Attention Firaxis

[Aslan]

I am a very dissatisfied customer. I paid fifty dollars for this game and I have had problems with it since the day I bought it. The game-play issues addressed by the patch were insufficient to make this an enjoyable and playable game.

Since the release of this game I, and others with a similar situation, have asked for assistance concerning a Windows paging file/virtual memory issue connected with this game. At some point during the game, whether the virtual memory is handled by windows, or I set it manually, no matter how large I set it, no matter what I do, the game will lag and chug, the sound will loop, and the game is rendered nearly completely inopperative. It doesn't crash completely, but it certainly doesn't perform as it should. This problem is ongoing and the patch has failed to fix it. I would also like to point out that SEVERAL times I have posted on here about this, I have EMAILED about this, and others have done the very same and NO ONE from your company has addressed this issue in any direct sort of way. I'm disappointed and slightly hacked off about this.

There are only two options available to Firaxis. 1) Address this issue directly, without beating around the bush or saying something without really saying anything (aka: b.s.). Help find ways to fix the problem or fix your software so that the game works properly. 2) Give me my money back.

I like the game. It's well designed, and if not for the constant unplayability of the game, it's even fun. But, without proper tech support for an issue such as this, I'm afraid that it will have to be relegated to the dustbin of bad games. This is the last time I will ask about this issue. Please respond ASAP. Thanks.

--A concerned consumer

 

[Aslan]

Still no one has posted anything on here to help...I wish someone would, because I'd hate to have to do without this game.

Aslan the Lion

 

[delexaet]

im sorry you're having so much problems but Firaxis should not be credited with your PC hardware/software complication.

... basically i'll try to show you your reasoning. It's like saying, just because a new set of carpet you bought doesnt fit with the decorum of your house, you want a refund. Or something similar to that heh.

I know i suck at analogies but have you tried to contact your PC company??

 

[Aslan]

The problem the game has with my system is due to the game, not the system. A proper analogy would be that I buy a bunch of new fuses for my fuse box, because one of the fuses has gone out. Each new fuse I put in fails to work properly. Other brands of fuses work fine, except this one. This game is causing the problem with the virtual memory. No other game or program has EVER done anything close to this. There is something in the way the game handles resources that doesn't jive. I want to know what that problem is so that if it is actually something about my system that I can fix, then I will, but if it is actually something about the software, then they can fix it. But if no one ever tells me anything about how to fix the computer, or what is being done to fix the software, then I will never be able to get much out of the game and will therefore need a refund, cause I'm not going to hang onto it if it is not going to work.

 

[J Fred Muggs]

More info might help.

Whats your OS
Whats your system specs
Did you do a fresh install of the game and then patch?
The game ran "chuggy" for most all of us, the options must be set correctly for the patch to speed things up.
Are you running any programs in the background when playing?

 

[Aslan]

WinXP
450 MgHz K6-2
128MB

fresh install and XP-compatible patch.

no programs run in the background

 

[Simonas]

WinXP
450 MgHz K6-2
128MB

fresh install and XP-compatible patch.

no programs run in the background

and no HDD and no Video....

and windows xp on this computer... it must be laggy

from req:

Pentium II 300mhz not eql 450 MgHz K6-2
.: 32 megs of ram
.: 400 megs hd no info
.: DirectX 8.0a vid. card no info
.: 1024x768 Req no info

 

[scavenger]

just so you know, ever since the CD burner was invented noone ever got their money back on a computer game

 

[cephyn]

Originally posted by Aslan
WinXP
450 MgHz K6-2
128MB

fresh install and XP-compatible patch.

no programs run in the background

what video card? what sound card? how fast is your hard drive?

Civ3, in my experience, is a pretty intensive game -- it runs smooth on my computer, most of the time...and i have an athlon 700 and 256MB RAM, 7200rpm HD, tnt2-ultra, SB PCI128.

On my mom's laptop, it does the stuff you describe.

On the Civ box, it says that a 300mhz proc is required, 500mhz is recommended. you fall short of that.
it says 32mb is req, 64 rec. frankly, this must be a typo. this game runs like a slug on 64 megs of ram.

basically, youre on the low end of the spectrum of computers this game is designed for. expect it to run less than perfect. This isn't Firaxis' problem, sorry.

 

[Ishan]

I have a dual P3 800 system, a Geforce 2, 256 ram, and a 40 gig hdd running on ATA 100. There is no reason why ANY 2D game should have any kind of performance problems on my system, and yet I have the same problem as Aslan here. I have a SBLive! (which has given me no end of trouble BTW).

 

[scavenger]

the graphics don't slow the game down, what slow sthe game down is huge maps where the game has to move hundreds and thousands of units and make millions of choices about what to do

 

[cephyn]

since its not optimized for dual proc, i doubt that your 2 p3s do much. second, ive noticed it actually runs better on win98 than on 2k or xp. third, scavenger is right, your gforce2 is overkill -- its not the graphics that give the trouble.

personally it seems like the AI is coded to do a lot of useless stuff. thats partially why it takes so long. units out on "patrol" im sure take up the majority of its turns.

 

[Aslan]

Look...the only problem I have with this thing is that the game has an issue that causes the virtual memory to be used in an abnormal way. The specs on my computer are fine and run most high-end games. I've got a good sound card and a good video card. I really think that the issue is being caused by the way the game uses resources. I think on some systems there may be a compatability issue. Perhaps it affects mostly AMD processor systems.

 

[J Fred Muggs]

Well I don't see anything glaring to my eye. I'm running a 350 AMD, but 320 RAM of which 240 are free when I start the game. I hate to plug stuff but, I use RAMidle, sweet little freebie program you can get most any where on the net, keeps the RAM and other stuff tip top. The game just doesn't hit my hard drive much at all. Graphics wise I'm running a 32 meg card, which is probably over kill. RAM is cheap, if you can get more do it.

I deleated all my saves for the install, so I need time to get back deeply into a game. Just don't know at this point what the differences will be speed wise. Bottom line for me is this, I've played games ment for a Pentium with alot less power then it wanted, sloooow, but I wanted to play so bad I put up with it. I would put up with the old game speed of this one just to play. But this is up to you.. Good luck and keep checking maybe someone will figure out a fix that is right for you.

 

[akadyer]

I have a similar system with the same chip and a 32 meg card and am running windows XP i found that i experience a similar problem and the only solution was to turn the music off as well as the unit animations this seemed to fix my problems and also turned the sound off this was extreme but it was the only way i could get the game to perform

 

[J Fred Muggs]

Good point. I do it for every game anymore so I forget to mention it.

 

[Dillo]

Well fix my problem in XP , dont blame it on my PC and dont blame it on my os. My game worked before the patch, and now ......forget it this is friggin pointless I am tired of harpin on this peice of crap game. I quit. I am just gonna take it back, and yes if you buy it from a computer game store you have 7 days unconditional returns. Its best buy and wal-mart that wont take it back opened except for the same title. This has been the biggest watse of my time and energy. They should pay me to deal with this buggy game and rotten patches.

 

[AustralianJerem]

One thing I've noticed is that Civ3 tended to crash out to the desktop when I didn't have much room left. It makes a huge windows swapfile (this is in Win98).

Is it possible that lack of hard-drive space is causing some of these problems? How much have you got spare? Seems to want 500MB or so.

 

[Civyn00b]

Just right click on a icon or program when u are running XP, hit properties, click the Compalibilty Tab, then set what windows you are running!

 

[Jezner]

Originally posted by Dillo
Well fix my problem in XP , dont blame it on my PC and dont blame it on my os. My game worked before the patch, and now ......forget it this is friggin pointless I am tired of harpin on this peice of crap game. I quit. I am just gonna take it back, and yes if you buy it from a computer game store you have 7 days unconditional returns. Its best buy and wal-mart that wont take it back opened except for the same title. This has been the biggest watse of my time and energy. They should pay me to deal with this buggy game and rotten patches.

Jeez, return it already and stop your whining.