This explains the default zoom level...

[Doctor Phibes]

Thanks to a tip on this forum, I changed the .ini file so you can get close up to your cities. Yes, there's a bug (I'm amazed no-one has commented on it here). Basically, Wonders can remain unfinished, scaffolding and all, even though you have completed them in game terms. I don't have the save game to do a screenshot with, but I also ended up with duplicate Hanging Gardens in one case, one finished - the other under construction - obviously the game engine rearranged the city, as it must do every now and then, but perhaps it didn't bother with stuff under construction.

I should post a screenshot of my latest one, because it's funny for other reasons, but haven't figured out how to do one yet.

These are cosmetic things, I know, but apart from the lulz, they do indicate yet again how many rough edges this game has. And I don't want to be a conspiracy theorist, but why would you restrict the zoom, when you have gone to all the trouble with 3D modelling that this game involves, unless there is stuff you just don't want people to see?

 

[Collic]

Every game restricts the zoom to some degree, if it didn't you could potentially clip through the landscape, or cause graphical problems in a lot of engines, so i doubt that's the reason. Amusing bug, though.

 

[boombaard]

Yeah, the same thing with the great wall, which is more noticable.

 

[Doctor Phibes]

@Collic - Sorry, the comparison is with Civ4, which introduced 3D modelling - not 'every game' as you put it. Civ5 seems to be using the same rendering engine.

Second, if you read my post again, a simple .ini edit fixes the zoom with *no* runtime problems at all. That's assuming you are running above minimum spec. If not, then you have other problems and this is the least of them. And I have problems myself with a game that shouldn't need to push the edge of the envelope on graphics doing so - it should be concentrating on being CPU, not GPU, heavy. But that's a whole other issue...)

I still cannot think of any reason for setting the default limit (again, this was not set so on Civ4) expect to hide certain issues...

 

[dannythefool]

There are a lot of visible seams between tiles that you can't see at default zoom, but once you zoom in, they become very apparent. The same goes for fog of war.

 

[Doctor Phibes]

There are a lot of visible seams between tiles that you can't see at default zoom, but once you zoom in, they become very apparent. The same goes for fog of war.

Heh. In fact I didn't even notice those, guess I was too focused on cities - must keep zooming. I don't think this is just a matter of funny aqueducts, which everyone loved in Civ4, though. That was the game trying to do its best with the terrain at hand. This is just plain buggy.