Demo (trial download) does not show terrain

[fiver]

Civ IV seems to have many bugs. So before buying I downloaded a trial version, but the terrain does not show. The units and resources and sounds are all there, but the terrain is black.

I am concerned that if I buy Civ IV I will have the same problem.

I have a Pentium 4, 2.4 GHz, 1 GB of RAM, XP with SP2, and plenty of disk space. The computer is 2 1/2 years old.

Any suggestions.

 

[Zydor]

fiver

wise move, and well picked up

Couldyou please post your dxdiag using the 'go advanced' button below

EDIT: Start button - click - select run - type dxdiag - press enter - wait a min - select "save all information" - then post the file using the file upload via the 'go advanced' button below


Regards
Zy

 

[fiver]

Zydor,

you threw me for a moment there. Never heard of dxdiag before, but I figured it out. Hope I did it right.

 

[Zydor]

You did good - spot on

Bad news & good news ....

You are running a RADEON 7000, that will not support T&L, which is why you are getting black terrain (there was an issue of black terrain for other reasons that was resolved for the overwhelming majority of people in Patch V1.52 - dont confuse the two issues).

You card will not run it, its below the hardware spec for the game - its not the old black terrain error

However, the good news ...

Your motherboard will support a card upgrade. It has an AGP 4X slot (AGP 8X cards are backwards compatible dont worry about that), so you can fit a mid range graphics card relatively cheaply. Need to check heat issues carefully, but its fairly straightforward to sort out. The specs of your motherboard are:

http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/bv2/

You will need those to discuss an appropriate Video Card (go for one with 128mb on board the video card). Be aware that an absolute 100% guarantee that you will run the game post upgrade is impossible to give - as with any PC, not only yours - but the upgrade is essential to have any chance, and I am 99% certain you will be ok after card upgrade, given that we may have to work through some software issues not related to the card.

Hardware Specs for Civ IV:
http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/support_msr.htm

Bottom line - no doubts, go for it and upgrade the card. You have 1Gb main RAM so you should have an average to a little above average performance for Civ IV providing you upgrade the video card

Regards
Zy

If want further advice on a suitable card post again.

 

[fiver]

Thank you Zydor.

I'll see what's available at Fry's.