Civ3 System Performance

[ElitePersian]

i play on a p3 450 with 320MB ram, 32mb geforce 2 gts, 7200rpm HDD, and i run windows 98 SE. the game runs ok even in the modern ages, i usually play on a large map with 8 civs. The only slowdown i get is the wait b/w turns, which is mostly caused by the stupid AI patrolling his units, otherwise it runs fine, and the scrolling is not a problem.

[Kestrel]

O.K. So what is the SMALLEST machine that anyone has successfully been able to run Civ III on ?

Minimum Speed , Memory ?

[Wiglaf]

Probably a P2/200 with 32-64 megs of RAM. You wouldn't get good performance there, though.

.4Ghz, GeForce 3, 512 mb RDRAM, Soundblaster Platinum w/ Klpsch speakers........

System is configured for gaming and runs Windows 98 w/ 96% resources free after startup.

Alienware?

[Lord Khang]

Hehehe....... strait from Klinshai!

Yours -

Lord Khang

[fiveht]

Hi,

I'm running Civ3 on an Athlon 1200 overclocked to 1350 (9 x 150 MHz) with 512 MB of DDR RAM at fastest timings, a Geforce2 Ultra, and a Sounblaster Live! Platinum. The disk subsystem is entirely ultra160 SCSI, but I don't believe that it grants any additional game speed except when loading saved games, since I've never noticed the disks being paged during gameplay. I'm using XP Pro with 22.40 Detonator XP drivers, and I haven't encountered any real performance problems. I have noticed that late in the game the delay incurred at the end of a turn by the AI managing its civs gets up around 2 to 3 seconds, but that's not much of an issue given the amount of real time it takes me to complete a late game turn (Micromanagement Syndrome).

I suspect that the high FSB speed and low memory latency of my system contribute substantially to Civ3's performance, since the game is clearly computationally intensive but does not use a 3D API for anything other than leader head animation. The vast bulk of I/O managed by Civ3 must be memory<-->cpu transactions. While this heavy processor load may result in long waits between turns on slower systems, at least it indicates a surprisingly advanced AI for a game. Well, either that or very sloppy and bloated code. I prefer to assume the former.

I've noted that in game screen scrolling is not entirely fluid, but neither is it slow. The perspective change occurs quickly, but it's more of a jump than a scroll. As my other systems all run various unix implementations, I haven't been able to run Civ3 on an alternate platform for reference purposes (to determine whether or not screen scrolling occurs smoothly with a different graphics chipset/driver combination). I have tried running the game with Detonator 12.41's, which reportedly fix screen scrolling "problems" for others, though, and the game runs identically under them. From that I deduce that I'm not experiencing the scrolling issues encountered by others, and that a slight jump when scrolling, rather than a smooth transitional movement, is normal. Anyone with a fast system not using an nVidia card care to comment upon their scrolling aesthetics?

All of that said, I absolutely love the game. My girlfriend, however, does not. She claims that pursuits relating to something called "real life" should be granted more of my time. I'm not entirely certain what she means, but I am disappointed that she refuses to call me "Emperor" in bed.


fiveht

[Andris Jamin]

1.8 GHz P4, 512 MB RDRAM, GeForce3 64, SB Live! 5.1 with Altec Lansing surround speakers, Win2000 Pro. Nothing unusual running in the background.

Scrolls doggedly slow, and the turns take forever (I suspect due to the same graphic problems that cause the slow scrolling).

Also ran this on a P2 266 with 128 MB and a STB Velocity 4400. Didn't run well, but ran.

[Falconius]

Originally posted by fiveht
I absolutely love the game. My girlfriend, however, does not. She claims that pursuits relating to something called "real life" should be granted more of my time. I'm not entirely certain what she means, but I am disappointed that she refuses to call me "Emperor" in bed.

I have the same problem, but she will sometimes ask to play with "the little Regent."

[fiveht]

Falconius: Mine makes similar requests. I tried offering her twenty gold, instead, but she insisted on right of passage. My domestic advisor was unable to offer useful counsel, so I had to capitulate and enter diplomatic negotiations with my girlfriend. We quickly reached an equitable agreement and began trading. I can now turn my attention back to my empire, but I'll have to negotiate with my girlfriend again in twenty turns. Ah well... they're sweet negotiations.


fiveht

[ColdWizard]

laptop - piii 850, 128 meg ram. no scrolling issues or lag issues in my limited experience