I have a Top End System and this game is buggy

[Auroralight]

Well lets start with specs

P4 3.0@(3.7)
1GB PC4400
Geforce 6800 GT@(ultra specs)
Asus P4P800SE
Pagefile@3.5GB
CPU/Graphics Card watercooled(40c load/39c load)
All drivers and windows XP up to date.


Games run on Huge Map, medium detail, minimum resolution

Here are the problems I have been having so far. (1) Studdering of ingame movies.(2) Massive slowdown after world map revelled.(3) Crashes to desktop after 2 hours of game play.(4) Disappearing units.(5) Game freezes when advisor screens pulled up.(6) MASSIVE(i.e. beyond normal) use of pagefile.

I this fraxis should get to work on these problems, 1,2,3,5,and 6 are the tell tell signs of a memory problem with the game, not proof mind you, but very suggestive. 4 is the sign of a graphics bug, no doubt about that.

I read about a lot of bugs, some of what is report to be a bug is just minimum spec system topping out. But if Iam having these problems it is not due to be close to the minimum specs there has to be some issue with the coding of the game.

The lack of response from Faxsis about the problems report from users is a bit disturbing. So maybe the admins can creat a forum for consolidated bugs listes and email it to fraxis.

I did a little test, I loaded the game in window, not full screen, and watched the memory usage of the game. I then loaded a saved game, CIV4 then took 994mb of physical memory and 125mb of pagefile and this was without cycling even 1 turn. After cycling one turn RAM usage was up to 996mb and the pagefile was 127mb. cycled another turn RAM stayed at 996mb and pagefile was 129mb. so on and so forth. Definitely looks like a memory leak to me and one massive memory hog to boot.

 

[mrgenie]

the problem is not the problems itself, because software problems can be solved! the Problem is the lack of interest of firaxis to explain the civ-customers about what is going on, about IF they understood all the complaints, IF they are going to change things, IF they know how they can tackle down the problems, give us estimated times for patch releases, so at least we know what we're up too, explaining us WHY these failures got into the game( I bet it's only because of 2kgames marketing strategic because this criminal organization only uses civ as income source without supporting the customers, i wonder why on earth the Firaxis team got involved with such criminals and leave them in power of everything that's happening now around civ, civ should have stayed a true firaxis issue).
So that's my biggest concern. Not the Problems itself, even they are annoying like hell, but the lack of Firaxis to explain us users what we're facing at! But im pretty sure 2Kgames is controlling everything and forbid firaxis to talk to the civ-community. with civ3 you got statements and press releases about problems and how they are going to solve it..now this 2kgames is in charge and the only thing we've got is a black-out of communication between customers and manufacturer..I assume that is the biggest change(however definitly no improve) in the civ versions. I must say, however I regret they took out at least 5times more options as they entered new ones into the games, i do recognize the 3D is awesome, the idea of improving units is unique(however not really an improve, i never got units more then 20exp..leaving most upgrades unreachable for my units, there should be some training camp where you can train units, training cost 5gold/unit per turn, need 2turns per experience, in case of war, you need to wait 4turns for redeploy9ing units out of a training facility back into cities for combat, maximum 1training camp per 5 cities, training camps shoudl not be an building in a city but a improvement...giving specials to training camps on different terrain types(ie, training camp on hills can give train units Hill-improvements, training camps in woods improve wood tactics etc etc) there can be so much more in civ4...but they didnt...the took out at least 50options from civ3 to introduce 3 or 4 new ones, it's a step backwards on the diversity of the game, however an improve in graphics, but that's all!! handling your empire..i read reviews from IGN and others..they all lie!! i have MUCH LESS possibilities to handle my empire. I can't tell the governer in game:"only build this type of units, dont build settlers, don't build this dont buidl that, etc etc" I cannot use the QUEUE or QUICKBUY from the main-window, I always MUST go into the city..there is no overal unit statistic screen as in civ3..well, there is the F5, which is mainly useless..the overal game has decreased in its diversity, i might even consider just go back to civ3, and forget about civ4, I just threw away 50dollar for a bunch of setbacks, not many options, performance issues, bugs as much as I normally find in 2months in 10different games i find them in civ4 within 1 single day already. it's ashame how sid allowed them to f*** up the hardcore civ fans!!

 

[AsnoT]

another problem is people going on about how brilliant their computer is, and how it's all the game's fault.

1GB ram is NOT top end, and a page file of 3.5 GB is ridiculous. i would also have my doubts about the asus board, they lost any advantage they had about 2 years ago.

the issue with civ4 is not sheer performance, it's compatibility, as is most often is.

Here are the problems I have been having so far. (1) Studdering of ingame movies.(2) Massive slowdown after world map revelled.(3) Crashes to desktop after 2 hours of game play.(4) Disappearing units.(5) Game freezes when advisor screens pulled up.(6) MASSIVE(i.e. beyond normal) use of pagefile.

i have lower specs and don't experience (1) (2) (4) (5) and of course (6) (set your pagefile to 1 or 2 gb and defrag it).

i had some crashes to desktop, mostly connected to repeated re-loading of a game or inadvertent (thanks, mIRC) task switching, and one non-repeatable BSOD.

 

[onedreamer]

another problem is people going on about how brilliant their computer is, and how it's all the game's fault.

1GB ram is NOT top end

heh, sorry man but for a game like Civ 1GB RAM is quite a lot, especially when the minimum requirements are 256 MB RAM. He even has PC4400 which I would definitely call top end...

 

[mrgenie]

another problem is people going on about how brilliant their computer is, and how it's all the game's fault.

all software these days is not programmed as effectively as it was 20years ago...faster computers makes it possible for software developers to use Visual programming and a bunch of standard made routines, which in many cases are not the best solutions..they are made for a general purpose and not for a specific..general means in most cases more stability in the various software codes, going coherent with more processing power needed, hence meaning your system must do more work...many routines could be up to 10times faster, but it would recommend to prgram alot of code manually which would make developing time instead of 2 years maybe 20years..so, you could say its a software failure always because no software is using optimal routines..some system critical routines are done manually though, else software would get much too slow, but mainly, its nothing more then using routine-libraries.

1GB ram is NOT top end, and a page file of 3.5 GB is ridiculous. i would also have my doubts about the asus board, they lost any advantage they had about 2 years ago.

1Gb 4400 is Top, not End because you indeed could buy 3Gigs, but unless your using CAD no decend piece of software ever would need it. not even strategy games! unless there are flaws in the memory program! if each tile and unit is represented by 32bit(4Byte)(allowing up to Billion of different types of units/terraintiles/city/items/etc etc) it means on a 100x50map you would need 20Kbyte of RAW DATA to represend just the data..of course you need visualisation..but hell, 20kb of RAW Data! hello, not 600Megs of Physical RAM!! so most memory is used for loading routines, graphics, eyc eyc...just to process the data..that's what most memory is used for...so why the hell most games can do it with 50 or 100Megs of RAM and civ suddenly needs 500% more resources?

the issue with civ4 is not sheer performance, it's compatibility, as is most often is.

I don't agree, it's both!

i have lower specs and don't experience (1) (2) (4) (5) and of course (6) (set your pagefile to 1 or 2 gb and defrag it).

I second that, i didnt notice some of these, thought some errors i definitly had too! but really, didnt saw units dissappear! )) funny though maybe you have a secret wizard of OZZ? anyway, i didnt notice much different between 1Gigs of virtual memory or 4Gigs, at least not at performance, i do however crash less often on huge maps with 4gigs!!

i had some crashes to desktop, mostly connected to repeated re-loading of a game or inadvertent (thanks, mIRC) task switching, and one non-repeatable BSOD.

I can only second this as one of the reasons i've crashed...i do crash even without these processes running background! so there's more then you experienced, maybe you just have a bit more compatible system..but it sure isnt normal a game crashing because of MSN or IRC!

 

[AsnoT]

1Gb 4400 is Top, not End because you indeed could buy 3Gigs, but unless your using CAD no decend piece of software ever would need it. not even strategy games! unless there are flaws in the memory program!

you could actually buy TWO gb of ram - that is what 32 bit windows supports, 3 GB is useless. therefor, not top end.

mIRC didn't actually crash it, but a stupid event window popped up and restoring the (still running) civ fullscreen left me with a map and no interface

 

[mrgenie]

heh? map with no interface?? that's new jesus, isnt there working anything in that game?

about windows supporting 2Gigs? ehm, you mean W2K!! winXP is definatly writtin in the MS Knowledge Base articles that the Windows XP Professional can handle up to 4GB of RAM and according to Microsoft, the same is true for XP Home. (last is not written in the knowledge base but stated on some press releases, so i cannot verify it also supports up to 4Gigs on a home edition)

and about Top end..it's crazy that we would actually need that! we don't need to discuss it, because, if this single game would actually need such requirements, well, i cannot believe it would..I have extremely large 3D technical drawings of various car engines from Ford/Daimler crysler in Solidworks, and it runs smootly on a 1Gig maschine, i run AoE3 on a 1Gig maschine, RTW-BI, SH2 and alot of other things..i load 20 large photos on coreldraw while encoding home made DVD's and listening Mp3's running alot of background task, including updating, MS autoroute, opera, eudora and everything..without any problem..and i can hardly believe Civ4 would require more then all those programs woudl need to run at the same time!

 

[Auroralight]

I had to increase my pagefile to 3.5GB so that i could play for somewhat decent amount of time and not crash as often, i normally run a pagefile at about 1.5gb or lower. Well I could Have another gig of ram, I shouldn't need 400-500 dollars worth of RAM to play a game so that it doesnt crash every two hours or so. While my system is not in the rarified atomosphere of 5000 dollars system, it is more than what 90% of gamer have. SO i would have to say that it does qualify as top end.

Hell I run Doom3 at 72 fps and it runs great, and some levels of Doom3 are 500mb. So if i can run Doom3 so well Asnot, you must be saying that CIV4 is a more intensive game hardware wise than Doom3, and quite frankly I dont beleive it.