Will I EVER be able to play Civ4?

[chad77]

I have a Dell laptop that was top of the line 3 years ago. It's a 1.2 GHz P3 with 512 MB RAM, ATI Radeon Mobility 16MB video card.

Game installs fine.

Intro movies a tad jerky.

Black terrain/Cheshire Cat/Flickering Cursor/Scrambled Text problems in full force. A bit jerky in gameplay.

Anything I can do to permanently fix it, not reveal the entire map, and play it normally? Or, are Firaxis and whoever else going to patch this?

Help is appreciated.

 

[Tyrole]

16 MB graphics card? Not a chance....sorry to say...

 

[chad77]

I figured as much. Thanks.

Firaxis=*******s for making the game so incompatible with everyone.

 

[combathanger]

Ummmmm...while I think this game was rushed out in crappy condition....I just cant justify blaming Fraxis that your video card sucks. It is one of the BIG holes in things right now that laptops tend to have poor graphics cards, and for many years you could still play strategy games and such....that is no longer the case and since my box clearly states 128 meg video card.....Im just not willing to give you any room on this unfounded complaint.

Civ4 is a system hog...but as with most laptops, it aint gona game the latest games.

 

[Prince James I]

How dare they make a game that won't run on my 386!!!



-James I

 

[chad77]

I had no choice but to get a laptop for school since it was required in my classes.

Now that I'm out of school and working, I was thinking of buying a good PC... just can't really afford it... sucks!

I was looking at Dell.com last night to get a tricked-out PC and it would be like 4 grand. Anybody know how/where to get a powerful PC and keep the price down?

 

[Demasonian]

Don't buy an overpriced Dell or the like!

To give you a ray of hope, it is entirely possible to buy a good computer capable of playing all the latest games for well under $1000. Check your local computer stores first and if you can't find anything there, shop online. If you're in the States, check Newegg (http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/SubCategory.asp?SubCategory=10), if in Canada, I've had good luck with both of these companies (http://www.sprintcomputer.com/) and (http://www.oemexpress.com).

You should be able to get an AMD 64 3200 or above with a decent video card (ATI 9800 and above or nVidia 6600 and above) and 512 MB of RAM for about $500 - $700 bucks.

So don't despair and don't buy from big box stores. They'll rip you off.

Good luck.