A weird observation about Civ 4 lag...

[asmodee]

Hi, as I mentionned in another thread, the main problem I have with the game is the astonishing lag I suffer during gameplay. It can take around 1-1.5 second to the game to respond. But, when I zoom out enough so that I can't see the borders of my city anymore (cause I never played long enough to build more than one city because of the lag that killed gameplay), the game runs at a normal framerate. Maybe there's something to be looked at here?

 

[Gato Loco]

Is this a low-end system lag or a bad programming lag? Have you tried playing on the lowest graphics, lowest resolution, with sound and acceleration disabled? That might make the game palyable if your only problem is an old computer.

 

[limpkit]

After a certain level of zoom-out Civ4 does not show 3D graphics anymore, just 2D ones, which dramatically reduces the load of the game, so what you describe when zooming out is normal.

What isn't normal is the lag you experience, unless you have a very old computer or too little RAM memory. Posting your computer specs would help, but if you have something at the level of the recommended game requirements, such a lag should not happen, unless Civ4 doesn't like your computer setup, which happens frequently

 

[asmodee]

I forgot to post again my specs. My computer is a laptop and is brand new. I used the site that test my specs to know if I can run a game and it says that I meet all recommend requirements easily, so I shouldn't be experiencing any lag.

Here are my specs:

Pentium M 1.7 ghz
1024 DDR2 ram (fastest ram, so this can't be the problem)
ATi mobility radeon x300 64meg (this could be the problem, because the game doesn't seem to support the card)
Omega driver 2.6.75a

Like I said on a previous thread, I tried the game on a slower and older computer, and I had no or little lag at all. The graphic card was a nvidia.

 

[Jabbaz]

I experience the exact opposite. I get 30+ fps at an average zoom level... as soon as I zoom out to the point that drifting clouds appear, my framerate drops to 6-7fps.

Radeon 9600, P4 3.0 ghz, 1.5G RAM.

 

[Tyrole]

Same problem here:

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=133116

 

[asmodee]

I've never experienced such bugs in my entire gaming history... this is my first civilization game and it will probably be the last.

 

[gusten]

He he!

I just wanna join the club of mad Civ4 customers!
Here my prob...

This is so strange!

I have a brand new laptop with:

1.89 GHz Centrino
1.3 GB RAM
graphix card: 256MB INTEL GM915

The memory of the grfx card is shared with the RAM, so the speed
of the game is all dependent on the prcessor. My prob is that:

Civ 4 lags as hell.

But why does Civ4 lag when Farcry (lowest grafx) works fine?

However, when I zoom in, the game runs at playable speed?
In globe mode I have apprx. 0.5 FPS.

Another strange thing is that I do not get a notable FPS difference while
changing grfx quality, and yes, I did restart the game after I changed grfx mode.

Anyone??

 

[asmodee]

we're all experiencing the same problem and unfortunately we all have to wait for the patch! I'm surprised that you can only play farcry on lowest graphics, you should be able to put them at medium at least!