Slow CivIV

[UKCivNoob]

Hey I recently purchased CivIV for PC DVD after playing CivII test of time when I was younger.

But I've been playing it and its really slow and not the average speed of my computer, but my computer whilst playing other games has been okay.

I deleted most other games and alot of files off my comp, after playing it for a couple of days but still its pretty slow.

Just wondering if anyone here has an idea why this is and how to fix it.

P.S I have an idea thats its got something with my virtual memory page but me being not that knowledgeable about computers don't have a clue how to access this or see if this is the source of the problem.

Thanks.

 

[Zanmato]

You can change the the VM page through the 'System' control panel then into 'Advanced' then 'Performance'. There you should find a box for the VM settings, click the 'Change' button and you can enter the size you need. (This is on Win2k but I guess XP will be more or less the same).

If the game is running slow:
- drop the graphic settings to low
- download the latest video drivers (Radeon v65.87, Dec 2005; nvidia 81.98 Feb 2006)
- increase the AGP aperture in the BIOS if the video card uses the AGP slot to 128mb.
- force the shaders down to v1.1 through RivaTuner (google for it)
- increase the VM pagefile to 1.5-2Gb at least (depends on your hardware RAM, if you have 256mb set it to those numbers, if you have 1Gb or higher no more than another 1Gb of VM will be needed).
- shutdown any non-critical background apps through the task manager, start with any anti-virus programs as these take up a good chuck of the RAM or anything else eating the RAM and CPU time.
- increase system RAM to at least 1Gb
- upgrade the video card (GeForce 6 recommended or ATi equal)

If you are increasing the pagefile, the system might fragment it across the HD slowing the system down marginally so defrag the drive first with the VM disabled, set both inital and max size to zero, restart and defrag, reset the VM to whatever you need then restart again. This will put the majority of the pagefile in one place hopefully.

The processor speed will also have an impact on the game but the RAM and video card are most vital for Civ4. If you still have problem post your DxDiag log - 'Start' -> 'Run...' -> type 'DxDiag -> 'Save all info' then attach the text file to the next post.

Hope this helps.

 

[THARN]

dropping the video settings is milarky-
Updating all drivers is essential -including updating your xml-through web browser.

I know this because civ 4 ran smooth as silk out of the box on my first install- and im only running an athlon 1600 with a 5900 xt 128/ 1.5 gig ram-

Hard drive died- new hard drive new XP install New civ4 install- civ 4 ran horribly- lag lag lag- especially after a wonder movie- or AI visit.
it was only after i updated the xml and updated my latest sound and video drivers that things were working fine.
Before I did that though, I dropped video, turned off animation- none of that worked.. its the game processes- not the video.

 

[UKCivNoob]

okay I'm stil unsure about changing my driver because I typed in the video driver zanmato said on google and nothing came up, could someone find me a link I need. ATM I'm using a radeon 7500 family series, I think.
The rivatuner thing i got onto the website but don't know where to go from there (could you get the exact link I need).

I've changed the maximum size of the VMP to 2GB and the minimum to 384, I'll try and get a pic of the page to see if its correct.

I don't know how to increase my RAM or my XML and I can't don't know what video card i need.

and the DxDiag thing is at the bottom hope it helps.

 

[Zanmato]

You have a somewhat borderline spec for this game. I would upgrade your RAM to start with, buy another 256mb chip or anything higher and it will improve greatly. I would recommend 1Gb of RAM, anything lower then 512mb and it will struggle. This game hogs the RAM so you really need to upgrade this first.

Bump the VM to 1.5-2Gb if you can't upgrade the RAM anytime soon, set both sizes to 1.5Gb. If you set a min and max values then Windows will have to keep allocating disk space as and when the game need more memory, which puts more work through the system and on the disk. Have all the graphic settings on the lowest settings as 64mb of video RAM may not cope aswell on the higher settings.

Here's the link for RivaTuner, http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=163#download
Select one the mirrors and it should download.

ATI drivers (Catalyst 6.2), https://support.ati.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=293

Hope it helps.

 

[UKCivNoob]

ok got new driver thanks very much and changed minimum VM to 1.5gb and maximum to 2gb.

Tryed RivaTuner it downloadfs but can't run afterwards and says do I want replace one file with another and i said yes to all of them but then nothing happened. Then tryed running and nothing happened.

Thanks again and has anyone got an idea about updating the XML.

 

[cepheus42]

Alot of the statements to upgrade are not really going to help. The problem is the software, not hardware issues. Yes, having the latest drivers works, but here is what worked for ME to make the game run faster, without having to update my system (Athlon 2.3, 512 ddr, ATI 9600 with dual monitors). Prior to this, it was unplayable by halfway into a map, horribly horribly slow.

1. Update video drivers. Always do this before starting any new game anyways, software coders often take advantage of the latest driver features that may not be compatible with your old drivers.

2. Launch the game. Go into: Advanced - Options - click on the Graphics tab at the top.

3. Make sure the game resolution is set the same as your desktop resolution.

4. On the right, make sure Full Screen is UNCHECKED (run it windowed).

5. Close the game, relaunch it.

6. The movies WILL be choppy at this point, but once you Maximize the game Window (upper right) everything will go smoothly.


Try it, see if it works for you.

 

[Russe]

UKCivNoob, the game should run very slow on you computer, because your video card is very, very old. I wonder why everyone is complaining about slow game while having obsolete computers. To play modern games you need a modern PC and there is nothing you can do about it. Get at least Radeon 9550 or Geforce 6200. Then maybe the game will run relatively fast.

 

[Snerk]

4. On the right, make sure Full Screen is UNCHECKED (run it windowed).

Really? will this make the game run better?