carlos_in_black
Chieftain
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2005
- Messages
- 10
CIV 4 Performance Analysis
I finally decided to do a detailed study on CIV 4 performance. Few close friends had frustrating moments with CIV 4 they described as intolerable, one of them was so desperate that he wanted buy my current game rig
So, there can be 3 causes of CIV 4 Huge Map sluggishness: CPU, Memory and Graphics Card.
Test Spec:
Atholon 64 3200+ 2GHz (2.3GHz overclocked comparison)
Radeon 9800XT 412MHz (300MHz underclocked comparison)
2GB Memory (1GB comparison, sorry using 1GB sticks, cant do 1.5GB)
1280x1024 2X, High, High, High (Game setting)
Since I only have one primary machine for gaming, the comparisons are by no mean comprehensive. The goal here is to determine the bottleneck. I varied 3 core specs in my system, while the rest components stay the same (same software setup).
Test Condition & Methods:
Huge Map 8 Civs + 1 Barbarian, Highest AI, crowded, and well developed.
Zoom Out + 360 Turn of Globle + Zoom In + Press Enter (100% duplicated through macros)
4 tests are repeated with the same save game and macro script:
Comparison Sample: 2GHz/412MHz/2GB
Test 1: 2GHz/412MHz/1GB (Reduced Memory)
Test 2: 2GHz/300MHz/2GB (Reduced Graphics)
Test 3: 2.3GHz/412MHz/2GB (Improved CPU)
Overall, the results are EXTREMELY slow once zoomed out, zoomed in views are very smooth, End Turn results varies.
Test 1, Memory Results:
1GB is not necessarily much slower than 2GB, but definitely noticeable. Noticed considerable paging activities; memory monitor confirmed my findings: the memory usage is approximately 1.3GB once the game is fully loaded. 2GB had minimum paging activities. For those huge map lovers out there consider getting yourself +1GB of memory
Conclusion: The timing differences I recorded between the 2 cases are noticeable; but the overall experience is not much different. Considerable paging with 10k RPM hard drive was very tolerable; computers with less 1GB memory or slow/fragmented HD may run much slower.
Test 2, Graphics Card Results:
Conclusion: No noticeable differences, no timing difference, no graphics difference.
Graphics with 9800XT is definitely not the bottleneck.
Test 3, CPU Result:
CPU usage in Task Manager cant be trusted. As soon as you boot into any game of any size, the CPU goes up to 100%. It will remain at 100% all time, even when game is just idling, i.e. less likely caused by A.I. However, this DOES NOT necessarily mean bad coding; most games have similar behaviors, even some of the less demanding ones.
2.3GHz did run little more smoother than 2GHz with End Turn. However, the 360 and zooms were no different; this is very understandable, as End Turn may involve heavy duty AI calculation for current turn.
Conclusion: This game is definitely CPU intensive: get as much horse power as you can. Especially if you want Huge maps with Epic speed.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
While many had graphics problem, CIV 4 is definitely not a graphically demanding game; my card is running only 3 degrees above idle temperature (FEAR would put +10 to it  ). If you have anything of the similar class, i.e. 9600 9800 5900 6600 x600 there is no reason why you should upgrade your graphics card.
Memory wise, it is as expected. Huge game consumes huge memory. If you have 1GB, then be content with it. If you have less than 512MB, and slow hard drive, then definitely put more in. If you got 768MB, then have some patience
CPU is the bottleneck for End Turns; speed is very much intolerable as described by my friend. Even with 2.3GHz overclocked, I still noticed 5 seconds delay on each turn.
What I failed to find is the cause for Zoom In/Out slowdowns. I noticed the slow down starts as soon as I zoomed out from isometric view to aerial view, going from aerial to global view did not change. I suspect the aerial view/global view uses a different rendering technique than the isometric view.
Here is what I cant explain. Say if aerial/global is done in the same rendering environment, with just distant drawing and optimizations like dropping units and less important props, then aerial/global should be at least as fast as isometric. As noted above, the game engine is not graphically intensive, if the heavy stuff gets lifted away (detailed texture, smaller props, unit models), the rest is should be even less resource intensive. However, the opposite is observed: as the engine zooms out from to aerial (smooth to sluggish), the viewing area is almost identical, yet the framerate drops like a rock.
Although the results may seem a little troubling for a turn based/isometric game, I strongly believe the game can be optimized. However, since CIV 4 is my first Sids game, I could be totally wrong
P.S. I wont recommend any purchase choices here; check out www.hardforum.com if you are convinced you need better hardware for your conquest
P.S.S. As you can probably tell, I am a trained engineer... nerd talk fits me pretty well. I am an processor designer with background in optimization.
P.S.S.S. This is written at 2:00AM, after 4 days of sleepless nights of CIV 4 (ok, I had a total of 8 hours of sleep in the last 4 days.) Please ignore the typo/grammo/disorganization/incoherent flow.
Enjoy!
I finally decided to do a detailed study on CIV 4 performance. Few close friends had frustrating moments with CIV 4 they described as intolerable, one of them was so desperate that he wanted buy my current game rig
So, there can be 3 causes of CIV 4 Huge Map sluggishness: CPU, Memory and Graphics Card.
Test Spec:
Atholon 64 3200+ 2GHz (2.3GHz overclocked comparison)
Radeon 9800XT 412MHz (300MHz underclocked comparison)
2GB Memory (1GB comparison, sorry using 1GB sticks, cant do 1.5GB)
1280x1024 2X, High, High, High (Game setting)
Since I only have one primary machine for gaming, the comparisons are by no mean comprehensive. The goal here is to determine the bottleneck. I varied 3 core specs in my system, while the rest components stay the same (same software setup).
Test Condition & Methods:
Huge Map 8 Civs + 1 Barbarian, Highest AI, crowded, and well developed.
Zoom Out + 360 Turn of Globle + Zoom In + Press Enter (100% duplicated through macros)
4 tests are repeated with the same save game and macro script:
Comparison Sample: 2GHz/412MHz/2GB
Test 1: 2GHz/412MHz/1GB (Reduced Memory)
Test 2: 2GHz/300MHz/2GB (Reduced Graphics)
Test 3: 2.3GHz/412MHz/2GB (Improved CPU)
Overall, the results are EXTREMELY slow once zoomed out, zoomed in views are very smooth, End Turn results varies.
Test 1, Memory Results:
1GB is not necessarily much slower than 2GB, but definitely noticeable. Noticed considerable paging activities; memory monitor confirmed my findings: the memory usage is approximately 1.3GB once the game is fully loaded. 2GB had minimum paging activities. For those huge map lovers out there consider getting yourself +1GB of memory
Conclusion: The timing differences I recorded between the 2 cases are noticeable; but the overall experience is not much different. Considerable paging with 10k RPM hard drive was very tolerable; computers with less 1GB memory or slow/fragmented HD may run much slower.
Test 2, Graphics Card Results:
Conclusion: No noticeable differences, no timing difference, no graphics difference.
Graphics with 9800XT is definitely not the bottleneck.
Test 3, CPU Result:
CPU usage in Task Manager cant be trusted. As soon as you boot into any game of any size, the CPU goes up to 100%. It will remain at 100% all time, even when game is just idling, i.e. less likely caused by A.I. However, this DOES NOT necessarily mean bad coding; most games have similar behaviors, even some of the less demanding ones.
2.3GHz did run little more smoother than 2GHz with End Turn. However, the 360 and zooms were no different; this is very understandable, as End Turn may involve heavy duty AI calculation for current turn.
Conclusion: This game is definitely CPU intensive: get as much horse power as you can. Especially if you want Huge maps with Epic speed.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
While many had graphics problem, CIV 4 is definitely not a graphically demanding game; my card is running only 3 degrees above idle temperature (FEAR would put +10 to it  ). If you have anything of the similar class, i.e. 9600 9800 5900 6600 x600 there is no reason why you should upgrade your graphics card.
Memory wise, it is as expected. Huge game consumes huge memory. If you have 1GB, then be content with it. If you have less than 512MB, and slow hard drive, then definitely put more in. If you got 768MB, then have some patience
CPU is the bottleneck for End Turns; speed is very much intolerable as described by my friend. Even with 2.3GHz overclocked, I still noticed 5 seconds delay on each turn.
What I failed to find is the cause for Zoom In/Out slowdowns. I noticed the slow down starts as soon as I zoomed out from isometric view to aerial view, going from aerial to global view did not change. I suspect the aerial view/global view uses a different rendering technique than the isometric view.
Here is what I cant explain. Say if aerial/global is done in the same rendering environment, with just distant drawing and optimizations like dropping units and less important props, then aerial/global should be at least as fast as isometric. As noted above, the game engine is not graphically intensive, if the heavy stuff gets lifted away (detailed texture, smaller props, unit models), the rest is should be even less resource intensive. However, the opposite is observed: as the engine zooms out from to aerial (smooth to sluggish), the viewing area is almost identical, yet the framerate drops like a rock.
Although the results may seem a little troubling for a turn based/isometric game, I strongly believe the game can be optimized. However, since CIV 4 is my first Sids game, I could be totally wrong
P.S. I wont recommend any purchase choices here; check out www.hardforum.com if you are convinced you need better hardware for your conquest
P.S.S. As you can probably tell, I am a trained engineer... nerd talk fits me pretty well. I am an processor designer with background in optimization.
P.S.S.S. This is written at 2:00AM, after 4 days of sleepless nights of CIV 4 (ok, I had a total of 8 hours of sleep in the last 4 days.) Please ignore the typo/grammo/disorganization/incoherent flow.
Enjoy!
), I dont see any slow down when zoomed in. 
