v1.52 - Invisible pointer graphics

mjm0771

Chieftain
Joined
Dec 26, 2005
Messages
11
I must thank everyone involved for the release of the 1.52 patch! Those memory issues were really making me :mad:
The game runs fine for me except for this one issue.

The run-down:
Intel P4 3.0GHz
1GB PC3200 DDR
nVIDIA GFORCE FX5500 256MB (with the new Forceware drivers v81.98)
SB Live!
WinXP SP2 (the the latest & greatest patches & hotfixes from MS)

Symptoms:
After the game starts, the cursor 'freezes'.
It actually still works, but the cursor graphics are locked in place.
After exiting the game, the invisible cursor resides.
I have to goto Control Panel/Mouse to enable mouse trails to get the pointer grahics to reappear.

After some careful observations I noticed:
when ever the cursor is on an area where data windows overlap, it becomes a problem.
For instance, the lower right-hand side where you see the list of CIV nations and the map overlap one another, BAD place to leave your cursor when ending your turn.

I just played for approx. 1.5 hours without a problem.
What I did: I kept the cursor directly under, and centered, under the green research bar along the top of the screen. I did this whenever I end my turn, or when my machine is processing other CIV4 tasks. (basically whenever possible)

It take a little getting used to (training yourself to park that cursor there all the time) but I think it helps.

Keeping the cursor away from overlaping data objects can be very tricky, especially when you want/need to pick a building improvement for a city.

I was doing just that, I wanted to see the attributes of an improvement in the list (the little help dialog window when you hold the cursor pointer over a particular improvement) and I lost the cursor graphics.

I'm learn to deal with it with a little help.
WinXP // Control Panel / Mouse / 'Pointer Options' Tab /
There's a little something called "Show location of pointer... press the CTRL key" This is VERY useful!

I made a shortcut for the 'Mouse' control panel applet on my desktop (right next to the CIV4 shortcut So I can access that without jumping thru hoops.
 
I had issues exactly like this in Pirates before I got Civ IV and came to the comclusion the most recent NVIDIA drivers caused the problem the game. I suggest uninstalling your current nvidia display drivers and installing something older than the 81.XX drivers. I am using 78.01 on an NVIDIA GeForce 4 Ti 4200 and since I changed the drivers back I have not had the problem again.
 
Try setting the "Hardware acceleration" slider on the "Troubleshoot" page in XP's advanced display properties dialog to the second-to-last tick (Disabled cursor and bitmap accelerations) - obviously, there's something funky going on with the hardware accelerated mouse cursor on your machine.

Downside to this will probably be that the mouse cursor might flicker and/or move with the same FPS as the rest of the graphics if you do this; or it might not work at all, but I guess trying it won't hurt...

np: Mayer/Aguayo - Slow (Kompakt Total 6)
 
Adjusting the hardware acceleration seems to work for me.
Right-click the desktop / Properties / Settings / Advanced / 'Troubleshoot' tab /

Move the slider to the left to turn down the video hardware acceleration.
Keep going until you "disable cursor and bitmap accelerations..." For me it was only one 'tick' down from Full.
This sometimes makes the pointer in the game blink slowly (like a text cursor), or makes the pointer flicker, but at least I no longer loose the pointer completely. :)

Thanks Briareos!!!

Strange, I couldn't find a 'civilization.ini' in my installation...

-Mike
 
mjm0771 said:
Strange, I couldn't find a 'civilization.ini' in my installation...

-Mike
"Civ4 ConFig" is the shortcut to civilization.ini
 
Thanks Smidlee, I'll try that next.

Looks like disabling the hardware acceleration for the pointer (cursor) introduces another problem for me, spontaneous reboots... :shakehead

This not only happens during gameplay, but just sitting idly at the CIV4 Main Menu. The system will run with CIV4 for about 8-10 minutes, then the screen goes black, etc...

-Mike
 
I had the exact same thing happen to me yesterday. I had to reboot my pc to get my pointer back. So far it hasn't happen again.
 
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