The Darkness

[FooFighter]

I know there are 1001 threads on this. Just thought I would register my own annoyance in my own thread

I have a laptop, running a mobility radeon 7000 IGP, 2.8gig P4, and 512mb

The 7000 IGP has TnL and also utilises 64mb of memory.

This to me means I meet the min specs for this game.

Now when I try to get this game to run I get a dark map as shown below. I also suffer from hilarious leader heads.



I know this isnt Firaxis' fault but im still disappointed at the moment

EDIT: I have the latest drivers cataylst drivers and I know the work (and it does work) around of the world builder but thats not good enough for me.

[BleckLord]

Re: The Darkness

Originally posted by FooFighter
I know there are 1001 threads on this. Just thought I would register my own annoyance in my own thread

You are right, there are tons of threads on this. Ok, so why exactly do we need a new one?

[Barington]

Re: Re: The Darkness

Actually this very interesting. Foo Fighters experience seems to question the direct link between T+L capability and the permanent fog problem (the darkness). So does mine from the opposite perspective.

e.g. My Video; Intel82865G appears not to have T+L capability however after playing for a while some areas of the map are perfectly rendered.

I can also get a perfectly good terrain view in world builder mode so clearly T+L capability is not a requirement to render CivIV terrain graphics. Neither judging by Foo Fighters experience does its presence seem to ensure that they can be produced.

This would all seem to suggest that the simple explanation that CivIV works with T+L but not without it is not a full explanation.

[joncnunn]

The threshold for the black fog of war and other related issues, isn't video card advertised as being T/L not being adverted as T/L, but instead is having direct hardware / video card suport for a realtively rare function within T/L which Civ IV depends upon.

The workaround for fog of war is going into world mod and selecting the option that reveals the map. This won't help show the leaders, but that's not nearly as critical.

[Barington]

Originally posted by joncnunn
The threshold for the black fog of war and other related issues, isn't video card advertised as being T/L not being adverted as T/L,

Yes; I think that is the point I was making. There is not a simple link between the FOW problem and having or not having T/L.

[rvinall]

Re: Re: Re: The Darkness

Originally posted by Barington
I can also get a perfectly good terrain view in world builder mode so clearly T+L capability is not a requirement to render CivIV terrain graphics. Neither judging by Foo Fighters experience does its presence seem to ensure that they can be produced.
This would all seem to suggest that the simple explanation that CivIV works with T+L but not without it is not a full explanation.

Exactly what I've been thinking. Since even without T&L, you can clearly see the terrain in world builder mode, do you think that there could eventually be some kind of fix in the future without requiring vid card upgrade?

On another note about the black terrain/cheshire cat issue, has anyone else also experienced very slow gameplay in addition to these issues? I have a 2.66 ghz celeron with about 480 megs ram, and still experience choppy scrolling, choppy unit movement animation etc (even after closing background applications and reducing the graphic options in Civ4) This baffles me, because 2.66 ghz should be more than sufficient to run it fast, even with the black terrain problem. anyone else get this?

[Barington]

Re: Re: Re: Re: The Darkness

Originally posted by rvinall


Exactly what I've been thinking. Since even without T&L, you can clearly see the terrain in world builder mode, do you think that there could eventually be some kind of fix in the future without requiring vid card upgrade?

Thanks rvinall; I was begining to think this was only obvious to me.

[joncnunn]

Re: Re: Re: Re: The Darkness

My black terrain/chehire cat issue on my notebook is combined with the sound skipping on intros/movies. (And the apprently non-functional replay)

But even with full automations on, the scrolling and unit movement are very smooth, and the modern armor moving along rail was very sweet.

(This notebook ran Civ III much better than my previous machine, [a desktop]did. That desktop had choppy scrolling on a huge map even in the editor.)

I would glady trade a slightly slower scroll for a non-cheating properly functionity fog of war.

I'm a computer programmer by trade (Java) that splits my time between Jefferson City during the work week and a St Louis suburb on the weekends which is what led to me getting a notebook. Much easier to transport a notebook back and forth than a full blown desktop.

Originally posted by rvinall

On another note about the black terrain/cheshire cat issue, has anyone else also experienced very slow gameplay in addition to these issues? I have a 2.66 ghz celeron with about 480 megs ram, and still experience choppy scrolling, choppy unit movement animation etc (even after closing background applications and reducing the graphic options in Civ4) This baffles me, because 2.66 ghz should be more than sufficient to run it fast, even with the black terrain problem. anyone else get this?

[rvinall]

another thing: has anyone managed to turn off the fog of war that remains everywhere using the world editor/reveal map workaround to this problem?

[destroyerBEACON]

Here's an interesting development I came across:

I have a low-end Intel card, so naturally, I have all the same problems. However, I still play without reveraling the entire map via the WorldBuilder. Here's what I have found: as you approach a randomly determined point on the map, the fog of war starts to go away. Basically, the fog of war layer does not move from that specific point for the entire duration of the game. Everything else moves correctly: The units, cities, terrain, everthing else is correct, but the fog of war doesn't move.

Here's an example of what I mean: one game, the randomly determined point was the city of Boston (the point isn't always on a city, though, as I've discovered). As I skirted around America's borders (no Open Borders), the edges of the screen because visible. Then, I finally got Open Borders. I wandered in to Boston, and saw a patch of light at the center of the screen, and black everywhere else (except for the path I entered on, which was grey). When I traded maps with America, I saw everything in grey. When I forced my state religion into Boston, it was light in the center and the rest was grey.

So basically, the fog of war would be correct if the map was centered on that one point. To me, this sounds like a software error... I hope this helps people figure out some of the screwy issues with less-than-perfect cards.

[pittpen]

To add my two cents, I also have noticed "The lifting of the fog" effect. I've played a game up to 1250AD that 90% of the fog is gone. The strange thing is that once I saved the game and came back to it later, the fog is still gone. Dont know if this helps or not, just found it odd that the graphics issue was saved as part of my game.

[Lost1]

as I cannot run it on my desktop pc with a radeon 9800 pro I tried it on my laptop with a radeon mobility 7000.. mine is however only 16MB card (the game needs 32), but it runs fine though with the black tiles and the funny leaders. At least I can play now, the black tiles can be fixed by entering worldbuilder mode and "reveal all tiles".. as for the leaders just enjoy their funny faces.

L1

[rvinall]

Originally posted by Lost1
as I cannot run it on my desktop pc with a radeon 9800 pro I tried it on my laptop with a radeon mobility 7000.. mine is however only 16MB card (the game needs 32), but it runs fine though with the black tiles and the funny leaders. At least I can play now, the black tiles can be fixed by entering worldbuilder mode and "reveal all tiles".. as for the leaders just enjoy their funny faces.

L1

yeah, but even after you reveal all tiles, doesn't the fog of war remain, and your tiles are all sort of grayish? that is, a lot less bright than in the world editor.
sure hope that a patch comes soon that will help with these type of things.

[AoA]

Here's a way to fix the blackness and return a somewhat more normal fog or war. Before building a city, go to Worldbuilder and reveal whole map, place a unit with high mobility in the exact center of the map, try not to memorize the map but take a good look at the land around your furst settler, hide all the tiles again, and close the Worldbuilder again.
Play the game, build your city and move the center unit around and see if it clears the fog of war. I was able to get the entire screen cleared in several turns. The problem is that its hard to see what's going around your city until the fog is lifted, but with luck and some care you'll find a pattern to get it down fast.
Make sure you kill the center unit when you're done and try not to meet other civ's. Weird thing is that this method can let you see other unexplored land is you mouse past it, so try not to exploit it either.

[FooFighter]

Thats not a viable work around. Ypu could be right whoever said before that TL isnt actualy a min requirement... its a more modern feature that is. Hopefully a patch will be released soon that solves this issue.