slow games on HUGE maps

[zombyman]

I know this has been asked before, but I don't want to search through all of the previous posts (I have already looked at quite a few). I am currently playing a game on a huge map on level Monarch and the game runs extremly slow. It's only 1500 AD and it must be at least 5 minutes in between turns of loading time. I don't know much about computers but I do know that I have a 400mhz Pentium II with 128MB of RAM, and 5 free GB of memory. I have heard people talk about how it's running slow but this is ridiculous, it's not even fun. Any help on how to speed the game up would be gratefully appreciated.

 

[ajohn505]

According to everyone else, turning off visible enemy movements helps, but I haven't seen it make a huge difference in the time between turns for me. I agree... it makes the game unplayable, even on my 850mhz/256MB box. I suppose that's what happens when the designer puts all his creative energy into SimGolf.

It's the reason I've put it aside for good ol' Alpha Centauri... a Sid Game That Doesn't Dissapoint

 

[rangers85]

I would suggest to play with less civs. It's been said by Firaxis people that it's not optimal with 16 civs on a huge map for play time. Remember, each of those 15 civs have to do their turns in a turn of rotations. So basically, you have 15 turns between each of your turns, which can get rather long in the later ages when most civs have 100+ units, be it workers or whatever.

 

[zombyman]

I don't think that'd help me very much either, I don't even see very many enemy units move. There's no way I can just turn down the graphics? Or maybe something that I can download that'll speed things up? Thank You again

 

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

The first thing I'd recommend is more RAM. Civ III uses a LOT of RAM just to start (some people have seen total memory in use by Civ more than 128Mb, IIRC). Considering how cheap 128Mb of RAM is right now (i.e., the cheapest it's *ever* been), this would not only help you with Civ but should pay dividends with a lot of other apps and games.

If more RAM is out of the question, at least defrag your disk, since the OS is constantly thrashing out to virtual memory to play Civ. And for that matter, close everything else (including tray apps) that might be claiming RAM. WinAmp, for example, leaves a 900Kb app running even if you think you've closed it (I think it's called the WinAmp Agent, or something). For someone with 256 Mb of RAM, that's not a big deal, but for someone with 128, it can make a difference.

Secondly, make sure all your drivers are updated and you're using the latest Civ (v1.16f) patch. Latest DirectX, etc. These things are no-brainers but a bad driver can slow the game down immensely.

Third, if you're dragging that heavily between turns, use the "don't show computer moves" switch (v1.16f only), it does make a difference, especially in later gameplay when there are a lot of enemy units moving around.

Fially, it's an unavoidable fact that the more civs you play with and the larger the map, the slower the wait between turns will be. On a 1.5Ghz P-IV it shouldn't be so bad, but I played the game quite extensively on a PIII-500 at work and it can get very slow with 16 civs on larger maps. This is the unfortunate tradeoff of having a better AI.

Dan

 

[Grotius]

Also, you might just consider playing on Standard maps, or even Small or Tiny. The Standard map is plenty large, and on my Athlon 900, I get almost no waits, even in the endgame. And Small maps are still larger than you might expect, and the gameplay on Small maps is really fun. For me, map size is the single biggest factor in performance.

 

[zombyman]

Thank you Dan, I'll try some of those things out. Unfortuneately I cannot play with the 1.16 patch, is that something that would slow it down a lot?

I have played games on smaller maps and those are fun, but the whole point of me posting this was to see if I could get the 15 enemy version going faster. I remember always wishing I could play against all 14 civs in civ1 and all 21 civs in civ2, and that has finally happened. Thank you Sid!! now let's just get it running faster!

 

[bonscott]

No offense, but your computer is just way to slow. I get slowdowns with 16 civs on huge maps on my 900 mhz, 512 meg RAM machine. You just don't have the horsepower to drive that type of game. You really need a whole PC upgrade, but as Dan said, at least a memory upgrade will help. Or stick with Large or smaller maps.

Also, if you have an old video card, it can run slower as well. You can pick up a Geforce 2 MX with 64 megs of RAM for well under $100.

Why is it you can't play with the patch? I do believe it speeds things up some, especially with the new options that Dan and others have mentioned on turning various animations and moves off.

Good luck.

 

[Zouave]

There's another problem with really large maps.

The unit Movement Values do not change - tiny map or a gigantic map.

It makes naval units even more useless on large maps. That is why I increased Movement by 2-4 points for all naval, depending on the Age.


BTW, Firaxis should have warned us if the game required over 900 speed PC's.

 

[zombyman]

Unfortunately I don't have the money to upgrade so I guess you're right I'll just have to deal with it or play on smaller maps. I am a college student that is why I don't have any money....

As for the patch, I have to play with a hack that allows me to play without the CD in the drive, and this hack isn't compatable with v1.16f. If anyone has information about a hack that will allow me to use the patch I would be very grateful.

 

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

Originally posted by Zouave
There's another problem with really large maps.

The unit Movement Values do not change - tiny map or a gigantic map.

It makes naval units even more useless on large maps. That is why I increased Movement by 2-4 points for all naval, depending on the Age.


BTW, Firaxis should have warned us if the game required over 900 speed PC's.

I've been "warning" people to play on normal maps with 8 or fewer civs since the day the game came out, but it's normal human reaction to want to go straight for the gusto and try to do 16 civs on a huge map. I do the same thing when I get a new FPS, and try to run it at 1600x1200x24bit color. That usually lasts about 5 minutes until I kick it down to something more reasonable. Same concept here.

The really nutty thing is that there are people out there who are really hoping we'll allow even MORE civs playing at once at some point in the future


Dan

 

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

zombyman: why? Safedisc compatibility issues?

Dan

 

[zombyman]

zombyman: why? Safedisc compatibility issues?

No, more like downright stupidity. I didn't take care of the disc and it got scratched up so badly that I cannot use it anymore, and I don't want to re-buy the game so I found a hack that'll allow me to play it without the disc. Just no patch.

 

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

You can probably get a replacement disc from Infogrames for a couple of bucks, check the Civ III support page.


Dan

 

[zombyman]

alright...at www.civ3.com?

 

[Crazy Jerome]

zombyman, if the only reason you are using the large map is for more Civs, play a large or huge map with islands and/or minimum land area. I have a Pentium 4 with 256 MB and a good GeForce2 card. Large with standard settings was almost unplayable in the modern age (3+ minutes wait on computer). Large map with islands and minimum land was faster than the standard game (which is very playable)--and I played many turns with world wars there at the end.

Granted, it gets faster because several of the civs get eliminated or cut down significantly before the late game, mucho-units drags down your system. But you get the benefit of playing with a lot of different civs in the early game, at least. (In my case, that's the part of the game I enjoy the most )

 

[zombyman]

The game I am currently playing is a huge map with 80% water and archipelago(?), which seems like the the least amount of landmass. I think part of the problem is I'm not doing very good and most of the other civilizations are doing good. I think with my current computer system I will just have to deal with the long times or play smaller maps. I am now playing a game on a small map and I seem to be doing fine. Thank you for the advice though, it is appreciated. Maybe somehow in civ4 they can get it so the other players do their turns while your doing yours?? If that's possible of course.......

 

[Knightfall68]

I too had problems with unreasonable wait times on huge maps with sixteen civs on my 1ghz 256mb machine.

It bummed me out for awhile because I think its a lot of fun to play with all 16 civs.

But, I have recently played my most fun game - by far - by modifying the rules and playing with all 16 civs on a small map (large continents)

Was only able to get about 6 cities initially....then had to go to war to get more. I'm usually a peaceful player, but with all the civs in such close proximity, was easy to get alliances and take others out to get more land.

But on top of all this fun, because it was a small map, I haven't experienced ANY of the unreasonable slowness I did with the huge.

Just thought I would share this in case it didn't occur to anyone else.

 

[Salope]

i was playing on a huge map with 3 civs left, two on the other continent, and me on this huge U shaped continent. my problem was my own workers. i had some of MY turns take 20 minutes. i figured this was the multitude of workers i had on auto searching the huge continent for something to do.

 

[cephyn]

Originally posted by zombyman
Unfortunately I don't have the money to upgrade so I guess you're right I'll just have to deal with it or play on smaller maps. I am a college student that is why I don't have any money....

As for the patch, I have to play with a hack that allows me to play without the CD in the drive, and this hack isn't compatable with v1.16f. If anyone has information about a hack that will allow me to use the patch I would be very grateful.

the no-cd crack for 1.16 has been out for over a month. A simple google search will reveal it.