Is it possible to run the game only in strategic view?

[ketchupstan]

I was wondering if it was possible to cut the graphics out of Civ V, and just have it run in strategic view. Firstly because my PC's videocard is shot, and secondly because even when I have the graphics capability I prefer the strategic view. It's easier on my (terrible) eyes, which can't tell the difference between a worker and warrior sprite, but can easily differentiate those symbols.

I registered for these forums to ask this question. I am only intermittently able to play Civ V on a friend's PC, but it is the most exciting RTS I have played since I first saw Dune back in grade school.

Thanks, guys.

 

[Mark Havel]

I once read that this strategic view was partly meant with poor videocards in mind, but I don't know if this is actually possible to only run the game in strategic view. Since I haven't seen anything regarding this in the options, I would guess it is mysteriously not possible yet.

 

[The_J]

You have to start in the normal view, but i think afterwards you can do the most things in the strategic view.
But it's also bugged and crashes for many people after some time, so it's maybe not the best idea .

 

[ketchupstan]

Yeah, I've gotten that crash issue before. But the game saves every 10 turns or so, so it's not a big deal to grab the autosave.

I was thinking that the game could be modded to be a little smaller and lighter. Civ V Lite, really. With no video intro, 3D graphics, animated sprites or anything like that. Not to disparage the artwork in these parts of the game, but I just wanna play it.

 

[marc420]

I really wish that someone would allow this.

I like the strategic view. And really don't like the 3d view all that much. So, I tend to play in the strategic view. Its a clearer representation of the game map to me. I find icons are the clearest way to distinguish between different troop types or resources.

Nice to learn its bugged though. Maybe that's been a part of the reason the dang thing crashes all the time. Should've guessed. Whatever I like in the Civ games seems to be lowest priority for these developers.

The bugs wouldn't be so bad if the game didn't take so long to start and the so long to load a saved game. Gotta think that a decent size chunk of that would be loading all the 3d view stuff.

So, I'd love a command line switch or an ini file entry that just totally disables the 3d view and leaves only strategic view. I'm guessing the game would start and load much faster.

And if they'd get rid of whatever bugs the strategic view has that would make it more playable, that would be a big help too.

 

[WeaselSlapper]

I pretty much only play in strategic view. Since the patch I haven't gotten a single crash. There is no "option" to play only in strategic view, but I launch the game press the strategic view button and never look back, but it probably would load faster if there were an option.

I've tried playing in normal view, but I find determining worker actions to be impossible in normal view (I can't tell what tiles have been improved and what improvements they have) after using strategic view. I also found myself moving to tiles I didn't mean to and I found it difficult to determine where the hexes were unless the view hexes option was turned on.

Strategic view also runs much faster and reduces turn times and for a turn based strategy game like Civ I don't care about graphics at all.