Civ 4 Runs Slow and Choppy

[playa00916]

The game starts out running good when I start to play it, but the more of the world I uncover, the slower it runs. I set the virtual memory to 1500 for minimum and maximum, but that didnt help. I also lowered the graphics and sound settings, but that didnt help either. Here are the specs of my computer:

Hewlett-Packard Pavilion
AMD Athlon(tm) 2800+
2.08 GHz Pentium 4 Processor
512 MB of RAM
Radeon 9800 Series Video Card

Thanks.

 

[Zydor]

If you have not loaded the V1.52 Patch - do so, they are some of the symptoms of the memory issues in V1 & V1.09

 

[playa00916]

ok thanks a lot man...that will make it run quicker and smoother? sorry im not that good with computers

EDIT: after i download it, is it "in the game" already? or do i have to do anything else to put the effects of the patch into the game?

 

[AgentJones]

Once you download it, run the .exe (if it's in a .zip or .rar file, you'll have to unpack it then run it). It should fix several problems in the program that cause it to use more memory than it has to. The excessive memory usage causes extremely slow loading and possibly choppiness.

I'd also suggest you get more RAM. 512MB really isn't enough for this game. I was only able to play the larger maps after I tripled my RAM to 1.5GB

 

[TribeTime26]

I have the same problem even after the patch, I am 99% sure that this is a memory issue and I think the only solution is an upgrade...

 

[playa00916]

how much RAM do u have tribe?

 

[Captdim]

I had the same problem than you. On a huge map, I had to wait sometimes nearly 10 minutes between each turn, while my harddrive was working.

I greatly reduced this delay by :

-Setting swap file size to 1500/1500 (as you already did)
-Installing a small application to defragment my RAM : RAM def Xtreme

Before each game I would close all applications (even real-time antivirus protection), and defragment RAM till used physical memory falls below 100 MB.

RAM def xtreme also as an interesting option : conservative swap file usage. According to the help file, if activated, windows will use the swap file (on the hard drive) only if the physical RAM is full.

The game in itself is still a bit slow (display especially) but I don't have to wait more than 1 or 2 minutes between turns.

Hope this helps.

Dim

 

[Arturus]

I find that it still gets choppy in the classical period even with the patch.

I have an AMD Athlon 1800mhz processor with 704mb of RAM (I will be replacing my 256 chip with a 512 shortly I think to give me an even 1000mb of RAM).

 

[TribeTime26]

Pentium 3 with 256MB (which I know is the problem) ATI Radeon 9550, and a new, clean hard drive (which is probualy the only reason it works at all)

I mean, the game works and all, I don't have black tiles or anything, it's just slow as hell. Like sometimes 5 minutes between turns in the modern age. I think the only way to go is to get a beastly memory upgrade, but idk when that is going to happen...

 

[TribeTime26]

I had the same problem than you. On a huge map, I had to wait sometimes nearly 10 minutes between each turn, while my harddrive was working.

I greatly reduced this delay by :

-Setting swap file size to 1500/1500 (as you already did)
-Installing a small application to defragment my RAM : RAM def Xtreme

Before each game I would close all applications (even real-time antivirus protection), and defragment RAM till used physical memory falls below 100 MB.

RAM def xtreme also as an interesting option : conservative swap file usage. According to the help file, if activated, windows will use the swap file (on the hard drive) only if the physical RAM is full.

The game in itself is still a bit slow (display especially) but I don't have to wait more than 1 or 2 minutes between turns.

Hope this helps.

Dim

Might have to check this one out, may be a cheaper solution, because I don't own any other games with requirements as crazy as this has.

 

[BirraImperial]

I have 1.2GB of RAM, with patch 1.52 and the game runs great, less than a minute between turns. So maybe you should upgrade to at least 1gig to run the game faster

 

[AgentJones]

Pentium 3 with 256MB (which I know is the problem) ATI Radeon 9550, and a new, clean hard drive (which is probualy the only reason it works at all)

I mean, the game works and all, I don't have black tiles or anything, it's just slow as hell. Like sometimes 5 minutes between turns in the modern age. I think the only way to go is to get a beastly memory upgrade, but idk when that is going to happen...

With your setup, I doubt you'll ever want to upgrade the machine you have now. IIRC the type of RAM your PC uses is no longer mass produced, due to age. Since it's now a niche part, the RAM for your PC will be very expensive.

 

[AgentJones]

I have 1.2GB of RAM, with patch 1.52 and the game runs great, less than a minute between turns. So maybe you should upgrade to at least 1gig to run the game faster

Agreed. 1GB is the minimum I would recommend for any recent strategy game, i.e. anything more recent than SimCity 4.

 

[Smidlee]

The game starts out running good when I start to play it, but the more of the world I uncover, the slower it runs. I set the virtual memory to 1500 for minimum and maximum, but that didnt help. I also lowered the graphics and sound settings, but that didnt help either. Here are the specs of my computer:

Hewlett-Packard Pavilion
AMD Athlon(tm) 2800+
2.08 GHz Pentium 4 Processor
512 MB of RAM
Radeon 9800 Series Video Card

Thanks.

File swapping is slower than physical ram especially games that demands quick access to memory like Civ4. Lower graphic and sounds settings does nothing to improve this since it's your hard drive that's the bottleneck. It ideal not to have any game running on virtual memory.