Attention Firaxis: System Requirment Change

[tristangreer]

Just curious if anyone from Firaxis or any of the mods are willing to address the changing system requirements. My comp. has 512MB RAM and I was led to believe this was above the minimum requirement, but now I'm told it is the minimum, and if I experience gameplay issues it is because of that. Why did they give us a lower number to begin with, and why haven't they made any kind of attempt to announce the change?

 

[JiggleTheHandle]

I doubt they'd change the posted minimum system requirements based on what someone told you in a forum. The minimum is 256 and the more you have, the better.

 

[tristangreer]

the readme file says the minimum is 512MB for windows XP. this was never clearly stated by anyone, and hasn't been addressed except for the readme file. how are you supposed to get the readme file without actually buying the game?

 

[Bast]

I doubt they'd change the posted minimum system requirements based on what someone told you in a forum. The minimum is 256 and the more you have, the better.

Minimum means that if you have it, it should work. IT DOESN'T! Therefore, it ISN'T the minimum!!!

 

[Bast]

the readme file says the minimum is 512MB for windows XP. this was never clearly stated by anyone, and hasn't been addressed except for the readme file. how are you supposed to get the readme file without actually buying the game?

I feel betrayed. And I know I'm not alone.

 

[tristangreer]

I would understand if they had posted some kind of attention getting headline on either the civIV site or here, stating that the minimum requirements had been changed. But before the release of this game, nothing was said about it. So people with winxp and 256MB RAM have found out that their comp. doesn't even meet the minimum requirments, and those that have winxp and 512MB RAM only meet the minimum. This just doesn't seem fair.

 

[Willem]

I would understand if they had posted some kind of attention getting headline on either the civIV site or here, stating that the minimum requirements had been changed.

They have it clearly posted on their web site under system requirements, and have for some time now. 512 for XP, 256 for 2000.

 

[tristangreer]

that wasn't posted until after the game had come out, at least to my knowledge. this means that those who preordered the game had been given faulty information.

 

[tristangreer]

the manual even gives the system requirments as being 256MB RAM. that's what most people were told prior to the release of the game.

 

[Bast]

that wasn't posted until after the game had come out, at least to my knowledge. this means that those who preordered the game had been given faulty information.

Yeah, a lot of people (like me) pre-ordered. And this is the problem.

 

[asleepathewheel]

I can't recall the last time that I took a minimum requirement seriously. Really, you have to be a fool if you think a pc can play any game with its minimum requirements. Far better for you to save the 50 bucks and put it towards a new pc and get the game a year later in the bargain bin.

Granted, I was that fool a few times, but no more.

 

[Bast]

Other games I've had had worked with min requirements.

 

[Willem]

that wasn't posted until after the game had come out, at least to my knowledge. this means that those who preordered the game had been given faulty information.

No, it's been there since the web site was put up. I forget when that was now. And there's been tons of threads here and over at Apolyton for months now that have been mentioning the same info. And no they weren't given faulty info, 256 is the minimum, but for 2000. Granted they could have been somewhat clearer about that.

At any rate, anyone who knows even a little about computers should know that 256 for XP is inadequate if you hope to run anything well. The OS alone requires almost 200 meg. 512 should be considered a minimum for any application, with 1 gig or more recommended.

 

[tristangreer]

I have also had games in which I met the minimum reqs. and the game ran just fine. The idea here is that they actually changed the minimum requirments, and those of us with 512MB RAM have been taken for a trip. If you're telling me that most games can't run with the min. reqs., then the faulty information I was given led me to buy a game that my PC cannot play. The readme file and the website state the reqs., but that wasn't until the game had already come out. Before that the min. reqs. were given as being 256MB RAM, which means my PC should run it just fine. But it slows down so much by the late game that it is unplayable. It's just unfair.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

I never, ever EVER look at the MINIMUM system requirements when deciding whether I should get a game, or whether my computer needs an upgrade-mostly because I know that-even if it works-it is probably gonna be a crappy game experience. This is why I upgraded my system from 256 MB to 768 MB just the other day-not to mention the 256MB card I upgraded to. Wherever possible, I just think its the smater way to go, not only with Civ4 but with any game released EVER (had a single bad experience with 'War of the Worlds' around 8 years ago, and learned my lesson from that!)

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[tristangreer]

read the manual, it states that 256 is the minimum, but it doesn't say win2k next to it. it just says 256MB RAM, that's it.

 

[Bast]

I never, ever EVER look at the MINIMUM system requirements when deciding whether I should get a game, or whether my computer needs an upgrade-mostly because I know that-even if it works-it is probably gonna be a crappy game experience. This is why I upgraded my system from 256 MB to 768 MB just the other day-not to mention the 256MB card I upgraded to. Wherever possible, I just think its the smater way to go, not only with Civ4 but with any game released EVER (had a single bad experience with 'War of the Worlds' around 8 years ago, and learned my lesson from that!)

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

Oh that's news to me!

So I suppose they could've just put min requirements as Pentium 400, 16MB Ram and any Windows compatible video card or something. Yeah you'll be fine!

 

[tristangreer]

I didn't look at the minimum sys. reqs., I looked at the recommended reqs., which, at the time, I met. But that doesn't matter now, since I only meet the minimum and can't play the game past 40 turns without so much slowdown that it's impossible to do anything.

 

[Aussie_Lurker]

That reminds me, tristangreer, what video card do you have? Someone who knows a bit about these things says its really about the graphics cards these days, not memory or processor speed. Just a thought! I am suprised, though, that windows 2000-not XP-would have the lower RAM requirement.
Here is another thought, go into your windows setting and set it to a Win98 interface, this apparently frees up a LOT of resources from your RAM! Hope this helps.

Yours,
Aussie_Lurker.

 

[Willem]

read the manual, it states that 256 is the minimum, but it doesn't say win2k next to it. it just says 256MB RAM, that's it.

Yes they did drop the ball on that one for XP users. They should have been more clear as to which OS it refered to.