphics card, things should run a little better.
Finally, to top it all, it crashed after playing my first game, which lasted only 50 mins.
I've not started another one till I checked this forum but it seems, from a quick glance, that not many of you in the States have the game yet.

Anyway, hope this quick first impression will help others decide if it's really for them.
If I get the chance, I might add a little more later once I've played a few more games, but for now, I better get back to work!

Ciao for now all...

Hi, welcome

Wow! That's a minimum spec system, but with lots of extra RAM! Sounds like there's no hope for anyone with a below-spec system, then .

Did you get any clues about the crash? Did it invite you to send a crash report? If so, Aspyr might be interested in seeing it.

Hey thanks AlanH,

Yes, I think you're right. One really needs the minimum specs to really enjoy the game. I am yet to try a smaller world, to see if the interface is a little more responsive and if the background music will play a bit more than what I heard.
As for the crash report, I did get the standard OS X dialog box asking to send a report, but I just closed it. I just wasn't sure if this particular report would only give info directed to Apple or if it was of any use to Aspyr.
I'll be back with a few more details when I get the chance to play this coming weekend.

Cheers

Oh I did forget to mention that when I zoomed the main map right out to the start of the globe view, my discovered terrain and territory background graphic was totally messed up!
Big bug and sad because you can only see the names of your cities and your neighbours and that it.

cocogum said:

Yes, I think you're right. One really needs the minimum specs to really enjoy the game.

Click to expand...

From your description I wouldn't enjoy it on your Mac, which does meet the minimum specs.

I am yet to try a smaller world, to see if the interface is a little more responsive and if the background music will play a bit more than what I heard.

Click to expand...

Yes, please let us know.

As for the crash report, I did get the standard OS X dialog box asking to send a report, but I just closed it. I just wasn't sure if this particular report would only give info directed to Apple or if it was of any use to Aspyr.

Click to expand...

If I were Aspyr I'd be keen to see any crash reports that occur as this gets into the hands of real users.

If you click "yes" you get a text screen that lists all the gobbledegook of the crash report, with a button to send it to Apple. If you send it to Apple I think they just accumulate them until they have a big pile before sending them to Aspyr. So my view is it's quicker and more efficient not to send it to Apple, but to copy the entire crash report (use Edit/Select All, then Edit/Copy) and paste it into an email to aspyr support.

If you are really keen you could even now open the Console application in /Applications/Utilities, select Logs, and navigate to the Civ4 crash log. That should contain a copy of the report for that crash, and you could do the copy/paste trick with that.

That certainly is a bit disappointing... but probably not unexpected. This game is a resource HOG.

As one of those hated "windows" users (thinking about Ubuntu though) dare I ask if there is an .ini that you can change the settings with to help with the demands of the game? There are a fair bunch of options that can help you at least in windows civ4, and not only in the ini, but also in the options menu.

No, it's not your fault. You're not "hated", just "pitied"

I may crash every 10 minuetes ( ) but at least I got my civ4 (and soon to be warlords!) 7 months (or is it 8 months?) ago, not to mention play it on mid to high graphics on my laptop! Civ3? Oh that, it's been a nice memory, I should go and look at my conquest cd for old time's sake. [/severe joking]

Warlords for Mac?!

cocogum said:

Hello everyone,

I'm from Sydney Australia, and just registered here today.
I got my copy this morning and installed it on my 1st generation iMacG5 20" (1.8GHz, NVidia GeForce FX 5200 @ 64MB VRAM and 2GB RAM) running MacOS 10.4.7 with all the latest updates.

Click to expand...

Not sure if there's a way to know this now especially with n=1, but wondering how much of the problem is graphics card, how much is processor speed, and how much is just buggy stuff waiting for the first mac patch? Ram certainly shouldn't be a problem (and is way more than I have in my powerbook, so I may be screwed after all)...

wow - my system exactly =(

what size world and how many oppoenents did you have?

well, all the more reason to save my pennies for a new MacProTower
sigh (kinda depressing)

Hi, new user here.. I usually just lurk and I've been a civ junkie for years.

I have a similar setup (iMac G5, CPU Speed: 2 GHz, Memory: 1.5 GB) and just bought the game. On minimum settings this game is altogether unplayable on my system. I didn't get past 20 turns, honestly. Pretty disappointing. If you have a similar system (or worse) I can *not* recommend picking it up.

I'm going to try it on my MacBook but I can't imagine it being any better considering the integrated video card.

Hi Telekon
welcome!

Can you provide more details about your experience? Graphical artifacts? Sound issues? Crashes? Or just hecka slow?

Thanks!

telekon said:

Hi, new user here.. I usually just lurk and I've been a civ junkie for years.

I have a similar setup (iMac G5, CPU Speed: 2 GHz, Memory: 1.5 GB) and just bought the game. On minimum settings this game is altogether unplayable on my system. I didn't get past 20 turns, honestly. Pretty disappointing. If you have a similar system (or worse) I can *not* recommend picking it up.

I'm going to try it on my MacBook but I can't imagine it being any better considering the integrated video card.

Click to expand...

Please post your MacBook results. Macworld.com's first look said it was "fully playable" on a 1.83 GHz MacBook with just 512MB RAM, so I'm beginning to wonder just how "Universal" this software really is. They also said it ran "a bit smoother" on a dual 2GHz G5 with 2.5GB RAM, though, which would make me suspect a video card issue with the G5 iMacs.

Thanks to cocogum and telekon for their experiences - pretty disappointing I'm holding off ordering it for my MacBook until someone from these forums posts their experiences on a MacBook. I know MacWorld said it was playable but I trust you guys a little more

I suspect it unlikely that Aspyr would release a game with a stated minimum requirement that truly produced a BAD experience for any user with the stated minimum.

At least with requirements such as 2 GB of RAM and a G5.

I am curious as to what experience I will have with my 20" dual-core Intel iMAC with 1.5 GB of RAM. If it is anything less than completely optimal playability then Aspyr will have failed.

Could it be that G5's are already beginning to obsolete?

I'll get back to these forums as soon as my copy (pre-ordered from Amazon) is actually in my hands and I can try it.

AlexandrNyetski said:

I'll get back to these forums as soon as my copy (pre-ordered from Amazon) is actually in my hands and I can try it.

Click to expand...

That should be soon. My preorder shipped today even though I used Super Saver shipping. I'll report how it runs on a 2GHz MacBook with 1GB RAM as quickly as possible.

UPS is telling me "picked up from seller's facility" in Delaware today.

I did two shipping. I don't mail order often so I don't tell them to take their time, either, so that I can not waste mine over a few bucks.

I just can't wait to see my settler unit sitting there ... and ... and ... to hear Leonard Nimoy telling me all about it