Modding to increase performance

I love RoM, but the end-turn times are killing the fun of the game for me. I know this is a common complaint, but I have yet to see any suggestions on how to alleviate the problem. Are there some files/features that can be removed? I've played on smaller maps with fewer civs, but the map size seems to make no difference. Where's the lag coming from?

If you want to engage in a real discussion of this problem and how to solve it, please reply. If you just want to flame because the subject has been brought up before, go see a psychiatrist and work on your ego problems.

RoM v2.7 will have several tweaks that should make AI turns faster: some python code blocks were optimized (thanks to Pla5ma) and I turned off few Plotlist features as those slowed down Main interface (can be turned on from BUG options). These tweaks do not remove the problem entirely and it probably isn't possible due to size and complexity of the mod. More powerful computer (multicore) with 64-bit OS does help too.

RoM v2.7 comes with couple optional modules which reduce the amount of graphics during gameplay: Static leaderheads module makes diplomacy much faster as there is no need to load animation for the heads and NoBuildingGraphics module disables regular building graphics (most of them) making cities have much less polygons and the required texture memory amount is smaller with it too. You can also disable civ specific unit artstyle modules to save some more memory (but polygon amount remains about same as the mod will then use ethnic unit artstyles).

zappara said:

RoM v2.7 will have several tweaks that should make AI turns faster: some python code blocks were optimized (thanks to Pla5ma) and I turned off few Plotlist features as those slowed down Main interface (can be turned on from BUG options). These tweaks do not remove the problem entirely and it probably isn't possible due to size and complexity of the mod. More powerful computer (multicore) with 64-bit OS does help too.

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As far as I know civ4 has no multicore support so effectively the game is running on only one core. As such having a faster dual or (even single) core is preferable over a usually slower quad core.

First of all. I have yet to see a flamer in this forum, and I dont think your subject will bring any.
Secondly. Yes, RoM is MUCH slower than vanilla civ and most other mods. Partly because of increased AI, but primarely because of the size of it. If vanilla is a kids gocart then RoM is a full size lorry. The content added will ofcourse slow down the system. With that said, there is several options you can use. Ofcourse there is the graphics, map size, game speed. But also stuff like aggressive barbs and barb civ. In RoM folder there is a revolution.ini. In it there are some settings that allow you to control how many new civs will be created with barb civ.
The settings look like this :
; ------------- Technical settings -------------

; Max civs - This component won't add new civs with this number already in game (-1 for DLL limit)
MaxCivs = -1

; Change odds of barb city turning into a minor civ
FormMinorModifier = 1.00

; Minimum population needed for a barb city to settle
MinPopulation = 2

; Minimum number of contacts (with any and full civs) to settle
MinContacts = 2
MinFullContacts = 2


Other things to do to speed up gameplay is to use Zapparas mods : nobuildinggraphics and staticleaderheads found in <unloaded modules> folder in the mod.


Edit : eyii...number 3rd. need to type faster.....

Trias said:

As far as I know civ4 has no multicore support so effectively the game is running on only one core. As such having a faster dual or (even single) core is preferable over a usually slower quad core.

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I wonder what my computer is doing then as it shows high usage of 3 cores (sometimes 4) when playing RoM

zappara said:

I wonder what my computer is doing then as it shows high usage of 3 cores (sometimes 4) when playing RoM

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That's strange. I've got quite the opposite answer...

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=308618

Now what is the truth?

64 Bit OS's will help, because of RAM. Civ 4 has some minor memory leak issues, so having lots of RAM helps, especially sense 32bit limits to 3.2gb of RAM. Plus, 4gb of RAM is so cheap these days (~$50), and a snap to install (literally) on laptops and desktops.

hmm. I have a quad core 2.4ghz and it only ever uses one core.

I also just recently upgraded to 8gb from 4gb ram with a 64 bit version of XP and Ubuntu. It didn't really make any difference with turn time, though it did speed up some of the late game general sluggish-ness of the UI.

If someone ever finds out how to make civ4 use more than one core, I will have a girl at your door in 48 hours ready to sleep with you.

Why do we need to sleep with a girl at the door? We'd have just got multi-core use of Civ IV and a much faster RoM2

Civilization 4 seems to already run with multicore support on my duo core laptop. I set the game to AI auto Play and minimized it. Here's a screen shot for you all.

Of course maybe it's cause I'm using Windows 7 x64. Either way, the game seems to run faster in Win7.

zappara said:

I wonder what my computer is doing then as it shows high usage of 3 cores (sometimes 4) when playing RoM

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Are the turns fast when it uses the 3-4 cores?

Afforess said:

Civilization 4 seems to already run with multicore support on my duo core laptop. I set the game to AI auto Play and minimized it. Here's a screen shot for you all.

Of course maybe it's cause I'm using Windows 7 x64. Either way, the game seems to run faster in Win7.

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Did the total CPU usage ever exceed 50%?

Otherwise it could just be that the thread is just switching what core it uses every so often. (like every couple of microseconds).

Thanks for the reccos. I patched to BTS 3.19 and installed RoM 2.7. It is a little faster, but not much. It's such a great mod, I guess I'll just have to put up with the slow turns.

I'll ask again, though, in your best guess, what is eating up all the memory during the turn change? The tweaks to the AI? Graphics? Number of units on the map? The map itself?

And, I have to agree with Vincentz. I haven't seen many flamers on the Civ forums. Guess I'm just gunshy after being on so many other game forums.

Afforess said:

64 Bit OS's will help, because of RAM. Civ 4 has some minor memory leak issues, so having lots of RAM helps, especially sense 32bit limits to 3.2gb of RAM. Plus, 4gb of RAM is so cheap these days (~$50), and a snap to install (literally) on laptops and desktops.

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I don't think so.

Civ won't use more than 2 GB of memory, for starters. Unless you make some modifications.

Secondly, alot of the reports of slowness with big mods on big maps come from people with high-end machines and loads of RAM. So do alot of MAF errors.

I have two machines. One is a fairly new dual core laptop with 4GB running Vista. The other is an older machine, mono core (older chip too) with 756 MB Ram running win2k. It's got a fairly decent video card, though.

Guess which one can play big mods on oversized maps in the late era faster, and without having to turn the graphics down?

Did the total CPU usage ever exceed 50%?

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Yeah. Here, look at this one. It's from the same game, in the industrial era. (The first was in the ancient era, so the game ran faster.)

I have two machines. One is a fairly new dual core laptop with 4GB running Vista. The other is an older machine, mono core (older chip too) with 756 MB Ram running win2k. It's got a fairly decent video card, though.

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See, the video card is key here. Your vista laptop, if I had to wager a guess, it has either a cheap video card or an integrated one. A computer is only as good as its weakest component.

Interesting, frekk. My rig is also older: a P4 3.4 ghz running on Win XP with an up-to-date video card, tons of RAM. End turns can be 10 to 15 secs early in the game, as in by 4,000 BCE. I can't imagine what they must be like in Modern Age.

Afforess said:

See, the video card is key here. Your vista laptop, if I had to wager a guess, it has either a cheap video card or an integrated one. A computer is only as good as its weakest component.

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Absolutely. And I think that's really the key to getting big mods to play well on large maps; get a good video card. Tons of ram won't necessarily help.

Probably the OS plays some role too. Vista is awfully bloated compared to win2k.

Vista is awfully bloated compared to win2k.

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Try windows 7 RC then. It's faster than XP and Vista. (and probably Win2k, since W2k can't support multicores)

How can the bottleneck be on the video cards for turn times?!

If I put the screen on a patch of black fog and end my turn it will be the same, the video card shouldn't be doing any work should it?? does it still have to render graphics that aren't on screen? I don't think it does...

There is a way to force it to stay in real time by making, then running, a shortcut with the following script

C:\System32\Cmd.exe /c start "runrealtime" /realtime "C:\games\2K Games\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4 Gold\Beyond the Sword\Civ4BeyondSword.exe"

But my processor never exceeds 26% between turns, the 1% probably being background processes, and 100% of one of the cores for civ4.



Civ4 is the selected process there too, it's not in the background.
It really boggles the mind.

I'm nearly certain the engine renders everything that is not in the fog of war. At least it certainly acts like it does, on multiple levels (this really becomes aparent when you're modding).