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Howdy folks. Like many of you I’ve been highly frustrated with Civ IV since buying it last week, and after a lot of research & tinkering, I’m pretty sure I’ve found the culprit: the DirectX 9.0c’s shading abilities. At least, that’s the culprit if you’re using a Mobility Radeon 7500, and probably a regular Radeon 7500, and it has nothing to do with T&L, as many seem to be thinking. Why? Our cards have no support for some of 9.0c’s advanced commands, which are apparently used extensively by Civ IV. Here’s my key specs:
Windows XP w/SP2
Intel Pentium 4 2.40 GHz
512 MB Ram (Virtual Mem pushed to as high as 1500MB during the tinkering process)
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 64MB w/T&L
At first, I had the problem with the black map & the floating heads, but I was able to clear that up by: updating to the latest Omega drivers, following Firaxis’ PakBuild “fix,” and setting my AGP down to 0 (with #1 & #2 coming from this board, thank you very much for the help!). With that done, the game plays – even on large maps – with most graphics intact, and doesn’t start slowing down on large maps until the later stages of play. Even then, it’s still playable.
The main problem is that I have the “washed out” terrain others have reported – yellow fields & white deserts, plus either black, black & blue, or black/white & blue water unless one of my ships is present. Additionally, animals appear as shadows unless I turn off animations inside the game. Other than that, everything seems to work, including pretty seamless movies. To make matters worse, the game teases me by suddenly cutting in to “full graphics” mode for short periods of time. Unfortunately, these glimpses of what the game’s supposed to look like make it unplayably slow.
At first I thought this would be patchable, but now I’m not so sure ‘cause I’ve confirmed that the Mobility Radeon 7500 DOES NOT have the hardware to support DirectX 9.0c’s advanced shading features, which must be what makes Civ IV look the way it’s supposed to look. I double-checked Firaxis’ requirements, and sure enough it specifically says it has to be a T&L card with DirectX 9.0c support.
So my question is, CAN Firaxis patch this problem for 7500 users, even if they wanted to? Or, is there a way to emulate those advanced shading functions with software? And if so, would it result in a game that’s too slow to play? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
p.s. Seems like a lot of 7500 users out there had given up on being able to play the game at all. Don't give up hope; I'm proof that you can play it more or less normally on a 7500, even if the terrain & water colors are messed up.
p.p.s. Yes, I have asked Firaxis these questions, and no, still haven't heard back from them.
Windows XP w/SP2
Intel Pentium 4 2.40 GHz
512 MB Ram (Virtual Mem pushed to as high as 1500MB during the tinkering process)
ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 64MB w/T&L
At first, I had the problem with the black map & the floating heads, but I was able to clear that up by: updating to the latest Omega drivers, following Firaxis’ PakBuild “fix,” and setting my AGP down to 0 (with #1 & #2 coming from this board, thank you very much for the help!). With that done, the game plays – even on large maps – with most graphics intact, and doesn’t start slowing down on large maps until the later stages of play. Even then, it’s still playable.
The main problem is that I have the “washed out” terrain others have reported – yellow fields & white deserts, plus either black, black & blue, or black/white & blue water unless one of my ships is present. Additionally, animals appear as shadows unless I turn off animations inside the game. Other than that, everything seems to work, including pretty seamless movies. To make matters worse, the game teases me by suddenly cutting in to “full graphics” mode for short periods of time. Unfortunately, these glimpses of what the game’s supposed to look like make it unplayably slow.
At first I thought this would be patchable, but now I’m not so sure ‘cause I’ve confirmed that the Mobility Radeon 7500 DOES NOT have the hardware to support DirectX 9.0c’s advanced shading features, which must be what makes Civ IV look the way it’s supposed to look. I double-checked Firaxis’ requirements, and sure enough it specifically says it has to be a T&L card with DirectX 9.0c support.
So my question is, CAN Firaxis patch this problem for 7500 users, even if they wanted to? Or, is there a way to emulate those advanced shading functions with software? And if so, would it result in a game that’s too slow to play? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
p.s. Seems like a lot of 7500 users out there had given up on being able to play the game at all. Don't give up hope; I'm proof that you can play it more or less normally on a 7500, even if the terrain & water colors are messed up.
p.p.s. Yes, I have asked Firaxis these questions, and no, still haven't heard back from them.
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