Solution: XP Problem

[Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS]

We're looking at creating formal step by step directions for the technical support site, but for those who are experiencing weird behavior on XP:

* Make sure you download the windows update patches from microsoft for XP. At least one of the fixes relate to Windows 98/me compatability.

* There is something called a Compatability Wizard that can be found under accessories on the start menu. One of the settings is Windows 98/ME.

We've seen a combination of these fix a number of issues on XP including font issues and black screens.

Jeff

[peckham]

Jeff,

Are you aware of the problem pertaining to *extreme* slowdown in the game, including most notably the horrendous scroll times, associated with Nvidia Detonator drivers?

I've only tested v21.83 through v22.50, but the problem is consistent across the board. Here's my system configuration:

Hardware:
AMD Athlon XP 1800+
MSI KT7266 Pro Mainboard
512MB DDR-RAM
2 30GB 7200 RPM Maxtor Hard Drives
MSI Starforce 822 Geforce 3, 64MB
Creative Labs Audigy Soundcard (OEM)
3COM 3C905C-TX 10/100 Ethernet
Microsoft Natural Kybd, Intellimouse Optical USB

OS:
Windows XP Professional OEM, fully patched (there were 9 updates available for my config, all have been installed via Windows Update).

Notes:
- Civ3 is installed (full install) in the default directory on drive C:

The problem manifests itself as:

(1) Slow, jerky scrolling. When moving the mouse to the screen edges, scrolling occurs, but with 2-3 second pauses between. It is bad enough to make the game totally unplayable.

(2) Slow, jerky unit placement lines. Selecting a unit and moving the mouse around is slow and stutters, making unit placement difficult and annoying.

Solution:
Downgrading to the default Windows XP Professional drivers fixed the problem. I'm told these are version 12.40. In any case, the game runs smooth and fast on my machine with the default XP Nvidia Geforce 3 drivers.

Just to be certain, I formatted my hard drive and did a totally clean install of XP last night. The first application I loaded was Civ3. Running with the default Nvidia drivers, and everything worked fine. I then installed Detonator drivers v22.50, and the problem as described above returned.

I'm currently running okay on the default (12.40) drivers that shipped with XP, but as someone noted elsewhere, the performance gains lost in other *3D* applications are *enormous*.

I'll be happy to send you any information I can to aid in tracking this one down.

Thanks,
Matt Peckham
Writer, Computer Games Magazine / Online
402-598-0325 (h)
402-280-7602 (w)

[gggie]

I can second this - GeForce3, WinXP (fully patched), newest Detonator = such an extreme lag moving the screen around that the game really can't be played. Downgrading the driver to the "certified" driver that comes with XP fixes the problem.

[Travathian]

I could have sworn either arstechnica.com or tomshardware.com had details on this same problem with the Detonator drivers for the Geforce3 on one of the benchmarks it ran. Couldn't find it though. But they said the same thing, once they went back to an older driver it worked fine. So I have my doubts its a CivIII thing.

Just another reason not to upgrade drivers unless you have a problem, lol.

[Shadowstrike]

Could someone take a look into the "title screen only" problem? I believe some of us are getting quite frustrated.....

[Provost Harrison]

For some reason, I am having no problem whatsoever with these things, yet I have an XP with the most up to date Detonator drivers

My system is:

Athlon 700 (original type)
GeForce (1) DDR
384Mb RAM (SDRAM)
Windows XP Professional

[lev]

WinXP Pro doing fine

I'm doing fine as well; maybe the problem only occurs with WinXP Home edition?

My system is a Dell Dimension 8100, P4 1.3g 256M ram, Nvidia Gforce grafix, soundblaster live! card.

[Asher]

I have WinXP Pro and it happened to me.

You guys probably didn't have the most recent (20.88 or something). They're called Detonator XP's, they're about a month old for download from Nvidia's site.

The ones that come with Windows don't have the problem (they're 12.40 or something)

[Rhuarc]

I have a Dell Inspiron computer, and when I try to run the game nothing happens. It just sits there. When I go to the processes screen it says it is running as a process, but it won't run. I have WondowsXP Pro version. Any ideas anybody? Oh, by the way, my computer is a laptop

[ranger]

crash in XP

I don't know if this is what you're talking about, but when I run Civ3 on my XP system, it doesn't even seem to get to the CD check. The task manager shows the process, plus an "~eftmp**" process that's running, both of which quit without displaying the Civ3 splash screen (the one shown before the movie) or whirring the CD drive. HOWEVER, if I run it as Administrator, it works fine. I then quit, and run it as just my normal user account, and from then on it works fine until the next rebbot. Anyone else seen this?

I've got an Athlon 1.4, Epox 8KTA3Pro (KT133A chipset) motherboard with 2 HDs and a CD-ROM plus a DVD-ROM. I've got NTFS on the boot/game partition and installing as admin vs normal user makes no difference. Using SBLive Value with Creative drivers and Geforce 2 GTS with 21.83/85 drivers.

[Rhuarc]

ranger: I'm not sure if that is what it is or not, but I will be sure and check to see if that is what it is. Thanks a lot, and I'll let you know if it works out!

[Themis]

I've also got the scrolling problem over here.
I'm running win XP pro. My detonator drivers are version 21.81, using a hercules 3d prophet II MX. I really hope for a quick solution for this problem...

[Asher]

A temporary solution has already been posted...

[jonasf]

W2000 has extremely slow scrolling no matter what graphics card

I use Win2000 and I've got an ASUS 8200/T2 GeForce3 TI card. it's soo slow it is completely impossible to play the game at all.

Is scrolls but with several seconds between each screen. Tested with another graphics card and it is a bit faster like half a second to a second per screen.... Wow!

And I have a PC that churns out over 100fps in a first person shooter with 3D graphics!!!!! Then I load up this game that has no special graphics at all, just very plain 2D and shouldn't be demanding at all for a PC with an Athlon XP 1600 and 1Gb RAM and it runs slower than a 386!!!!

This is NOT a driver problem since all other games work just fine. If other companies can make games that work why can't firaxis do it????

I am certainly not going to fiddle with old drivers and mess up my system because firaxis refuses to fix something that is so obviously broken. The suggestion that people should install an old bad performing driver is totally ridiculous.

The problem is not confined to the graphics card or the driver it runs slow as hell on any windows2000 platform(XP is built on the win2000 core). The only platform that seems to deliver acceptable performance with this game is windows 98, an operating system that no sane person wants on his computer.

It pisses me off especially since I bought a new machine in order to enjoy this game to it's fullest.... It was bloody slow on my PII 300Mhz with Win2000 as well, but I thought that with some more hardware muscle it should be fixed..... Not so, it runs EVEN SLOWER on my new machine. It's completely impossible to play the game as it is.

Fix it Firaxis, right NOW!!!

[genghisvick]

Re: W2000 has extremely slow scrolling no matter what graphics card

Originally posted by jonasf
I use Win2000 and I've got an ASUS 8200/T2 GeForce3 TI card. it's soo slow it is completely impossible to play the game at all.

Is scrolls but with several seconds between each screen. Tested with another graphics card and it is a bit faster like half a second to a second per screen.... Wow!

And I have a PC that churns out over 100fps in a first person shooter with 3D graphics!!!!! Then I load up this game that has no special graphics at all, just very plain 2D and shouldn't be demanding at all for a PC with an Athlon XP 1600 and 1Gb RAM and it runs slower than a 386!!!!

This is NOT a driver problem since all other games work just fine. If other companies can make games that work why can't firaxis do it????

I am certainly not going to fiddle with old drivers and mess up my system because firaxis refuses to fix something that is so obviously broken. The suggestion that people should install an old bad performing driver is totally ridiculous.

The problem is not confined to the graphics card or the driver it runs slow as hell on any windows2000 platform(XP is built on the win2000 core). The only platform that seems to deliver acceptable performance with this game is windows 98, an operating system that no sane person wants on his computer.

It pisses me off especially since I bought a new machine in order to enjoy this game to it's fullest.... It was bloody slow on my PII 300Mhz with Win2000 as well, but I thought that with some more hardware muscle it should be fixed..... Not so, it runs EVEN SLOWER on my new machine. It's completely impossible to play the game as it is.

Fix it Firaxis, right NOW!!!

Agreed! I have a top of the line system as well & I am not about to downgrade to those crappy 12.40's when I play alot of FPS and other 3D games. Firaxis has a resposibility to fix such a huge glitch & fix it fast!