Video Card Q+A

[Jove]

Okay, I checked that out, I have Service Pack 2.

And yes, it's two sticks of 512MB RAM.

Looks like your setup is even more solid... I guess I ought to expect a little trouble. Hopefully we can get it going.

I tried this:

I then downgraded to 66.93 drivers found here (for windows xp and 2000):

66.93 for xp/2k

And it made a big difference. Things that I didn't realize weren't showing up before were visible, the land was there, the intro had <less> choppy sound... And it took 5 minutes this time before the screen crashed to gibberish! (About 5 vertical rainbow cyan lines if that makes sense...)

 

[Old Dood]

My old Ti 4200 vid driver is 6.14.10.4523

I have no clue if that will help anyone with a GeForce 4 Ti 4200. I just know I have not upgraded that driver in a very long time. Why should I? It is now Mrs Dood's computer. Seems fine for shopping online and reading email for her.

Sometimes Older is Better....

 

[Jove]

Hmmm, maybe I'll try that one.... I may put this whole enterprise on hold for awhile too. I bet the patch will do the trick. Or the answer will come along. The way to hatch an egg is to sit on it for awhile!

 

[Toppy]

....so if I've got a Laptop that passes all the requirements EXCEPT for the TnL.....am I screwed???? Help!

 

[Isostran]

My Geforce FX 5200 Ultra 128MB has T&L but I still have problems with the game. So in other words the Civ4 game just has problems.

 

[John L]

My Geforce FX 5200 Ultra 128MB has T&L but I still have problems with the game. So in other words the Civ4 game just has problems.

I have the same card, only it is not an Ultra. And it simply does not work for me. I have had crashes, the screen works like molassas, and everything is so glacial that I simply have not the patience to keep things upl.

As for the the loading of the game, everything is fine. It is only when the actual map appears and the figures are present does this happen.

I have called support, and currently have sent them a copy of the "dxdiag" from the "run" section. I have yet to hear form them, and it has been three days. I am running out of patience here!

If this is such a great game, then why does my computer have such trouble? I am using XP Pro, 1.28 gig of memory, the 128 meg graphics card, and an Athalon 2400 mounted on a Gigabyte motherboard. I have even removed the latest video driver, at their direction, and used an older one. Still no such luck.

Here is my opinion, Sid and gang have been in a hurry, just as they did for Civ III. I swore that I would not jump right in and get another new one from them, but I got over eager.................again. What a monumental mistake!

You guys can talk about what a great game this is, but if a farily substantial proportion of the paying public are given the "bums rush", then someone is not really interested in putting out a true quality product.

Colour me dissappointed.

 

[thom8466]

Iwent to the link you provided to test my computer. It said i passed all requirments with flying colors ,but i still can't play the game

 

[lucy78green]

Ok I installed this game yesterday and it worked except that the backgrounds and faces wouldn't work, so that the terrain was floating on a dark surface and the faces of the leaders were just mouths and eyeballs floating. So I updated the driver for my video card and downloaded the patch for this game and now it wont start at all telling my its my video card speed or something. I don't know an awful lot about these things, but it came installed on my laptop. The DirectX diagnostic tool says everything is working for DirectX9. It says it's an SIS M650 Rev 00 64MB (I have saved the results of the test if that helps included as attachment). I had assumed as I could play DVDs on my computer it would be a good enough graphics card! Sorry if this has already been covered but I'm not that technically minded when it comes to graphics cards!
Lucy

The results of the test said:

Display Devices
---------------
Card name: SiS M650
Manufacturer: SiS
Chip type: SiS M650 Rev 00
DAC type: Internal
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_6325&SUBSYS_00281025&REV_00
Display Memory: 64.0 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Default Monitor
Monitor Max Res:
Driver Name: SiSGRV.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.2220 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 1/6/2004 22:32:18, 1081216 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: Yes
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
VDD: n/a
Mini VDD: sisgrp.sys
Mini VDD Date: 1/6/2004 22:25:50, 432384 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71ED9-2065-11CF-397B-2220A1C2CB35}
Vendor ID: 0x1039
Device ID: 0x6325
SubSys ID: 0x00281025
Revision ID: 0x0000
Revision ID: 0x0000
Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_D ModeMPEG2_C ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG1_A
Deinterlace Caps: n/a
Registry: OK
DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled
DDraw Test Result: All tests were successful.
D3D7 Test Result: Not run
D3D8 Test Result: Not run
D3D9 Test Result: Not run

 

[Blue123]

I was thinking about buying a new computer, but since I seem to be stupid when it comes to computers, I need some help

The video card I was thinking of getting is 256mb Nvdidia GeForce 6600, will this work well? Also, and this might be off topic, is there any big difference in having 2gb Ram or 1gb Ram, because it would be nice to save some money.

Thank you

 

[Zydor]

It will work fine with that.

2Gb is not essential by any means, 1Gb will be fine. However ... the way things are going with games and Operating Systems (bet your life XP successor will be more memory needed than XP) - it will not be long before 2Gb will be so called "minimum". So if you are able to tighten the belt a bit and go for 2Gb, you will not regret it in the long run

 

[alias]

Hey, can anyone tell me whether the game would on a Geforce2 MX 200 with 32 MB RAM?

 

[JoeM]

Some advice please:

I've only got PCI slots (it's a new server I'll use for Civ infrequently) and a widescreen monitor. Any opinions on these cards?

Sapphire Radeon 9250 PCI 128MB DDR DVI TV OUT

XFX Geforce 5200 PCI 128MB DDR TV OUT Retail

Both seem to meet the requirements, with the latter having a better Overall DirectX level of 9

Cheers for your time!

 

[JoeM]

I was thinking about buying a new computer, but since I seem to be stupid when it comes to computers, I need some help

The video card I was thinking of getting is 256mb Nvdidia GeForce 6600, will this work well? Also, and this might be off topic, is there any big difference in having 2gb Ram or 1gb Ram, because it would be nice to save some money.

Thank you

If you're in the UK I can sell you a GeFORCE 6600LE 256MB DDR PCI-E DVI VO, bought from Misco at a discount - I didn't realise the difference between PCI-E x8 and x16 and hence it is unused.

PM me if you're interested.

 

[Zanmato]

I'm thinking of upgrading my outdated nvidia FX5200 128Mb card. Thinking of getting one the top-end ones, 6600 or 6800 with 256Mb. Would need a TV-out too ideally. Only problem is I only have a 300W PSU, would that be enough or does that need upgrading too and if so what to and would anything need changing on the MB like the jumper switches?
Already had some RAM go bad (512mb chip too) due to power loss, seems a flakey power supply anyway.

 

[Martock]

I've got the Nvidia XFX GeForce FX 5200 256 DDR 8x AGP - TV / OUT card and looking over the page with specs, I could not find this particular card listed. When I installed Civ IV, it went fine till I tried to run it. It didn't display the menu and when I managed to get a game running, there was no interface to be found. I don't know if this card has the T&L capability though I would suspect it does.
Current Spec:
Intel P4 2.93ghz, ASUS P5P800 MB, 2Gb Ram, 256 GeForce FX5200 video, Sound Blaster Lite sound card, 160 Gb HDD - running Win XP Pro (SP2)

 

[Clovis]

I'm saving for a laptop, hope to buy it in May.

The one I'm looking at, link here: http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...ooks/compaq_presario&storeName=computer_store

I would customize it to the 2.0 Ghz processor, 1.0 GB of RAM.

The graphics card is the ATI Radeon Xpress 200m. It says it has 32MB of shared video memory, up to 128MB of user allocated video memory. That is all I can find out about it. Would Civ4 run on this computer? Or would I need a better graphics card?

 

[Zydor]

The ATI Radeon Xpress 200m is a chipset, not a graphics card. It was released in March this year. Its a PCI Express DirectX 9 chipset for AMD-based notebook PCs.

Civ IV specs specifically ask for Hardware T&L support, and dont like integrated chip sets (aka Intel 8 & 9 series). However this one is new, and maybe ok, I would contact Firaxis to check if they do support it.

Dont be discouraged by the reply - it may well be ok, but it would be very wise to check with Firaxis .....

Regards
Zy

 

[MorPHiS]

I've got a nVidia GE4 400, yeah lame hey at 32 MBs. My questions are which would be the best alternative to run CIV4 which I've just got, I assume NVidia and which model? I have a P4, 512 RAM, 2.8 GHz CPU. Also I noticed in a previous thread that you can't change the card in a laptop, is this true? If you can, how would I be able to find which card is compatable with my Lappie, I have a Dell Inspiron 8200, and are they difficult to replace? Any help appreciated!!

 

[Zanmato]

Also I noticed in a previous thread that you can't change the card in a laptop, is this true?

No, Dell Inspiron 8200 can go up to a GF4 Go 440 64MB which for Civ4 is still lame. Also, with these cards the terrain can show up black. Replacing video cards in laptops can be tricky as you need to take nearly everything apart.

http://www.bay-wolf.com/parts_insp8200.htm for the 8200 parts list.

 

[RunningBothRace]

So I hate to revive a thread a year after it's death, but here goes. To start, I just read this entire thread, top to bottom.

I tend to jump onto games late (I enjoy price breaks) and I'm looking at Civ IV (I've been addicted to the series since Civ II). I failed system requirements on the T&L requirements. I'm using an HP Intel laptop with a 915GM/GMS, 910GML Express Chip Set (Integrated Intel chip). I ran the dxdiag command and passed every spinning cube test it gave. I also downloaded Alamo's 3DAnalyze program which looks like it can fake out a hardware requirement.

Basically, I have a pentium mobile processer that runs 1.6Gz (but system requirements rates it as clocking at 2.39Gz) with 512MB RAM. I'm fine with playing at a lower graphics level, and I hope my processor could pick up the T&L calculations, which leaves me with two questions.

1) Is there a requirement or check on installation for T&L graphics hardware?

2) If there is, can 3DAnalyze be a workaround for that?

Basically, I want to know what everyone else asks. Can I play this game? Since I have a laptop, I can't really just get another video card.