Why Is It Running So Slow!

[Theamazins989]

I finally get the game and once my game starts getting developed (met every civ) the game runs SLOW it take about 5 to 7 minutes to go from turn to turn!
2.8C GHZ with Hyper Threading
Intel Pentium 4 512MB (PC-2700 DDR)
NVIDIA GEFORCE FX5200

[Jerh9e1k5]

Might help if you post some system specs...

[work2much]

Something strange there, as you should be fine on that setup. Couple of things to try:

What resolution you running the game at, try dropping it down. Also reduce the graphic settings to low etc; as mostly likely will be graphics issue, as your CPU sounds fine.

Is this a laptop? if so check your power management options to make sure it is not limiting power to your graphics card, also check your grahics card setting to make sure hardware accelaration is on to max etc.

Good luck!

[Theamazins989]

The game doesnt let me get any lower resolution than 1032Xsomething forgot the exact numbers and for the graphics i tried setting it on low but nothing maybe an improvement of 30 seconds lol but nothing much more

[Martin Gühmann]

Originally posted by Theamazins989
The game doesnt let me get any lower resolution than 1032Xsomething forgot the exact numbers and for the graphics i tried setting it on low but nothing maybe an improvement of 30 seconds lol but nothing much more

You can set the resolution manually, by going to:

C:\MyFiles\My Games\SID MEIER'S CIVILIZATION 4\ and opening the CivilizationIV.ini with any text editor of your choice. There you can use any resolution of your choice.

-Martin

[yin26]

Did you turn on anti-aliasing? That would choke your system.

[xxFlukexx]

Your computer is going to revolt unless you get it some more RAM soon. Minimum requirements for Civ4 is 256, recommended is 512, and since Windows itself eats up a chunk of RAM as does all the other programs you have in the background eats up RAM, you could use an upgrade.

And it's about time to start looking for a new video card, nothing fancy, even a 6200 or a x550 or ever a 9800pro would be a good upgrade, should be able to snag one of those for under $100.

Although I would try what the people ^^^ sugested and try it at 800x600 resolution and see if that is playable before spending any cash. Good luck.

[Shogun Gunner]

What is "anti-aliasing"?

[ChaotikVisions]

Its what the popular movement against Jane and John Does is called, er wait...

Its an option for your video card to reduce jagged edges, or maybe thats ansitropic, I get them confused. Really its a small boost in image quality for a performance hit most of the time. I've never found it worth enabling and have it forced off by default. Should be in your video cards settings.

[Theamazins989]

Thanks

Thnaks guys, well its still running slow but alittle faster the smaller the map so maybe it is the RAM i was thinking about getting more anyway. Now just gotta get the money!

[alva]

Originally posted by Shogun Gunner
What is "anti-aliasing"?

http://www.grafx-design.com/02gen.html

[Shogun Gunner]

Nice tutorial. Thank you.

I hunted around for that setting on my system and couldn't find it.

Probably won't be a problem considering that I have enough RAM.

[alva]

IIRC the default setting is let to let the program decide (in this case Civ4), could be set to 2 x AA too though, which is enough in most cases.
The higher up the less usefull it becomes (and relatively more "expensive"), especially on higher resolutions.

BTW, there is a setting in Civ4 to change it ( 0 , 2 x and 4 x )

For slower cards it's certainly worth setting it to 0.

[BleckLord]

Are you playing MP3s ingame or using the default music? I'd try using the default and see if it changes anything.

[Silencer]

Athlon 2800+ @ 2.2GHz (747 socket)
1GB RAM
9550 Radeon @ 322/530

even in 1024 all LOW no AA game still has 20FPS in normal view 38FPS at max zoom and 60 at max zoom out. After playing few hours on large map the games begins to jumps at moving from one point event to another... and then at modern era the game speed is so annoying .... and those crashes.... And to make things more interesting same FPS got at 1024 all high AAx4 :|