Does this game work out off the box

[evizaer]

The ludicrous RAM usage of this game has to be dealt with. A Standard sized map with 5 civs using 500,000k of RAM is ridiculous. That seems to be simply a lack of code optimization.

There's got to be a memory leak or something in the diplomacy 3d art code. It always kills my gameplay experience.

[binaryspiral]

ATI's driver support for laptops is directly through the OEM... so updates are slow and not game friendly.

Who would have thought an IBM thinkpad R51 would be playing Civ4? :P

It's just plug slow... even with a ton of ram and fast CPU


I also expected this - game designers are forced by their publishers to rush to ship, patch later. They also don't have test labs or beta tests for every combination of hardware - so they try.

I decided it was worth the risk to get it early, I expected bugs and quirks... so I wasn't too heart broken that I can't play it on my laptop.

I saw a mention of a Class Action lawsuit somewhere - seriously, grow up and deal with it...

[Adrian Hon]

What's the problem with people here? There are plenty of people who've bought Civ4 with machines that are well above the required or recommended specs, and it doesn't work for them properly. That's the case with me. I still love the game though (when it works), and I'm happy I bought it.

So why the need to call everyone who complains a whiner with a crap computer? I never had these problems with Civ2 and Civ3; clearly the game could've used some better testing to make it even better.

[Jamski]

Civ4 works perfectly for me out of the box, largest map sizes, 18 civs, highest graphics settings, smooth as anything. I'm sorry. Oh, and I can play all day too.

[Qwertqwert]

Originally posted by spy14


Not the fault of Intel though, new software should be programmed to work with the hardware available, hardware makers shouldn't be having to anticipate half finished software coming out.

Yeah you're right, why can't Civ 4 run on my Pentium 85, with 4MEGS of RAM. It can't even fit on my only half filled 400MB hard drive. This game is just poorly optimized. It won't run on my Apple II eigher.

If you really want to play any game at any decent speed you'd need a video card anyway, not having a video card and trying to run games is like trying to paint a painting without an easel. Sure it can be done but it makes things a lot harder, and most painters are expected to have easels.

[Chernobyl2]

Qualified yes. updated my drivers and did a SP2 update
I have an older GF4 4200 ti, AMD 2800+, and a gig of ram.

It played all afternoon yesterday on a small world with a low number of enemies.

however, with larger maps the memory use skyrockets to the point its unplayable.

I will try incrementally larger games to see whats playable.

Chern

[CivNonFreak]

Worked fine for me until 1700s

... and then it started having CTDs every so often (increasing frequency as map got bigger and tech more advanced). Playing on a AMD 2800+ Athlon XP, 2GB RAM, GeForce 5200. Did have the stuttering movies tho, but I got a NFII400-AL DFI motherboard with built in sound so wasn't particularly surprised.

Now working on re-drivering and defragging to see if I can correct. Overall, good shot, so long as they patch soon.

[evizaer]

Originally posted by Standup


A bit harsh and not very sympathetic to people having problems. My mainset up is well above spec and a lot of the people having problems with ATI cards are in the same situation. Personally i'm frustrated that something that seems to be affecting so many people slipped through testing. Not planning a class action (don't think UK law allows for them anyway but i reserve the right to be annoyed and ask why this wasn;t caught earlier.

It's harsh, yes, but it's warranted. I had problems running the game in the beginning, too, but i never let it bother me. It's a game. This isn't something that you rely on in order to continue being productive or anything even remotely close to that. If it doesn't work well enough within the next month, i'll bring it back. No big deal. People love to blow this stuff out of proportion. It gets boring and annoying after 6 years of this same crap.

[Jack Noir]

Your August Sirs,

This game was a dismal failure out of the box. At the time I first installed it I had the "recomended" (printed on the box) system, matching spec for spec.

I had to spend a lot of money to upgrade my display system in order to see the game. Now I find out that it is unacceptably SLOW!

Jack Noir

[Standup]

You people are almost as bad as the MMORPG crowd. "My single system can't run this game even though it's below spec. This game's a piece of bug-filled beta garbage. I'm filing a class-action lawsuit."

A bit harsh and not very sympathetic to people having problems. My mainset up is well above spec and a lot of the people having problems with ATI cards are in the same situation. Personally i'm frustrated that something that seems to be affecting so many people slipped through testing. Not planning a class action (don't think UK law allows for them anyway but i reserve the right to be annoyed and ask why this wasn;t caught earlier.

[Raion]

Civ IV is not a FPS, and it will take more resources. That is a given, and Firaxis will support their release and fix the game if there are problems with the game. It will not end up like MOO3, like with the players still mainly fixing that game although Atari has not complained about that yet!

This game is fully 3-D and has a camera to move around, and as such is a testament to the real Civilization.

Yes, the game may remind you that still you will need a better computer, because it has so much more in it, and thinking going on besides and still one may compare it to a FPS thinking that the FPS run better or show you that your computer runs better, but actually there is so much more to a Civilization game trying to take in 6000 years of history on this Planet in a single game that when the game comes out in 3-D, one can expect that a better computer will just be needed to play the game.

It is the first 3-D Civilization game, and it just shows that more real Civilization is needed!

I doubt if anyone can compare any other game to this monster of a game, since I doubt if there has been another game like it before even with RoN or any other game.

The game of Civilization IV has not left out any parts like other games do, except perhaps the player was not really noticing the game at the time~!

[Stumple]

Worked fine from install for me. Have noticed minor graphics glitch (weird colours) for a split second at start of Wonder Movies & have had sound stutter on one (Sistine Chapel). Tried 2 single player games so far up to about 1800 & the Tutorial. Have run the game with Internet & network on & without turning anything else off. Only problem is Multiplayer as GameSpy is farting about with accepting my existing profile.

P4 1.5GHz, 768MB RAM, 128MB Radeon 9600 (driver version no' 6.14.10.6571), Hercules Fortissimo II Sound Card

[spy14]

Re: civ 4 - Memory / RAM errors could cause crash

Originally posted by Zayxus
Test your Memory / RAM

Memtest86
Memtest86 is released under the terms of the Gnu Public License (GPL).

http://www.memtest86.com/

Runs from Boot-Disk.

Another nice little program for anyone having problems is Everest home edition. It's freeware and will give you a full breakdown of system spec and resource usage. I forget the link but if you google it it'll come right up.

[evizaer]

You people are almost as bad as the MMORPG crowd. "My single system can't run this game even though it's below spec. This game's a piece of bug-filled beta garbage. I'm filing a class-action lawsuit."

Give me a break.

[Zayxus]

civ 4 - Memory / RAM errors could cause crash

Test your Memory / RAM

Memtest86
Memtest86 is released under the terms of the Gnu Public License (GPL).

http://www.memtest86.com/

Runs from Boot-Disk.