please help me im not too bright!!!

[robpurf]

finally got civ IV today and got it installed got a game going and i cant see any terrain.im brutal at the tech side of computers but ive freed up heaps of memory and the only thing i can put it down to is my graphics card.i dont even know what one my pc has.i have a fijisu siemens scaleo j computer with a amd sempron processor.is it that ive a rubbish computer or can i download something to get all my graphics going on the game???thanks and sorry for clogging the board

 

[robpurf]

anyone out there at all or are you sitting there all too smug to help

 

[ori]

welcome to cfc and you can have to wait some time around this tech support forums - especially a t x-mas time

can you post more specifics of your computer? how much memory and what cpu speed? the graphics card should be listed when you click start, then run and then type dxdiag
are you just seeing black terrain or what exactly is the problem?

 

[GVBN]

Use dxdiag to find out what video card you have then update your video card driver

 

[robpurf]

welcome to cfc and you can have to wait some time around this tech support forums - especially a t x-mas time

can you post more specifics of your computer? how much memory and what cpu speed? the graphics card should be listed when you click start, then run and then type dxdiag
are you just seeing black terrain or what exactly is the problem?

thanks mate yeah just pure black terrain the map in the corner shows cities villages and resources show but the actual terrain doeant.im not tech minded at all its a pure disgrace

 

[ori]

as already noted: post your dxdiag results, update the necessary video card drivers and try updating civ4 to its most recent patch - if the problem still persists it gets trickier - but it sounds like a graphics card driver problem mostly...

 

[robpurf]

thanks ori i launched the read me just there and it says the minimum ram for running it on windows xp is 512 but its only 256 on windows 2000 ive windows xp with 480 ram would that be it

 

[ori]

thanks ori i launched the read me just there and it says the minimum ram for running it on windows xp is 512 but its only 256 on windows 2000 ive windows xp with 480 ram would that be it

480 RAM is unlikely you more likely have 512 and some chipset (e.g. your graphics card) is eating some of that, in that case I'd be worried that your graphics card uses only 64 MB of memory which might be on the low side, but as I said: post the dxdiag results and we can do more than guess...
That said: 512 MB is on the very low end of the actual requirements - while it should *run* on your machine it will have issues - Civ4 is really reliant on a lot of memory...

 

[robpurf]

right im not sure what you need to know but here goes its a fujitsu siemens sacleo j system model ms 7181 bios phoenix award bios v6.00pg amd sempron processor300+ mmx 3d now 1.8ghz 480 ram page file 261mb used 861 mb available direct x 9 when i ran the game again there the right hand third of the screen was ok then the rest was black terrain as usual

 

[ori]

it would be easiest if you would just click on save information in the dxdiag box and post all.
what I am curious about is what graphics card you have, the rest is in the information you give.
Seriously I would try:
patch the game to 1.61, then to 1.74 - you can download the patches from this site's main page
update the driver for your graphics card - this is something you need to get from the vendor of your card and/or computer (fujitsu should have a support page with updated drivers).

 

[robpurf]

here goes i tried the fujitsu site earlier it said i had no up dates im probably frustrating the hell ouuta you but like i said im lost on the technical aspect.ill try attaching what you asked for

 

[robpurf]

just downloaded the patch and installed and it told me my pc is below recommended settings so it may not be so good but i have a map thanks for your help

 

[ori]

I am sorry to have to break these news to you:

from the Official Site:

Minimum System Requirements

Operating System:
Windows® 2000/XP

Processor:
1.2 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or equivalent

Memory:


256 MB RAM (Windows 2000) / 512 MB RAM (Windows XP)

Hard Disk Space:


1.7 GB Free

CD-ROM Drive :
4X Speed

Video:


DirectX 9.0c-compatible 64 MB video card with Hardware T&L support ( GeForce 2/Radeon 7500 or better)

Sound:


DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card

DirectX®:


DirectX® version 9.0c (included) or higher

Your video card only has 32 MB of memory and that is not even its own, it is using those MBs from your system memory (which is the reason why your 512 MB only show up as 480 MB) - there is not much you can do to get Civ4 to run on such a card the only real option would be to get a different card. I am sorry but the minimum requirements are really just the requirements to have it run somehow - you should ideally exceed them...

 

[robpurf]

thanks for your help i can take it on the chin