Announcement

**Unimatrix11** · March 5, 2006, 06:16

what map size ?

**Willem** · March 5, 2006, 12:21

Re: finished my 1st game and had a lot of lag

Originally posted by D4everman
Besides Ram, would a better video card help me out?

Definitely. The game requires quite a bit from your video card at the end of the game, and yours is rather outdated. And you should have at least 1 gig of RAM. In the meantime, you could try turning down the graphic quality in Options.

**D4everman** · March 5, 2006, 13:26

What video card would you suggest?

Oh, and it was a large map.

**Willem** · March 5, 2006, 13:56

Originally posted by D4everman
What video card would you suggest?

I can't help you there I'm afraid, I'm still learning about those things myself. Try posting another thread asking for advice.

Although when I was in the computer store asking questions, the staff was raving about the GeForce 6800.

**Martin the Dane** · March 5, 2006, 15:37

To answer you question on hardware. Yes getting a newer videocard will definetely help, as will more ram and a faster processor. But one thing I have found out, is that it helps a lot to save the game, and restart Civ4 every now and then, especially in the late game on a large map. (Some times it's even necesarry to do it, if you want to start the next turn) This is due to tha fact that Civ4 leaks memory real bad.

As to witch videocard is best, Your motherboard supports AGP 4x AFAIK, whitch is not all that easy to find these days. So before you go out and spend 80€ on a new video card make sure it's compatible. Personally I'd go for a memory upgrade, and se if that did the trick. If not I'd by a 256 M GeForce 6200 or Radeon 9200. Any more and you'd be better of buying a new PC. You should be able to get them for aroun 60-80€.

Remember the sales guy in the computer shop is interested in one thing: your money, so he will try to sell you the most expensive card.

**Willem** · March 5, 2006, 15:48

Originally posted by Martin the Dane
If not I'd by a 256 M GeForce 6200 or Radeon 9200.

I have a Radeon 9550 and that can't quite handle the graphics well. I need to turn everything down to Low and in the end game I have trouble turning on/off the grid. So a 9200 is not a good recommendation. If going with Radeon, I'd suggest no less than a 9800. Those are still available in AGP format. Incidentally, AGP is still widely available in North America, though that might change in the next year or two. If you have trouble finding one in Europe, consider an online order.

I agree with you on the restarting, sometimes that's all it takes to get things running smoothly again.

**Unimatrix11** · March 5, 2006, 17:42

how about one with a ATi X800 chip ? Those cards are pretty cheap (110Euro for 128 MByte version a bit more for 256MB), are avaiable for AGP and from all i have heard pretty strong in performance... I consider buying a new PC soon and that is the Graphic-card i am aiming for... R

Right now i am playing on AGP Rage WDM (64MByte i think and at least 2 years old) or something and it works pretty fine - even though it also lags in the endgame on large... Do you ever try to fiddle with the settings of the card - like turning of anti-aliasing and stuff ? Cause it amazes me that you dont get good results on systems like yours...

**D4everman** · March 5, 2006, 17:54

Hmmmm.....although I work in a computer field, my expertise is really in the graphics/web design side. So please tell me, what is a memory leak? I think I know but I don't want to sound like a goober.

I can go to where I got the PC for a new video card...the store does a lot of business with us (NATO) so the salespeople are usually willing to give me a break on some items I buy for personal use. I'm a bit surprised that the game runs like this on many machines.

**Zoid** · March 5, 2006, 18:16

Re: finished my 1st game and had a lot of lag

Originally posted by D4everman
Just finished my first game, space race victory at noble level. My machine became very slow and laggy by the end. So much that if theres an end game video I didn't see it. (for that matter I don't see the start game video either) My only real problem was the lack of oil in my territory but that was rectified by giving isabella a beating and taking it from her. Oh, and montezuma. But I took his stuff more so I could stop seeing his sneering face threatening me every other turn.

In finishing my first game there were lots of things that I liked such as:

The end of REX. I always hated that in civ III. In Civ III there were times when I really wasn't planning on expanding, but I had to to keep the AI out of my territory. On that token, the fact that the AI can't enter my territory without permission or a declaration of war made my life easier....well, except for the barbarians.

Then again what I don't like is lacking the option to not hold an audience with the AI leaders like in CivIII. I got tired of having Ghandi ask me for technology every turn....especially near the end when we racing for the space ship. (sure I'm going to give you computers, Ghandi....)

The lag by the end was a pain. My pc is a fujitsu seimens scaleo L. I haven't checked since I bought it, but I'm fairly sure I've only got 256 MB ddr ram, so I know I need more.

AMD sempron processor 2000MHz
Nvidia Geforce MX 4000 video card.

Besides Ram, would a better video card help me out?

It looks like you could need a serious upgrade anyway. Just changing a few parts won´t make that much of a difference on an old comp like that. You can get a pretty decent machine for about €500...

**Willem** · March 5, 2006, 19:18

Re: Re: finished my 1st game and had a lot of lag

Originally posted by Zoid
It looks like you could need a serious upgrade anyway. Just changing a few parts won´t make that much of a difference on an old comp like that. You can get a pretty decent machine for about €500...

Yes, if you're going for a video card upgrade, you may as well go for the rest as well. The new standard in vid cards is PCI Express and you need a special mother board for it. And it's quite possible your old processor won't work in it. I just had to replace my MB since AMD no longer provides chips with the socket configuration it had. So I had to replace both. I'll probably need to replace the MB again when I can afford a new vid card.

**Urban Ranger** · March 5, 2006, 22:22

Re: Re: finished my 1st game and had a lot of lag

Originally posted by Zoid
It looks like you could need a serious upgrade anyway. Just changing a few parts won´t make that much of a difference on an old comp like that. You can get a pretty decent machine for about €500...

Um, that's a Sempron which is a 64-bit CPU based on the AMD 64. It's not that old.

**Unimatrix11** · March 6, 2006, 00:46

Even though PCI-e is the new standard for Graphic-Adapters, it is highly disputed if there is any benefit to it yet, if you dont plan to spend like 500 Euro on your Card alone... Most cards still come in both standards AGP and PCI-e and if you are not a hardcore action-gamer, a 120 Euro AGP card should do the job just fine.

**D4everman** · March 6, 2006, 01:43

Re: Re: Re: finished my 1st game and had a lot of lag

Originally posted by Urban Ranger

Um, that's a Sempron which is a 64-bit CPU based on the AMD 64. It's not that old.

Thanks UR. I was scratching my head like "I only got the thing last summer. It can't be that old.". Admittedly the sales guy told me that he had a machine that was built specifically for gaming for another 100 or so euros, but I use mine mostly for work. (Though I do play quite a few games).

I can get a new video card and some RAM, but I'm not quite ready to go buy a new PC for the sake of one game not running well, even if it is Civ.

**Urban Ranger** · March 6, 2006, 01:47

My problem is that my MSI motherboard is defective

, but I can't seem to find any good 939 mobo (preferably Asus) that has AGP.

Announcement

finished my 1st game and had a lot of lag

finished my 1st game and had a lot of lag

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment