Civ2 and Processor Usage on XP and 2k

[codechino]

I have two top-of-the-line systems, a desktop with 1 gig of ddr and a geforce 4 ti4600 and athlon xp 2100+, and a laptop with a p4 2.66 ghz, 512 ddr, ati radeon mobility 9000. I can play the newest games with no problem at all, and it makes me happy.

However, civ2 never fails to run at 99% processor usage on both systems. Theyre 2k and xp systems. This obviously creates a little bit of a heat problem when i stay up endless hours playing the game. my laptop gets hot enough to heat a small room. i was just wondering if anyone knew the cause of this problem and whether or not there is a solution.

(btw, i have tested this on every system with 2k or xp i have had access to, and it eats up the processor on every one)

any help would be appreciated
thanks

 

[knate]

I suppose my problem could be related to this one. I just installed XP, and now I cannot run Civ2 for more than 10 or so turns before it locks down my system. It's... annoying. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

 

[slick007]

My laptop also has 100% processor usage and overheats after several hours. Has anyone resolved this? Thanks.

 

[ronnie]

Same thing here on Win2k SP3, although I'm not convinced it's actually using 100% of the CPU as my computer still runs other programs fine even when it's reporting this.

 

[Valdagor]

Has ANYONE figured this out? I have the same problem and it actually locks up my system, forcing me to reset my whole computer. I mean it hangs EVERYTHING, no ctrl-alt-del or anything. PLEASE! Short of setting up a Win98 partition, is there ANYTHING that can be done about this?

Or is Civ2 simply incompatible with XP? If not, then please prove it by telling me it works on your system and why. Desperate here.

 

[Titi]

I can tell you that Civ2 is compatible both with XP (desktop computer, 256 MB, 1.5 GHz) and 2k SP3 (laptop, 128 MB, 1 GHz).

At least, I never experienced any lock-up playing Civ2 with any of my computers.

Regarding heating, I'm not sure it comes from Civ2, because my laptop always gets hot when in use.

Never checked processor usage though.

 

[Titi]

Valgador,

Do you succeed in playing before your system stops ?

I read several posts some time ago where the solution apparently was to download upgrades of the video drivers. Use the search function for "video"...

Or better, look at the "sticky" threads related to Win2k and XP, see top of this forum.

Hope this help. Good luck !

 

[Valdagor]

I'm able to play a few turns, but that's it. It stops all of a sudden, at any point, with no warning. I've tried everything that's been suggested here, to no avail. BTW I have the Multiplayer Gold Edition, not sure if that makes a difference or not.

 

[paulio]

Hi,
Ive just registered to say that im having exactly the same problem, CIV2 eats up 100% of the CPU, thus my laptop overheats and dies.....Ive got the latest patch, run it in compatibility mode..the lot, nothing makes any difference.

Its very disappointing.
Paul.

 

[Azadre]

any solutions yet?

 

[paulio]

nope, are you having the same problem?

 

[RichieTurtles]

I am experiencing tese same problems. I had civ 2 multiplayer gold on my old computer and it ran fine...New computer with Windos xp was a different story...My cpu usage was always somewhere between 95 and 100 percent with xp ever moment my Civ 2 was running....Evntually my system would crash after 10 mins or so and try to reboot.
Heres what i think is going on.....
The version of civ 2 i have was installed from a zip file with a no cd crack. I was wondering how many of us who are experiencing this particular problem were using the no cd crack instead of using the actual disk in the cd drive.
Maybe the processor is pushing so hard because of this, I tried setting the priority higher but just eats up whatever i give it....It all honesty i dont know what the hell is going on except i cant play one of my favorite games of all time and it stinks l

 

[paulio]

well, i have the official CD, makes no difference if it's in or not. I suspect it's a video problem, i have no evidence of this, but experience tells me.

 

[JoeP]

play without the cd. I think that worked for me. i disabled music, and my CPU usage dropped.

TRy turning off other programs, and run the game off a fresh boot.

v2.42 works fine for me. I used to have temporary lockups when i played. Must've been an older version, because this new one never has problems.

 

[paulio]

makes no difference on mine. Anybody else... Id really like to be able to play this on the train.

 

[RichieTurtles]

UPDATE
I WENT OUT AND BOUGHT CIV 3 GAME OF THE YEAR BECAUSE MY CIV 2 WAS CRASHING AND MY PROCESSOR SPEED WAS MAXED EVEY TIME I PLAYED...WELL NOW I INSTALLED IT AND I CANT UNINSTALL IT AND IT STILL CRASHES AFTER ABOUT 10 MINUTES OF PLAY...ANYONE KNOW A GOOD UN-INSTALL PROGRAM OR A FIX FOR THIS PROCESSOR USAGE ISSUE?

 

[Azadre]

I don't think it's a video problem. I honestly think Civ was designed to take advantage of the excess processer power because back when this game came out, processer power was lacking. now the chips can be up to 30 times faster leading to problems.

 

[JoeP]

use the extra CPU cylces for what, specifically? Work done is work done, and new CPUs get it done faster. Don't see the need for making my machine churn out an extra 40 watts for nothing.

It's obviously got to be a software glitch. has this been adressed?

 

[SHRIKE1985]

try installing the latest updates... i got 3 machines running 2 p4 1500 and one p4 2000 (laptop) all with 512mb ddr and 64mb vga and one with 128mb vga. All 3 on win2k! Should work fine for such an old game as civ2. and it does cpu never gets over 10% and i dont think its overheating too and definatly never locks up due to civ2 i run my webcam, MSN, outlook, winamp and civ2 at one time and no probs on either machine......

 

[x22]

CIV2 uses all avaiable processor power not only on XP/2k,
Win 98 too.

I seems that CIV2 simply doesn't know how to release CPU (sleep,wait, etc) like DOS programs.

My CPU runs at 100% all time (when i don't play civ, it's usually in background).

I thought that civ2 is one of the best programmed games. (No bugs, no windows crashes, no performance eating as 3d games)
It's not true. See get_info.exe - civilopedia (try changing order of units in rules.txt before doing so. Or try doing it as restricted winXP user.)

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=79187