The black terrain

[civmod19]

This is Civilization 4. Take a look guys.

 

[Willem]

Your video card probably doesn't support Hardware T&L. What are you using?

 

[crazypooljunkie]

Thats actually better than my terrain looked when I had the black terrain problem. You can (sort of) fix it by going to the world map editor and clicking the reveal entire map button. You'll be able to see the entire map including goody huts but you can at least avoid the irritating blackness. Its kind of cheating but if you just settle your first city in a nearby location I don't think its really all that bad, you get most of that map pretty quickly anyway. There is also a fix that you can do in the code so that the map is always revealed when you start up a game, but I can't remember what file that is or what thread it was posted in, but the fix has shown up in a few places in here.

 

[civmod19]

Thats actually better than my terrain looked when I had the black terrain problem. You can (sort of) fix it by going to the world map editor and clicking the reveal entire map button. You'll be able to see the entire map including goody huts but you can at least avoid the irritating blackness. Its kind of cheating but if you just settle your first city in a nearby location I don't think its really all that bad, you get most of that map pretty quickly anyway. There is also a fix that you can do in the code so that the map is always revealed when you start up a game, but I can't remember what file that is or what thread it was posted in, but the fix has shown up in a few places in here.

I already made this in the editor, but in vain. The map still is with black textures, showing only trees, rivers and waves. As for this code, I dont tried it.
Anyway, the game is ****ing slow. If in the start is that slow, I can imagine in the latter turns how it will be. Being a player of Civ3, I known about this problem of lagging in the late turns, but the problem now is the movement of units, they're damn slow. The cursor is very slow too.
I dont think this problem is T&L, because people with T&L are having the same problem. Probably this is pixel shadding. The texture on the terrain probably have a application of pixel shadding that is not supported. Strange is that they say nothing of pixel shadding in the minimum requirements, but mentioned it in the recommended requirements. Are they waiting that someone will play a game with black textures?
My luck is that I dont bought it, a guy needed to test it in my computer, so it is. I have games here with better graphics, like Neverwinter Nights, Freelancer, Blood Omen 2 and Age of Wonders 2, and they all work fine, with or without T&L, pixel shadding, blablabla. Is very strange a game like Civilization, known by it's low requirements and low graphics (but good gameplay), now have pixel shadding as requirement.

 

[Willem]

I dont think this problem is T&L, because people with T&L are having the same problem. Probably this is pixel shadding. The texture on the terrain probably have a application of pixel shadding that is not supported. Strange is that they say nothing of pixel shadding in the minimum requirements, but mentioned it in the recommended requirements.

No, if people with T&L are having the problem it's either because they haven't updated their drivers, or in the case of the low end Radeon 7500, they need to turn off their ARP acceleration.

But you're right, they dropped the ball when it comes to pixel shading. Even people who have T&L and aren't getting the black terrain, are having problems with the trade/production icons not appearing on the map. They should have listed cards with Pixel Shading 1 as minimum requirement, which would have excluded the Radeon 7500 and the GeForce MX 4xxx series.

 

[maartena]

What video card do you have?

 

[civmod19]

What video card do you have?

I'm using a VIA SG3 Unichrome IGP, but nothing to worry here, because I known people with an ATI Radeon or an Geforce 5 having the same problems, and they upgraded their drivers.
I have that problem with the leaderheads too, showing only eyes, smiles and hands. But I take only these two screenshots before uninstall the game.
I thought to buy a Geforce, but after what I read I think that I'll change idea. I guess that I will be playing Civ3 for a long time still.

 

[Willem]

I'm using a VIA SG3 Unichrome IGP, but nothing to worry here, because I known people with an ATI Radeon or an Geforce 5 having the same problems, and they upgraded their drivers.
I have that problem with the leaderheads too, showing only eyes, smiles and hands. But I take only these two screenshots before uninstall the game.
I thought to buy a Geforce, but after what I read I think that I'll change idea. I guess that I will be playing Civ3 for a long time still.

The VIA cards don't support Hardware T&L, that's why you're getting the black maps and "Cheshire Cat" leaders. And no, people with GeForce 5 cards shouldn't be having that problem, or anyone with a Radeon over 7200. However the 7500 barely functions and you have to fiddle with the settings in order to make it work properly. There's been some reports that the latest drivers don't always function properly and that people had better luck with older drivers. That might be the problem you're talking about.

 

[civmod19]

I known that IGP dont support T&L. But is not that crappy. I can run Neverwinter Nights here, and in the site of that game is stated that it need 32mb with hardware T&L for the Hordes of the Underdark expansion. I dont have T&L but the game works fine, and have better graphics than Civ4.
Civilization was not made for graphical eye-candy, but for strategical gameplaying. It's like playing chess, you only need the table and the pieces.

 

[Willem]

Civilization was not made for graphical eye-candy, but for strategical gameplaying. It's like playing chess, you only need the table and the pieces.

The game won't run properly without Hardware T&L. Period. Since Neverwinter Nights was released over 3 years ago, they probably decided to include a software emulation mode so people could still play the game. Firaxis decided not to go that route, or it just wasn't possible to do it with the way it was written. And no amount of complaining is going to change that. Maybe if you're really, really lucky, they'll include something in the first patch but I highly doubt it.