Utterly disappointing....
- Thread starter karambunai
- Start date
Older than Dirt said:
You know it's a typo?
It should have been "Phillip"(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_great).
Carn
g.neuman
Far Out Space Nut
My system, like others who've posted here, is rather primitive compared to the OP's (it's a three year-old Dell, albeit with moderate RAM and video card upgrades) but Civ IV runs absolutely fine. No problems whatsoever, especially after the 1.52 patch.
I bet a video card upgrade would solve a lot of the OP's crashing problems; it's the only thing I can see about his system that looks genuinely substandard.
I find all the other criticisms leveled here rather silly. I love the graphics, the UI, the variety of wonders to build, and the flexible tech advancement. Honestly, it seems like there are just some people who will complain about anything. Civ IV is an awesome game.
G
I bet a video card upgrade would solve a lot of the OP's crashing problems; it's the only thing I can see about his system that looks genuinely substandard.
I find all the other criticisms leveled here rather silly. I love the graphics, the UI, the variety of wonders to build, and the flexible tech advancement. Honestly, it seems like there are just some people who will complain about anything. Civ IV is an awesome game.
G
Villein
Doing Battle with Monarch
TerraHero said:
Totally agree with you there but there are alot of people out there who are buying CIV4 and it being their first experience of any CIV game. The first impressions to these newcomers are the graphics and first impressions are often key, to many people graphics are important especially to those who only look skin deep. I think a graphics overhaul was inevitable really and to be honest the only complaint I have with the game doesn't lie with the graphics or the gameplay either, but rather the civilopedia. That seems to be the feature that has been sacrificed most in my eyes.
You know its funny. I played Civ III on the computer I had before I bought the one I have now 2 years or so ago.
Civ III would take 15-20+ minutes a turn to run towards the end of games. I used to work out between turns believe it or not!
Then I got a new computer, and Bang! 30 second turns...
I had a P4 2.1 Ghz 512k RAM, 64MB Nvidia Card when I bought Civ IV. If I traded world maps the whole thing dragged to a standstill. It took 10-15 minutes to load a map or save game.
Bought a Radeon 9550 and added 256MB of Ram, updated to v1.52, and Bang! Huge games run fine with only about 1 minute (at most) between turns. No crashes, save games load in 2-3 minutes.
Sounds like part of the problem is the Athlon processors and crappy video cards for most of you...
Civ III would take 15-20+ minutes a turn to run towards the end of games. I used to work out between turns believe it or not!
Then I got a new computer, and Bang! 30 second turns...
I had a P4 2.1 Ghz 512k RAM, 64MB Nvidia Card when I bought Civ IV. If I traded world maps the whole thing dragged to a standstill. It took 10-15 minutes to load a map or save game.
Bought a Radeon 9550 and added 256MB of Ram, updated to v1.52, and Bang! Huge games run fine with only about 1 minute (at most) between turns. No crashes, save games load in 2-3 minutes.
Sounds like part of the problem is the Athlon processors and crappy video cards for most of you...
g.neuman said:
Maybee i didnt try it long enough, but i found it hard to see what was going on, and also found distance hard to judge. Icons didnt immediatly seem obvious either. And the civpedia confused me even more.
Ill no doubt re-try it eventually
ZippyRiver
Prince
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2005
- Messages
- 454
And now your still thin, because you will go eat something after jomt. No exercise needed.
Corbeau
Jack of All Trades
I last upgraded my computer about three years ago. I tried running some of the newest games at that point, and had some issues with framerate (not even FPS games: RTS or RTT games). I tried Civ4, and have had zero problems whatsoever.
If you think Civ4 is a graphics hog, I respectfully submit that you don't know what you are talking about.
If you think Civ4 is a graphics hog, I respectfully submit that you don't know what you are talking about.
Oneluv
Warlord
Civ IV is the "Caddyshack II" of game sequals. A bloated-gasseous wiener of a game. De-evolution manifest.
Bushface
Deity
My machine has an Athlon 2200+ (1.8GHz), 512 RAM, nVidia GeForce 4 MX420 (64MB) and runs Civ4 quite nicely, though obviously not at maximum resolution and I have not yet tried to go beyond normal-size maps and 7 civs. What I have found is that my first installation, even with the 1.52 patch, did not give me all the features, notably that with a Spy in an enemy city I could not "enter its city screen" and find out lots of lovely secrets about what the opposing AI was doing. After removal and reinstallation, it's fine, and I am hideously addicted to the game. Maybe I'll treat myself to a new machine later in the year so that I can drool over the eye candy, but I doubt that that will improve my gameplay except that perhaps loading and exiting will be rather quicker.
As for the tech trees, my (English) poster has obvious errors: doesn't show Economics or Constitution, says you need Fission for Ecology (as does the in-game tree) whereas I get offered that option without Fission, and the entry which should be for Divine Right is in Dutch. It also says that Composites "allows stealth bomber" without mentioning the other prerequisites for that useful unit, and the same is true for other units. Then if you play at Noble level, which I do because I do not enjoy being rapidly beaten, the poster's cost figures are wholly unrelated to those one meets in the game - that for Industrialisation is the extreme example, going up by 182% whereas ancient techs rise by a more modest 30%.
As for the tech trees, my (English) poster has obvious errors: doesn't show Economics or Constitution, says you need Fission for Ecology (as does the in-game tree) whereas I get offered that option without Fission, and the entry which should be for Divine Right is in Dutch. It also says that Composites "allows stealth bomber" without mentioning the other prerequisites for that useful unit, and the same is true for other units. Then if you play at Noble level, which I do because I do not enjoy being rapidly beaten, the poster's cost figures are wholly unrelated to those one meets in the game - that for Industrialisation is the extreme example, going up by 182% whereas ancient techs rise by a more modest 30%.
Phoenix_56721
Prince
I'm sorry you cant run the game very well, I have no problems and my spec's are below minimum requirements.
But please this thread serves no purpose at all if you are looking for help or idea's, people are more then willing to give you advice but your just looking for a fight. And I really have a hard time believing that you hate Civ4 so much but you are a big fan of previous Civ games. There not all that different that you would love Civ, Civ2, Civ3 and hate Civ4 I don't think you're giving Civ4 a real chance you're just looking for it's faults and you're missing all of Civ4's wonderful new concepts.
But please this thread serves no purpose at all if you are looking for help or idea's, people are more then willing to give you advice but your just looking for a fight. And I really have a hard time believing that you hate Civ4 so much but you are a big fan of previous Civ games. There not all that different that you would love Civ, Civ2, Civ3 and hate Civ4 I don't think you're giving Civ4 a real chance you're just looking for it's faults and you're missing all of Civ4's wonderful new concepts.
I'm running on an Athlon 1.8Ghz 1,5 Ghz RAM and a somewhat outdated Radeon 9600, but the game runs fine till now.
I got the game for christmas (my gift to myself
) , and I have mixed feelings about it. Like (I suppose) many of you, I`ve been an avid civ player since Civ I, and every single Civ in the past simply had me hooked.
Not so with Civ4.
I had to do some family visits during christmas, so I couldnt play the game, and when I returned home, I wasn`t so keen on it either. Maybe I`m getting old, but my other theory is, that something is or feels wrong about that game. At first I was delighted when I saw all the beautifully animated terrain features and animals and I was constantly zooming in, but after a short while, I just wanted to play the game, and sometimes it seems all the 3D and scenery actually gets in the way. Don`t get me wrong, I`m not asking for a spreadsheet-like Civ interface only containing numbers, graphics are OK, but does a game like this really need 3D graphics? 3D graphics are complicated stuff and the more the developers get into it, the less time and effort they will spend with the actual gameplay features.
Still, this is not my main grudge with the game. The thing that really annoyed me where all the info screens, like the military advisor. It displays some info, but is otherwise utterly useless since there is no way to interact with that information. In Civ3 you could display unit types or locations, you could click them, activate them, upgrade them all by using the military advisor. Why did they make this huge improvement to Civ3 and simply forget all about it in Civ4. Same thing with most of the other info screens.
The interface as a whole seems not to follow common standards, is unintuitive and feels dead. Maybe I blame all of this on the decision to go 3D.
Still, the little time I spent so far also had its moments. I like the new tactical decisions with resources and great leaders and maybe I will enjoy the game once I get into it a bit more. But I really hate the ugly, almost useless interface and info screens.
I got the game for christmas (my gift to myself
) , and I have mixed feelings about it. Like (I suppose) many of you, I`ve been an avid civ player since Civ I, and every single Civ in the past simply had me hooked.Not so with Civ4.
I had to do some family visits during christmas, so I couldnt play the game, and when I returned home, I wasn`t so keen on it either. Maybe I`m getting old, but my other theory is, that something is or feels wrong about that game. At first I was delighted when I saw all the beautifully animated terrain features and animals and I was constantly zooming in, but after a short while, I just wanted to play the game, and sometimes it seems all the 3D and scenery actually gets in the way. Don`t get me wrong, I`m not asking for a spreadsheet-like Civ interface only containing numbers, graphics are OK, but does a game like this really need 3D graphics? 3D graphics are complicated stuff and the more the developers get into it, the less time and effort they will spend with the actual gameplay features.
Still, this is not my main grudge with the game. The thing that really annoyed me where all the info screens, like the military advisor. It displays some info, but is otherwise utterly useless since there is no way to interact with that information. In Civ3 you could display unit types or locations, you could click them, activate them, upgrade them all by using the military advisor. Why did they make this huge improvement to Civ3 and simply forget all about it in Civ4. Same thing with most of the other info screens.
The interface as a whole seems not to follow common standards, is unintuitive and feels dead. Maybe I blame all of this on the decision to go 3D.
Still, the little time I spent so far also had its moments. I like the new tactical decisions with resources and great leaders and maybe I will enjoy the game once I get into it a bit more. But I really hate the ugly, almost useless interface and info screens.
apdavis828
Chieftain
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2005
- Messages
- 53
I am really sick of hearing people complain non-stop about Civ4... i.e. i don't like it, it doesn't work, etc. Civ4 is a product like any other product on the market - a movie, a coke, a pair of pants, whatever. If it doesn't work for you and you're not willing to spend whatever it takes to play it - btw it plays fine on my computer with a slight drag in the modern era as the units become more numerous and the cities more detailed - then eat your $50 and play Civ3 which still rocks. However, if you play long enough and get it to work you will soon look past the crappy useless 3d engine and annoying camera swing and the fact that wars are just not fun anymore (IMO) and will see there's a decent game in there well worth $50 or whatever. JMO but the board is packed with complaints and problems about the game and i think it would be nice if we could just consolidate these posts since they seem to repeat themselves endlessly.
apdavis828
Chieftain
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2005
- Messages
- 53
BTW my specs are Pentium 4 @ 3 ghz, 1 gb ram, Nvidia GeForce FX 5200.
Bushface
Deity
Anomaly - I disagree with you about the advisor screens. The military one, for example, will show you where your units, of each kind, are located: click on your leader's icon to select just yours, click the opposition leaders on or off to show such of their units as are within your sight. Then click on the unit names to select exactly which units you want to find, and they show as flashing dots on the small map. Click on a dot, and the main map centres on that location, though you have to leave the M.Adv. screen to actually get at the unit.
Surely you must find the Domestic screen to be a vast improvement ? Pretty well all the figures for all your cities, nicely laid out in a spreadsheet which can be sorted for ease of spotting your best cultured city, or whatever.Then for really depressing information there's the Finance screen: look at the inflation figure and shudder.
Surely you must find the Domestic screen to be a vast improvement ? Pretty well all the figures for all your cities, nicely laid out in a spreadsheet which can be sorted for ease of spotting your best cultured city, or whatever.Then for really depressing information there's the Finance screen: look at the inflation figure and shudder.
apdavis828 said:
Whats your problem? Some people like it, some don`t and everyone is entitled to his opinion. I'm glad you like Civ4 and it works just fine for you. But for some people it doesn`t and some people have other opinions about Civ4 than you do. If you have a problem with people complaining about Civ4 then nobody forces you to read through those threads.
Crazy... I'd figure a "Nvidia FX-5200" is worlds better than a "GeForce 420", which is what I have... and it plays on mine.g.neuman said:
I really don't get the numbering scheme... if higher numbers are better, why would a card with a higher number have more trouble than one with a lower one?
While I'm seriously loving the game, I'm a little sad that so many people are having dificulties...
Bushface said:
I guess I didn`t notice that clicking around had some kind of effect, because the left hand side of the screen (where the map is supposed to be) is a complete mess of garbled graphics, just as when entering diplomacy with a foreign civ, and there is no other feedback on something happening.
I forgot to mention this. I have graphic glitches all over the game, even after the latest patch.
And about the financial screen. I`m lacking information on how much money I'm spending in the whole. Do I have to add up those numbers myself and use a calculator to figure out if I can afford some change in policy?
