dynamic paging question

[ecc]

There are a couple settings in CivilizationIV.ini that I needed help with:

; Set to 1 to page units out when non-visible
DynamicUnitPaging = 1

; Set to 1 to page unit anims out when the unit is non visible
DynamicAnimPaging = 1

What do they do and what exactly does it mean about paging units out? Thanks

-Ryan

p.s. Does anyone have a copy of their .ini with settings that are recommended for max performance? thanks

[Urban Ranger]

Dynamic paging means moving things you don't use temporarily to the HDD. This frees up RAM for other things but slows down when the program access the HDD.

[Solver]

That would be normally in computing, UR .

In Civ4, DynamicUnitPaging unloads non-visible unit nodes. It's a slight memory saver. The other setting does the same for animations... basically it means that if you have no Riflemen on screen, Riflemen graphics will be unloaded. Both setting turned on is optimum performance.

Setting MemSaver = 1 is the most radical performance tweak. It breaks alt-tabbing for one thing, but squeezes maximum performance.

MinimapTrilinearFilter = 1 - this should be set to 0 for better performance, replaces the trilinear filter with a bilinear one. For maximum movie playing performance:

BinkNoSkip = 0
BinkCopyAll = 0
Bink16Bit = 0
BinkInterlace = 1

Makes them ugly, though.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Solver
Setting MemSaver = 1 is the most radical performance tweak. It breaks alt-tabbing for one thing, but squeezes maximum performance.

It may also cause graphics problems unless you have alot of video memory. It pushes some things from system RAM to video RAM, so if you have a low memory card it can cause issues. I wouldn't recommend that setting unless someone has 256 VRAM. I'm pretty sure it was causing me problems with my 128 VRAM.

[Solver]

That's because it's just unstable. It's actually meant for those with very low specs, not people with 256 VRAM, which is relatively rare.

[Willem]

So I made the change for the mimimap and I was wondering what other of those obscure settings could I change to get a bit more performance out of game? As it stands, I can just barely play Large maps, so I'd like to improve the overall performance a bit more. However, I haven't a clue what most of those settings do, and what I can get away with changing. The minimap now looks a bit rougher, but it's still good enough for a reference. Is there anything else there I can tinker with?

[Urban Ranger]

What are your computer's specs?

[Willem]

Athlon XP 1700
1 gig of RAM
Radeon 9550 w/128 VRAM

A bit on the low end for the game unfortunately. I'm planning on getting a new processor this summer and maybe a new video card as well.

[Urban Ranger]

Some things you can do:

Use msconfig to turn off programs and processes you don't need. For example, if you aren't using wireless, you can turn of the Wireless Zero Configuration Service. Likewise, some other good candidates include: Portable Media Serial Number, Task Scheduler, UPS, Auto Update, and Telnet.

Also you probably don't need most if not all the stuff in the startup folder. Use the "low" settings for all graphical details. Set your card for performance instead of quality.

Use RivaTuner to scale down pixel and vertex shaders version.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Some things you can do:

Use msconfig to turn off programs and processes you don't need. For example, if you aren't using wireless, you can turn of the Wireless Zero Configuration Service. Likewise, some other good candidates include: Portable Media Serial Number, Task Scheduler, UPS, Auto Update, and Telnet.

I came across a cmd script that someone posted on CivFanatics that shuts down all non-essential processes. Works good, except it shuts down my networking completely. No big deal though, I just have to reboot my computer to go online, and I don't play MP.

Also you probably don't need most if not all the stuff in the startup folder.

I shut down most of the things that start up, but there's probably a few things there I can't see. I'll have to take a look.

Use the "low" settings for all graphical details. Set your card for performance instead of quality.

Yeah I'm using low, but I can't quite live with my graphic card on Performance, it looks like crap. I've turned things down a notch or two though. Textures is on Quality instead of High-Quality and mip-map, whatever that is, I have down one from there.

Use RivaTuner to scale down pixel and vertex shaders version.

What's this you mention, I haven't heard of it. Do you have a link? Never mind, I found it. What would we do without Google eh?

I just tried playing a game with a Large map and I didn't quite make it. It started crashing on me during the Industrial Era. I'm thinking if I make the map just a little bit smaller and only have 8 civs I might be able to swing it. I had a game last week I managed to get though on Large with, so I'm guessing my system is just borderline. Some games it will work, others it won't.

Oh and you missed one, I also have my desktop resolution at 16 bit instead of 32.

[Willem]

So I had a look at Riva Tuner and I don't have a clue what to do with it. Plus it says the Omega 5.12 drivers aren't currently supported in the version I have. So I think I'll pass on that one.

[Urban Ranger]

I am going to recommend Hark's memory patch, because it does help. However you cannot use it with patch 1.52.

Also, you may want to increase the AGP aperture in the BIOS to see if it helps.

[Alex]

Like Willem's, my system is borderline and I'm struggling to get a good performance.

I tried lowering the color depth from 32 to 16 but it didn't seem to help. I've already tried lots of adjustments, tinkered with the .ini file, played the game in a window, blah blah blah, but I've only marginally improved the performance.

The single thing that seemed to work most for me was forcing pixel and vertex shaders to 1.1 using RivaTuner. I wonder if setting my card to "high performance" instead of "quality" would make things better.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
I am going to recommend Hark's memory patch, because it does help. However you cannot use it with patch 1.52.

That's not an option then.

Also, you may want to increase the AGP aperture in the BIOS to see if it helps.

Been there, done that.

I was actually thinking more along the lines of the ini settings. I've pretty much covered everything else but maybe there's something there, like the minimap trilinear filtering, that I can adjust to help tweak more performance out of the game. I don't really understand what most of that does so I haven't touched anything.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Alex
I wonder if setting my card to "high performance" instead of "quality" would make things better.

Probably, but the game is going to look like crap.