What do I need? RAM, better CPU?

[1veedo]

I know there's the open letter thread kind of about this but I just want to know what I need to get the game to run better.

I have a 2800 (64 btw)
512 RAM
256 nvidia 6200
VIA_K8 (built in sound card)
Windows Server 2003, 64bit trial.

I downloaded Windows just to play this game cause my other (modern) computer is an emachines that definitely wont play it. Too bad Civ4 wont run on Linux; I'm sure w/o Windows crapping all the system resources these specs would be fine. (Hell, you could have Civ4 the only graphical process open! xinit /usr/games/bin/Civilization4 )

The settings are all low and yet the game runs slow when the whole map is displayed. I think the main reason is not enough RAM cause it seems to want to load the entire graphical map -- for smooth scrolling -- which explains why it will run fine on large maps if little of the map is explored.

If they released the source for their graphics I'd have a little say about how the engine runs (C'mon Sid Meiers, you can give us code and objects for parts you want or dont want us to be able to modify. The game would link just as well either way!)

Whatever. Would 2 GB of RAM do it? Or should I get a faster processor as well?

 

[Lars_Domus]

Would 2 GB of RAM do it?

I believe that would do nicely.

 

[Willem]

If they released the source for their graphics I'd have a little say about how the engine runs (C'mon Sid Meiers, you can give us code and objects for parts you want or dont want us to be able to modify. The game would link just as well either way!)

They wouldn't be able to do that, they're leasing the Gamebryo engine from some other company. And yes, 2 gig would probably help quite a bit.

 

[superslug]

2 gig would definitely help, but instead you might consider just adding 512 to go up to a gig and then upgrade the video card as well if you can.

 

[LeConquerant]

1Veedo: before investing when you already have a powerful machine, could you try turning anti-aliasing off? it made a huge difference on my machine, which is not as powerful as yours.

 

[Vladesch]

Runs perfectly on my box...

AMD 3000
1G ram
6600GT (but ran perfectly when I had a 9600XT too)

 

[cdcuase]

I noticed a performance boost when I upgraded from 512megs of ram to 1.5gigs of ram (added 1 stick). At 512megs there was a lot of slow down on a standard size map with the map fully revealed by the year 1500. After the ram upgrade the slow down disappeared. Haven't tried the huge maps, however.

I'm on a pentium 2.4ghz, gforce 6600gt machine, btw.

 

[Eternalsteelfan]

RAM is the most important thing to run CIV4 well if you ask me.

 

[jac0001]

Windows Server 2003, 64bit trial.

QUOTE]

So you are running this with 64bit drivers etc?

I agree with the symtomies you described that more ram will help. (i have 1gb and have no issues with the largest size map etc)

I am a bit concerned that even with a ram upgrade that the preformance won't be as large as you expect due to the lack of maturity of 64bit drivers...

If you are finding that time waiting is too long between each turn the a cpu upgrade is needed as there is a huge amount of calculations done each turn...

 

[superslug]

256 nvidia 6200

Are you running 256 on the card or is your 6200 one of the integrated models? Boosting your overall system ram is definitely a higher priority I think, but an actual dedicated video card would do wonders as well if your current one is partially integrated.

 

[logical_psycho]

Just stick in an additional 512mb of ram, it's a cheap solution but will give you the improvement you're looking for.

 

[Rabbit_Alex]

I have a Gig of ram in my laptop (Dell Inspirton 9100, 2 years old this summer) and I get a few seconds of lag in between turns.

 

[1veedo]

Thanks, I thought I needed more RAM but wasn't sure how much. It doesn't take long between turns, except when you see the AI randomly moving units around.

1Veedo: before investing when you already have a powerful machine, could you try turning anti-aliasing off? it made a huge difference on my machine, which is not as powerful as yours.

anti-aliasing is already set to 0. I have everything where "low" put it except "show city radius when a settler is selected."

Are you running 256 on the card or is your 6200 one of the integrated models? Boosting your overall system ram is definitely a higher priority I think, but an actual dedicated video card would do wonders as well if your current one is partially integrated.

The card has 256mb of Video RAM.

"GF 6200 256MB DDR TV DVI"

The drivers are 32bit as far as I know.

 

[Pounder]

800 MHZ P3, 512MB RAM, Windows98SE, Nvidia GeForce FX5500 (256MB)

Game loads and runs flawlessly on highest video settings. Intro movie is a little choppy.

I have to believe that the video card is the key for this game, and I have to believe that XP is a memory hog.

I have never had a crash to desktop, playing since game came out last fall, maybe 50 games.

 

[Rabbit_Alex]

I have to believe that XP is a memory hog.

It doesn't have to be if you turn off alot of background services that you don't need. There are tons of guides you can find that will tell you which services are safe to turn off. I like this one the best.

 

[n0xie]

Windows Server 2003, 64bit trial

Why run a server OS? I would install winxp, turning any and all services off except for graphic card support. The specs you have are fine ( I run Civ quite well on much lower specs) so that shouldn't be the problem. Sure if you put in more mem or upgrade the videocard that will help, but you shouldn't have to if you just want to play a regular game (i.e. above standard sized map)