Frustratingly slow 3.19!

[Ninja2]

Well, I need help.

I used to have a perfectly working 3.17, but after the upgrade to 3.19, my advisor screens are horribly slow. F1 city advisor used to be almost instantaneous, now I've timed it to take 12-13 seconds to open - and this is in 4000 B.C., with only my capital founded! I've tried reinstalling several times, but I suspect I am not getting all traces of CIV eliminated. For the record, I use Vista 64 bit.

How do I make sure EVERYTHING CIV is uninstalled?

 

[ori]

follow the below guide, ignoring warlords if you don't have that:


install the most recent version of DirectX 9c from Microsoft

then do the following for a clean reinstall:

Uninstall and Reinstall Civ4 Warlords BtS :

Try to follow this order when doing stuff:
Use Control panel to uninstall Beyond the Sword, then Warlords, then Civ4
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\my documents\my games\sid meier's civilization 4" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\my documents\my games\warlords" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\my documents\my games\beyond the sword" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\application data\my games\sid meier's civilization 4" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\application data\my games\warlords" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\application data\my games\beyond the sword" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\local settings\application data\my games\sid meier's civilization 4" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\local settings\application data\my games\warlords" manually
Delete "...\documents and settings\<username>\local settings\application data\my games\beyond the sword" manually
(note: application data is a hidden directory so you need to configure windows explorer to show hidden files, also these directories in application data are sometimes removed by the uninstall routine)
Delete "...\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{CFBCE791-2D53-4FCE-B3FB-D6E01F4112E8}" (Civ4)
Delete "...\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{3E4B349F-10B5-4586-9D99-489A90A8B228}" (Warlords)
Delete "...\Program Files\InstallShield Installation Information\{32E4F0D2-C135-475E-A841-1D59A0D22989}" (BtS)
(note: InstallShield Installation Information is a hidden directory so you need to configure windows explorer to show hidden files).
Install Civ4, immediately patch it to 1.61 (download it fresh from here)
Install Warlords, immediately patch it to 2.08 (download it fresh from here)
Install Beyond the Sword, immediately patch to 3.19 (download it fresh from here).

 

[Ninja2]

No, sorry that didn't do the trick. Vista uses a slightly different notation than what you showed. E.g.: <drive>:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\My Games\Beyond the Sword is where the cache is located.

The CIV I install is 1.74, so I didn't try to patch it to a lower version. I also don't have Warlords. BTS installs at 3.13. Vista comes with DX 10, but I still attempted to install the 9.0c that you linked to, without success. I am told that a newer version is already installed.

Any other ideas?

 

[ori]

1) some versions of Dx 10 don't come with some required files from Dx9c - hence my link - if it claims its all good - then it is
2) the list above is for a complete reinstall - from Civ4 (unpatched) - patching to 1.74 directly (which BtS does) sometimes fails when 1.61 is not present - hence my advice for 1.61 when you install from scratch (1.74 is unneccessary since BtS does that for you).

what exactly means "slow"? Did you patch to 3.19 after reinstalling?
are you running the game with admin rights?
are the graphics drivers updated? is vista?
thanks for the path in vista - its confusing to keep all of those apart

 

[Ninja2]

Well, units on the map are normal, going into the city screen is normal, diplomacy is normal. Pretty much everything, EXCEPT the advisor screens. Like I wrote above, F1 used to be instantaneous, now it's like 12-13 seconds.

Running game w/ admin rights, and the graphicsdrivers are updated. I should stress that this behaviour began only AFTER I upgraded to 3.19. After reinstalling CIV vanilla, advisor screens are fast. But then when I install BtS, even 3.13 is slow. So I must not be uninstalling correctly, the DirectX is messed up, or I don't know...

 

[Lemon Merchant]

Somebody else recently had this problem, but I can't remember who it was. I'm sorry.

I think that they did actually find a fix for it. IIRC, it had something to do with language tags, and I have a funny feeling that the answer lies in the BUG mod forum. If I remember right, Emperor Fool was involved in the conversation at some point. It was in July, I think.

I hope this helps.

 

[Ninja2]

Thanks for the tip, but I can't find any information with the clues you gave me.

 

[Ninja2]

I've noticed something else, which might be important: I've just two days ago installed Vista's SP2, which didn't help things. However, the BTS icons now have that little Windows shield on top of it. Is Vista somehow monitoring what BTS is doing??

 

[Lemon Merchant]

I've noticed something else, which might be important: I've just two days ago installed Vista's SP2, which didn't help things. However, the BTS icons now have that little Windows shield on top of it. Is Vista somehow monitoring what BTS is doing??

It might be the UAC being a pain. You could try turning it off and seeing what happens. My BTS never did that after SP2. I'm really not sure why it's doing that to you. Sorry.

 

[Ninja2]

HOORAY!!!

I've eliminated this looong lag in the advisor screens by simply turning down movie quality from high to medium. Imagine that...

The UAC issue, I've found, is most likely due to me running non-WHQL certified GFX drivers. But nevermind that, now that the lag is gone!