Civ IV + Nvidia = CRash to desktop , Hard freezes, and the general smell of poo

[Aeson]

Have you tried enabling the game's logging system in the INI? Might turn up something.

; Enable the logging system
LoggingEnabled = 1

[BleckLord]

I've had loging on since the renderer error. I still haven't taken out the ask for fullscreen that I turned on. I've posted what I can find for errors/warnings in the log files in the other thread I mention.

I haven't been able to get attachments to view properly in IE, but they will come up ok in Opera.

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=141282

[LDiCesare]

Memory leak does not seem to be the cause (if it is, there is a nice garbage collecter after the crash), because after the crash memory use is back down to about WinXP standard.

Memory usage is always reduced to 0 after the program crashes (unless the OS doesn't do its job correctly). So it may be mlk.

[BleckLord]

Does WinXP do garbage collection? I haven't done any SW development on XP, and the last time I coded for windows I don't remember it cleaning up memory leaks.

[LDiCesare]

Memory allocated by the process may leak while the process runs. When the process dies (either exits normally or crashes), the OS reclaims the allocated memory. All OSes do that.

[Imminence]

Re: Re: Civ IV + Nvidia = CRash to desktop , Hard freezes, and the general smell of p

Originally posted by Mike4879


I was wondering if you encountered any better results with 81.87 beta. I'm using a GeForce4 Ti 4200 and I found that the game was a bit more responsive. Although it still becomes extremely unstable on the larger maps and occasionally CTD's even on a standard map. Overall I did notice a minor improvement.. did you find the crashes happen more frequently on larger games? I know I did

I have the same GeForce with 128 MB. I tested all available drivers, including Omega. Finally I get the best results with 61.77.
With 81.85 it was even more unplayable (late game 2030) as it was with 71.79.

"Best results" is relative; I quit an advanced game (~1940, huge map), because of insane loading times and unpredictable CTDs or crashes to reboot.

IMO we can try, whatever we are able to: This game is sooo broken, that nothing will help, except we play small maps.

But imagine: You buy a car and only the first gear will work....

[tiny toad]

Hi thought I`d add my bit of `fume` to this.
AMD1.7 gig
XPHome SP2
512MegRam
256MegNvidia
Seemed to be playing ok on small maps then last night i had 2 SERIOUS crashes, one time my pc decided to reboot itself the other time my monitor went off???????
THIS IS NOT THE FAULT OF MY PC..!!!!!!! lets get this straight, I decided to test this by leaving Half life 2 running all night last night when iwent to bed.
(HL2 was the most resourse intensive game i had installed so it was best ot test with)
This morning it was still there waiting to play, No crashes, no reboots.
CIV4 IS DANGEROUS FOR THE HEALTH OF YOUR PC !!!!!
WHY DO WE HAVE TO FIDDLE AROUND WITH OUR SETTING JUST TO GET THIS TO WORK AS WE WOULD EXPECT A GAME TO WORK!!!!!!!!!!!
This issue is posted on every civ forum i have looked at...
IT IS AN ISSUE!!!!!!
WHY WHY WHY HAVE FIRAXIS NOT RESPNDED..!!!!!!!!!

[y123]

i ve got same problems had one very serious reboot lost my total registry due too this game am now waiting for the patch i cant stand it counted the days of for 2 monts what do i get . AN TOTAL REGISTRY CLEANER .
( with some handwork loaded an new bios on it from another pc )




whos helping me out

Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519)
Language: Dutch (Regional Setting: Dutch)
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 1024MB RAM
Page File: 329MB used, 2132MB available

DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

[orange]

Looks like I found the right spot to post this!

AMD Athlon XP2000+
1.67GHz
512MB DDR
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 with AGP8X (64MB)

Made it to 1000AD. Blue Screen of Death...not once...but twice...??????

[Backpack]

update - see below.

[orange]

Switched to Windowed mode and downgraded a few more things, but I'm still having a problem with leader heads not displaying sometimes (it just looks like snow on a TV set?)

I wish the game were less jumpy it seems like everything from the movies to the panning of the camera over to other units to the leaderheads are jumpy, it makes you dizzy!

[Greentrees]

I've given up on Civ4 for the moment. I'll wait for the patch...and then wait some more. Then I'll read the comments about the patch and then probably wait for patch 2 before playing again. After this debacle I don't trust the Firaxis programmers.

I've got many games on this system that have no problem at all. The most intensive being:
Rome:TW and BI, both 3D.
Doom3.
X2: The Threat (waiting for X3 to arrive).
...and many others.

Now, if my machine can handle those games without a hiccup but Civ4 craps itself multiple times over the past week...AND causes me to reload my video drivers, I know what to blame.

BTW, I didn't know you could cause the video to display in 800x600 4bit (yes four bit colour) but that's what Civ4 did to the system. I haven't seen four bit colour since the old CGA days (that should show my age nicely).

My machine is:
ASUS P4P800 deluxe MB.
NVidia FX5700 256MB video
1GB Ram
A couple of hundred GB's of disk space still free.
Pentium 4 2.8Ghz
800Mhz FSB

...Jeff

[Imminence]

As I wrote in many other threads, I tried all and anything, which was advised here. There was no success at all.
The positive aspect is, that my PC runs better, faster and smoother than ever.

I noticed, that all my problems - and I had *all* - occure only on huge maps, which I prefer to play since CIV 1.

Just out of curiosity I started a "normal" map and do not have any problems until now (~1300 AD).

So I figure, that most of the known (and yet unknown) problems happen on those huge maps.

I'm not a programmer, so I don't know about all that stuff and really do not care if it's a memory leak, a python thing or whatnot....I just notice, if a game is running or if it is not running.

I just know:
1) Most of our systems are ok
2) Everyone, who tries to blame US for this mess respectively tries to find excuses for the devs / publishers, is either ignorant, arrogant or both
3) Game-manufacturers and -publishers are the only branches, who dare to blame the customers for faults, which are clearly software related and thus under the responsiblility of said devs and publishers.
4) The branches with the poorest communications-behaviour are the same as said ones of point 3

We should all think about that. Why can that still happen? How can we change it?

EDIT:
It seems, I was too optimistic about the playability of "normal"-sized maps. I had no CTD yet or worse, but it starts with tremendous waiting-times, when the following events occure at the same time (and/or):
1) One or more buildings in cities are ready
2) Science is done

Even worse, when additionally
3) Leader of other civ wants to chat
4) Wonder is ready
When all 4 happen at the same time, it takes about 3 - 5 minutes, until I can finally do something. Mostly I save at this point, quit and restart.

Further: The more I uncover the map, the more loadingtimes increase. When I conquer a city, there are often 1 or 2 minutes of almost no-go, until the game recovers. It's ~1500 AD now.

[Targonis]

Possible reason for problems...

From experience, I have seen issues where the motherboard itself isn't able to supply the right levels of power when you have a lot of memory installed. It's not the amount of memory exactly, but having all those DIMM slots filled pulls a little more power than when you only have one or two DIMM modules. The result is some instability. So, it may be a motherboard issue, or power supply issue causing your problem.

Of course, it could also be the 64 bit Windows, driver issues, or just a game bug.

[Ramble]

I am having problems with game freezing after a while too. Seems to become more frequent as the game progresses. I can't even get past 1300 AD anymore on any game or scenario. No problems whatsoever in any games or programs I run on the machine.

1.4 Athlon
768M RAm
Gforce 5500 FX with 256M DDR
Windows xp SP2

Defective products is nothing new to the Civ series. Same problems occurred with CIV2 and CIV3. Not sure why anyone would expect anything different. Mislabled disks, French tech poster, games freeze up, ATI card problems, message boards filled with complaints. This is a great game concept executed by a sloppy outfit.

Get used to this CIV fans. You are going to buy this product whether it works out of the box or not.