Anyone playing/ testing with 32MB graphiccard?

[Willem]

This is not true ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 has Transform, Clipping and Lighting
see http://www.ati.com/products/comparisons/mobilitycomparison.html

Yeah well, I did include the IIRC. I'm not exactly a techie, I'm just trying to pass along what I've been reading, sometimes imperfectly.

At any rate ATI cards in general seem to be having serious problems with this game. In a poll in Bug Reports, only a 1/3 of people can get the game running properly with them.

 

[DrEvil1996]

The sr test use the old requirements 32 MB instead of 64 MB
Firaxis changed the requirements last week and the sr test is thus old
I am sorry, I have the same problem

All I have seen on this is random posts that the minimum requirements changed. Show me something to prove this, please.

Also: If that is the case and minimum is 64, Firaxis is pretty stupid for taking out a significant part of the market with a change like that. If it was always 64 I could understand, but considering the number of pre-orders that will be forced to return the game now after a change like that it was a bad choice.

EDIT: Ok, I did find some further confirmation on this suggesting that 64 is the minimum. Oh well, looks like I will be waiting quite awhile to try this one out. Back to Civ 3 it is...

 

[armerhund10]

All I have seen on this is random posts that the minimum requirements changed. Show me something to prove this, please.

Also: If that is the case and minimum is 64, Firaxis is pretty stupid for taking out a significant part of the market with a change like that. If it was always 64 I could understand, but considering the number of pre-orders that will be forced to return the game now after a change like that it was a bad choice.

EDIT: Ok, I did find some further confirmation on this suggesting that 64 is the minimum. Oh well, looks like I will be waiting quite awhile to try this one out. Back to Civ 3 it is...

Hey don not give up, there are some guys playing with 32 MB.
Just wait till the problem with the graphic cards is fixed
In the moment everything is a mess with this game

 

[Willem]

Also: If that is the case and minimum is 64, Firaxis is pretty stupid for taking out a significant part of the market with a change like that. If it was always 64 I could understand, but considering the number of pre-orders that will be forced to return the game now after a change like that it was a bad choice.

In this day and age, 32 meg is pretty feeble for a video card. I don't think you can even buy a new card these days with less than 64. I realize it sucks having to spend money to upgrade equipment, but that's the computer world for you. Things change all the time, and there comes a point where old gear just doesn't cut it anymore.

 

[Nicole]

Nicole, is it running? which graphic card you have 32 MBram?

No, I have an Intel 128MB card, one of the ones on the motherboard (laptop). Working okay, except I can't see wonder movies (and no setting I can find yet to turn them off), nor the opening movie.

 

[armerhund10]

In this day and age, 32 meg is pretty feeble for a video card. I don't think you can even buy a new card these days with less than 64. I realize it sucks having to spend money to upgrade equipment, but that's the computer world for you. Things change all the time, and there comes a point where old gear just doesn't cut it anymore.

As already mentioned I have a laptop thus upgrading is impossible

What me really piss me off is the change of requirements after accepting pre orders and the bugs with ati cards

 

[Willem]

As already mentioned I have a laptop thus upgrading is impossible

Oh sorry, I missed that. I guess it really sucks for you if you have to get a whole new laptop. But again, that's the computer world for you.

What me really piss me off is the change of requirements after accepting pre orders and the bugs with ati cards

I'm certainly not impressed with the ATI problems especially since my version, the 9550, seems to be one of models having problems. I'm glad I haven't spent any money on it yet.

 

[Pounder]

The screenshot is totally unacceptable! Try getting it fixed. You (We) can't be expected to play such great game like this! New driver downloads? DirectX? Something? .... anything?

I think it's the fact that I don't have T&L.

I saw the intro movie fine, in slow motion, but didn't lose a frame, saw Buddism movie when I founded the religion, saw battles between a lion and a warrior ok, text below city is squares instead of text (almost like a font is missing), only the forest and rivers show up as terrain (the rest is black).

I was going to buy a cheap new video card, but with other video problems reported with current cards, I think I will read the forums for a while longer.

 

[armerhund10]

Ati Mobility Radeon 9000 32MB,
Geforce2 MX400 32MB,
geforce 2 mx 200 32 MB

These cards are working fine with Civ
The performance depends on the system (RAM, CPU)

Right now I do not have any hint that someone is playing with a ati mobility radeon 7500 32MB!

But I will not give up until firaxis release bugfixes for ati cards

 

[Pounder]

Went over to Staples and bought a new video, works now.

 

[armerhund10]

The solution for ATI Mobility Radeon
Use omega drivers and than:

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.

 

[Naveed]

but you are at least on equal footing with the ai since they will see everything too.

No, this AI exploit is gone in Civ IV, it has to explore too.

 

[insydr]

Right now I do not have any hint that someone is playing with a ati mobility radeon 7500 32MB!

Just to confirm, this card does NOT work. It runs the game, but with no terrain and no faces.

 

[armerhund10]

You tried to change the xml file as suggested?

 

[insydr]

Nope but there's another thread where people are working on messing with XML settings, so I'll just sit back and wait for now.

Anyway I've got a new desktop coming next week so I don't have to suffer too long.

 

[Eli]

insydr:

This seems to be a problem shared by all(or most) ATI cards, so the cause is not necessarily in the low memory(32MB) of the Mobility Radeon 7500.

At least I hope so, I have this card too. :/

 

[CustodianV131]

The screenshot is totally unacceptable! Try getting it fixed. You (We) can't be expected to play such great game like this! New driver downloads? DirectX? Something? .... anything?

He doesn't have T&L which is listed as required for Civ 4. I'm amazed it runs at all on his setup.

Looks scary though

 

[armerhund10]

I believe - cause I am from chicago!

Where is the thread about changing xml?

 

[insydr]

insydr:

This seems to be a problem shared by all(or most) ATI cards, so the cause is not necessarily in the low memory(32MB) of the Mobility Radeon 7500.

At least I hope so, I have this card too. :/

Nah, the big problem that everyone was having was ATI cards failing to initialize the renderer and crashing the game. Looks like they have a fix for this now though. Our problem is probably because of low video memory and/or lack of pixelshader support and/or sucky laptops that shouldn't be used for 3D games.

armer - in the tech support forum somewhere.

 

[agoodfella]

The solution for ATI Mobility Radeon
Use omega drivers and than:

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.

OK, so sorry for the "dumb" question (im no techie clearly)

But how / what application do you use to change this?

When I open this file up - it opens in my browser and i can't change anything... should i be using WORD?