Graphics error?

[Wenla]

Hi,

I have been playing for a long time and many, many games (started actually to play already before PC was invented...) and seen a lot, but this was first time than game turns my monitor off

Huge map, long playing period (=several hours), game starts to getting slower, suddenly map loses all details (trees, animals, workers, solders, cities etc etc) but just ground and roads are vicible. After a time game goes on, next turn tha same and when waiting, monitor informs that "Monitor going to sleep" and goes to hibernate state. I activated (powered) monitor again, and now message "No signal". All I can do is Russian reset, reboot and monitor (but not the game of course) is back.

Background:
- Civ IV BtS V3.03
- 1 G Memory
- NVIDIA GeForce 6200 TurboChase
- background display in .ini - file turned off/1, because crashed with first wonder movie (helped with that but haven't seen info movie yet but little from start)

Technically I shoul'd have everything OK, have anybody else experienced this?

Wenla

 

[Wenla]

Again today, after 2,5 hrs playing. Same symptoms.

Next I'll look if it happens when I finish the game after an hour or so and start again. Memory leaks?

Wenla

 

[ori]

This sounds like some sort of graphics problem - have you tried reducing details?
Also: Welcome to CFC

 

[Wenla]

This sounds like some sort of graphics problem - have you tried reducing details?

No, I haven't (yet), I'll try to check first if it is tied for time.

Wenla

 

[Wenla]

And again today after 1,5hrs. Have to limit to the 1 hour, then save/out/in. If it doesn't help, have to reduse the quality of graphics (hate to do so )

Am I really only one with this problem?

There seems to be so many (also) graphical errors, that next patch have to do something for those also.

Wenla

 

[ori]

There are some graphics glitches that I expect to be solved by the patch that is due out any day now, but if yours persists one would have to dig deeper I fear.

 

[Wenla]

Finally game/PC gave me an error message, "Unable to allocate video memory", now already after ½hrs playing. So to the next step, reducing grpahical quality. Arggghhhh

I'll let you know (if it interests anybody) how it works.

Wenla

 

[Wenla]

Graphical quality turned to Medium, lasted a little bit longer (2½hrs), then crash.

Next turned to low, we will see...

Wenla

 

[ori]

"Unable to allocate video memory"

OK, now that is a word to work with
Apart from graphic settings in game there are a few graphic settings in your civilizationIV.ini file that you can use to preserve memory.
Also your card should have enough memory but somehow it does not - have you tried checking for a newer driver or firmware for the card?

 

[Wenla]

OK, now that is a word to work with
Apart from graphic settings in game there are a few graphic settings in your civilizationIV.ini file that you can use to preserve memory.
Also your card should have enough memory but somehow it does not - have you tried checking for a newer driver or firmware for the card?

I have 256 MB memory in my NVIDIA, should be enough. Different story, if Civ IV BtS can't use it correctly. I have updated driver every now and then, must to check current situation and propably update.

Thanks ori.

Wenla

 

[Wenla]

Of course I needed to upgrade display driver...

Going back to high quality graphics, so let's see what happens.

Wenla

 

[Wenla]

And crash

Back to medium graphics quality and new try.

Wenla

 

[Sowy]

It sounds to me like you have a flakey video card. If your monitor is going off then either your Video Card or your chipset on your motherboard is failing. However, Chances are it's your video card. Assuming you have a different video card (maybe borrow one from nearby comp).... try to swap it out and see if it happens. If it still happens then its your motherboard.

Some questions to ask yourself:

Does your Graphics Card fan run smoothly?
How much heat is generated around your video card?
Do the exact same things happen every time?
Does this happen in any other graphical game comparable to Civ?

I would consider power supply as a potential problem (power supplies over time are unable to provide the same level of power they used to, this can cause hardware to lose power and lead to hardware errors) but it seems to only happen with the video card. I wouldn't be surprized if Civ is failing to unload resources from the video card, or your video card is failing to understand the commands.

There is one other place you can go for info in your Administrative Tools - > event viewer then Application and/or System. See if there are any X style errors around the time you experienced your video card crash.

 

[Wenla]

If your monitor is going off then either your Video Card or your chipset on your motherboard is failing.

I can understan logic of this question, but monitor is going off because of "No signal".

Does your Graphics Card fan run smoothly?

Yes

How much heat is generated around your video card?

Don't know without heat camera

Do the exact same things happen every time?

No, crash time (= playing time) changes, and for example the intro movie freeze time changes every time (I'm looking it because I have seen it fully only once. Sounds are OK, but it freezes allways except once).

Does this happen in any other graphical game comparable to Civ?

This is good question because answer is "No". I play other games also, and those don't have any difficulties. IIRC, also Civ IV original had some this kind of difficulties first, but corrected via patch.

I wouldn't be surprized if Civ is failing to unload resources from the video card, or your video card is failing to understand the commands.

Me either, because this is something I except because troubles exists only with Civ IV BtS.

There is one other place you can go for info in your Administrative Tools - > event viewer then Application and/or System. See if there are any X style errors around the time you experienced your video card crash.

Can't find any. Reason might be also that mine OS language is Finnish and I can't find those.

Currently playing with latest driver version and medium graphics quality and looks (so far) promising.

Thanks for the help

Wenla

 

[Wenla]

And crashed again...

One more try with low quality graphics settings and then I have to give up, if it doesn't help.

I'll try to collect so much facts as possible. Is this correct place to add those, or "Bug Report Center" topic or what is the best place/method to get this to the developers for the possible fix?

Wenla

 

[ori]

Since it is BtS you could pm a mod (e.g. ainwood) to move this thread to the BtS Bug Reports section (it is currently in the Civ4/Warlords part).

 

[Wenla]

Since it is BtS you could pm a mod (e.g. ainwood) to move this thread to the BtS Bug Reports section (it is currently in the Civ4/Warlords part).

Perhana! (=a mild Finnish curse)

And I tought that I'm in correct place without checking it

I found out correct place and start new topic with accurate (?) facts and shorter.

Thanks, ori.

Wenla (moving on)