v1.52 Patch results

[Grogs]

I'm about 50-50 on it myself. I didn't expect it miraculously cure all my video problems, which is good because it didn't. My vid card isn't much above the minimum, so I've pretty well accepted the fact I can't have wonder movies. I figured I would see if they were better at least after the patch, but the opening movie just *stopped.* It skipped a little before, but never like that. Plus now my sound has started skipping *badly* on the wonder speeches. What the heck? It was perfect before.

I still think they made some pretty good changes in the patch though. Changed the gold icon, vastly improved the graphs in the F9 screen, the combat changes seem nice actually. I'm don't particularly like the changes to the civics costs either, but maybe that will change. Maybe a 3 of 5 overall for me.

 

[Flak]

I'm definitely waiting. For one thing, the graphics are perfect on my machine. Also I don't have any memory leaks. My only issue is with stuttering wonder movies. I've already heard of people having there graphics quality set downwards after this patch. Also the becoming-infamous 'out of video memory' error seems to be popping up on people with cards that have more more RAM than mine (I've got 64 Mb of video RAM). Did I mention I'm not having any graphics problems or late-game slowdowns, even on huge maps?

I'd love to fix those movies, but at the potential cost of my graphics, that price might be too high. I haven't had to reinstall this game yet for any reason yet. I don't really want too now.

They also seem to have changed the cost model making it even harder to expand. Yet somehow I'm convinced that the AI will find a way to manage this just fine even on Noble. And I haven't exactly been tearing the game up on Noble level, though I'm improving.

So I'll wait. See how you guys enjoy/suffer this patch over the next few days and make up my mind then.

 

[ununcle]

Well, As far as I'm concerned, This patch has allowed me to actually experience Civ4 for the way it was meant to be. My system specs?

P4-2.0 GHz
512 Ram (I know,,, I know)
"all in wonder series" 9600 128 meg graphics
Win XP service pack 2.

That exceeds minimal spec requirements, and actually (if I remember correctly) meets the recommended. Out of the box it was like playing MP Doom on a 56k dial up. The lag was unbearable. I wanted my farkin money back the day I bought it. I could've given 2 Shiite's about an ATI problem or the latest driver crap. they dropped the ball on this release plain and simple.
But you know what? After Harks mod, I could actually play with half the lag . So I started to explore a little more. After this patch? This freaking things a masterpiece. Thank you Sid. thank you Firaxis. Well worth the wait Sorry I doubted you.

 

[thamer]

I have got XML errors "XML uncatched" DBG: NOT Using XML cache, failed to find crc.dat file after the patch!

plus another log i've discovered:

Error : Decl - ('Civ4Theme_Common.thm', Ln:401, Col:13) Assignment source propertyId 'SF_CtrlTheme_Civ4_Control_Font_Size3_Italic' not found
Error : Decl - ('Civ4Theme_Common.thm', Ln:402, Col:13) Assignment source propertyId 'SF_CtrlTheme_Civ4_Control_Font_Size3_BoldItalic' not found
Error : Decl - ('Civ4Theme_Common.thm', Ln:408, Col:13) Assignment source propertyId 'SF_CtrlTheme_Civ4_Control_Font_Size1_Bold' not found
Error : Decl - ('Civ4Theme_Window.thm', Ln:3048, Col:9) Assignment source propertyId 'SF_CtrlTheme_Civ4_Control_Font_Size1_Bold' not found

very annoying!

If this is the prize to pay for able to mod the game hmmm...I'm not sure i want the mod support!

Those log messages are normal and don't indicate a problem.

XML caching is disabled by default in order to make the patching process smoother. If you want to enable it again (and speed up the initialization by a second or two) you can set DisableFileCaching=0 in the config ini file.

The Civ4Theme error messages indicate that a font was not found, but those particular fonts are not used and were removed deliberately to save memory.

 

[LAnkou]

well, i can't play in high graphics (memory video bug, i only have a 64MB card, laptop ), as i didn't use high graphics and since on medium it's smooth and now i can play on large maps...

my choice would have been: some things are better other worse, but overall, it's a success

the patch is great for me!!!

 

[The Condor]

Uh oh, you people who are "plotting against Firaxis" better hightail it out of here because they are now here to stop you!

 

[Smidlee]

For me single player better but multiplayer got worst. It's as pain to join games with 3 or more players.

 

[Jimbo30]

Where is the option for:

"There was no need for the patch, my game worked fine out of the box".

That's MY vote.

That's the option for blind fanatics, who we don't cater for here.

 

[Renata]

I still can't trust wonder movies not to crash, and that silly flood-plain bug is still there, but the overall speed of the game is eons better. I'm pretty happy with it.

 

[Adam7Eight]

The new patch sucks for me. After installing v1.52 I now get leaderheads with white eyes and it gets very, very choppy when the screen is positioned over my territory, and this is even right at the beginning of a game with only one city. Never had a single problem before with v1.09. So what have I tried? You name it. A few fresh reinstalls, older drivers, new drivers, turning graphics down/off, enabling/disabling "MemSave", tinkering with my video card settings, and the usual preventative maintenance tasks I do on a weekly basis. :shakehead I call shenanigans.

For those who will undoubtedly ask:

Athlon64 3400+
ASUS K8V SE Deluxe (VIA K8T800 Pro)
eVGA 6800 Ultra (81.98)
1GB Corsair XMS DDR400 (PC3200)
Creative SB Audigy 2
Windows XP (SP2)

 

[opticaljim]

It doesn't solve all my issues and, frankly, I don't think all my issues will be resolved until I get a new upgraded computer.

There are improvements when it comes to leaving the game and there are a few added features. I haven't really had an opportunity to look into it because I'm in the middle of a pretty intense AI game.

 

[Seven05]

I had no significant performance issues before so I can't say I've seen an improvement. It isn't worse than before, that much I'm certain of. I do really appreciate some of the gameplay related changes such as the new icon for gold, the hostory graph and changes to the diplomancy screens. The new option for workers hugging trees instead of hacking them is nice and I think the civic changes are OK but I need more time to play with them.

I couldn't vote though, I wasn't having any problems other than poor wonder movie performance, since I just skip movies anyway I wasn't even aware of that until I decided to watch one to see what people were complaining about

 

[honus]

ok, so i did have a strange experience during my last game: one of my worker units stood up and then floated due west, around the world and when they got back to their original place they started working again. it was wild.

 

[cleansafe]

the patch has helped me i can finally play the game
i still get a crash about every 30-45 minutes. aand the error reports have all been different. 1. d3d9.dll error 2. was an unknown and 3. was some wierd file that i have never seen before. but at least i have finally been able to play it

 

[Mahatmajon]

Athlon64 3400+
ASUS K8V SE Deluxe (VIA K8T800 Pro)
eVGA 6800 Ultra (81.98)
1GB Corsair XMS DDR400 (PC3200)
Creative SB Audigy 2
Windows XP (SP2)

Wow, just wow. Something's obviously wrong but I'd have no clue where to start. That's pretty much the exact machine I was going to buy (ended up spending a little more, but eVGA card and everything). Sorry that things aren't working well

 

[MrMahk]

Love it! Much smoother gameplay for my marginal comp

 

[Draetor24]

The game was perfectly fine stable wise before this patch. Now alt-tabbing out is completely ruined, yet they said they fixed it? It wasn't broken to begin with. In 1.09, alt-tabbing was perfect, no problems at all, now I alt tab and my mouse blips and goes nuts in the corner of the screen.

 

[The Condor]

@draetor24 Yeah, that happens to me too. To remedy the situation always make sure to be doing something else before starting Civ or you will get that. I always just leave AOL or one of those virus protectors (even though I don't use it then) before I turn on civ as a placeholder and then when I alt-tab I delete them and move on to what I really want to do.

 

[KingTux]

Barbarians SEEM to be a little more aggressive now (is it just me?). This is alright, as it makes the game a little more challenging, but might not be something that some people would like. However, it can always be modded so that it's toned down. Maybe this is just due to mantainence being higher at the beginning, making it even harder for people to spam cities.

 

[Pie-es-Tasty]

The only thing I don't like about the patch is that they removed health bars during combat. It might sound like a minor thing, but that was the whole reason I had health bars on: to see the results of the combat before the animation finished! I can still see them before when attacking, because I can look at the strengh in the info panel, but I now I can't on defense.

But that's a rather minor complaint in the face of the GIANT HUGE improvement in smoothness. I can run the game at full settings with no slow down (until the late game or on huge maps).