Civ 4 Performance Tips? (For Someone With A Good Computer)

[rkade8583]

I have Windows 7 64, a quad core (9800 something or other), 8 gigs of ram, and a Radeon HD 5670. I've been Civving since DOS and Civ 4ing since my old emachine way back in the day. This computer runs Civ 5. It runs Fallout New Vegas. How can I get it to run Civ 4 without five minutes of loading at the end? I'd like to play a world scenario but I can't because I get minute long smacks right at the beginning let alone further along.

It's on Steam if that helps... and I'm playing it on 1024x768 windowed with Medium settings Due To This Mod but even running it without mods, I was getting smacked near the end of a standard shuffle map game with 8 civs.

Please help