Bug Reports Center

[scloopy]

does anyone have a suggestion for the best graphics card for the Civ IV game.

 

[MarcAntiny]

This one is confirmed for sure. I've linked the savegame and a screenshot. AI declares war but doesn't get booted from territory and thus captures my holy city. Grr... already forwarded to Firaxis but take a look.http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=134660

 

[MarcAntiny]

does anyone have a suggestion for the best graphics card for the Civ IV game.

I have an Nvidia 6800GT. I believe it's an EVGA and it runs flawlessly. Everything runs great. Only problem I have it stuttering sound in wonders but that appears to happen towards the end of the game on the late wonders. All the early wonders are great regardless. Just stuttering sound on late ones. I'm wondering if it's a problem with memory somehow considering how many moves are taking place in the background with 10 civs all moving while my wonder is playing. In any case. My video has been perfect.

 

[MarcAntiny]

Don't know if this is a "bug" but I can't turn on grids, I need those to see (no option in the options menu).

Steps: Try and turn on grids .

You can turn on the grids from the main screen just below the scores from you and all the other civs... it's a little button on top of the mini-map.

 

[adz102]

I bought civ iv last sunday and haven't really had much of a problem with it. Ive had the CTD a number of times but constant saving seems to get around it. I havent been able to reproduce whatever it is that crashes me to desktop.

However today something new has started happening. Ive started gettin these weird graphic glitches and im worried the game is being corrupted. Maybe all those ctd's are stuffing it?

The last picture looks kind of normal in screenshot but the screen was flashing a very fast yelloq colour. Kind of like a "stare at this for 5 seconds and i bet you'll have a seizure" flashing yellow...

 

[phalzyr]

adz102, the easiest way to see if the game is being corrupted is to back any save games you are playing uninstall game completely and reinstall...If it is fixed then the ctd did cause some corruption...

 

[markcogan]

I'm seeing some of the other problems that have already been reported (CTD in particular), but here's one I haven't seen anywhere else. I'd classify this as "minor".

Bug: Resizing screen in windowed mode distorts mouse pointer location.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Start or load a Civ IV game in windowed mode with the window size less than your monitor size.

2. Give a unit a go-to order; note that the tile you click on is the destination tile for the movement path for the unit.

3. Maximize the Civ IV window.

4. Give another unit a go-to order. The tile you click on will not be the destination tile. You will typically need to click up and to the left (as much as a half-tile in either direction) to "hit" the tile you wanted.

 

[OzViking]

Hotseat autosaves corrupted/causes CTD.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Start a hotseat game

2. Play for a few turns.

3. Exit game, either to civ menu or desktop. makes no difference.

4. Try to reload an autosaved game. Game crashes to desktop

 

[scloopy]

I have an Nvidia 6800GT. I believe it's an EVGA and it runs flawlessly. Everything runs great. Only problem I have it stuttering sound in wonders but that appears to happen towards the end of the game on the late wonders. All the early wonders are great regardless. Just stuttering sound on late ones. I'm wondering if it's a problem with memory somehow considering how many moves are taking place in the background with 10 civs all moving while my wonder is playing. In any case. My video has been perfect.

Thanks much we are going to have to replace my husband's video card and it is better to hear from someone who is hands on with specific cards.
Thanks again

 

[Laramon]

Game works FLAWLESSLY, but nobody wants to play with me because I can't chat. They think I'm some foreigner who can't speak english or some n00b. Well I'm not, I just can't chat!

I enter the text into the field, but no matter how many 100s of times I mash on the enter key, nothing happens. I even looked for a "send" button to no avail...

Other than that, the only issue I have is the slowdown over the course of the game. I can live with it right now, since I'm sure they'll have the memory allocation fixed in time.

 

[MarcAntiny]

Thanks much we are going to have to replace my husband's video card and it is better to hear from someone who is hands on with specific cards.
Thanks again

Not a problem. Glad to help. You can find these cards on Newegg.com at good prices. Only place I really shop for hardware anymore. I also have 2GB of low-latency Ram and I'm sure that helps game performance.

 

[panzooka]

EXPLOIT: free gold from AI, or buy anything for 10 gold

 

[Markstar]

Nice list.

I started a similar list on the 3rd over in the Technical Support Forum (-> here) and added a "annoyances" section there as well.

Edit: One of the major bugs imho is that some (quick)saves can't be loaded anymore (game crashing to desktop).

 

[Ginger_Ale]

Nice list.

I started a similar list on the 3rd over in the Technical Support Forum (-> here) and added a "annoyances" section there as well.

Edit: One of the major bugs imho is that some (quick)saves can't be loaded anymore (game crashing to desktop).

Sorry - that's my fault. I looked in the Tech Support forum, but your thread wasn't stickied so I didn't see it. My bad.

panzooka: Will add those.

 

[BearMan]

here are some for the Bug or Feature? section.

• You do not return to the diplomacy screen if you decide to talk to a civ.
  1. Start the game.
  2. Make contact with a civ.
  3. Open the diplomacy screen.
  4. Start a conversation with a civ, then exit the conversation.
  5. You have now exited the diplomacy screen, not that good if you planned to talk to 3 other civs while checking their techs or resourses.
  
  
• You can't upgrade units on the military advisor screen.
  1. Start the game.
  2. build a few units, let them become absolete.
  3. Open the military advisor screen.
  4. Try to upgrade your units on the military advisor screen.
  
  
• When building the Internet wonder, you can't click the movie to display what it does, in fact, i don't belive the movie says what it does at all (it gives any tech allready invented by 2 other civs).
  1. start the game.
  2. build the internet wonder.
  3. click on the movie to display the "info", it does not appear.
  
  
• the civiliopedia lists "wonders", "national wonders", and "buildings" under one section: "buildings". Shouldn't there be 3 sections ?
  1. start the game.
  2. open the civiliopedia and click "wonders" or "national wonders".
  
  
• You can not abandon a city.
  1. start the game.
  2. build a city.
  3. try to abandon it.

 

[fung3]

The longer the game runs the more memory it seems to gobble up until windows can't function properly.

I think it is a problem with the coding. I am using 512Mb of RAM but it still plays OK though it runs very slowly e.g. if I want to see the Military Advisor I press F5 then go and make a cup of tea, on my return the MA screen is visible.

I am an individual that is very short of patience. This sort of problem sends me wild with rage. The developers have released this game before it is ready.
The code they use is seriously flawed. The game is not really fit for sale or fit for purpose but we play it anyway.

It's my opinion that the developement team were put under an enormous amount of pressure to get the product to market before XMAS 2005.

 

[Markstar]

Sorry - that's my fault. I looked in the Tech Support forum, but your thread wasn't stickied so I didn't see it. My bad.

panzooka: Will add those.

Oh, no problem at all - I had problems finding my own thread at some point as well.

Anyways, I hate doing this (quoting myself) but here we go (with some edits). Maybe you find some of the points worthy to be included:

Bugs

- regular crashes (~2-10 times in 60min) while playing: sometimes reboot, sometimes (more often) to desktop. // it's hard to say how to reproduce this, but imho this should be added since sooo many people experience it (including me on 3 computers; 2 with ATI, on Geforce)

- return to desktop when loading a quicksave: when loading a save, the game would simply quit. // I attached a quicksave (of course there were no errors when saving it) that illustrates my point: when you load it from the main menu it crashes to the desktop, when loading it from ingame, you get a screenshot like this

...of course there should be cities, improvements and units visible there.

MAJOR annoyances:

- THE GAME IS FREAKIN' SLOW!!! (even of fast machines - in my case AMD 3800+, Radeon 9700Pro, 1GB RAM, clean installation of WinXP) // I guess this should qualify as a bug since I am well above the specs and it is still pretty much unplayable. Plus there are so many others with the same issue that imho it should be proof enough that there is indeed something wrong with the game.

- it's even slower the more you know about the world map (becomes very evident if you trade for the world map)

- loading a save takes forever (even when a game was already open)

- selecting a unit in a large stack is a pain in the - oh well, you know what I mean . Example: You move 30 units at once but want to select one of the last ones next round. You scroll to the unit, select it and then it selects them all and jumps back to the beginning. // easy to replicate: Just move to (large, > 5) stacks of units on one tile. Next turn, scroll to the last unit and select it. Now all units that came from the same tile and you will be back on the far left. => Just give us the old right-click menu back (but I guess it's too late now)

- when attacking the computer should select the unit with the best chances of winning - it doesn't. //mmh, don't have an example ready but I noticed this when you have promotions that tip the favour to another unit

- go-to commands are slow (reminds me of Civ3 multiplayer)

Minor annoyances: // Bug or Feature?

- Foreign Advisor (F4) quits after talking to another leader //well, just try it

- map settings (grid lines, etc) are not remembered after reload (which means they have to be adjusted every time) // easy enough to reproduce for everybody

- tech tree in-game is not really showing what ALL the prerequisites are // just take pretty much any advanced tech as an example

- the sort order in the Domestic Advisor (F1) is changed every time (would be nice to remember the view like in Civ 2 & 3) // sort it, exit the Domestic Advisor, then open it again, the sort order is gone.

- the civilopedia only displays the icons in the main view (but at least you can randomly click on one and get the list then) // omg, soo annoying. Also, hyperlink for everything or nothing at all - how lame/sloppy not to fully implement it

- when using a great person to rush a tech that one is working on, the benefit should be displayed right away (I have to change the tax rate before it shows) // simply rush the tech and look at the science bar

- last save-directory not remembered

View attachment QuickSave.zip

 

[Claudia]

4. Tutorial

Bug: There are several bugs including: if you save the game and reload later, it will give you a Conquest victory. If you have to work a tile that a forest has grown on and don't have the tech that enables forest-chopping, you can't continue. A typo includes spelling "then" instead of "than" for the line "Archer units are stronger then Warrior units."​

Oh, if typos are fair game there's a few. The one I remember from the tutorial is a "whom" that should be "who".

 

[KainArg]

5. Edge of Minimap

Bug: The terrain on the edge of the map does not merge with the terrain on the other side, creating a subtle line (where MaxX and MinX meet).​

Steps to Reproduce:​

1. Start a game and explore the edge of the map.​

Additional Info:​

Screenshot 1​

People who have reported this have also reported the Yield Display bug.​

People have also reported workers walking on water, possibly due to the map seam.​

Also related to the map seam is an issue of city's names being off to the left side.​

This is not a bug, it's just the way Civ IV was made. I found this info on a doc in the official fansite kit:

Civilization Globe View

Civilization IV can seamlessly zoom from a detailed, close-up view, all the way out to an outer-space globe view. The sole purpose of the zoom could have been just for great eye candy, however, Civilization uses this distant zoom level to help visualize and interact with game elements that are too wide-scale to be visualized at closer zoom levels, for example cultural spread, military threats, resource locations, and city prosperity. The seamless transition from the detailed Civilization world to the globe view is achieved using a textured impostor and an incremental morphing algorithm. At a specific camera zoom level, the engine's terrain is replaced with a low-resolution approximating mesh. By texturing this mesh with an image of the actual world we are able to turn the creation of the globe from a massive and complex transformation problem into a single morphing problem.

One of the main problems with using a globe in a game like Civilization is that the globe system needs to work with a wide array of different map dimensions. To understand why this poses a problem, just try bending a piece of paper into a sphere. What you will find is that certain paper sizes are amenable to "spherization" while others require heavy deformations in order to fit the proper shape. To avoid these visual distortions altogether we came up with the virtual sphere approach to globe rendering. Rather than bending the terrain into a full sphere --- that is, bending it a total of 360 degrees so that the globe's east edge touches the west --- we only bend it a small fraction of that amount, usually about 150 degrees, leaving us with only a small segment of a full sphere. While this solves the distortion problem because it reduces the amount of deformation applied to the mesh, a new problem exists: the resulting world no longer looks like a sphere. The virtual sphere approach solves this problem by rendering a second copy of the partial sphere transformed such that the opposing edges of the sphere appear to line up. This illusion is quite effective, going unnoticed by all but the keenest of observers.

 

[markcogan]

This is not a bug, it's just the way Civ IV was made. I found this info on a doc in the official fansite kit:

The text you quote doesn't explain why the terrain textures don't line up; it explain why the globe view isn't actually a globe (which I hadn't noticed), which is a wholly legitimate design decision made to achieve the desired visual effect.

I don't think the texture mismatch at the tile edges is a design decision; I think it's an artifact of how the map is modeled. And it's clearly the wrong visual effect, whether it was intentional or not, so it's a bug (in the sense of "something that ought to be changed").

In fact, what I'd like to see is that the minimap always shows your capital city at the center of the east-west axis of the map; the 'zero line' should be totally undetectable and irrelevant to gameplay.