Semi-Solution: Slow Scroll

[Dominous]

Originally posted by Provost Harrison
Yeah, but I have a GeForce (1-DDR) with Windows XP and have no problems whatsoever. Why am I unaffected by this problem???

Did you read any of these posts?

[black98z]

I still can't play....this game DOES NOT work properly with a Geforce3 Ti card. There is NO support for Ti cards below the 21.81 driver, therefore, NO support for Ti cards in Civ3 until a patch. Please hurry with it 8(

[doben]

MDA, what drivers are you using?

[Hurin]

I can attest that the following setup has the "Slow Scroll" problem as well as generally choppy/pausing/slow behavior in Windows 2000 (note that this is not XP!)

(I'm not gloating here about my setup. Sorry for the lack of modesty. . . but if it helps, I went heavily into debt to do this!)

I built my new system last night to try to get ready for the next round of games (and Civ3 was the motivation after I saw how it played on my PIII 700 and Voodoo 5500).

Pentium IV 2Ghz
512MB DDR from Crucial.com
Shuttle AV40 PX266 Motherboard
Adaptec 29160N
Quantum Atlas 10K III 18GB
VisionTek Xtasy 6964 (Nvidia GForce 3 Titanium 500)
SBLive X-gamer (not 5.1)

So, in Windows 2000 (SP2), I installed all chipset (Via 4-in-1) and video drivers (newest detonator from NVidida). . . and everything else that might be needed. . . and the performance. . . to be blunt. . . sucked.

The problem is that earlier version of Detonator Drivers wouldn't work on my machine because Windows didn't let me install them for the newer Titanium card. So, had I not been able to install Windows 98 SE, Civ3 would not have been a good experience for me.

Things I noticed in Windows 2000:

* Slow-map-scrolling problem.
* Advisor screens would pause before coming up (1-2 seconds. This doesn't happen in Windows 98)
* 1-5 second pauses between turns in the very beginning of a new game. This seems odd so early in the game and is *not* present on Windows 98.

I hope all this information helps both track down the problem and also make it (somewhat?) clear that Windows 2000 suffers from the same problems as XP. At least, with my setup it does.

But, I gotta say, on Windows 98 SE, Civ3 is screaming along. Maps scrolling still isn't what we've all grown accustomed to in RTS games like Age of Empires. . . but it's fine.

Best Regards,

Hurin

[a rabbit]

The slow scrolling problem DOES exist for Windows 2000 SP1 with the GeForce 2 MX with the latest NVidia drivers installed. This is with a Pentium III 866 with 256 MB memory.

How do I know? I just took out the GeForce with 32 MB of memory and put in an ATI All-in-Wonder Pro with 8 MB memory, and it scrolls 2x to 3x as fast with the ATI!

I'm going to guess numbers, I can maybe scroll three times in one second with the ATI card, and one time per second with the GeForce 2 MX.

-a rabbit

[Asher]

The problem is in Nvidia's Windows 2000/XP drivers for Detonator XP.

Just download version 12.41 for Win2000/XP here.

[Tymordane]

I've also experienced the slowdown with Win2000, but with both the 12.41 WHQL _and_ the 21.83 drivers.

My system:
P2-400
256 megs RAM
Geforce 256 32mb

A friend has worse specs (less ram) but with Win98 has a much faster scroll speed.

It's possible the 21.83 drivers were not being completely removed when 12.41 was installed, but both dxdiag and device manager were showing the correct dates and version numbers.

[Asher]

Does your friend have a faster CPU?

Your problem could just be the CPU speed.

[Tymordane]

No, his system is a P2-400 as well. He has a slightly larger hard drive, but less ram.

[black98z]

Originally posted by Asher
The problem is in Nvidia's Windows 2000/XP drivers for Detonator XP.

Just download version 12.41 for Win2000/XP here.

You are correct. The problem is that version 12.41 does not support Geforce3 Titanium cards. So if u got a Titanium, you are SOL.

[Asher]

No, it supports it fine.
What it doesn't support are shadow buffers (across any of the cards).

Nvidia does not make hardware specific drivers, and the Titanium models are the exact same hardware as the other GeForce 3, only clocked higher.

It'll work just fine. Nvidia had a marketing blitz about the new features of the Titanium (which are Shadow Buffers) but are also available on the old GeForce 3, the enhancement only came with the Detonator XP drivers released at the same time as the titanium.

[Hurin]

http://www.guru3d.com/files/detonator/

This site has some 22.40 and 22.50 drivers posted. Supposedly he has access to beta drivers or drivers that haven't been released yet.

Anyways, I can't vouch for these, but I saw them there. I'm going to be trying them to try to fix some other problems I've noticed. Try them at your own risk. I take no responsibility.

I'm not sure at this point. . . but my VIA chipset and the new GeForce Titanium aren't getting along very well I think.

Best Regards,

Hurin

[peckham]

I've trid 22.50 and the problem's still there (see my initial post above). Haven't tried 22.40, but you can bet it'll be the same, since they wouldn't have fixed something just to break it again.

[black98z]

Originally posted by Asher
No, it supports it fine.
What it doesn't support are shadow buffers (across any of the cards).

Nvidia does not make hardware specific drivers, and the Titanium models are the exact same hardware as the other GeForce 3, only clocked higher.

It'll work just fine. Nvidia had a marketing blitz about the new features of the Titanium (which are Shadow Buffers) but are also available on the old GeForce 3, the enhancement only came with the Detonator XP drivers released at the same time as the titanium.

Hrmmm, that's odd. I tried a couple 12.41 revisions (I don't remember which ones) and it comes up in VGA mode with a max rez of 800x600 on my desktop. I could be wrong with classifying all these drivers as not supporting Titanium. I would like someone to give me a 12.41 detonator revision to prove me wrong. (So I can play!)

Who has a Titanium that works with Civ 3?? What revision are u using?

[imgod2u]

nVidia uses a unified driver architecture. Meaning all of their core designs are based around the same basic architecture so that one driver can work for virtually any card. While the latest DetonatorXP (2x.xx) series brings significant improvements for the Geforce 3's unique GPU, the display itself is still the same. Keep in mind that before the 2x.xx drivers were out in september, everyone with a Geforce 3 was using the 12.xx or 14.xx drivers. And I don't know about you, but I haven't had any problems, and I have not heard of any other problems either.