Terrain is Dark

[combatmonkey]

I just wanted to confirm that using world builder to reveal all tiles lets me play normally as well after that. Although this is a fine workaround for now, it takes away a big part of the game (exploration). Fortunatly, as previous posters have mentioned this is clearly a bug and not a hardware issue. Please get us a patch soon, Firiaxis!

 

[merm]

merlin9784,

my specs are:

IBM Thinkpad R40
512 MB memory
ATI Radeon Mobility 7500 w/ 32 MB memory
Omega 2.6.75a driver

-roger

 

[combatmonkey]

1) start a game.
2) found a city.
3) save the game
3) retire and look at the map. see your city? figure out where the center of the map is relative to your city.
4) load your game.
5) send a scout to explore the center of the map as seen on the retire screen.
6) as your scout uncovers tiles at the center of the map, tiles in your fog will be uncovered.
-roger

I was able to play this way as well. Although instead of saving and retiring I built stonehenge which automatically centered the map for me. After I had explored the center things were normal.

I am playing on a
AMD 3200+
512 MB RAM
GeForce 4MX

 

[Melendwyr]

That's more or less what I've been experiencing. As I explore more, I start to be able to see tiles - even ones I haven't visited yet and should be hidden by the Fog. This patch of visibility slowly spreads until I can see everything.

 

[allism]

I just wanted to confirm that using world builder to reveal all tiles lets me play normally as well after that. Although this is a fine workaround for now, it takes away a big part of the game (exploration). Fortunatly, as previous posters have mentioned this is clearly a bug and not a hardware issue. Please get us a patch soon, Firiaxis!

CombatMonkey, how did you exit out of the world builder to play the game? I went into world builder but I wasn't able to exit back out to the game - ESC wouldn't bring up the menu, and I didn't notice a button to go back to the game.

 

[merm]

here's what i did:

open up Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Assets\XML\Technologies\CIV4TechInfos.xml

and do a replace all changing <bMapVisible>0</bMapVisible> to <bMapVisible>1</bMapVisible>.

now everyone starts with the map revealed. terrain is fine, although the oceans look a little funny for me. you still need to explore to find goody huts and your opponents, but unfortunately the terrain types and resource locations are revealed. but you are at least on equal footing with the ai since they will see everything too.

-roger

 

[combatmonkey]

CombatMonkey, how did you exit out of the world builder to play the game?

In the top right corner there is a button to "Exit Worldbuilder" that worked for me.

 

[combatmonkey]

merm,

Thanks for the tip on editing the tech file. Once I did that I was finally able to play the game for real! (Although with the map revealed) I truly hope that that this issue is resolved quickly. The game seems great from the hour I got of it, but I'd really like to play it as it was intended.

 

[chriseay]

merm,

Thanks for the tip on editing the tech file. Once I did that I was finally able to play the game for real! (Although with the map revealed) I truly hope that that this issue is resolved quickly. The game seems great from the hour I got of it, but I'd really like to play it as it was intended.

This makes me happy, and ready to get home from work so I can try this out. I hope that this is fixed, and quickly by Firaxis, but if I can play the game until then, good. If that does not work I will just try the scenarios that work instead and hope for a fix asap.

 

[lirander]

merm and combatmonkey,

i too tried to modify my xml file as suggested by merm. but, on thereafter starting up civ, i get xml errors. did you not get those? thanks, man.

 

[lirander]

never mind, i am a dumba** who misspelled "bMapVisible" as "bMapVisble"

 

[piranhaZ]

merlin9784,

my specs are:

IBM Thinkpad R40
512 MB memory
ATI Radeon Mobility 7500 w/ 32 MB memory
Omega 2.6.75a driver

-roger

GASP! It works for a Thinkpad? And I had given up all hope. Sitting on the sidelines, wondering if I should shell out some money for this.

Merm, how's the performance? Is it possible to play correctly with fog of war off? (note, I don't have the game, so I'm asking newbish questions)

 

[Clausewitz]

here's what i did:

open up Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\Assets\XML\Technologies\CIV4TechInfos.xml

and do a replace all changing <bMapVisible>0</bMapVisible> to <bMapVisible>1</bMapVisible>.

now everyone starts with the map revealed. terrain is fine, although the oceans look a little funny for me. you still need to explore to find goody huts and your opponents, but unfortunately the terrain types and resource locations are revealed. but you are at least on equal footing with the ai since they will see everything too.

-roger

Merm,

I still get the Cheshire Cat thing, but so what. Your fix worked terrifically. Thank you very much. I figured someone on Fanatics would eventually figure something out.

Thanks again,
-Quinn

 

[MikeLynch]

Just for posterity:

I've been having this exact black-map problem on my laptop.

I used the srtest website and it gave me a solid pass. I didn't achieve Recommended only because of my video card being a Radeon 7500 w/32 MB.

The game RUNS, I just can't see the map. (Haven't tried the fixes mentioned here, but I expect them to work.)

So...
- the forumsters who have been saying 32 MB simply does not work are technically wrong, and
- if it turns out that Firaxis changed the "minimum requirement" to 64 MB at the last minute just to get around having to support this problem, I'll be somewhat disenchanted.

Being able to see the whole map from the start is unacceptable as a "solution," but for the time being it's better than nothing. Maybe I'll just play on Earth maps

 

[EvilTwin]

I, too, was able to use these suggestions to get this working on one of my two laptops. It's an Evo N610c with a Mobility Radeon 7500 with 32MB Ram. With all of the graphics setting on low, I can play the game. Water is messed up and the whole map still has this darkening layer over it. It never seems to go away.

 

[piranhaZ]

Just for posterity:

I've been having this exact black-map problem on my laptop.

I used the srtest website and it gave me a solid pass. I didn't achieve Recommended only because of my video card being a Radeon 7500 w/32 MB.

The game RUNS, I just can't see the map. (Haven't tried the fixes mentioned here, but I expect them to work.)

So...
- the forumsters who have been saying 32 MB simply does not work are technically wrong, and
- if it turns out that Firaxis changed the "minimum requirement" to 64 MB at the last minute just to get around having to support this problem, I'll be somewhat disenchanted.

Being able to see the whole map from the start is unacceptable as a "solution," but for the time being it's better than nothing. Maybe I'll just play on Earth maps

That's what ticks me off the most. A stealth update on requirements. If you go to Futureshop (Canadian retailer), specs are now listed as: "Display: 64 MB Video Card With Hardware T & L (GeForce 2 / Radeon 7500 or better)"

<gripe mode>
As if a 64 MB Radeon 7500 exists. Seems like they realized 32MB cards were causing problems and just decided to declare them unsupported.

On another Civ 4 forum, the moderators are posting "Radeon 7500 is not supported. You need at least a 7550".... As if a 7550 exists.
</gripe mode>

Unfortunately, it looks like they won't be fixing this anytime soon. So, us laptopers will have to settle for no fog-of-war gaming.

Maybe the guys at ATI will pick up on this and do something to stop losing market share to Nvidia.

(sorry, i'm not contributing right now to fixing, just griping, but I'll attempt to get Civ 4 and see how my laptop likes it)

 

[allism]

I tried the XML edit, without much luck - a corner of my playing area was visible, and the part that was visible remained in the same corner as I scrolled - so I could see what I wanted to as long as I didn't directly look at it. It reminded me of a problem I had several years ago when the flu attacked the nerves in my eyes, leaving damage on one of my optic nerves - if I had to look at something with one eye, I could see it, as long as I remembered not to look directly at it.

I sent a warrior looking around, came across a goody hut that gave me a map - which opened up a larger area that was visible, but again, the area that was visible changed as I scrolled (the black spots stayed in the same place).

My husband (a software developer) is insisting after seeing this latest behavior that the problem is programmatically solvable. I'm inclined to agree with him. My guess is that there is something that can be turned OFF that will fix this. I'm going to toggle the bit in the XML file back to zero, and see if I get similar results as far as terrain eventually showing up - let's hope I find a goody hut with a map fast, cause I'm not really having any fun playing in the dark, other than that I like to break stuff...

 

[allism]

OK, this is REALLY odd - I flipped the bit back to 0, and I'm getting the same display issues. I'm not certain that flipping it to 1 actually did anything now.

I did notice this time that when my capital expanded due to culture, the area that was visible also expanded. Still stuck in the corner, though (a different corner this time).

 

[piranhaZ]

There's a new UnPak fix stickied at top. Has anyone with the black map issue tried it and see if it helps?

 

[joesf35]

There's a new UnPak fix stickied at top. Has anyone with the black map issue tried it and see if it helps?

Yes, and no it didn't help.