Disappointing Civ 4 performance

[Dudedudeyo]

The first thing i noticed after starting Civ 4 up is that the ad for 2k games was very choppy.When i got to the main menu i was happy to see the audio working and the frames going at a steady pace.

I then started a game up on standerd map size with 6 AI.As

in the game I found the audio never worked expet for the qutoes after researching a techonolgy. The animations of the the units were slow but bearble. Leaderheads screens were propbably the worst taking a few seconds on the intro animations.

I had all the graphics on low.

this is on a 1.8GHz G5 with 512 MB DDR SDRAM

Does anyone know if there will be a patch to fix the audio??

 

[Leighgion]

Little more detail would benefit the info pool. Which G5 (iMac, dual cpu tower?) are we talking and importantly, what video card do you have? Only 512mb of RAM I'm sure is putting the hurt on you though.

Far as patches go, well, we all assume there will be patches for actual bugs but the game's hot off the golden master so we don't really know what's a bug and what's just the computers groaning under the strain.

 

[wiglaff]

I ran it flawlessly on a 512 mb RAM PC and similar processor. The difference is the card.

 

[Beamup]

And the OS. 512 MB is barely enough to run OSX at all - for any sort of even vaugely demanding use, 1 GB is the absolute minimum for any sort of decent performance.

 

[awb]

Agh, it seems we are awaiting the first person with a good performance with Civ 4.

 

[AlanH]

I guess the people who have good performance are way too busy playing to come here and tell us ... assuming they exist .

 

[Mumster]

I have a G4 dual 1.3 with a Radeon 9800 pro 256MB vram and 1.12 GB system ram.

It is slow but playable. Espescially on the smaller maps. I have played on small, tiny and dual. I doubt that it will be playable on larger maps. I also have the sound issues that everyone else has. It has not crashed on me yet.

 

[Dudedudeyo]

it's a G5 imac with a radeon 9600

well anyway the audio is mostly working now. There is still no sounds that go with animations(worker digging, battles, great people, missionaries,etc.,etc.)

 

[Mumster]

I think the sound issues are a bug. reminds me of when civ3 came out for mac they had the same problems. I know there are battle sounds etc. cause they exist in the sounds folder. Seems like this is just another hack job by aspyr. They always release buggy games at first and take forever to patch them. i bet the speed will increase too with a patch. Seems like the graphics are implemented poorly. Its not like this game is very graphics intensive. It is turned based for crying out loud.

 

[AlanH]

I think it *is* graphics intensive. Firaxis chose to base the game on a 3D graphics engine that is more at home in a 1st person shooter than in a turn-based strategy game. Aspyr just had to work with what they were given, so that problem, at least, should not be laid at their door.

 

[Mumster]

Firaxis screwed up then. they shoulda started from scratch with their own 3d engine.

 

[ejday]

Firaxis screwed up then. they shoulda started from scratch with their own 3d engine.

That might have actually made a better product, but it would've taken until 2009 to get it out the door (and 2011 to get it ported).

 

[AlanH]

... by which time all the video hardware in the world could have handled what they've prduced now They're just a little ahead of their time, that's all

 

[Mumster]

... by which time all the video hardware in the world could have handled what they've prduced now They're just a little ahead of their time, that's all

I guess what I really need is a new machine. I wish apple would hurry up and get the intel towers ready.

 

[AlanH]

You and me both It's my birthday in August. I'm counting on the WWDC to release a Conroe tower to die for.

 

[ejday]

I guess what I really need is a new machine. I wish apple would hurry up and get the intel towers ready.

I'm holding out [at the very least] for a "Core Duo T2700" Yonah in the next rev of 15" MacBook Pros.

And what about two-button track pads? I mean, gee whiz – Apple has finally seen the light enough to start offering two-button mice, why not a two-button track pad? And for that matter, what about an integrated keypad on the 17" model? Not like they're hurting for space. Man, if they offered the integrated keypad on the 17", I'd... I'd... I'm not sure what I'd do, but I'd definitely pick one up!

 

[Cougarcat]

I'm holding out [at the very least] for a "Core Duo T2700" Yonah in the next rev of 15" MacBook Pros.

And what about two-button track pads? I mean, gee whiz – Apple has finally seen the light enough to start offering two-button mice, why not a two-button track pad? And for that matter, what about an integrated keypad on the 17" model? Not like they're hurting for space. Man, if they offered the integrated keypad on the 17", I'd... I'd... I'm not sure what I'd do, but I'd definitely pick one up!

Yeah, a big keypad on the 17" would be nice. Bit it would definitely add to the weight.

BTW, the Mighty Mouse is still technically a one-button mouse, but it has multi-button functionality. Similarly, with the Macbooks and Macbook Pros, you can set the trackpad to recognize a right-click using two fingers.

 

[Welnic]

I have a dual 2.5 G5 with 2 GBs of RAM and a 128 MB 9600 XT graphics card. I also have a 2.16 GHz MacBook Pro with 2 GBs of RAM and a 256 MB XT1600 video card.

My first game is continents on a standard sized world. There ended up being 6 AI civilizations, but something happened to one that was next to me. I have made it to about 1400AD switching between the two machines. The MacBook Pro handles the game without any problem. It runs as well as the PC demo did on it in XP. The G5 seems to have enough processor power, it takes about the same time when the AI is moving, but the video card seems to struggle. Things look fine but the refresh rate is low and there are some big laggy moments. The opening sequence in the credits is also very jerky. On the other hand I have not been getting blown away like I would be if it was a multi-player FPS.

I hear Leonard Nimoy read the quotes when a technology is discovered, but that is the only sound that works. I will sometimes hear the first little bit of sound when a religion or something like that is discovered, but you can tell it is not the complete sound. I once heard some battle noise right after I had been adjusting the sound in the System Preferences, but it was broken up. I definitely remember this same thing happening with other ports.

At some point I'll get around to trying it on a G4 powerbook and a dual core Intel Mini.

 

[Welnic]

I forgot that the G5 was running at 1600 x 1200. I backed that off to 1024 x 768 and it really didn't make any difference.

 

[Helmling]

Yeah, a big keypad on the 17" would be nice. Bit it would definitely add to the weight.

BTW, the Mighty Mouse is still technically a one-button mouse, but it has multi-button functionality. Similarly, with the Macbooks and Macbook Pros, you can set the trackpad to recognize a right-click using two fingers.

Huh? You wanna explain that to me? How is it a "one button" mouse with multi-button functionality?