HELP! Won't run on ASUS G73 w/ ATI HD5870?? WTH?

[Cbear1883]

Brand new computer, well above recommended specs, and this stupid game still won't run? First I got black boxes, (anti-aliasing problem I guess) when I tried to play, then I updated my ATI driver and now the game crashes as soon as I start to play (within the first 5 turns). I can't even C-A-Delete out of it, I have to do a hard reboot. I don't know what to do. There should be no reason for problems like this. I'm not a friggin techie, so I don't know what people are talking about half the time. Can anyone help me get this stupid game up and running? Just let me know what info you need and where to get it. Please

 

[tokala]

Don't blame civ, blame ASUS
That laptop is prone to overheating, which can cause a computer the lock up completely like you described. You can use GPU-z to monitor and log the graphics chip temperature. It will probably go up to ~100°C within a minute or two while just looking at the civ5 menu screen or starting a game.

If the temperature stays below 90°C before crashing, we will have to look elsewhere for the problem.

 

[Cbear1883]

I don't think the pc is overheating, wouldn't I feel heat? It's on my lap and I'm not feeling anything, my old Toshiba used to get so hot it'd burn my legs so I don't think it's that. And this is going on as soon as the game starts, wouldn't it need time to at least warm up?

 

[plesniak]

I have this exact laptop computer, Asus Republic of Gamer model?? I found that the 10.9 and 10.10 catalyst drivers crash when trying to run Civ 5. I reinstalled the drivers that came with the laptop(catalyst mobility 10.8) The game runs very well all settings on high and very stable. Use the drivers that came with the laptop.

 

[The_J]

You should also enable the windowed mode, that will probably prevent you from rebooting after a crash.

 

[Cbear1883]

I have this exact laptop computer, Asus Republic of Gamer model?? I found that the 10.9 and 10.10 catalyst drivers crash when trying to run Civ 5. I reinstalled the drivers that came with the laptop(catalyst mobility 10.8) The game runs very well all settings on high and very stable. Use the drivers that came with the laptop.

Yepers that's the one! I did exactly that and it no longer crashes, however, I am still having serious problems with the game. It's playable, but I'm getting black boxes, and odd squares which severely hinder my view of the map (I'm sure you know what I mean but I can post a ss if you want to see). Since you have the same system, could you perhaps list your settings so that I can match? Ty

 

[plesniak]

Settings for the game I have everything graphically set at max or high, resolution set at 1920x1080 60 hz and msaa at 8. Vsync set to on.

As far as the computer settings for the video card: settings are at default other than vsync which is set at "on unless application states differently" and triple buffering set to on. These setting are found on the catalyst control center menu 3D settings pull down.

I have not experienced the black boxes are any other graphic anomalies...my only suggestion is to uninstall old video drivers before installing new ones...sometimes this can be a problem if you just installed the new(different) drivers right over top of the old ones.

I also discovered early on that Civ 5 was running in windows xp3 compatability mode which did not allow me to run with dirx10/11...this game runs far better in D10/11 than D9...This can be changed under the civ5 desktop icon under properties tab. Good luck and happy civving!

 

[Cbear1883]

I apologize, I'm going to have to play the stupid card here...I'm having a few problems, first, ever since I downloaded that driver update-which by the way was downloaded from he ATI site (which I have since fixed through an update throgh device mgr) I can no longer get into my ATI CCC, it gives me an error message "Catalyst Control Centre: Host application has stopped working" I'm not sure what caused it,but I can no longer access ATI in my taskbar anymore to make those changes. I'm afraid I might have done something to it when I "attempted" to update the driver. Any idea how to fix that? Also, regarding the black boxes and graphic problems, they started right off the bat, with the PC as it was out of the box. I tried to do the update to fix the problem, then the crashes started. Then I ran a driver check through device manager and it installed apparently a different driver which now allows for gameplay, but stil with the graphics problems. Do I need to reinstall the CCC? If so how do I do that? I'm so sorry I'm such an idiot, I'm not real knowledgeable when it comes to the inner workings of computers and I'm now afraid I'm going to really screw up my computer if I start uninstalling things.

I also don't see where I can change the compatibility mode in the Civ V/Properties menu?

 

[plesniak]

It sounds like the CCC is uninstalled or corrupted because you installed just the updated video drivers but not the updated catalyst control center. I updated off of the ATI site at first too. Go to the ASUS site and search for the driver suite for the 5870 card specifically. Download the 10.8 version drivers total package, not just the drivers.

Uninstall total driver suite and CCC package from windows contol panel menu(uninstall programs) When the CCC suite and entire ATI software are uninstalled reboot machine and run the new 10.8 driver suite install. then reboot machine again.

What you describe upon opening the box is basically what I did at first...i always update my drivers etc. And after I updated I had many problems and even did the same thing u did as far as messing up the CCC. Do a bit of reading on the 10.8 driver package online...on one of the sites i read i believe it does explain about not trying to install seperately the drivers and other software components seperately or mix and match...I found that the ATI site did not help for updates unless I again downloaded the version that came with the laptop(10.8) and then did the uninstall/install procedure i described above.

Hope that helps...I know it can be frustrating but stick with it, at worse u will become much better at fixing and troubleshooting this kind of problem with your laptop...eventually u will get it and forget all about the video drivers as u try and figure out how to beat the game!!

question: did u get the g73 with the 740 processor or the 720? I believe the card is the same regardless...I have the 740 processor.

 

[plesniak]

for the compatability setting maybe it was at the steam icon but I believe all desktop icons have this running under windows 7.

Right click on the desktop icon...
left click on properties tab in the menu...
left click on compatability tab...
there should be a few different options for adjusting this.
should be on default or windows 7


If still u cannot find this, either google windows 7 compatabilty settings or look it up under help on your computer. I have found that in the past a lot of questions can be solved by simply googling your question or posting on forums...answers may not come right away...but they will eventually come.

 

[plesniak]

oh google the release notes for the 10.8 drivers that is where I believe information was available regarding installing the total suite and not just the video drivers

 

[Cbear1883]

Ok I'm on the ASUS website, but I cant find any driver suite, do you recall where you found it? I'm looking in their download section...

 

[Cbear1883]

Ok I found it on another site so I'll let you know how it goes! Thanks for your help

 

[Cbear1883]

Well for some reason the CCC did not update, i'm not sure if I didn't uninstall it properly or what...I went through the control panel, and did an uninstall on the ATI Catalyst Install manager, as it is the only thing that I can see to remove. Am I missing something?

 

[plesniak]

No I believe that is all I removed too but I believe it also asked me if I wanted to uninstall all componenets or just the video drivers...If u are unable to get this to work properly I would start looking at doing a restore on your system. I had to do this after windows update screwed my system up and it would freeze immediately upon booting up. I restored the sytem to a date about 2 days prior and voila everything worked again...something definetly does not sound right...hopefully u made your back up disks like the system recommends. and if all else fails hopefully u bought it from memory express or another shop that has a good return or service policy...BTW these laptops from ASUS come with a 1 year replacement for dropped, surged or something else laptops...u could always drop it and send it back to ASUS and they will send u a new one...lol just kidding about the dropping although ASUS does have a warranty that covers this.

 

[Cbear1883]

Hey just thought I'd post this for anyone who had the same problem I did and finds themselves at this page. I never did end up getting my CCC to work, however the game, I found will only work "properly" running in DX9. The problem for me was always that I couldn't get it to LOAD in DX9 which is why it took me so long to fix my problem. If I run the desktop shortcut, it won't let me run the game in DX9, I have to do the following: (Windows 7 here)

From the start menu, under search programs and files, search "Steam", you should see the results pop up a file for the Civ V link. When I click on the Civ V link in THAT, for SOME reason it will load the game in DX9 from THAT link. I don't know why, all I know is my game now plays beautifully with no problems. So, if you're having the same problem (black tiles, checkerboard tiles, and other general graphics problems) and your computer is well above recommended specs, give DX9 a twirl, and try the above if you can't load it from the desktop shortcut!

 

[Nirbush]

I just bought the Asus G73jw-a1 with the nvidia card and have had no problems besides i cannot exit game without having to force close it when im done playing.