Lag to the point of unplayability

[PhilBowles]

A couple of days ago a Civ VI game froze on me - after restarting I found the game was lagging, to the extent that there was a noticeable delay when clicking units and movement was slow and jerky. Multiple new games and restarting the game had the same issue, and it wasn't solved with either verifying the integrity of the game cache, reinstalling the game, or optimising the graphics driver.

For context, I wasn't using any more memory or applications than usual and Civ VI has always run smoothly on this computer. I did think it could be a memory issue, but there is no improvement with performance when going down to smaller maps and no other application I've used has a similar issue, so it does appear to be something to do with Civ VI specifically.

Has anyone run across this and can they offer any advice? Thanks.

 

[Laurana Kanan]

When you say "no other application" does that include other gpu intensive programs/games? Also, what do you mean by "optimizing the graphics driver"? Are you talking about optimizing the game settings or reinstalling the drivers or something else?

 

[PhilBowles]

I shut down everything but Excel on one attempt - otherwise I was only using Google, Media Player and Lightroom, all of which I shut down to test Civ.

By the graphics driver, I just mean I used NVIDIA's Optimise option to ensure the settings were optimised - though again the game had been performing fine with no other changes to the computer so I know my machine can handle the default settings.

Also, I use no mods.

 

[Laurana Kanan]

I shut down everything but Excel on one attempt - otherwise I was only using Google, Media Player and Lightroom, all of which I shut down to test Civ.

What I meant was whether you've tried to run any other gpu intensive programs to see if they were also being affected. Not at the same time, just in general. Like other games, 3D rendering, or video editing. Higher resolutions can also be a factor (i.e. >4K). The three programs you listed aren't gpu intensive so they wouldn't necessary have any impact on your game graphics.

By the graphics driver, I just mean I used NVIDIA's Optimise option to ensure the settings were optimised.

So GeForce Experience then?

If your graphics driver is already up-to-date you could try a clean install by downloading the most recent drivers directly from Nvidia's site, completely deleting all traces of the Nvidia software - drivers & packages - on your computer with something like Guru3d's DDU utility and then installing the new drivers manually.

If a clean install doesn't work you might also try verifying the integrity of your Civ VI game files through Steam, manually checking for Windows updates in Update & Security, check to make sure you don't have any errors under Device Manager, or try running a test/benchmark with 3rd party software - something like UserBenchmark or Heaven Benchmark to see how well your GPU is performing.

 

[PhilBowles]

What I meant was whether you've tried to run any other gpu intensive programs to see if they were also being affected. Not at the same time, just in general. Like other games, 3D rendering, or video editing. Higher resolutions can also be a factor (i.e. >4K). The three programs you listed aren't gpu intensive so they wouldn't necessary have any impact on your game graphics.

Not simultaneously, but I've played both Starcraft II and Magic Arena (which I understand is surprisingly ntensive but haven't checked) separately and neither has shown any deterioration in their performance. Most of my highly memory-intensive games are on Steam, so I can't try running both those and Civ simultaneously. I just tried running Total War games - Warhammer crashed in the loading screen, but since Thrones worked without issues (slow loading, but that's typical) and without graphics deterioration, that reinforces my sense that this is a Civ VI-specific issue.

If a clean install doesn't work you might also try verifying the integrity of your Civ VI game files through Steam, manually checking for Windows updates in Update & Security, check to make sure you don't have any errors under Device Manager, or try running a test/benchmark with 3rd party software - something like UserBenchmark or Heaven Benchmark to see how well your GPU is performing.

I'd run basic benchmarks, but not a GPU benchmarj. UserBenchmark tells me the 3D graphics score is indeed low (7.01%) but doesn't provide any guidance as to why that might be, or what may have changed in the couple of days this has been an issue.

EDIT: The suggestion to reinstall the graphics card worked - turns out there was a bug in the latest update that rendered it incompatible with my computer. Thanks for the tip. Still puzzled that Civ VI is the only game I own that was noticeably affected.

 

[Laurana Kanan]

Glad you got it sorted!

 

[PhilBowles]

Glad you got it sorted!

Thanks for the help!

 

[Cagarustus]

I recently installed Civ again after a hiatus from it, and it is now lagging slightly, even in the early game. It never used to do this before. I have uninstalled all my drivers and reinstalled them, but no change. What's going on?