Complete And Utter Disaster

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Wow

Well, goes to show scripting languages (Python here) can really be inefficent. Not so much from a crash stand point, but system requirements and performance demands.
 
Yeah I guess....

I've basically given up. I have the game working, but it crashes for no reason in a very random way. I haven't played more than 12 turns.

It's a shame really. A real shame. I feel sorry for this game, and for myself for wanting to play it for so long, only to find it's a damn mess.
 
Yep total shambles.

It really is the end of an era.. oh well back to Civ III for me.
 
at least you can get the game to run, i still dont know what it looks like
 
Big Ev said:
Wow

Well, goes to show scripting languages (Python here) can really be inefficent. Not so much from a crash stand point, but system requirements and performance demands.
Click to expand...

It definitely seems to be badly written, though I start doubting about the whole heavy system requirements part. Actually, if you notice based on the responses on this forum, some people with relatively low-end systems have been able to run it (for God's sake, some are laptops with integrated graphics), while others with the latest video card and 2Gb of RAM and a P4 3.2Ghz cannot even make it run at all. In my case, the main game plays flawlessly with a 6600GT, 1Gb RAM and P4 2.8, though I have the stuttering wonder movies, but oh well.

So all in all, it might well be that the core of Civ IV is not flawed: if it was, there wouldn't be those ridiculous, almost random discrepancies between the systems who can and those who cannot run the game. I think there is still hope a patch could fix quite a few problems.
 
Moderator Action: Quoted rant removed


WOW! I need to sit down. Whoa. Hang on a sec...OK, I'm ready now.

Jesus...I'm light headed...wow...I'm just...I'm fine now.

WOW! The room is spinning...I'm...I should be Ok now...you can...


Phew. Strongest rant I've seen in...ever.
I certainly sympathize, considering all the bugs in the game, but I place all blame on Take2.
I'm curious; anyone remember how long it took for Firaxis to release a patch when CivIII came out?
 
Mr. Hyperbole said:
WOW! I need to sit down. Whoa. Hang on a sec...OK, I'm ready now.

Jesus...I'm light headed...wow...I'm just...I'm fine now.

WOW! The room is spinning...I'm...I should be Ok now...you can...


Phew. Strongest rant I've seen in...ever.
I certainly sympathize, considering all the bugs in the game, but I place all blame on Take2.
I'm curious; anyone remember how long it took for Firaxis to release a patch when CivIII came out?
Click to expand...

The funny part would be: he didn't meet the specs/ didn't have the latest video/audio drivers and was running anti-virus/norton in the background. Which would otherwise allow the game to work.
 
I don't know why everyone says it's buggy. It plays flawlessly for me. No problems at all. Not even one single bug.

P4 3.4ghz
1024mb PC4000 OCZ
Asus P4C800-E
Geforce BFG 6800GT
 
Wow. Just Wow.

Somebody needs some anger management here. ;)

In all that ranting, I didn't quite catch on what system you play. Can you give us your hardware specs?
 
Turpentine said:
It definitely seems to be badly written, though I start doubting about the whole heavy system requirements part. Actually, if you notice based on the responses on this forum, some people with relatively low-end systems have been able to run it (for God's sake, some are laptops with integrated graphics), while others with the latest video card and 2Gb of RAM and a P4 3.2Ghz cannot even make it run at all. In my case, the main game plays flawlessly with a 6600GT, 1Gb RAM and P4 2.8, though I have the stuttering wonder movies, but oh well.

So all in all, it might well be that the core of Civ IV is not flawed: if it was, there wouldn't be those ridiculous, almost random discrepancies between the systems who can and those who cannot run the game. I think there is still hope a patch could fix quite a few problems.
Click to expand...
Yeah you are right. My machine is a power house, yet can't get this game running for more then 15-30 minutes without crashing. Lesser machines low-high range, mid range, and low-mid range, can seem to get running without a hitch.

I just know from my Python experience, as great a language it is, it chews up ALOT of unnecessary clock cycles. Its the best wrapper language around, but its still a wrapper, and C/C++ will still crush it everytime when it comes to effiency.
 
A few tweaks to my system and it is now funning fine... This seems to be too much for most people. Granted we should not have to go through 15 possible solutions to find the 2 or 3 that make it work for our individual computers.

I'll just take a few guesses about who it works for...

40% - worked fine right away
30% - got it working with minimal effort (art pack, DirectX, and drivers)
10% - have some experience and got it working after some more advanced tweaking, and/or did everything in the fix-it-list
15% - will never have it right because they are trying to make it work on an old system, or incompatible hardware, may or may not be complaining
5% - still having problems, did everything in the fix-it-list, have a good system and have a right to be pissed

Edit: I'm in the 10% and was starting to get POd, I only got it working last night and I've had it a week.
 
I've got the feeling there are two groups of bugs:

1. Hardware Incompatibilies
Mainly with graphics cards. I would not be surprised if there was a bug in the code interfacing with the DirectX API. Some drivers or cards can stomach the bug, others can't.

2. One or more rather large memory leaks.
Depending on your game settings (map size, resolution etc.) as well as how much of the map has been explored this problem turns up sooner or later. If you have more memory, the game lasts longer. Also, the problem seems to be related to how much of the terrain has to be displayed in a short time frame. If you abruptly zoom out or if you trade maps memory consumption goes through the roof. This would explain the CTDs as well as the slowdowns people have been experiencing (heavy swapping?).
Is it possible that the people not experiencing crashes or slowdowns either use rather small maps or resolutions or have not played the game into the later periods?)
This is more a gut feeling and I have no means to verify this (I don't get any slowdowns, I only get crashes and can't check the memory use immediately before the crash).
 
guke said:
This is more a gut feeling and I have no means to verify this (I don't get any slowdowns, I only get crashes and can't check the memory use immediately before the crash).
Click to expand...

It wouldn't be a bad idea to setup a performance log before starting the game to track your memory and pagefile usage.
 
Set your pagefile for a fixed size rather than the dynamic one Windows likes to manage, so the % referrs to a set number.
 
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