Bandaids that allowed me to play Civ IV

[chatvite]

I had all kinds of problems when I loaded Civ IV yesterday. The opening music skipped, the leaders were Cheshire Cats (thanks for accurate description), and the map was all black. The game also randomly crashed and froze up my computer. I didn't go any further because there was no use in playing.

I went out last night and purchased a Radeon 9250 with 256MB DDR and a SoundBlaster Live! 24-bit sound card. I spent $109 and I can now play the game. The opening skips just a little now, but I am not having any of the other issues.

I still have the "hot-seat" issue, but I hope that will be addressed in the patch next week. At least I can play.......what an awesome game!!!

Good luck!

 

[harlowheat]

i have a very good computer
3000+ amd athlon
160 gig
NVIDIA Geforce 4 MX graphics card
and i have three kids i cant afford any more cost than the over $50 i payed

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

i have a very good computer
3000+ amd athlon
160 gig
NVIDIA Geforce 4 MX graphics card
and i have three kids i cant afford any more cost than the over $50 i payed

As a family man myself I can relate. It's stupid that a TBS game sucks up more resources than Doom3 or Half Life2 does. Why should I have to run out to upgrade my computer to play a TBS? It's absurd.

 

[Jeff3F]

Can't you sell one of your kids?

I'm in the same situation; and yeah, it stupid because I was able to play Doom3 and HL2-demo. So why not Civ 4?

Maybe it's the simluation factor (as opposed to graphics work). In any event, I am hopeful that they'll patch the game. Civ is a big title, but not like Fear; I can't expect that ATI will bother to do much with their drivers.

 

[Andicus]

No way could I justify shelling out hundereds of dollars to make a game I just paid 50 dollars for work when my system already meets the recommended reqs.

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Can't you sell one of your kids?

Sometimes I think of doing that! JK!!

 

[Ape Drape]

Its that Geforce MX card... It is a terrible card. Replacing it will help. Though I am absolutely certain that it isn't going to fix what is wrong with this game.

Link to affordable full featured graphic cards

 

[Sadan01]

As a family man myself I can relate. It's stupid that a TBS game sucks up more resources than Doom3 or Half Life2 does. Why should I have to run out to upgrade my computer to play a TBS? It's absurd.

Wait till the first patch is released and then decide. You make a good point with HL2 and Doom3. However, we are talking about too many variables with the graphics engine and the architecture of the game(s) to make a direct comparison say between Doom3 and Civ4.

Hopefully, Firaxis will be able to tweak the hell out of Civ4 to get it to run properly on most machines. I tend to think that even with this, playing on Huge maps with the maximum amount of Civs may still be too much for most people's computers. Just my opinion

 

[Moff Jerjerrod]

Sadan01 you have a good point. I'm definately waiting to see if the patch fixes the blaring problems that a lot of people are having with this game.

I just want to play this game without black backgrounds, smooth scrolling and unit movement, etc. and don't care that my system can't handle huge or gigantic maps. Keep your fingers crossed folks.

 

[GoNzOTW]

i have a very good computer
3000+ amd athlon
160 gig
NVIDIA Geforce 4 MX graphics card
and i have three kids i cant afford any more cost than the over $50 i payed

A GeForce 4 MX is just a GeForce 2 with a new name.

I don't say that to be a smart ass, it really is.

So while your processor is well above what is realistic to play 3D games, the graphcs card is very, very slow.

 

[Ode]

I have had various problems playing Civ IV on both my Dell Inspiron 8200 and my desktop pc. Both met the minimum requirements, but I was experiencing issues such as slow gameplay, regular bsod, graphics/display issues, choppy sound, etc.

I have played World of Warcraft in 1280x1024 on both machines, and it didn't make sense to me that neither machine was performing well. Then I realised that one of the first things I did after installing Civ IV was to set the screen res to 1280x1024 just as I do for most games.

So eventually I tried setting both back to 1024x768 and I have not had a problem with either since. (Except I still get choppy sound when playing great wonder movies).

This may not help anyone, but if you are playing on a higher res and experiencing issues, try setting it back a notch or two.

Cheers.

 

[Ode]

I have had various problems playing Civ IV on both my Dell Inspiron 8200 and my desktop pc. Both met the minimum requirements, but I was experiencing issues such as slow gameplay, regular bsod, graphics/display issues, choppy sound, etc.

I have played World of Warcraft in 1280x1024 on both machines, and it didn't make sense to me that neither machine was performing well. Then I realised that one of the first things I did after installing Civ IV was to set the screen res to 1280x1024 just as I do for most games.

So eventually I tried setting both back to 1024x768 and I have not had a problem with either since. (Except I still get choppy sound when playing great wonder movies).

This may not help anyone, but if you are playing on a higher res and experiencing issues, try setting it back a notch or two.

Cheers.

 

[Ode]

Sorry for the double post (phone interrupted me)

 

[chatvite]

I think I needed the upgrade, anyway. I have been playing now for a few days and have not experienced any problems!!! I hate to spend the money, but the game was well worth it.