Game begins slowing down after about 10 turns - Warlords

[Badbonez]

I did not have this problem with Civ 4 vanilla but after installing Warlords the map scrolls very slowly after I have played for a while (seems to be about 10 turns). Resolution does not seem to matter (I can reproduce with low/med/high graphics). Nor does map size (tried with standard and small map).

When I first start the game, everything runs smoothly and the map scrolls at a pace I am used to. However, after about 10 turns there is a noticeable slow down of the map scroll. After that, the map slowly scrolls slower with every turn, but the big difference is right around that 10 turn mark. The time it takes the computer to make decisions does not seem to be affected, and the animated graphics seem to be moving at the same speed, it's just the map scroll is soooo slow. For instance, when the computer moves the map to focus on one of your units, it can take like 20 seconds to move one window away.

The only thing that seems to help is to playing in Windows mode - however, that just delays this problem, it still happens. However, if I quit the game and restart, the game plays fine again, for those few turns.

I am using Windows XP SP2 and an ATI x800 256mb video card. The drivers are the most up-to-date from ATI (march, 2007) and I am using Warlords 2.08.

I've done a search of the forums and couldn't find an exact problem like this. Although it seems that some people have games that crash after a few turns, and this may be related.

Any ideas? Thanks.

[snoopy369]

I've never seen that problem myself... and it's certainly not related to the crash after ten turns problem.

My feeling would be either some bad file somewhere [slightly corrupted texture or something] or something odd with your graphics driver. There is a difference in the 3D graphics rendering between the two games, so there's a possibility of a difference.

What driver version do you have? I have an x800 256mb also, and don't have this problem, so it's not the card itself. I am running the Feb. drivers (8.342, catalyst 7.2); you presumably are running March (8.351, catalyst 7.3). There is actually a catalyst 7.4 out as of 4/18 so perhaps try that, or try rolling back to 8.342 (Feb). It's possible they created a problem in their drivers.

[Badbonez]

Thanks for the response. Good to know that it's not the card. I looked at my drivers in the device manager and it says that the date is 3/14/2007 and version 8.36. How does that jive with your 7.2 version? I will go back to the ATI website and download the most up-to-date driver I can and if that doesn't work, roll back to your version. Thanks for the ideas, I'll let you know what happens.

[snoopy369]

You have the next version after mine. Honestly I don't really know the specific problem you're having, i'm just suggesting one possibility...

You might want to reinstall, or even do the usual system maintenance (defrag, etc.) Also check that your antivirus software isn't getting in the way (and anything else; try shutting everything off that you can.)

Also, try windowed mode maybe? See if that makes a difference.

[Badbonez]

I'm already playing in window mode and it helps a bit by not bogging down as quickly. I hate window mode tho...

I upgraded to the 7.4 and it still bogs down and I'm just playing on a standard map. Do you mean to tell me that your system doesn't slow down at all? I remember with the vanilla version that if I played a large map and had a huge battle, the cpu would slow down, but this is slowing down on standard sized maps very early in the game. I've read other comments by some users and I'm not the only one with this problem. I'll try the standard trouble shooting tricks but I hope a patch fixes this.

What's strange is that if I close the game and restart, there is no lage (but the game quickly bogs down thereafter).

Thanks for the help, again!

[snoopy369]

Well, you can maximize it in windowed mode

I don't see any appreciable slowdown, no. Certainly not in the early game. Of course later turns take longer, but that's due to # of orders being processed. I don't play huge maps, so I couldn't speak to that, but in Standard and Large (and Huge in MP) I have no slowdown at all.

If you are getting bog down in a small or standard game early in the game, you're one of very few who are having this problem. The thousands who play fine would imply it's something specific to your computer.

Those who have slowdowns late in large/huge maps, are experiencing a shortage of memory. That shouldn't be the problem for you; but perhaps you are having a shortage anyway (too many other programs running etc.?)

[snoopy369]

Actually, the close/restart makes it sound like it is a memory issue ... which makes no sense 10 turns in. Unless you have way too many programs running, or have some issue with your HDD space (either not enough free space for cache files, or bad files, or a weird interface?) ... I have no clue why you'd have it early in the game.

[Badbonez]

Just to re-cap a bit, my complaint is not about slowing down of CPU turns (i.e., thinking about what to do ). My complaint is about the map scroll speed. And it's not exactly 10 turns now that I updated the drivers. But now about mid-game, I have to restart the game to get a reasonable scroll speed of the map. Your idea about a corrupted texture may be valid. When I get the chance I'll reinstall and roll back to the Feb drivers you are using.

I've read several complaints about lag in the game where people have to restart. But I know its not everyone. And I'm not running anything in the backgroud, not much anyway.

Yes, the window is maximized, but I'm just used to scrolling the map by moving the mouse to the edge of the map. That doesn't seem to work in Window mode.

Ahh well, too much chit chat...back to the game!

[snoopy369]

The map scroll speed is what I refer to as other peoples' slowdowns, yes.

The lag that's generally reported is due to memory issues with 1GB or less of memory, or too little video memory.

Edit the .ini file, there is an option for mouse scolling in windowed mode