Civilization 4 very slow even at minimum settings on a machine 10 times better than recommended specs and that runs Civ 5 at highest settings perfectly

[Ebul Bunny]

Hi guys, I have been searching for a solution for days and now I decided to share my problem here.

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Problem: When the game is loading a map the bar tells you what it is loading. It goes really fast but it suddenly stops when it says "FINISHING" for around 1-2 minute. Similary, it is quite fast when I move my units around any play the game but when I meet another country the diplomacy screen needs to be opened. The music changes, but diplomacy screen takes LITERALLY AGES to open.

Also when I start a new game at the screen while I choose the leaders any leader's video takes 2-3 seconds to appear when I click on it. Instead the rectangle is completely black where there should be the portrait of the leader. After few seconds the leader appears and it seems a little bit low in fps / laggy when he first appear. Few more seconds after it goes normal.


---
Here is my specs:

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4510U CPU @ 2.00GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.6GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Graphics: AMD Radeon R7 M260 (Dual card since it is a laptop and I made sure 100% that it is running on AMD Radeon, NOT intel)
OS : Win 10 64 bit.

---

Please do not waste your time by suggesting the followings:

- Upgrade your pc
- Add rams (I will stare at you until you feel stupid if you suggest this)
- Change GPU or CPU
- Play on desktop etc.
- Change to older Windows or another OS
- Stop playing Civ 4, moving on to newer versions... :P
or any suggestions that is made rather for trolling than solving the problem :P

---

So the PROBLEM BRIEFLY is in some specific scenes, perhaps in leader videos, the game takes TOO LONG to load the necessary video.

I am looking for suggestions on how to solve this issue.

I also read somewhere that I can use some launch commands to disable something. I am not sure what it was but I suppose it was something that starts with directx/direct draw / direct3d and ends with extra. I dont know if that would help me. If you know that code I would also appreciate.

So far I tried:
-Integrity check of the game : no problem.
-Running the game with the right Graphic card : No problem.
- Increasing the priority of the game in task manager
- Making the graphic settings lowest and highest. it is same under any circumstances...
- Running the game on commands with -novid -dxlevel 90 (and combining all above)
- Running the game in windowed mode and in full screen and in different resolutions for each (with all above combinations above)

I feel like i am running out of ideas to try. So come on throw me some more bones, I really wanna play it on my laptop help me! :D

>.> For the person who finds the perfect solution, I promise you to give you a cookie. Seriously! :D

With loves and funs,
Ebul Bunny ;D

[CHE]

Originally posted by Ebul Bunny:

Hi guys, I have been searching for a solution for days and now I decided to share my problem here.

---
Problem: When the game is loading a map the bar tells you what it is loading. It goes really fast but it suddenly stops when it says "FINISHING" for around 1-2 minute. Similary, it is quite fast when I move my units around any play the game but when I meet another country the diplomacy screen needs to be opened. The music changes, but diplomacy screen takes LITERALLY AGES to open.

Also when I start a new game at the screen while I choose the leaders any leader's video takes 2-3 seconds to appear when I click on it. Instead the rectangle is completely black where there should be the portrait of the leader. After few seconds the leader appears and it seems a little bit low in fps / laggy when he first appear. Few more seconds after it goes normal.


---
Here is my specs:

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4510U CPU @ 2.00GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.6GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Graphics: AMD Radeon R7 M260 (Dual card since it is a laptop and I made sure 100% that it is running on AMD Radeon, NOT intel)
OS : Win 10 64 bit.

---

Please do not waste your time by suggesting the followings:

- Upgrade your pc
- Add rams (I will stare at you until you feel stupid if you suggest this)
- Change GPU or CPU
- Play on desktop etc.
- Change to older Windows or another OS
- Stop playing Civ 4, moving on to newer versions... :P
or any suggestions that is made rather for trolling than solving the problem :P

---

So the PROBLEM BRIEFLY is in some specific scenes, perhaps in leader videos, the game takes TOO LONG to load the necessary video.

I am looking for suggestions on how to solve this issue.

I also read somewhere that I can use some launch commands to disable something. I am not sure what it was but I suppose it was something that starts with directx/direct draw / direct3d and ends with extra. I dont know if that would help me. If you know that code I would also appreciate.

So far I tried:
-Integrity check of the game : no problem.
-Running the game with the right Graphic card : No problem.
- Increasing the priority of the game in task manager
- Making the graphic settings lowest and highest. it is same under any circumstances...
- Running the game on commands with -novid -dxlevel 90 (and combining all above)
- Running the game in windowed mode and in full screen and in different resolutions for each (with all above combinations above)

I feel like i am running out of ideas to try. So come on throw me some more bones, I really wanna play it on my laptop help me! :D

>.> For the person who finds the perfect solution, I promise you to give you a cookie. Seriously! :D

With loves and funs,
Ebul Bunny ;D

Sorry to hear that.... I suggest you try Steam Support (click "Help" in the top lefthand area of this Steam page, and then when the menu opens, click on "Steam Support").

[Ebul Bunny]

You know actually you are right. I will submit a ticket to 2k and keep things updated here so that it may help others in time... :3 Thanks for the good advise mate!

[CHE]

Originally posted by Ebul Bunny:

You know actually you are right. I will submit a ticket to 2k and keep things updated here so that it may help others in time... :3 Thanks for the good advise mate!

[Kuba]

SSD or HDD?

[glock30owner]

I'd have to look into the exact specs of your processor (the advertised specs are for all cores combined), but it may be possible that a single core of your processor does not meet the requirements or barely meets them. Civ 4 is not a multithreaded program.

[;̡̨̛̪ͮ̅̀ͤ͛̋̒̀̚̚͢]

This is an old game and its engine may only be able to make use of a single core meaning it will run badly even though your system specs are above the requirements

[Cataclisto]

This may be a little bit of a extreme suggestion, but try installing a "legacy" graphic driver along side your current drivers, it sometimes helps with older games even though civ 4 isnt that old ... yet... (edit: good luck, some of them dont exist for win 10)

[Cataclisto]

oh and even MORE extreme, theirs the catalyst drivers, these are risky and theirs a strong chance youll need to do a system restore if your system is missmatched, you can find a community made one on this website http://leshcatlabs.net/ theres also official catalyst drivers too, the link above is more of a hybrid made by the community, i dont have the link offhand for the official ones

[glock30owner]

Originally posted by Cataclisto:

This may be a little bit of a extreme suggestion, but try installing a "legacy" graphic driver along side your current drivers, it sometimes helps with older games even though civ 4 isnt that old ... yet... (edit: good luck, some of them dont exist for win 10)

I'm curious, what do you consider "that old"? Civ 4 being slightly more than 10 years is quite old in video game terms.

[Robotnox]

Just an idea how about try to run it in compatibity mode of Windows 7 or XP, it might just that your Wins 10 is too advanced. You will need to open .exe properties and play around in the 'compatibility' tab.

[Cataclisto]

Originally posted by glock30owner:

Originally posted by Cataclisto:

This may be a little bit of a extreme suggestion, but try installing a "legacy" graphic driver along side your current drivers, it sometimes helps with older games even though civ 4 isnt that old ... yet... (edit: good luck, some of them dont exist for win 10)

I'm curious, what do you consider "that old"? Civ 4 being slightly more than 10 years is quite old in video game terms.

Civ would probibly be borderline for what i would consider old, it was updated alot by the community so it never died like most games, which is why i wouldnt call it old yet, games with windows 98 compatability i would definatly consider old

[m_sag]

Hello, just to refresh subject, have you found solution? I came back after couple of years to this fantastic titile (i hate Civ 5 and Civ VI) extendened by Rise of Mankind which makes it even greater. Unfortunately performance is terrible....

[Kuba]

@m_sag

Do you have SSD or HDD?

[neonknight21]

Your description sounds a lot like how I played this game when it first came out on a crappy second hand desktop. It runs like a breeze on my current laptop. Seems crazy that you are having these issues. I hope you find the root of the problem.

[Kuba]

it is the HDD i am quite sure :)