Running out of patience...

[Fatty]

The first game i played (before any of the patches), ran without a single issue to the end of the game. Giddy-up. Ever since the patches have started to roll out, i've been having problems. Initially it was graphic instability (lots of lines and blinking) in the late-game, but now after 1.52 it's crashing at completely random times. I've nerfed down the graphics to medium and played on a standard map, but it crashed earlier than it has on any of my games previous. I feel like every measure i try to implement from the forums here results in more performance issues.

I thought my computer met all the recommended specs, so i'm more than a little frustrated that this game isn't working.

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. Sorry to be "throwing this out there".

Fatty.

 

[Zydor]

Couple of things to think on,

The card may cause issues in the Huge games and Large maps late games as it has limitations. Not a lot you can do about that apart from reducing the load on graphics and main ram as much as you can. Lots of posts on that in the first two pages of the forum. The changes from V1 to V1.52 placed more work on the video card, yours felt that as its on the edge for 3D games.

From the Dxdiag
Page File: 422MB used, 1270MB available
422Mb used is HUGE if there was no game running. If there was something else running, then please close it down, and repost a new dxdiag.

If nothing was running.... then need to close down all services and apops in the background via MSconfig - they try the game again (careful u dont shut down XP services). If not sure how to do this, post again

Regards
Zy

 

[Fatty]

Thanks for the response Zydor. I don't remember what i had open at the time, so i've re-posted my dxdiag with only IE and Norton Antivirus running. Page file is still at 268MB... is that considered high?

I recently added another 512MB of RAM to my comp, but didn't know that i needed to change the size of the page file in windows. After i posted here, i did a little research and realized that my page file was too small for 1024MB of RAM... so i changed windows to automatically size my page file. This is reflected in my latest dxdiag.

I know how to shut down the processes, i just don't know which ones i need!! I've got over 40 processes running, and a number of them more than once. Any help here would be appreciated.

Thanks again.

Fatty

oops... maybe i don't know what you're talking about with the msconfig. I was using my windows task manager to view the active processes.

 

[Zydor]

Below is a lot I know ..... its aimed at reducing the load on the card and main system RAM, get a pot of black coffee and a can of replacement wall plaster & give it a go ...

The page file getting down to a reasonable size, need to try to get it down a bit more, below 200 is ideal - 230(ish) ok dont loose sleep on the latter value.

By now doubtless you have had many trys at sorting it. I strongly suggest you do a clean deinstall/install - see

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=152620

Make sure you have loaded Patch V1.52, but, also ensure that the memsaver switch in the ini file is set to 0 (figure 0 not a letter O). The reason is that 1.52 placed more load on video cards to help those with low main RAM, if memsaver is switched on (using a 1 in the ini file entry) it switches on that feature which you dont want as your graphics card is your weak spot.

Reduce System & Graphics Load
- Turn off textures in the game Options menu
- Set the game resolution to as low as possible
- set your desktop resolution to the same as you are going to use in the game
- set the res in the ini fileto16 bit or even 256 colours
- set the desktop refresh rate to 60Hz
- Turn off any background application or services running that you dont really need (via MSconfig). That includes going off line to play Civ, and turning off Anti-V & Firewall (obviously not an option if an MP)

Background Applications & Services
Start Button - Click - select Run - type "msconfig" no quotes - press enter
Click Service tab - tick the box "Hide all Microsoft Services"

tick the box "Hide all Microsoft Services" is very important - you MUST have this ticked to avoid stopping essential operating system services - it MUST be ticked (not empty)

Press disable all
Click the startup tab
Click disable all
Go back to Services Tab - double check the "hide all Microsoft Services" Box is ticked and not empty
Click ok at the bottom of the screen
Reboot
When it settles after boot, run the game.
If it works, bingo - read the intro above again

Sound Card
Yours is Jun 2003 driver, get an update, they can cause issues on the internal bus if out of date

Video Drivers
Try older Video drivers, they will suit your card better (more uptodate ones have features that your card know nothing about)
http://www.omegadrivers.net/
Click ATI Radeon - Click sub menu Archive - Click sub menu Win 2K
Scroll down that page until you see Radeon Omega Drivers 2.5.97a (Catalyst 4.12) they are not the latest,but they are a very stable reliable set, and probably better for your older setup. If they dont work properly, try Radeon Omega Drivers 2.6.83 (Catalyst 5.11) at the top of the page

ini File Changes
Go to
C:\Documents and Settings\New User\My Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\CivilizationIV.ini
Open it with Notepad
Set the ini lines to the figure shown below (in ini file Figure 0 means "off", figure 1 means "on"). Back up ini file so you can recover to staret point if get confused. As in all memory things - there is a trade off, less use of memory will in many cases slow performance.

; Allows some memory savings *** ALT-TAB WILL NO LONGER FUNCTION ***
MemSaver = 0 (this is v important, V1.52 change vis the use of graphics cards)

; Use managed interface textures (may be safer but shouldn't be needed, uses more memory)
GUIManagedTextures = 0

; Allow Screenshots. May affect performance on some video cards
AllowScreenShots = 0 (Turns off ability to do screen shots)

; Disable PAK memory mapping (May affect performance)
DisablePAKMemoryMapping = 1

; Don't skip frames if falling behind
BinkNoSkip = 0 (0 may cause movie "stutter / skipping")

; Show movies using hi-color, not true-color (may be faster)
Bink16Bit = 1 (also set desktop to 16bit if use this setting)

; Copy ever other scanline during movie playback (faster)
BinkInterlace = 0

; Set to 1 for no in-game movies
NoMovies = 1 (turns off movies)

; Specify the number of turns between autoSaves. 0 means no autosave.
AutoSaveInterval = 1 (less memory use if only stores moves for 1 turn)

; Enable D3D9 Queries
D3D9Query = 1

You are boarderline for graphics, if you have the dosh and the machine will takeit, get a mid range card, All-In-Wonder cards not the greatest at 3D

If still issues please post again

Regards
Zy

 

[Fatty]

Thanks a ton Zy! I appreciate your patience and assistance. I'll look through your post more closely once i have 3 hours to spare D)!!

Thanks again.

Fatty.