Huge Dissapointment

[pippin]

Well, I got my pre-ordered civ last Friday and immediately wrote off the weekend for Civ related fun. Imagine my disappointment when I got (what seem to be the standard issues) the unplayable intro movie, the cheshire cat and black terrain. Apparently, the game may still be playable somehow but the will had gone. So, the weekend was spent trawling various civ forums for possible fixes and trying to decipher the computer-geek language in order to do so. I've decided to wait for the patch and try to put the game out of mind, otherwise I would be forever fiddling with the computer trying to get it to work.

This is my first major dissapointment with the civ series. For some reason, I thought they were above all that releasing the game early untested stuff, so familiar from the activities of game companies.

Welcome to the club Sid.

[seebs]

The black terrain is almost certainly a hardware limitation; the engine assumes a fairly beefy video card.

[rvinall]

I had the EXACT same problem, with the mouse always being an hourglass icon, the damn floating mouths and eyes on the leaders, and completely black terrain (and running as slow as a honey-covered slug even with black terrain)

Does this have anything to do with "ATI"? I really have NO idea what ATI is, but I didn't get the initialization error that seems to be common, just this same weird things that you mentioned here.

Has ANYONE got these symptoms and managed to get it working? I have a capable comp (2.66 ghz gateway laptop) but I'm not enough of a computer geek to understand the specifics of video cards and whatever the hell "ATI" is supposed to be.

[Sabre2th]

The black terrain and Chesire cat are almost certainly caused by a card that does not support T&L. T&L is not a new technology (5+ years) and has been listed as a requirement for Civ4 for quite some time. If your card does not support it, it is likely because you bought your computer at Best Buy or similar, which cut a lot of corners in their technology to knock the price down.

Originally posted by seebs
The black terrain is almost certainly a hardware limitation; the engine assumes a fairly beefy video card.

The requirements are not at all "beefy." I've successfully run the game with a GeForce2 mx, which anyone will tell you is not a stellar card. It is old and wasn't amazing when it came out.

[rvinall]

what's T&L? I ordered my computer from gateways website less than a year ago, so you'd think it would work. I'm not enough a computer wizard to know all the details/specs about what kind of video card I have, except in control panel I have an icon for "intel extreme graphics."

So does this basically mean that I'm screwed? I don't think it's possible to upgrade a laptop's video card, so does the "cheshire cat" symptom basically mean that I should return the game or sell it on ebay until I get a new computer?

[Sabre2th]

If you have a laptop, then you're likely in a similar situation. Many companies do not put more than marginal video cards in laptops because they are typically used for school and business apps.

There are a couple of programs out there that can emulate T&L by using CPU power. They MAY help, but I make no guarantees

Edit: Sorry...I've been a bit slow with my posting. T&L stands for "Transform and Lighting." The graphics card does some calculations on its on to save CPU power. It's fast becoming a standard in 3d gaming

[Sabre2th]

If you're not good with computers and want to know more about your video card, try:

http://www.srtest.com

It's not perfect, but it will give you an idea what your card is capable of. Just scroll down to Civ4 and see what it says

[rvinall]

so, again, is the cheshire cat and black terrain have anything to do with "ATI"?

is there ANYONE at all who got the game to work on a laptop? I mean, with all the laptop users in the world, you'd think that firaxis could put a warning: "This game doesn't work on laptops"!! And I was pretty sure that when I ordered my laptop off gateway.com, it was recommended for the good graphics capability. then again, civ4 is the first 3d game I've ever tried to run on it.

I'd also like an honest recommendation...is there ANY hope of the game ever working on my laptop if I get the cheshire cat/black terrain symptoms or should I just return the game. is it theoretically possible there could be a patch for this type of thing?

edit: Ok, I went to srtest.com like you recommended, and you are correct, I failed the video card requirement because I don't have "Video HW Transform & Lighting" Do you know any programs in particular that can emulate that or have any recommendations?

[Sabre2th]

Originally posted by rvinall
so, again, is the cheshire cat and black terrain have anything to do with "ATI"?

is there ANYONE at all who got the game to work on a laptop? I mean, with all the laptop users in the world, you'd think that firaxis could put a warning: "This game doesn't work on laptops"!! And I was pretty sure that when I ordered my laptop off gateway.com, it was recommended for the good graphics capability. then again, civ4 is the first 3d game I've ever tried to run on it.

I'd also like an honest recommendation...is there ANY hope of the game ever working on my laptop if I get the cheshire cat/black terrain symptoms or should I just return the game. is it theoretically possible there could be a patch for this type of thing?

edit: Ok, I went to srtest.com like you recommended, and you are correct, I failed the video card requirement because I don't have "Video HW Transform & Lighting" Do you know any programs in particular that can emulate that or have any recommendations?

I don't recall the names of the programs, but there is one in particular that has been posted a few times. Just look around and you should be able to find it.

I really don't think Chesire cat and black terrain are ATI problems, it would seem to me that they are a direct result of T&L issues. That being said though, ATI only emulates T&L (it's an Nvidia technology, I believe), so it's possible certain ATI cards aren't fully compatible

Edit: Missed one of your questions. Laptop support of T&L is spotty, but it's not difficult to get a card in a laptop that supports it. Many standard laptops don't have T&L because it's cheaper and not required for business and school apps, which are the primary draw for laptops

[rvinall]

I found the 3D analyze program for T&L emulation, but I've had no luck because that program is very complicated and has SO many boxes you can tick. I don't even know where to begin. If anyone has advice on using this program or can recommend a simpler T&L emulator, that'd be great.

And I'm also wondering, as a computer ignoramus, is it possible to upgrade a laptop's video card? can that even be done, even by a professional? thanks for any help

[pippin]

Originally posted by Sabre2th
If you're not good with computers and want to know more about your video card, try:

http://www.srtest.com

It's not perfect, but it will give you an idea what your card is capable of. Just scroll down to Civ4 and see what it says

I just ran this test. It handily makes recommendations on the card you should purchase to replace your inadequate one. The cheapest is around $270 (plus tax).

If only Firaxis had included a discount voucher with the game.

[Imran Siddiqui]

is there ANYONE at all who got the game to work on a laptop?

Yes. I, for one, with my GeForce4 Go 440.

[Fuzzyhead]

Yes. Dell Inspiron XPS Gen2 with GeForce Go 6800 Ultra.

[Fuzzyhead]

Sorry.... Edit mistake.

[rvinall]

yeah this is all pretty frustrating, to have waited this long for Civ4 only to have to find out I need to buy a new computer, after I just got this one less than a year ago and thought it was a nice computer...if anyone has luck running any T&L emulators, please let us know