System Requirements?

[DerSchwarzfalke]

Has there been any word on what kind of system gamers will need in order to run Civ IV successfully? I trust Firaxis is keeping with its past philosophy of ensuring a game can run on the maximum amount of systems possible, but the graphics being shown seem to demonstrate a fair amount of demand.

[Tassadar500]

I couldn't imagine it needing it more than 256 MB of RAM.

[Vince278]

Another thread mentioned it should be similar to the requirements for Pirates.

[Addled Platypus]

according to a source

No, there is no info about this yet. But most likely it will be more or less similar to Pirates!, since both games use the game graphics engine:

* Operating System: Windows® 98/Me/2000/XP
* Processor: Pentium® 1.0 GHz or higher
* Memory: 256 MB RAM
* Hard Disk Space: 1.2 GB Free
* CD-ROM Drive: 4X Speed
* Video: 32 MB video card* with Hardware T&L support
* Sound: Windows® 98/Me/2000/XP-compatible sound card
* DirectX®: DirectX® version 9.0b (included) or higher

Civ4's requirements might be slightly higher, but probably not too much.

Hope that helps,

[Vince278]

Hmm. My PC is a 1GHz P3 with 512MB ram and a GeForce2 Ultra. Its going to be close.

[Alex]

Yeah, it's going to be close to me too. I have an Athlon 1.6 GHz with 512 MB RAM and a Geforce FX 5200. Pirates runs well on my system, almost all options maxed out, just a little slowdown on some intensive 3D (with shadows) parts.

But I play it on 800x600 to get it smooth. I can only hope that the change to 3D in Civ4 will give me the option to play on 800x600, unlike Civ3 (which can only be played on 1024x768 and above). If I'm forced to play on 1024, I can predict massive slowdowns in the game, especially in the late game.

[Solver]

If Pirates can run on 800x600, Civ4 likely can do so, too. But those with 1.5 GHz machines and 256 MB RAM do NOT need to worry. It's not a super advanced 3D engine, besides, I'm fairly sure you can turn off stuff like shadows. Likewise, any card newer than GeForce 3 should be OK - otherwise it would just make no sense.

[Robert]

I may only need a new graphic card.
Pentium IV 3,2Ghz 1Gb RAM 128MB video card.
though my video card isn't the best there is.

I'm not afraid for cIV 8)

[Solver]

Come on, there's no need for a new video card with that machine. Or are you telling me you have a GeForce 2 that can't do anything?

[Locutus]

Anything in the pre-Geforce FX series is really, really old -- over 3 years already (and Civ4 is still six months out). When Civ3 came out it didn't support 1997 hardware either, for the most part. I wouldn't be surprised if Firaxis isn't gonna support such old cards. I hope they do (and since Pirates does for the most part there's good reason to suspect they will), but I'm not holding my breath on it.

I expect that anyone with a FX 5600, Geforce4 Ti, Radeon 9500 or higher will have absolutely nothing to worry about. Anything below Geforce3 or Radeon 9000 series is probably hopeless. The jury is out on everything in between.

[Solver]

Below GeForce 3 is probably hopeless indeed, as a GeForce 2 can hardly cope with any 3D engine. A GeForce 3 could do that I think, though, although rather poorly. But after all, Civ4 isn't going to put such a huge strain on the GPU, if the effects are off.

I'd say that anyone who could run the 2004 shooters won't have a problem.

[Vince278]

[Alex]

Originally posted by Solver

I'd say that anyone who could run the 2004 shooters won't have a problem.

Half-life 2 and Doom 3? If I could run those games I'd be laughing maniacally at the rest of you all.

[Solver]

Yup, HL2 and Doom3. If you can run both of them fine, you can run anything, and definitely Civ4. I can run both so I DO laugh maniacally .

[Robert]

I couldn't play doom3 with my configuration.
Ok, I could, but it was terribly slow. (I really hated that since I had just bought a completely new top of the bill system! )

I'm going to buy a new graphic card anyway.
I don't want to put cIV in my system only to find out that my configuration is outdated.