It's the moving trees...

[CautiousChaos]

Tell me if this isn't killing processing... When I zoom up close to a wooded area, the trees are swaying in the wind. Looks nice, granted. When I zoom out -- waaaay out -- and I set my card to remove filtering so everything is nice and crisp, those microscopic trees are still moving. I can't tell as easily if I have filtering on, which tends to remove jaggies.

I'm all for realism, but I'd also like to play the game at something more than 5 fps.

Now, if I move out to a non-wooded area or continent, guess what happens to the frame rate? Yep, it speeds up substantially.

Is there some option somewhere to disable the moving trees?

-cc

 

[Briareos]

Now, if I move out to a non-wooded area or continent, guess what happens to the frame rate? Yep, it speeds up substantially.

Is there some option somewhere to disable the moving trees?

Nope. Also, stopping the movement wouldn't help anyway, as that is just moving the tip of the tree around - but as with any other 3D game, the whole screen is redrawn each frame, so to get any noticeable speedup you'd have to get rid of the trees altogether to prevent them from being rendered...

np: Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Beobachtungen Im Wilden Leben (Die Letzten Tage Der Menschheit) (Twelve Inches (Disc 1))

 

[Divide Overflow]

Is there some option somewhere to disable the moving trees?
-cc

Yup. That option is called Workers. Research the required metal tech, make a horde of them and get 'em chopping!

 

[Old Dood]

Is there some option somewhere to disable the moving trees?

I think you have to talk to Treebeard. That is a job for the Ents.

 

[CautiousChaos]

Yup. That option is called Workers. Research the required metal tech, make a horde of them and get 'em chopping!

Hmm.. True, but they keep growing back! Argh! Nature. Is there any research path for herbicides?

-cc

 

[Astatine]

You're right, CautiousChaos, it would be good if the moving tree effect would turn off as you zoom out (which it does of course, but at almost the same time that the even more CPU intensive cloud cover animation turns on). Ideally I would like to see the trees move only in extreme close up and still be able to disable the effect.

Briaros, while you're right to say that the scene is drawn again each frame, that doesn't make the moving tree effect cheap. CPU time is needed to calculate the new shape for the tree model so that it has a natural sway, then processor time from either the CPU or the graphics card GPU is used to transfer the new model to the graphics card (using some bus bandwidth, which is also a limited resource). Then because the 3D model of the scene has changed the graphics card has to repeat a lot of work that with static trees could have been avoided (until something in the 3D scene moved or the player moved his viewpoint). Graphics card features like "TruForm(tm)" also kick in for rounded models like the trees and this can increase the overhead involved further.

All in all it is a very expensive effect relative to the benefit to game play. Disabling the tree sway and the cloud cover on the globe view could help a lot of computers to run Civ IV more smoothly.