I have 1.2GB RAM on my machine, and Civ doesn't even get close to globbing it all, but my processor is very slow. I plan to increase my processor soon enough, but for now, is there any way to make Civ use more RAM (maybe caching some data in advance) to increase its performance?
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Memory and performance
- Thread starter Leahn
- Start date
That may depend on how large your Virtual Memory Manager is set to be. Afterall, the game was made to play for just a certain limit of memory, so if the Virtual Memory is large it may just use that first. Actually I never really thought about it, because in the end, Windows seems to do weird things sometimes and assume that you only use a computer for general purpose use.
So the first thing I found out about, seemingly, was the make the Virtual Memory the same size for Minimum Memory and Maximum Memory. That sets up a limit and makes Windows actually run faster. Also there is setting the graphics in the game to "Single Unit" shown instead of the default setting for the game, and low textures and the big one usually being Anti-aliasing given in the Options of the game -- and turning that off to zero.
Then there is the Options in the Graphics Card, and I can only give an example of mine - although I did own ATi graphics card at one time, and other cards way back when.
I have a Nvidia card, so when you right click on the desktop and go to the menu item "Properties" it gets up the video grahics card. On "Settings" there is the Advanced Button, there you will find that most video cards and drivers set up also for the default general purpose use. That mean that in one of the items shown when you click on the Tab usually the one given the Name of your Graphic's card - the model number to say, there is a menu item called "Perforamce" among the many others. At least on mine.
There when you get that little window up, there will be four items -- Image Quality, Vertical Sync, Anti-aliasing, and Ansiotrophic Filtering. Make sure that the Anti-aliasing, and Ansiotrophic Filtering is set to "Application Controlled" meaning whatever program you run may set that or not. The game will - but like stated above - make it zero to make your video graphics card run faster and perhaps in the process not relie on your microprocessor as much - as it may during the playing of the game. The Image Quality on mine as several settings, and usually it is Set to "High Performance" for computer games or at least "Performance" instead of "Image Quality" because games need the best performance. So click "Apply" on the bottom button and all of that to make your video graphic card run the fastest that it can.
Now all of that may help, but in the game you also can set the graphics to lower resolution and single units in the Options and that also has to be done. The game may not look as good but still it does not really look bad either. Then to make the game run faster, make sure you have the latest patch, and that will be that. On my old computer, I really could not play above a Standard Map and when patched not all that much on a Large Map depending on how many computer AI players are in the game. Never on a Huge Map. Since now I do have a faster microprocessor, I am running the game fine partly because of the patches that came out for the game and partly because I have a faster computer, but not the fastest.
As far as I know, all of this can be done, and even other programs can be used on your computer, like doing anything else, and it actually will not affect them that much -- unless you really are into graphics or something and want the best image quality. Actually on others I really do not see a difference, only in computer games, and that is because computer games usually demand more out of a computer in the first place then any other program.
So do that, and that is about all you can do until you get a faster computer, and make sure that the graphics acceleration is set all the way up on the graphics card also on that menu off of the desktop from Microsoft, and all of that, so the graphic card runs the fastest unless you get a problem with the game running tweaking the computer to run the fastest it can run, because again - you are usually just set for a general purpose computer type default, and there are those items above that can be set to make the computer run faster. I guess I run fast enough now, so I use the computer more normally now, then set the Virtual Memory Manager back like that, but still if you allow enough Virtual Memory, and the memory in the computer is enough for the game, that is all you can do. It is Windows swapping out the memory to the harddisk drive and back through the Virtual Memory Manager, so if you tell Windows in a sense not to do that, and set a limit to the Virtual Memory Manager, then perhaps Windows will not swap out the program to harddisk as much and use more internal memory for the game. Afterthat, you just need a faster computer though if things still slow down or on a Huge Map for the game, because that will be how all computers work anyway.
So the first thing I found out about, seemingly, was the make the Virtual Memory the same size for Minimum Memory and Maximum Memory. That sets up a limit and makes Windows actually run faster. Also there is setting the graphics in the game to "Single Unit" shown instead of the default setting for the game, and low textures and the big one usually being Anti-aliasing given in the Options of the game -- and turning that off to zero.
Then there is the Options in the Graphics Card, and I can only give an example of mine - although I did own ATi graphics card at one time, and other cards way back when.
I have a Nvidia card, so when you right click on the desktop and go to the menu item "Properties" it gets up the video grahics card. On "Settings" there is the Advanced Button, there you will find that most video cards and drivers set up also for the default general purpose use. That mean that in one of the items shown when you click on the Tab usually the one given the Name of your Graphic's card - the model number to say, there is a menu item called "Perforamce" among the many others. At least on mine.
There when you get that little window up, there will be four items -- Image Quality, Vertical Sync, Anti-aliasing, and Ansiotrophic Filtering. Make sure that the Anti-aliasing, and Ansiotrophic Filtering is set to "Application Controlled" meaning whatever program you run may set that or not. The game will - but like stated above - make it zero to make your video graphics card run faster and perhaps in the process not relie on your microprocessor as much - as it may during the playing of the game. The Image Quality on mine as several settings, and usually it is Set to "High Performance" for computer games or at least "Performance" instead of "Image Quality" because games need the best performance. So click "Apply" on the bottom button and all of that to make your video graphic card run the fastest that it can.
Now all of that may help, but in the game you also can set the graphics to lower resolution and single units in the Options and that also has to be done. The game may not look as good but still it does not really look bad either. Then to make the game run faster, make sure you have the latest patch, and that will be that. On my old computer, I really could not play above a Standard Map and when patched not all that much on a Large Map depending on how many computer AI players are in the game. Never on a Huge Map. Since now I do have a faster microprocessor, I am running the game fine partly because of the patches that came out for the game and partly because I have a faster computer, but not the fastest.
As far as I know, all of this can be done, and even other programs can be used on your computer, like doing anything else, and it actually will not affect them that much -- unless you really are into graphics or something and want the best image quality. Actually on others I really do not see a difference, only in computer games, and that is because computer games usually demand more out of a computer in the first place then any other program.
So do that, and that is about all you can do until you get a faster computer, and make sure that the graphics acceleration is set all the way up on the graphics card also on that menu off of the desktop from Microsoft, and all of that, so the graphic card runs the fastest unless you get a problem with the game running tweaking the computer to run the fastest it can run, because again - you are usually just set for a general purpose computer type default, and there are those items above that can be set to make the computer run faster. I guess I run fast enough now, so I use the computer more normally now, then set the Virtual Memory Manager back like that, but still if you allow enough Virtual Memory, and the memory in the computer is enough for the game, that is all you can do. It is Windows swapping out the memory to the harddisk drive and back through the Virtual Memory Manager, so if you tell Windows in a sense not to do that, and set a limit to the Virtual Memory Manager, then perhaps Windows will not swap out the program to harddisk as much and use more internal memory for the game. Afterthat, you just need a faster computer though if things still slow down or on a Huge Map for the game, because that will be how all computers work anyway.
Light-Giver
Warlord
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2007
- Messages
- 221
wow thats alot of info for that guy, here is a quick fix for a windows computer, when you first turn on the computer press F2, this screen will pop up and thats called the BIOs for thoughs who are not familure, scroll down with the down arrow to proformance and press the right arrow to get more options, scroll down to HDD acustics and press enter, scroll to proformance insted of quiet, this tells the computer that it can be a bit noisy when searching for files on the hard disk and search faster. I truly dont notice much of a diffrence in noise.
But the best thing i found was turning off the animated attack/defends will increase proformance greatly, also changeing the quality is a good way to increase proformance
But the best thing i found was turning off the animated attack/defends will increase proformance greatly, also changeing the quality is a good way to increase proformance
TheDS
Regular Riot
That's rather motherboard specific, and you don't want novices mucking around with their BIOS.
I'd say the best thing that could be done is reduce the graphical load from the game. Turn details down or off, turn off the ability to watch all the units moving, and so on. There's only so much that can be done, though.
I'd say the best thing that could be done is reduce the graphical load from the game. Turn details down or off, turn off the ability to watch all the units moving, and so on. There's only so much that can be done, though.
What processor and graphics card do you have?
If your running win xp. Go to run command and type dxdiag.
Save the information as a txt file and we will have a better idea how to improve the system.
Worst come to worst save up for a new pc. You can buy a decent pc with 2gb ram core 2 duo processor and reasonable graphics for under £500 now.
http://www.dmxdimension.com/blogcategory/dell_uk_inspiron_530s.html
If you already have a monitor thats just £379. You could probably add the monitor and sell it for more on ebay. if you run the transaction through quidco.com you can get 5% cashback too.
Worth asking guy on phone wattage of the power supply. if you want to add to the system Dell when i ordered were very negoitiable on price if you add more items to system such as ram and other higher spec.
Just be wary of Windows vista and Games compatibility. Eakkkk.
If your running win xp. Go to run command and type dxdiag.
Save the information as a txt file and we will have a better idea how to improve the system.
Worst come to worst save up for a new pc. You can buy a decent pc with 2gb ram core 2 duo processor and reasonable graphics for under £500 now.
http://www.dmxdimension.com/blogcategory/dell_uk_inspiron_530s.html
If you already have a monitor thats just £379. You could probably add the monitor and sell it for more on ebay. if you run the transaction through quidco.com you can get 5% cashback too.
Worth asking guy on phone wattage of the power supply. if you want to add to the system Dell when i ordered were very negoitiable on price if you add more items to system such as ram and other higher spec.
Just be wary of Windows vista and Games compatibility. Eakkkk.
You need more ram and mybe better g card. Hopefully your not using the onboard graphics chip. One, you stop using this. Two, a tiny improvement tip that gaurnatees(sp!) you a boost once you do. Its as follows:
1 press F2 when you turn on computer.
2. GO to BIOS and find the menu that lets you lower the default ram allocated to you intergrated graphics chip.
3. It will be set at 64mb. AS long as you have an external graphics card this is a waste so it can be saftly lowered to 8mb there by scoring you 56 mb of free ram for civ4 to utilize (may give you 5-10% more ram depending if your at 512mb or 1024mb, even more when you realize the OS is alotted a big junk of that.)
Sorry thats all I got. Try surfing your problem on the sites google engine till more answers come
1 press F2 when you turn on computer.
2. GO to BIOS and find the menu that lets you lower the default ram allocated to you intergrated graphics chip.
3. It will be set at 64mb. AS long as you have an external graphics card this is a waste so it can be saftly lowered to 8mb there by scoring you 56 mb of free ram for civ4 to utilize (may give you 5-10% more ram depending if your at 512mb or 1024mb, even more when you realize the OS is alotted a big junk of that.)
Sorry thats all I got. Try surfing your problem on the sites google engine till more answers come
My machine is a rather old, 1.6GHz 'dog' (can't play most of the newer games these days), and I noticed a lot of performance problems with Civ IV. Even with graphics settings set to the lowest, and with the single unit option turned on, etc. the game would start "freezing" somewhere in the middle of the game (around the 1700-1800's) as my machine spiraled up to 100% performace usage/lockdown. I couldn't play with any more than 10 races, and I just kind of resigned myself to the fact that I needed a better machine to play the game.
Then I started looking into my page file/memory settings. I have 1GB RAM, but only 512MB virtual memory was set up for paging. As an experiment, I increased the paging size to 3GB and loaded one of the many saved games that were stuck in "freeze mode". To my surprise, the freezing was completely gone, and the game played without a single problem. I even turned graphics settings back up, turned off the single unit limit, and added several more civs to my next game. Everything has been fine since.
Virtual memory seems to be a huge factor in the performance of this game. The 512MB recommended RAM requirement is kind of misleading; I suppose it would make sense if it also recommended a faster machine; the 1.8Ghz recommended processor speed is rather low, in my opinion. The recommended requirements make no mention of virtual memory, even though it appears to make quite a difference.
Then I started looking into my page file/memory settings. I have 1GB RAM, but only 512MB virtual memory was set up for paging. As an experiment, I increased the paging size to 3GB and loaded one of the many saved games that were stuck in "freeze mode". To my surprise, the freezing was completely gone, and the game played without a single problem. I even turned graphics settings back up, turned off the single unit limit, and added several more civs to my next game. Everything has been fine since.
Virtual memory seems to be a huge factor in the performance of this game. The 512MB recommended RAM requirement is kind of misleading; I suppose it would make sense if it also recommended a faster machine; the 1.8Ghz recommended processor speed is rather low, in my opinion. The recommended requirements make no mention of virtual memory, even though it appears to make quite a difference.
No one seems to have answered your question. The correct answer is "No".
Civ4 will use more than 1GB of RAM, but only on huge maps with a lot of civs active. There's no way to get it to use more RAM to increase speed, mostly because none of the speed problems are caused by loading data.
Civ4 is very much a CPU-bound program, so getting a faster processor is your best bet. Depending on your system, getting a new processor might mean a new motherboard and new RAM as well. 2GB is more than sufficient for running Win2K/XP and the biggest Civ4 game you can create. If you plan on installing Vista, however, you'd be better off making it at least 3GB.
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