Performance problems choppy mouse movement and audio

[stevengood]

Hi just purchased and installed Civilization IV last night 3/10/2006 and upgraded to the most recent patch. In tutorial mode I did not notice any problem but when playing the game in both Single Player mode, and Multiplayer with a friends direct connection, I experienced massive amounts of choppy performance with both the audio sounds (background music) being choppy and also the mouse movements would be stuttering/choppy.

I tried lowering the render/resolution/video to medium quality, that did not help, I tried changing to window instead of full screen, that did not help.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, the game is great, but a pain to play because of the performance.

Please note: I do not have any performance problems with Diablo II or Never Winter Nights.

Here are my current system specs:

Window XP fully up to date with most recent service packs and patches.

Compaq Presario SR1300NX system that has gone through massive upgrades

AMD Semperon 3000+
Processor speed 2 GHz
512 KB Layer 2 cache
333 MHz Buss

1 GB PC2700 DDR SDRAM (system is maxed out at 1 GB)

Realtek audio for on board VIA Audio Controller

NVIDIA PCI GeForce4 MX 4000 Adapter 128 MB
with 17” LCD and S-Video TV attached
LCD is primary screen
TV is third screen (used with PVR and video editing only)
(*** The game is played on this monitor)
Running latest NVIDIA driver 6.14.10.4523

NVIDIA AGP GeForce 2 GTS 32 MB
With 17” LCD second screen
Running latest NVIDIA driver 6.14.10.4523

Over 1.5 TB of hard drive storage I have several 250 GB drives have of the space is used for backup/mirror of the primary drives
Cable modem with Road Runner connection good throughput

Internal DVDRW 16X dual layer
External USB DVD ROM

 

[karloslim]

I had the same problem as you in single player (although I've never tried multiplayer) so this might work.

Apart from suggesting updating all drivers, particularly soundcard drivers try making sure all anti virus/firewall software is off. Ensure it is off in the processes list in task manager. When I had my Zonealarm Suite switched on the game took at least 5 mins to load and then ran very choppy in the game. Switched off it loads in about 15 seconds and runs smooth (although like most it slows way down in the late stages of the game).If you're worried about running without a firewall just switch on the windows firewall in the security centre-it doesn't seem to conflict with the game.

Hope this helps-Civ 4 is a very temperamental child!

Edit: Sorry just checked your system specs and your graphics cards are at the low end for the game. That may be your problem.

 

[auldian]

After driver updates and standard maintenance stuff ...
I suggest reducing video quality to absolute minimum. Make any CivilizationIV.ini tweaks to reduce graphic and RAM requirements. The PCI graphics adapter may be limiting (I assume it's primary adapter, as it's listed 1st in post). Have you tried switching to the AGP card to play/check performance?
Verify "Speakers" in the game's Audio Options is set to System Configuration and not mono, eax, etc.
If you are on a closed LAN, and not hooked to the internet, shut down ZoneAlarm and your antivirus if you're comfortable with them off. At minimum, give civilization4.exe server privileges and flag it for "changes frequently". You may also exclude the Civ4 folder and subfolders from antivirus autoprotect, again, if you're comfortable doing so.
Let us know if you see an improvement. Good luck.

 

[Zanmato]

Running latest NVIDIA driver 6.14.10.4523

In addition to those suggestions, I notice the driver you're running is alittle old, the latest is 6.14.0010.8198. You can get it from here, http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_81.98.html

Hopefully, it might help.

 

[jensen5007]

As far as the choppy mouse do u have the trails on your mouse? if so turn them off and the mouse will stop being so choppy!

 

[stevengood]

I have tried some of the suggestions, and in single player mode they have helped a little bit.

I may have to upgrade my video card, since my system has two cards, I guess the correct one to upgrad is the AGP slot. That also happens to have the lower end of the two Nividia cards I have. The AGP is the Geforce2 and the PCR was the Gforce 4000.

I will try some of the other suggestions including going to the newer driver. But since my system was not original purchased for gaming, and my upgrade where not with gaming in mind, I am still thinking it may be best to upgrade the AGP video card.

Any suggestions as to what card to purchase, perhaps on a scale. I am not sure I want to purchase a card that costs $300 or more ( I am not into gaming that much ), but I also don't want to purchase a card and find out I still have the problem.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

FYI: I have already done the following as suggested.

Disabled - turned off some of the video game settings
Lowered the overall game video resolution
Changed the game audio from mono (default) to system

Changed from full screen to window (did not seem to help but I like that mode)

Tried to run the game on my other monitor/video card. This also did not seem to help, as my second monitor card was the AGP Geforce2 with 64MB, so it may of been AGP, but it was an older card with less memory.

 

[stevengood]

As far as the choppy mouse do u have the trails on your mouse? if so turn them off and the mouse will stop being so choppy!

Sorry, I guess when I said mouse movement, I should have mentioned that Video in general was choppy. As I said this got a little better with some of the suggestiosn, but I guess I need to upgrade the Video card also.

 

[senwiz]

I have tried some of the suggestions, and in single player mode they have helped a little bit.

I may have to upgrade my video card, since my system has two cards, I guess the correct one to upgrad is the AGP slot. That also happens to have the lower end of the two Nividia cards I have. The AGP is the Geforce2 and the PCR was the Gforce 4000.

I will try some of the other suggestions including going to the newer driver. But since my system was not original purchased for gaming, and my upgrade where not with gaming in mind, I am still thinking it may be best to upgrade the AGP video card.

If you have the Gforce 4000, you shouldn't need the Geforce2 at all, unless you do a lot with the second monitor. I would see which monitor the game thinks it should be using. If it directly trying to use the older card, that may be your issue. The primary, built in I'm assuming, should be able to handle it already.

The whole mouse issue does sound video related.

The sound issue, in single player, is likely, sound card related. I would check the sound drivers and settings as has been suggested. If the sound card is builtin, that is likely your issue there, at least in single player mode.

As for multiplayer mode....That is, most likely, due to whatever connection speed you are getting. Trying running a ping to the server you are connecting too. The higher the number, the slower the speed. You can reduce the graphics to low to help speed that up. I would also turn off your firewall before logging in to it. If you have a router, configured correctly, you shouldn't have any need for an internal, software based, firewall anyways, IMO.

 

[auldian]

Any suggestions as to what card to purchase, perhaps on a scale. I am not sure I want to purchase a card that costs $300 or more ( I am not into gaming that much ), but I also don't want to purchase a card and find out I still have the problem.

I've been considering this Sapphire Radeon X1600 since I'm stuck with AGP for while yet. There's a new bus for video called PCI-E that's a good product but that switch would likely precipitate a new processor, ram, yada, big bucks, more bucks

 

[Zanmato]

There's a new bus for video called PCI-E that's a good product but that switch would likely precipitate a new processor, ram, yada, big bucks, more bucks

Yes, but there is little need to switch to PCI-E at the present moment since no is no real performance gain from switching to that bus. Give it a while longer and the PCI-E systems can only drop in price anyway.

 

[tekjunkie]

just use ur geforce 4000 and if that dont work get a new card, but make sure u have an agp slot available.