Civ BE on laptop?

[Petek]

According to my Nvidia control panel, it says that my preferred graphics processor is on auto-select, with the tab giving me the options of either integrated graphics or high-performance nvidia processor. So do I lock in the latter?

Yes, select the nvidia processor.

 

[Halbbruder]

Hm, still no change. I click on "play", steam status changes to in-game for a seconds then reverts back to online as the game fails to load (no error message). As previously mentioned, this is in contrast to my attempt before Svet's advice to update my nvidia driver, when the game "loaded" with blackscreen and icon on the dashboard and the error message telling me that directx failed to start. Should I rollback that change and try again?

 

[Petek]

Please post a new DxDiag to verify that your system is now using the Nvidia card. Thx.

 

[Halbbruder]

Ok here is the 2nd copy. I checked Nvidia control panel to ensure that I was using nvidia processor, not the integrated version.

 

[Petek]

The problem might lie with the updated Nvidia driver (as you suspected). Your laptop probably requires updated video drivers from ASUS, not from Nvidia. So, rollback the driver to the original version. Does that help? If not, check with ASUS for updated drivers. Finally, if none of this advice works, reboot your laptop and press the F2 key when the screen display says to do so. This will take you into the setup program. It might contains an option to select the Nvidia card, or possibly to disable the Intel graphics. Good luck!

 

[Halbbruder]

I rollbacked the driver but I still can't even load the game. I've had a look around ASUS website but can't seem to find any driver update page as such, only stuff for sale. As for the f2 key when restarting, I don't think my screen display says to do so but I assume it's before it says "starting windows". I'll keep trying those options.

In the meantime, my problem is now getting the game to load rather than having the graphics setup properly.

 

[Halbbruder]

This just in: I got my game to work after my game initially failed to start from steam. This is what I did:

- Check windows updates.
- Look for graphics updates. They'll be in the optional section.
- update them
- restart computer
- reload game

Hope this helps. I can now load and play the game but it's still warning me that my graphics are older than the oldest version they used for testing. I've started a game and so far no graphics glitches. Stay tuned.

 

[darkskies]

Just as general advice to laptop users, especially with integrated graphics like the intel HD series. Before you buy this or other DX11 games, make sure your laptop maker is keeping fairly current with the graphics drivers, in another thread we saw HP not updating the HD3000 drivers for a laptop (3 years out of date) and the current generic Intel drivers for the chipset won't work on the HP.

Also other than the specific tablet problems the game runs well on a Surface Pro1 which has HD4000 graphics, 4GB ram and 1.7Ghz i5 (3rd gen). The default for most graphics options is low to mid but it looks good.

 

[May Day 10]

Hi guys.

how about this one? I am completely in over my head shopping for a CPU and as it is, my current CPU overheats and shuts off for Civ IV. Never ran Civ V.... I wanna play Civ IV, Civ V, and Beyond Earth...

This seems like decent, affordable one-stop-shopping, no?

http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-14/pd?oc=dkcwg01s&model_id=alienware-14

4th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-4210M processor (Dual Core, 3MB Cache, up to 3.2GHz w/ Turbo Boost)

and

NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M with 2GB GDDR5



I dont do too much other gaming on the PC, but I will probably get into Skyrim and the Elder scrolls boxset I got last year...

 

[masaykh]

i like to add - that even on minimum settings game use 286+ mb of VRAM. (data via gpushark\process explorer) so true minimum specs are 512 mb of vram!

 

[darkskies]

Hi guys.

how about this one? I am completely in over my head shopping for a CPU and as it is, my current CPU overheats and shuts off for Civ IV. Never ran Civ V.... I wanna play Civ IV, Civ V, and Beyond Earth...

This seems like decent, affordable one-stop-shopping, no?

http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-14/pd?oc=dkcwg01s&model_id=alienware-14

4th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-4210M processor (Dual Core, 3MB Cache, up to 3.2GHz w/ Turbo Boost)

and

NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M with 2GB GDDR5



I dont do too much other gaming on the PC, but I will probably get into Skyrim and the Elder scrolls boxset I got last year...

If you can live with the rather low resolution small display go for it (and yes you can always hook it up to an external display if needed, though that can on rare occasions cause bugs to show up in some programs).
The hard drive is pretty slow. You might want to replace it with an SSD if you can find the money (that is pretty easy with one of the SSD kits they have that include the software to duplicate the drive) it will greatly improve performance. Did that on my dad's laptop he couldn't believe the difference it made to his "top of the line laptop". SSDs are more reliable too. Didn't see if it has slots for two drives, if so you can keep the HD for holding less used stuff or turn it into an external drive for backup for example. Oh and you'll get improved battery life with the SSD.

 

[May Day 10]

Thanks. I guess I could upgrade for a few hundo and go with the 17
http://www.dell.com/us/p/Alienware-...=1230980731501410#overrides=dkcwj01s:8~1T80NV


And for $100 additional it gives you the option:
1TB 5400RPM SATA 6Gb/s + 80GB mSATA SSD Caching

Is that an SSD?

Or am I better off buying an SSD from a 3rd party and installing it myself?


This also has
4th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-4210M processor (Dual Core, 3MB Cache, up to 3.2GHz w/ Turbo Boost)

NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 860M graphics with 2GB total GDDR5

RAM 8GB DDR3L at 1600MHz (2 x 4G)

 

[May Day 10]

Or this?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...O9omcjC301r6bxVgXB3giEREnZ4Xlf_VMcaApRS8P8HAQ

Intel Core i7 4710HQ (2.50GHz)
8GB Memory 1TB HDD 8GB SSD
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 2GB
1920 x 1080
Windows 8.1 64-Bit
DVD +/-RW, External optical drive in box

Or I can make the SSD 256GB, which eliminates the option for a 1TB HDD, but it allows the 16GB Memory option.

 

[forty2j]

Or this?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...O9omcjC301r6bxVgXB3giEREnZ4Xlf_VMcaApRS8P8HAQ

Intel Core i7 4710HQ (2.50GHz)
8GB Memory 1TB HDD 8GB SSD
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M 2GB
1920 x 1080
Windows 8.1 64-Bit
DVD +/-RW, External optical drive in box

Or I can make the SSD 256GB, which eliminates the option for a 1TB HDD, but it allows the 16GB Memory option.

If you have the capability to custom order, going from an i5 to i7 of the same generation is almost never worth it unless you work with something like weather simulations.

I would, however, always recommend getting an SSD.

The 750M you posted should handle the game very well; the 860M would move you into "Ultra" territory. I have a 680MX and run Ultra at 2560x1440 with zero issues; per normal Nvidia numbering standards the 860M is probably roughly equivalent to the 680M or 680MX.

 

[May Day 10]

Awesome, thanks.

I think I may go with the Lenova Y50 there. I see it all over as the best/one of the best gaming PCs under $1K, and the SDD pushes it a little over a $K.

It doesnt let me pair the 256Gb SDD and 16GB Memory with the i5. Only the 8GB SDD w/ 1TB HDD.

 

[forty2j]

Awesome, thanks.

I think I may go with the Lenova Y50 there. I see it all over as the best/one of the best gaming PCs under $1K, and the SDD pushes it a little over a $K.

It doesnt let me pair the 256Gb SDD and 16GB Memory with the i5. Only the 8GB SDD w/ 1TB HDD.

Just noticed that's a 4K screen. Should be interesting to see how it handles.

The RAM is trivial to add aftermarket; it's always in a door at the bottom of the laptop or under the keyboard. But the storage is an issue; it's a bit more work to do that on your own, and an 8GB SSD cache is hardly worth bothering with.

 

[darkskies]

Awesome, thanks.

I think I may go with the Lenova Y50 there. I see it all over as the best/one of the best gaming PCs under $1K, and the SDD pushes it a little over a $K.

It doesnt let me pair the 256Gb SDD and 16GB Memory with the i5. Only the 8GB SDD w/ 1TB HDD.

While those hybrid drives are fairly fast, most of your data still resides on a hard drive. If you are really good at regular backups no problem. But most SSD's fail when they reach their maximum write cycles (this will usually equate to 8+ years) but that just means they can't write new data, they can still read the old data. Now yes an SSD can still fail in away that you can't read the data, but this is much less likely than on a HD. I lost the link but there is some very interesting data on SSD and HD reliability from server farms. Anyway my recommendation would be if they don't have a reasonably priced SSD only option, do the upgrade yourself and just buy the cheapest HD option they have. Before you go with their SSD options hop over to Amazon and look at the SSD prices you may get a better deal if you do the upgrade yourself.

While I love the I7 in my desktop, they do eat a lot of battery power in laptops if you are planning on running on battery much.

Unless you need the portability go for the 17" with 1080p going too small is major complaint (unless you need the small like in tablet).

 

[May Day 10]

Thanks for all your help, guys.

I pulled the trigger on the Lenova Y50. A lot of good reviews on it from the standpoint of gaming on a laptop on a budget.

Also went with the 256GB SSD option. I have most/all of my digital files on and backed up on a few 1TB External Hard Drives anyways.

As far as battery goes, Im not too concerned. I dont really need to be away from an outlet for hours. Its all in-home really. I just want the portability within a house. Nowhere really for a desktop, at least where I can/want to sit for a long time.

15.6" may be small, but Im not too worried. It will be used for Civ games, Strat O Matic (which is not graphically oriented), and probably Skyrim, or a few "older" titles.

 

[MadDog123]

I'm looking for some advice about buying a new laptop. I want it to run Civ V and BE but other than that I don't need it for anything other than word processing, internet surfing, etc. I've looked at the minimum specs for BE and see it suggests Intel HD 3000 graphics, but a lot of laptops I see online just say "Intel HD." Here are some options I've seen:

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/g-series/g40/?sb=:000001C9:00012407:

http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/NX.MLQAA.001

http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/NX.MCSAA.001

Does anybody have any advice on if Intel HD graphics is sufficient or do I need more to run the games properly? Thanks!

 

[JBrown247]

I'm looking for some advice about buying a new laptop. I want it to run Civ V and BE but other than that I don't need it for anything other than word processing, internet surfing, etc. I've looked at the minimum specs for BE and see it suggests Intel HD 3000 graphics, but a lot of laptops I see online just say "Intel HD." Here are some options I've seen:

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/lenovo/g-series/g40/?sb=:000001C9:00012407:

http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/NX.MLQAA.001

http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/NX.MCSAA.001

Does anybody have any advice on if Intel HD graphics is sufficient or do I need more to run the games properly? Thanks!

They say it is, but it doesn't work. Even though they list the intel hd 3000 as the minimum, there are persistent graphical glitches. When you ask them about it they will say "your card meets the minimum requirements, but that isn't enough to properly run the game. What did you expect?"

My advice to you is to not even buy the game. It really isn't worth it, and it for sure isn't worth buying a new computer for.