civ 5 hogging all computer ressources when loading

[primordial stew]

maybe I'll try to run it in a window though I don't much like to run games in a window


@docbud
no it doesn't really depend from all that, or rather yes it's influenced but you knowing that stuff won't change a single thing
but since you asked for it:
i7-2600k
16Gb RAM
GTX470 oc (approximately the performance of a GTX560Ti)

Civ doesn't utilize it like a SSD like it should (ie many parallel requests), but loading times are certainly decreased. With 16G you could use a RAM drive and put civ5 on it! Loading the RAM drive up after boot would take a bit.. but couldn't be beat after that (just sleep instead of reboot)!

Also, more VRAM seemed to help, at least for reducing the amount of heat generated (textures kept in memory instead of swapped in regularly?). I've got 2G and Civ indeed uses it all. It would be interesting to hear if anyone with a 3G, or more card, ever sees civ not use it all.

I play windowed mode so I can surf, watch a video, or whatever while waiting for those late game huge map turns to complete... so yeah, turns are still slow for mega games. Not for lack of hardware, but for lack of efficient or scalable software.

 

[phillipwyllie]

.... Not for lack of hardware, but for lack of efficient or scalable software.

You can't really make civ multi-threaded where each player is calculated in parallel as each player must take their turn in order and is dependent on the player before them.
In saying that I would say the code isn't efficient as when you coup a Cs it sometimes decides instantly or it takes a few(noticeable milliseconds), or when you meet a CS the UI freezes for a second or so.........

 

[szcott]

Have you tried dual screens, works pretty good for me. Most modern vid cards have dual ports and screens are pretty cheap these days.

 

[whismerhill]

good idea but no space on desk xD
so need larger desk, which needs larger room, which needs larger house

ho wait that's gonna be expensive me thinks xD
hahaha

 

[bc1]

I have similar system specs (2600k, win 7 x64, RAM only 8 gigs, SSD) and experience no problems alt tabbing from full screen (size 2560) even during game load (do it all the time when working on my mod )
There might be an incompatibility with other stuff installed on your PC... Or maybe you overclock ?

 

[whismerhill]

after seeing your post bc1 I felt like retrying and in fact have found what bothers me :
the application stays full screen always even when you alt tab xD

but yeah in fact it seems I can alt tab just fine, it just won't minimize on alt tab hence why I thought it wasn't responding

shift tab however can't be used while the game is loading (steam community)

thanks for the feedback.

 

[Charlie_B]

I've got a GeForce GTX 570, i5-2500K and 8 gig RAM. I never have any problems with multi-tasking - I've always got Football Manager running, and Firefox with ~100 tabs, in addition to lots of other assorted programmes. It takes a bit of time to load an initial game - perhaps up to 30 seconds - but I have no problem tabbing out and doing other things while I wait.

I play G&K on windowed.

 

[Callonia]

My CIv5 broke so I only can play it in windowed mode instead of full screen as usual I have no idea why it happened.

 

[pvtjava]

@pvtjava: I use the most recent version of Firefox for the Mac. Yes--you are right--starting a game takes longer than it does to read a thread here. And it was stupid of me to compare loading times to visiting a thread here. I was frustrated that night when I posted because it was taking a long time to read some threads. I do stand corrected.

Hey, and I didn't mean to sound quite so harsh, either. Things read a lot colder in print than they sound in my head. I regretted the tone after I reread my post. So, sorry for that. I use Firefox, too, but for Windows. It can get sticky and take a while to load pages after you've had it open a while, I think. If I close it and reopen, it usually will go faster again. Everything seems to go a little slower if it's the first thing you do after startup or login, also.