Semi-Solution: Slow Scroll

[Dale]

People with slow-down issues:

Just a question here, but do all of you have your display settings at 24-bit "True Colour"? My mate had a problem with an Nvidia with a few other games (3D & 2D) and we solved the slow performance issues NOT by rolling back the drivers, but by simply changing colours to 16K colours. By dropping the colour bits-per-pixel these games didn't have to wait for the display card to convert all the 16-bit graphics to 24-bit graphics.

Just a suggestion.

[a rabbit]

No, setting color depth to 16- or 32-bit didn't help me at all. Scrolling and animation with my GeForce 2 MX on Windows 2000 is still 3x slower than with my old 2D card.

-a rabbit

[a rabbit]

Using the NVidia 12.90 drivers DOES eliminate the slow down on my Windows 2000 machine. Now I keep a 12.90 installer and a 22.80 installer on my desktop, but I have to reboot each time I switch. The link to all the drivers is in this thread.

-a rabbit

[BeBMan]

Welcome to the club...

...I also have this extremely slow scrolling under Win2K SP2 with a GeForce MX2/32MB. I have an Athlon 1000/768MB RAM and I can´t use the older Detonator drivers, then the game shows only a black display after the intro. I read this can be caused by older monitors (or their drivers), mine is indeed old (but with the latest drivers), but absolutely capable to display 1024x768 (or even more) in 16/32bit so I see no reason to buy a new one...

[Digitybhu]

Hey BeBro,

I had the same problem, but I hacked out a work-around. I have a ViewSonic PF790, which will run 102x768 @ 100 Hz just fine. But it won't run at 120 Hz. This is what Civ3 is trying to do, and the older nVidia drivers seem perfectly content to let it.

The problem lies inside the nv4_disp.inf file of the installer directory. It contains all the information that says which chipsets run at which frequencies at which resolutions. I went into the file and removed the reference to 120 Hz on 1024 x 768 resolutions on NV11 chipsets (I have a GF2MX, your mileage may vary). Here's a section of the original INF file:

-----
HKR,, NV11_Modes, %REG_SZ_APPEND%, "32 640 400 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 0"
HKR,, NV11_Modes, %REG_SZ_APPEND%, "32 800 600 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 0"
HKR,, NV11_Modes, %REG_SZ_APPEND%, "32 1024 768 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 0"
HKR,, NV11_Modes, %REG_SZ_APPEND%, "32 1152 864 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 0"
HKR,, NV11_Modes, %REG_SZ_APPEND%, "32 1280 960 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 0"
HKR,, NV11_Modes, %REG_SZ_APPEND%, "32 1280 1024 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 0"
-----

I just removed the red 120 and replaced it with spaces.

The information appears in a couple of places in the file, so make sure you get it all. If you're using a signed (WHQL) driver, this will make it unsigned, but it'll work perfectly well otherwise. Hope this helps!

TTFN, DigityBhu

[illumin]

You can just d/l the nvidia refresh rate fix from here as mentioned earlier without messin about with the registry

[chriskjel]

The nvidia refresh rate fix download only sets the minimum refresh rate, so it has no effect on the slowdown problem. Civ3 has an issue with the maximum refresh rate.

[genghisvick]

Originally posted by Digitybhu
Hey BeBro,

I had the same problem, but I hacked out a work-around. I have a ViewSonic PF790, which will run 102x768 @ 100 Hz just fine. But it won't run at 120 Hz. This is what Civ3 is trying to do, and the older nVidia drivers seem perfectly content to let it.

The problem lies inside the nv4_disp.inf file of the installer directory. It contains all the information that says which chipsets run at which frequencies at which resolutions. I went into the file and removed the reference to 120 Hz on 1024 x 768 resolutions on NV11 chipsets (I have a GF2MX, your mileage may vary). Here's a section of the original INF file:

-----
HKR,, NV11_Modes, %REG_SZ_APPEND%, "32 640 400 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 0"
HKR,, NV11_Modes, %REG_SZ_APPEND%, "32 800 600 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 0"
HKR,, NV11_Modes, %REG_SZ_APPEND%, "32 1024 768 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 0"
HKR,, NV11_Modes, %REG_SZ_APPEND%, "32 1152 864 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 0"
HKR,, NV11_Modes, %REG_SZ_APPEND%, "32 1280 960 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 0"
HKR,, NV11_Modes, %REG_SZ_APPEND%, "32 1280 1024 60 70 72 75 85 100 120 0"
-----

I just removed the red 120 and replaced it with spaces.

The information appears in a couple of places in the file, so make sure you get it all. If you're using a signed (WHQL) driver, this will make it unsigned, but it'll work perfectly well otherwise. Hope this helps!

TTFN, DigityBhu

Can you post a notepad file of exactly how it should be?

[FALVES]

Well, I gess there's nothing like the good old Windows 98.

My advice to you all: forget Win 2000 and XP

[Zealot]

Originally posted by FALVES
Well, I gess there's nothing like the good old Windows 98.

My advice to you all: forget Win 2000 and XP

Or forget about nVidia boards! I'm having no problems with my S3 Virge on win2k.

[bonscott]

Strange. I don't have any problems with my Geforce 2 MX with 32 megs on Win 2K at all. Never locked up once and is not slow at all. I belive my drivers are the 12.41 version.

[chriskjel]

Originally posted by Zealot


Or forget about nVidia boards! I'm having no problems with my S3 Virge on win2k.

An S3 Virge, wow haven't heard of that card in about 5 years, must really zip along in 3d games

[barefootbadass]

Are you all talking about the scroll that occurs when the mouse pointer goes to the edge of the screen? I don't even like that feature, its more of a hindrance to me, since I move by hitting 'C', clicking on specific squares, and sometimes clicking on the minimap. The only thing the mouse scroll does is accidentally activate on me sometimes which is annoying.

Is there any way to turn this 'feature' off?

[Bambusk]

I have the problem too - damn slow scroll and others.

I've tryed a lot of different nvida drivers but did not help at all 11.01, 12.41,12.80, 12.90, 14.xx, 21.xx, 22.xx

trying 16 bit and other resolutions did not help me either

specs:
win2k sp2
asus Gforce 3
512 RAM
tbird 1.33 Ghz

maybe Civ does not like my asus GF3 gfx, i don't know. Well I just have to wait for the patch

[Zealot]

Originally posted by chriskjel
An S3 Virge, wow haven't heard of that card in about 5 years, must really zip along in 3d games

I didn't even try!
I play at the office, so there isn't much I can complain.

I just wanted to say that my scrolling isn't that well anymore. I'm playing a Large map, and the scroll is slow, and is getting worse with time.

But since I'm not using any nVidia card, I really don't know what to do about it.
It's still playable though. Just extra boring.