BTS Map Fading Effects Causing Stutter

Ok, so after much trial and error, I think I've pin pointed the stutter problem in BTS that wasnt in warlords or vanilla. It has to do with the new fading effects the map has when a black tile is uncovered. For some reason (doesnt appear to be video card related) ever render of the screen takes forever due to the fading effects when a unit uncovers a black tile. When a game starts, there is the first area that the settler uncovers that makes the game stutter until its complete. Then, every movement of a unit that involves uncovering map (including fog of war) causes massive stutter that affects the mouse cursor as well as the game. For that reason and the fact that I've tried it on minimum graphics settings as well as minimum map settings, I've ruled out it being a graphics card problem directly.

My question is: Is there a way to turn off the new map fading effect or is there a patch in the works that would optimize the fading effect?

I would really like to play the game, but I'm not willing to spend 20 minutes in one turn waiting for a few units to move across the screen (as well as the mouse cursor).

Also, please comment if you've noticed this problem as well. Apart from that, the game seems fine, but I havent made it passed 3 turns as of yet.

BTW, warlords and vanilla ran perfectly fine. If there is any way to revert to those graphical systems with the new features, options, and content, I would like to know. Although a simple, being able to turn map fading on and off would suffice.

Thanks!

 

Not that I know of. Have you updated your video card driver?

 

Well Alright! I found the source of my problem!

Basically, I had defragged my HD prior to installing BTS. So when I installed it, I didnt know that it had fragmented my HD again. I'm not sure whats up with that, but a further defrag has nearly solved the problem. Now the map fades close to the way its supposed to even with max graphics settings. A further optimization patch would probably clear up the very slight stutter I'm experiencing now.

Anyway, if anyone else is having stuttering issues, do a defrag post install. It seems that it doesnt install cleanly, so it needs that extra defrag to make things run beautifully. Perhaps this is the cause of the problems others are having with the game. Its worth a shot anyway.

Latah!

 

Bah, things have improved greatly for the first few turns, but it still reverts to massive stutter after a while. Especially when I build the stonehenge wonder and the map is centered, the clearing of black tile maps revert to their previous stuttering ways. Looks like I wont be able to play until an optimization patch comes out.

In contrast, the wonder movies are playing perfectly. They havent played this well since the 2nd or 3rd vanilla patch.

Anyway, I'll continue to post my progress if I make any great new discoveries.