ATI Users - Use 4.12 Driver and Disable SmartGART!

[thebeaz]

After doing what I typed in the subject, EVERY problem has been fixed. The year is ~2020, huge world, and no problems. Before, it would crash every 20 seconds or less. Or reboot. Or a slew of other problems.

Try this, let me know if it works for you.

Remember - ATI 4.12 drivers and SmartGART OFF!!!!! SmartGART was the big kicker for me.

 

[BigCMan]

thebeaz, can you give us your system specs and what problems you had before? That would help a lot! Thanks.

 

[Wollerman]

Yep this definitely worked for me,

I had no luck even starting the game until I installed the Catalyst 4.12 drivers from http://www.omegadrivers.net

I'm running my work laptop - compaq nx7010 Win XP SP1, 512 meg ram with an ATI mobility Radeon 9200 64meg. Not great but beggars can't be choosers

Before, when using ATI drivers I couldn't even see the intro movies or get to the Main Menu to start a game. Everything was black and I just had a cursor.

Set a system restore point, uninstalled the ATI control panel, installed the omegadrivers, rebooted the laptop and first time round it all worked fine.

Now I can play the dang game after having it for a week already.....

 

[Padmewan]

What is SmartGART, and how do you turn it off?

 

[DeathInABottle]

Wollerman: I have the same graphics card, and I've had no luck with current drivers so far. I can't wait to try the 4.12 on my laptop. I'll post in a few days when I've had a chance.

 

[Old Dood]

hmmm...I am running 5.12 version (I think) And I have Everything turned on. It works for me. I still think most of the problems are physical Ram!

 

[MerakSpielman]

Turning off smartgart didn't fix my problems, but turning the AGP acceleration off (from x8) fixed everything.

 

[Mjollinor]

Turning off smartgart didn't fix my problems, but turning the AGP acceleration off (from x8) fixed everything.

Could someone pleases tell me where smartgard is (i am running xp, no service pack) Or how to turn off this accelaration?

thanks

 

[thebeaz]

Turning off smartgart didn't fix my problems, but turning the AGP acceleration off (from x8) fixed everything.

Did you mean the 8x acceleration in the Smartgart tab of the control panel? That's what I was referring to.

My system specs:
P4 2.8 w/HT
Radeon 9800 Pro
1gb DDR400 RAM


BigCMan - If I tried to zoom out to the "cloud layer", 98% of the time I'd crash. Sometimes diplomacy would crash. Movies skipped. Eventually it got to the point where I could click on a unit, hear a "pop" from the speakers, and the system would reboot.

Now I have absolutely 0 problems. I guess it's possible some people are having memory issues, but considering I downgraded my drivers and disables the 8x Smartgart (I turned it completely off), I've had NO issues. Not a SINGLE one. Those were the only changes I made. I'm thinking of going back to the 5.10 drivers to see if Smartgart was the real culprit, but I'm going to decimate the other nations first.

 

[D-J]

Cheers!

It's working now! Brilliant!

 

[thebeaz]

Glad I could be of help!

Could someone pleases tell me where smartgard is (i am running xp, no service pack) Or how to turn off this accelaration?

Start -> Control Panel -> Display -> Settings Tab -> Advanced Button -> SmartGart tab (if you have an ATI card).

If the "acceleration" scale is on anything but "Off", change it.

 

[jabberwocky]

my SMARTGAR settings where not in the advanced properties. they where located in the Catalyst Control Center v5.10. If you have this open it up its in the left menu near the bottom.

this help a lot it seems, however, i only got to see the results once. now i cant even load a single player game, small map. so im going to try the 4.12 drivers and see what happens. although, this will probably screw up my other games installed.

 

[screwtype]

There are a whole lot of things you can tweak in the Catalyst drivers. Smartgart is actually quite important IMO and one of the last things I'd try disabling. I'd probably try disabling AGP Write or Fastwrite first, for example. But I'm no techie, it's just my opinion.

 

[BigCMan]

This fix didn't work for me. It just slowed Civ down a lot. Thanks for the suggestion though!

 

[kavala79]

well i also have a hp nx7010 with ati mobility 9200 but i cant find smartguard, i have direct 3d settings, opengl settings but no smartguard

 

[sweKangaroo]

After doing what I typed in the subject, EVERY problem has been fixed. The year is ~2020, huge world, and no problems. Before, it would crash every 20 seconds or less. Or reboot. Or a slew of other problems.

Try this, let me know if it works for you.

Remember - ATI 4.12 drivers and SmartGART OFF!!!!! SmartGART was the big kicker for me.

Thanks for the tip. A few questions:

*Is this the 4.12 drivers i can find on omegadrivers.net?
*Where can i find SmartGART settings after installing the 4.12 drivers?

 

[JPR]

4.12 drivers installed and agp off ...


and it works!

Still a bit slow to load huge maps but i can at least.

By the way, shame on Fixaris and 2k games for this trash release.

Thx The beaz

 

[joesf35]

anyone with mobility 7500 had this work for them?