Post-patch slowdown

[whipsilk]

Originally posted to the patch thread; no response, so I'll try here.

Unlike many others here, my experience is that the patch has rendered the game unplayably slow. Before the patch, things ran fine, at least until near the end of the game. Now, when my turn comes up, I get the next turn 'banner' in the lower right, then after about 20-30 seconds, it will select a unit to move (trying to manually select the unit does nothing). I move it - no delay on the move itself, but then there's another 20-30 second delay before it selects another unit, and clicking the 'next unit' arrow does nothing. Once the last unit has moved, there's another 20-30 second delay before the unit's info box disappears, and then there's another 15-20 second delay before "A unit needs orders" changes to "Next turn". I'm only on turn 7, and it's taken some 20 minutes.

My graphics card (ATI Radeon) driver is up to date, I've got no graphics issues, and seen no error messages. I'm not enabling any mods. The amount of time between turns seems reasonable - it's not as long as the delay before each of my unit selections. It's just that the game takes a LONG time to select units on my turn. I've also noticed that, while waiting if a unit has already moved and has an info box in the lower left corner, ALL option icons display correctly, but when I mouse over the icon, every single one shows the pop-up text for ATTACK.

As mentioned, the game ran fine before the patch. Does anyone have any explanation of this behavior?

 

[whipsilk]

After seeing several references to the Verify Files process, I tried it - the result was 2 files found corrupted. Steam downloaded and replaced them. I tried the game again - same result (slowdown selecting units, or moving from one unit to the next). I ran verify files again - 2 bad files found, and replaced. Tried the game again - same slowdown. So this time I deleted the game and reinstalled it from Steam. Verified files, and everything was fine. Ran the game - same slowdown. Returned to Steam and verified files again - 2 files were found to be bad, and replaced. Went through the cycle again - same results. I'm using DX 10/11, so it's not the DX9 issue.

So now it seems that running the game, at least on my Win7 machine, actually corrupts files, causing the dramatic slowdown described in the post above. Does anyone have any clue how to resolve this? As it stands, the game is unplayable. I would love to go back to the pre-patch system, when the game ran fine, but don't believe there's any way to do that. HELP, please!

I've attached my dxdiag file in case that helps.

 

[BSPollux]

Just as a potential work-around: did you try to deactivate the automatic unit cycling?

Maybe youre lucky and the problem is connected to that and you can avoid it..? At least until a real fix is found

 

[whipsilk]

Just as a potential work-around: did you try to deactivate the automatic unit cycling?

Nice idea; I tried it, but the delay is still there. Very frustrating.

 

[Supr49er]

I also have this ridiculous slow problem.
I stopped playing. Does anyone know how to fix this??

 

[whipsilk]

So if, by this time, this delay in selecting units has been ignored by both Firaxis and the trying-to-help CivFanatics mod(s), although at least two of us have reported this specific issue, should we assume that no one is looking at this and we just have a permanently broken Civ5? I posted my DXDiag (which shows a two-year-old graphics driver - but sadly there's no update available; both Windows and Toshiba itself claim the one I have is the latest).

Several others, with different issues from mine, have reported that they've found and replaced bad files, via Steam's verify files process, multiple times, as is the case with me. I continue to wonder if somehow the game itself is corrupting one or more files when it loads or plays. Is Firaxis looking into this?

This is all extremely frustrating. Even more frustrating is the fact that Steam won't allow games to return to a pre-patch state, when - apparently for many people and certainly for me - the game played without a hitch.

 

[timtofly]

They will eventually send out another patch. It is inevitable.

 

[The_J]

Before the patch, at the recent patch, did you have there the same problem?

 

[whipsilk]

Before the patch, at the recent patch, did you have there the same problem?

No, the delay only started after installation of the latest patch.

 

[The_J]

That sadly nullifies my idea.
But I see you have a rather old graphics card driver (2 years), and since your card is also a weak one, and the problems might stem from an inefficiency in the display, I'd recommend that you update it.
The Toshiba site might say that it's the newest driver, but it isn't. Please try to install one of the generic drivers directly from ATI.

 

[Supr49er]

The_J,

Do you have a procedure for updating the driver?
Mine also thinks it's up to date.

 

[The_J]

Normally I'd begin with trying to run the generic AMD drivers (link).
Does this itself work, or do you get an error message (which happens e.g. for Intel laptop drivers)?
Apparently it should work, but you can never be sure :/. ATI offers a tool to auto detect if a laptop is compatible or not, but this one sadly doesn't work for Toshiba notebooks .
Normally I'd then recommend alternative drivers, but it seems that the omega drivers only support ATI cards up to the HD3000 series .

 

[SarahEspresso]

This sounds like the GameCoreThreading bug at work. Go to My Document/My Games/Sid Meier's Civilization 5/ and open config.ini in notepad. Look for the line EnableGameCoreThreading = 1 and change it to EnableGameCoreThreading = 0. Save and restart the game.

This is a video tutorial I made, that shows the bug in action, as well as how to fix it: http://youtu.be/BmLGc0clqLg

 

[whipsilk]

This sounds like the GameCoreThreading bug at work. Go to My Document/My Games/Sid Meier's Civilization 5/ and open config.ini in notepad. Look for the line EnableGameCoreThreading = 1 and change it to EnableGameCoreThreading = 0. Save and restart the game.

That, my dear sir, was precisely it! Thanks so much for your suggestion. Of course I may have other issues develop as the game progresses, but it's SUCH a relief to be able to play the first few turns at normal speed. How in the world did you ever uncover such an obscure solution?

For anyone who wants to check this, the line is near the end of the config file. I was surprised at all the mysterious commands in this file. I remember when configs were 6-10 lines long!

 

[SarahEspresso]

It was suggested on the 2K forums. I tested it myself, and it worked.

 

[Supr49er]

Thank you The_J and ragan651.

 

[timtofly]

Actually that was discussed here when the patch came out the day before G&K was released. I wonder if there is some one ambitious enough to start a thread that list all the "fixes" in the first post?

 

[SarahEspresso]

Well PCGamingWiki's got a pretty complete index of all the fixes I know about. There's just too many fixes for a single thread, I think. I could try writing it out in a post though...

Edit: Done, as you suggested.

 

[The_J]

I actually thought that this issue was already over/solved/would not appear again, and had therefore not considered adding it to the FAQ .

 

[SarahEspresso]

I actually thought that this issue was already over/solved/would not appear again, and had therefore not considered adding it to the FAQ .

I had hoped it was. I can say, with the new patch, it is much better than it used to be. It still happens, and now it happens for people it wasn't happening to before. I'm starting to get the feeling this bug is here to stay...