Cruise
Settler
Dutchy
Posts: 45
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Post by Cruise on Oct 28, 2005 6:59:37 GMT -5
Any new version will have assets and changes that either repel or attract players.
If within a few months civ4players doesn't have like 200 people actively playing you'll be right.
Wait and see what happens, don't judge to fast and don't think for a second your view represents everyone's view.
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Post by TheGoddess on Oct 28, 2005 7:25:20 GMT -5
Rhyanon,
I mirror your opionon. I was expecting to be fascinated with MP. I got there, there were alot of people there. But like you said, the windows were way too small, alot of scrolling going on. Not to mention that if the game you wanted to enter was near the bottom of the list, there was no way in hell that you could enter it. The window kept going back to the top, not sure if its a "refresh" thingy or it does that when someone enters or leaves a room.
I did enter 1 room and connected with another person (I guess). It promted me for a password, what I was supposed to enter there was beyond me, I tried my GS password, that didnt work, so I left as there was no other logical suggestion. So MP didnt go nearly as smoothly as I thought it would.
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Post by friedrichpsitalon on Oct 28, 2005 7:28:40 GMT -5
Goddess- Use your arrow keys to scroll the list and it'll hold still for ya. The password is set by a player at the start of the game to keep out unwanted folks; it's a good idea to have one. Be happy to play one with you if you're around this evening. Seriously though - if you're looking for folks not happy with CIV, there's not likely to be a higher concentration anywhere but the C3C lobby. The ones who are happy with it are playing CIV. ;D
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Post by TheGoddess on Oct 28, 2005 8:02:09 GMT -5
fried,
I saw lots of locked or passworded games, not sure which as I pressumed that I couldnt get in anyway. But the room I did get into took me to a screen that promted me to select my civ from a list of about 5-7 civs. I choose Persia, thats when I was promted for the password. Is this the same password you are talking about? If so, where do I talk to this person to get this password?
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Post by Canucksoldier on Oct 28, 2005 8:16:12 GMT -5
What you ran into Goddess was someone else's civ, someone started a game, pw protected there Civ so no one could accidently take it if that player dropped. Apparently that player did drop, or quit and you were able to try and take that civ but didn't have the pw to the civ obviously. Passwording protecting your Civ's is a very good idea as contrary to C3C all CIV games started in the lobby remain visable for the entire game. CIV is designed to broadcast the game status to the GS room server. That "pilar" icon is an indication that the game is in progress, a lack of that icon indicates that the game is in the Staging room.
I'll be around tonight as well
CS
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Post by TheGoddess on Oct 28, 2005 8:35:12 GMT -5
Thanks CS
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Post by yilar on Oct 28, 2005 8:49:13 GMT -5
Wish i could get more screenspace... 1280x1024 feels like running in 800x600 in c3c...
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Post by whiplash on Oct 28, 2005 9:00:17 GMT -5
Back on topic!
For many it will be a waste of $50.
I have more than the "Recommended System" (2.6Ghz, as compared to the "recommended 1.8GHz) yet I can not run a map larger than tiny. Pity the soul with the "Minimum System" who shells out the $50 in anticipation of playing the great game of CIV.
I think that the "eye candy" is largely responsible for the need for the big muscle hardware. I don't care about the "eye candy"; but it forces me to buy another 512 of RAM. The poor soul with the "Minimum System" needs to upgrade the CPU, RAM, and Graphics Card.
I call this FRAUD. If you think this is a bit harsh; Dictionary.com defines that word as follows:
"A deception deliberately practiced in order to secure unfair or unlawful gain."
They are selling something which is not as described on the box.
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Post by yilar on Oct 28, 2005 9:11:08 GMT -5
didn't you have that cheesy geeforce4200 whip?
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Post by whiplash on Oct 28, 2005 9:24:17 GMT -5
didn't you have that cheesy geeforce4200 whip? No, I shelled out an extra $60 for the Nvidea TI 4600. This 128 card has the built in shading and rendering engine. But even the 4200 exceeds the "minimum system requirements" and matches the "recommended". So, I say it's FRAUD. Why should all of those with the 4200 have to scrap it and buy an ATI (many hi-end ATI models don't seem to be working either)?
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Post by Canucksoldier on Oct 28, 2005 10:10:49 GMT -5
didn't you have that cheesy geeforce4200 whip? No, I shelled out an extra $60 for the Nvidea TI 4600. This 128 card has the built in shading and rendering engine. But even the 4200 exceeds the "minimum system requirements" and matches the "recommended". So, I say it's FRAUD. Why should all of those with the 4200 have to scrap it and buy an ATI (many hi-end ATI models don't seem to be working either)? Actually Whip that Ti 4600 is listed under the Geforce4MX family on the nVidia weba page www.nvidia.com/page/geforce4.htmlWhich leads be to think that it is your problem as the MX family was designed for DX8 and generally doesn't fully support hardware T&L and shaders to the point that CIV requires, and since the rest of your system is above standard I really think it must be the card. Have you installed the latest drivers though? Here is the winXP driver, I hope this helps. www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_81.85.htmlCS
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reptile
Worker
in desperate need of a new avatar
Posts: 106
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Post by reptile on Oct 28, 2005 10:33:55 GMT -5
A few perfomance tips: - turn on quick moves - single unit graphics - quick attack - frozen animations - a lot of settings to be set on "low" They can all be found in the graphics section of the options. Don´t forget that - in contrast to all other civ-games - the graphics are not outdated compared to other games of their time. You might not have success with the same video card that was enough for the already old-fashioned graphics of civ3 4 years ago. I have also noticed that it´s rather the combination of video card and RAM instead of one factor alone. However, 1 gb ram is definitely enough. After I had bought the game, I played a SP-epic on normal speed in 2 sessions which took about 7-8 hours. I hardly noticed a slowdown towards the end of the game. Ok, it was only 7 civs - but a large map. If performance is still bad, even on tiny maps, I would do other things, like checking for newer drivers. I would take a look at the config.ini and change the settings towards a better performance. Turning off screenshots helped me in the beta tests once. Maybe CS can give other hints. I also noticed that the performance gets a bit sluggish when I zoom out. It happens because there are much more animated things in one screen, but you can decrease the level of details in the globe view, too. It´s not even necessary to have it zoomed out all the time. Before I got used to it, I also thought that I do not get to see enough of the world. But it´s just a whole new system. Civs are not as far away from each other as they were in c3c. The world "feels" smaller and it is. Sometimes I build weakly defended cities only 5-6 tiles away from the enemy borders - which I had NEVER done in c3c! On the topic of wasted 50$: Well, it was foreseeable that a -maybe not even small- number of players will stick to c3c, since these games ARE different, it´s a fact. Rather than condemning the "other" side I would like a peaceful co-existence. I can only suggest that you give CIV a fair chance - it´s definitely worth it - but if you don´t want to change your game ..it´s ok. Heck, if there´ll be a seperate c3c-ccc I might even play it a few more times (if i could be helpful at all by then). And yes, I wasted 50$..err Euro. I bought the game, but now I know, I´ll get a free copy
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Post by Srayman on Oct 28, 2005 10:36:25 GMT -5
CIV 4 definitely takes some getting used too. 1 or 2 games will get you no where near knowing everything about the game. I would highly recomend reading the manual thoroughly or at least scimming it. And reading over things in the civelopaedia wouldn't be a bad idea either. Just jumping into the game with no knowledge of what's going on you're bound to run into snags and say the game sucks.
I remember when I first started playing Civ3 I had no idea what all the new stuff was. The whole culture thing that wasn't in civ2 was new and wierd. Everything was different and at times I felt that I prefered civ2 over the new civ3. However, the more and more I played it, the better I got and the more I understood so that I could enjoy the game more. The more you know about something, the more you will like it.
Ignorance of something is not a reason to hate it. When I first started playing CIV 4 I didn't like it all that much, I had many of the same opinions of some of you here who dislike the game. I thought it was hard to play and complicated. But the more I played it, the more I understood and the more I enjoyed it. I haven't bought the game yet because $50 for me is a big chunk of money and I'm not sure I can afford it at the moment. But if you just give it time and play the game and especially read all the stuff that comes with the game to read you should be able to do a lot better and understand the differences.
As to the system requirements. I was playing during a non-optimized state of the game months ago with a 2 year old computer. 512mb RAM, 2.0Ghz, GeForce4 4200Go and it ran alright on medium sized maps. It was only huge maps that it began to run slow and almost unplayable. However, a lot has changed since then, including optimization and making things faster. My computer crashed on me due to a faulty Motherboard, so I got a new computer and I can't say how the game runs now. But on my new computer. 1gig RAM, 2.0Ghz dual-core proc, Nvidia 6800GT video card and it runs awesome.
Just give the game time and most likely you'll learn to like it a whole lot more. I can see several months to a year that the c3c lobby will be fairly empty.
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Post by Sly_time on Oct 28, 2005 11:26:09 GMT -5
I don't think this is a waste of $50...i just believe it is a differenet game that we are used to...i do agree that the added graphics is nice but not neccesary at least for me...i also had some problems starting that were dissapointing...my first package that i brought home the install disk was faulty it wouldnt read so had to bring it back to Game Stop and they luckily had a cancel so i was able to get another copy right away...
I did receive one of the french versions...i laughed at this...and then i had to figure out the disk being mislabeled...i was diligent though and figured it out...
then i jumped right into the lobby and was lucky to find onan who jumped into a team game with me and gave me a few pointers on how to play...i then tried to jump in a game the following night and had problems with my video card...i finally went and downloaded the latest drivers for my card and lowered everything to low and all was good
i then went on to play a few more games in MP and somehow i have won all 4 games i have played...not with kills but by points not sure how i am doing it but i am none the less...i also have not read the manual and was just getting my feet wet and acquainted to the interface interface
as of right now i still like c3c better but do enjoy the civ4 experience my dream would be to have a hybred of the 2 games put the MP options of civ4 into C3C and the connectability of CIV4....i do enjoy the added resources and the religion havent quite figured out how totaaly manipulate that culture bomb but i will after reading the manual tonite
All in all i will be playing both games and look forward to understanding CIV4 more thoroughly...i was one of those noobs that thought i was good when i joined PTW because of my skill in SP how quickly i found out how much i needed to learn the same thing plays into this i am learnign as much as i can from everyone that has played this game for a while beta testing...i dont mind dying it is a learning scale for me....before you ask for your money back give it a chance!!!
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Post by whiplash on Oct 28, 2005 13:58:26 GMT -5
No, I shelled out an extra $60 for the Nvidea TI 4600. This 128 card has the built in shading and rendering engine. But even the 4200 exceeds the "minimum system requirements" and matches the "recommended". So, I say it's FRAUD. Why should all of those with the 4200 have to scrap it and buy an ATI (many hi-end ATI models don't seem to be working either)? Actually Whip that Ti 4600 is listed under the Geforce4MX family on the nVidia weba page www.nvidia.com/page/geforce4.htmlWhich leads be to think that it is your problem as the MX family was designed for DX8 and generally doesn't fully support hardware T&L and shaders to the point that CIV requires, and since the rest of your system is above standard I really think it must be the card. Have you installed the latest drivers though? Here is the winXP driver, I hope this helps. www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_81.85.htmlCS I updated the driver when I was trying to get the beta releases running. I can run it on a tiny map. The graphics look fine. There is no blacked out texture. I'm no computer jock; but my theory is that the graphics card needs "help" from the CPU and I am limited by RAM. But even if you are correct that the problem is the graphics card you are just reinforcing my point. This is not an ancient card. It runs fine on C3C and everything else I run. Why should I be forced to toss it in the trash and spend $250 for features I don't want in the first place?
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Post by SirPartyMan on Oct 28, 2005 14:24:35 GMT -5
To anyone having connection issues - I had to:
1) Turn off my various Virus=Scan, firewall type programs.
2) Update my graphics driver from NVIDIA to the latest.
Then I was good to go ... I am in the MP Lobby right now with about 50 people. WHEEEE ...
Let the games begin.
SPM
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Post by SirPartyMan on Oct 28, 2005 14:28:53 GMT -5
By the way I am running on an NVIDIA GeForce FX5500 with no issues now.
SPM
PS: Be patient - there's a learning curve, but it's worth it.
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Post by Canucksoldier on Oct 28, 2005 16:32:55 GMT -5
Wish i could get more screenspace... 1280x1024 feels like running in 800x600 in c3c... Try Clt + I or Shift +I, they remove or minimise the interface. CS
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Post by Canucksoldier on Oct 28, 2005 16:36:30 GMT -5
Actually Whip that Ti 4600 is listed under the Geforce4MX family on the nVidia weba page www.nvidia.com/page/geforce4.htmlWhich leads be to think that it is your problem as the MX family was designed for DX8 and generally doesn't fully support hardware T&L and shaders to the point that CIV requires, and since the rest of your system is above standard I really think it must be the card. Have you installed the latest drivers though? Here is the winXP driver, I hope this helps. www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_81.85.htmlCS I updated the driver when I was trying to get the beta releases running. I can run it on a tiny map. The graphics look fine. There is no blacked out texture. I'm no computer jock; but my theory is that the graphics card needs "help" from the CPU and I am limited by RAM. But even if you are correct that the problem is the graphics card you are just reinforcing my point. This is not an ancient card. It runs fine on C3C and everything else I run. Why should I be forced to toss it in the trash and spend $250 for features I don't want in the first place? You are right about your CPU/Video issue Whip, DX9 is likely making your CPU render the stuff that the video card can't do in hardware.... As to having to spend money on new hardware I know that sucks, but really if you'd have asked me I would have given you sound advice on what card to buy in the first place. I recommend that you look at my article on marginal computers in the tech forum are turn all the graphics bells and whistles off and see if you get more milage then. CS
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Post by Canucksoldier on Oct 28, 2005 16:38:13 GMT -5
Wish i could get more screenspace... 1280x1024 feels like running in 800x600 in c3c... Try Clt + I or Shift +I, they remove or minimise the interface. CS Also use your mouse wheel to zoom out and in to your liking, my preference is to zoom out about three "levels" from standard, but this is a personal preference. CS
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