UN Lags me to the point of disconnection from other players

[Seiren]

Hi,
My computer is well over the minimum requirements, however, every time the box for the UN pops up, it lags me so much that I get disconnected from the person I am playing with and we have to start completely over and re load which takes forever. I've turned everything down, I've minimized pop ups, but it doesn't minimize the UN. Help!

Thanks
-S

 

[Zydor]

You will need to post your dxdiag dump here so someone can help. When you do, outline any other strange symptoms you may have (slow game play - slow turns - large save files - save files take mins not seconds to save - movie problems - etc).

Do you get this early game, or is it late game play aka 1600s+, particularly 1800s + and with many civs

(go to start button, click, choose run, type in "dxdiag", let it chunter away, then press "save all information", upload the file here by using the 'advance' button below)

Regards
Zy

 

[Seiren]

Ok, I attached the dxdiag.txt. Here are just some things I've noticed:

- When I first logged on it said my computer was below requirements, but it's not. I cranked up the graphics and it seemed to work ok, but was a little slow loading (my husand who loaded at the same time would load faster than me)

-During game play against my husband, it would be pretty normal, only occasionally taking a few seconds to load when it was about to be my turn.

-During single play, my game would freeze upon certain wonder movies, not all of them though, just certain ones like Stonehenge and the Hanging Gardens

-At some point I bumped down all the graphics, but I'm not sure it had much effect

-I noticed at one point that when I went to make trades with other leaders, their eyes or their eyelashes were solid white. I don't know if that has to do with bumping down the graphics or not. I reinstalled the game because I thought I had messed something up, but their eyes are still white. It's creepy!

-And finally, I realized that every time the UN box pops up to vote or whatever in mulitplay, it lags me until my husband receives a box saying I Have been disconnected and he must vote whether or not to wait for me. Even if he clicks wait, it takes too long for me to get back in, so my box pops up saying that he's disconnected and gives me the options. So I click wait. Then we both wait forever and never get reconnected (this is Direct IP). Then I have to shut down my game and we have to reload, which seems to take a while.

-When I turn on grids it takes nearly 60 seconds of complete lag for them to pop up.

-Now, I'm kind of a noob we've been playing a really looooong game, which is the first game really that I've played. I noticed the lag in the 1800s I think. Now, I"m not sure if it was there at the beginning, but it doesn't seem like it. It seemed like it started when we built the UN.

Hope this is helpful. I really want this game to run so I won't give it up in frustration!

 

[Zydor]

The video card is a bit on the low side for the game, 128mb RAM for the video card is recommended, however you got that far so its good for you, but it will have a performance effect.

When you first posted I wasnt sure, but the last para in post #3 makes me think its the memory issue - there is a problem with memory management in current Civ IV release that affects the late game / large games/ huge games, and a few other things. They know what it is and are working on a patch.

Meanwhile there is a very successul User patch that addresses this

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=146309

Worth trying this first, as you appear to be ok up to the late game. Its a trust worthy patch, not an amateur kludge, and been very successfull addressing the memory issue,no guarantees, but its worked for a large number of people. The opening page has Version 1, and at present Version 2 is under test at post #640. Scan read the last 2/3 pages of the thread and you will get the idea.

He is excellent at providing support, and its helpful to him if you give feedback after loading /using it, success or fail, provides data for further development. If you still get problems, please come back here and we can try something else. but it makes sense to go for this first before anything else given your late game symptoms. Its easy to install / deinstall, and the peopleon the thread are very helpful, they will assist you if you have problems loading it or questions on the settings (there are two settings you have to enter).

Regards
Zy

 

[Seiren]

Thanks so much. I installed the patch, and I will let you know if the UN still crashes me. I loaded the game up to test the grid load times, and it seemed a little faster, but I'll let you know.

Thanks again

 

[Zydor]

Dont expect that much improvement in the early game with it, its aimed at the memory bug which affects the game as your memory requirements increase - typically thats late game / large or huge maps etc. It has 'along the way' helped other hassles though. At present he is focusing it more and more on specific issues, in additional to the general memory management.

However, right now for you, your indicator is late game performance as an indicator of its success/fail in your case.

Regards
Zy

 

[Seiren]

So far the patch seems to have fixed the major lagging issues. so yay!