Technical Difficulties

[JimmyTaco]

Hi. For context, I'm technologically illiterate essentially.

I purchased a new laptop at BestBuy. 439 cdn plus taxes. It was on sale. Nearly 50% off. I figured this is a new laptop. It should be good.

Rhyse and Fall gave a warning after install. Computer is below specifications and your settings have been lowered. It was the worst I ever saw civ 4 and within 2 weeks the game was crashing 10 turns in anyway.

What in the actual...

Buddy at Best Buy says the laptop is too new and advanced for Civ 4. Again, WTH.

I want to play. I am so frustrated.

How do I speak to a computer store person in such a fashion as to obtain a laptop which can handle civ 4? Please help me. No civ 4. Melting, melting...

 

[lymond]

Can you post the spec, link to the computer at Best Buy, or give use the brand/model #?

Generally, you don't want to play games like Civ IV, i.e., resource intensive, and just regular laptops, no matter how modern. Big mods like RFC will create even more issues if the GPU (graphics) and memory are insufficient.

civ iv will play on new machines though, so that should not be the issue. Only issue may be tweaking for newer OS's.

As for the lowering settings message, that may be factual but it is something one might get if in fact the specifications are fine. I've had it come up for me after installs and simply fix my settings.

 

[s.bernbaum]

You are seeing the specs warning because CIV contains an internal list of valid computer specs, compiled at the time that CIV was issued. Since new computers are not on the list, the warning is generated. Although it won't solve all of your problems, you can get rid of the specs warning and ensuing lowering of settings. Open the file CivilizationIV.ini. Find the following:

; Don't show minimum specification warnings
HideMinSpecWarning = 0

Change the 0 to 1.

That should solve that problem. The .ini is located in the same folder as your Saves folder, usually the Documents folder but some installs, such as Steam, put it elsewhere.