Thread Tools
Old August 21, 2001, 03:48   #1
Lakeryan
Settler
 
Local Time: 12:41
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Posts: 4
Running Civilization on a fast machine
My Dad has updated his machine from a low-end Pentium to a 500MHz Celeron and my Mum can no longer play her favourite game. She just loves Civilization - the original one. Dad has tried to convince her that Civ II is a better game but she likes the simplicity of the earlier one. Fair enough to given that she is now 75 and came to computing only a few years ago.

Anyway, we have a problem. Paradoxically on this much faster machine, Civ runs like it's stuck in treacle. I tried it on my machine which is even more powerful and found the same thing. I imagine that it is some kind of timing issue. I wonder if anyone else has found this problem and if so, did they find a solution?

Hope you can help my Mum as she really misses her games of Civ but it is too slow the way it is.

Regards,
Nick
__________________
Nick Ryan
Lakeryan is offline  
Old August 21, 2001, 08:29   #2
Marquis de Sodaq
King
 
Marquis de Sodaq's Avatar
 
Local Time: 06:41
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: ... no, a Marquis.
Posts: 2,179
I often play Civ in slow-mo, but it usually only happens after I've set the pc (w/celeron) to "sleep" or if I step away and the screen save pops up. I've yet to find a workaround other than rebooting.

When you say upgraded, do you mean new processor, same pc? If this is the case, it's conceivable that reinstalling might correct the problem. Software sets itself to your pc's available files, maybe this would reconfigure whatever is bogging it down. Good luck...
__________________
The first President of the first Apolyton Democracy Game (CivII, that is)

The gift of speech is given to many,
intelligence to few.
Marquis de Sodaq is offline  
Old August 21, 2001, 09:08   #3
DaveV
Apolytoners Hall of Fame
King
 
DaveV's Avatar
 
Local Time: 08:41
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Dec 1969
Location: USA - EDT (GMT-5)
Posts: 2,051
If you're running Windows 95 or 98, you might try one of the two following tricks to make your computer look more like a DOS machine:

1) In the shut down menu, select the option Restart in MS-DOS mode.

2) Reboot the machine, and hold down the Ctrl key while the machine boots. Instead of the normal Windows screen, you should see a menu. Select the option labeled Command prompt only.

Method 1 is easier, method 2 is more likely to work. In either case, it would make things easier for your Mom if you write a .bat file so she can start Civ by typing something easy like "civ" (instead of "\games\civ\civ" or something).
DaveV is offline  
Old August 22, 2001, 06:10   #4
Lakeryan
Settler
 
Local Time: 12:41
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Posts: 4
I hadn't thought of the reinstall trick but that could be the answer. I'll get my Dad to try that. As it is a pre-Windows game, we simply moved his hard disk across from his old machine. The upgrade was a completely new box but we moved a number of bits across from the old machine.

Thanks for the other tip. I didn't realise that holding down CTRL while booting gave you the boot-up menu. I have been unable to get the machine to work on Reboot in MS-DOS mode as it hangs after loading the Mouse driver. I'll give that a try.

As for a BAT file, I think my Dad can do that. He's a bit on the lazy side which he's happy to admit himself but he started programming nearly 40 years ago and I'm sure he's capable of knocking up a simple batch file.

I'll let you know how we get on.
__________________
Nick Ryan
Lakeryan is offline  
Old August 22, 2001, 06:22   #5
Julius Brenzaida
King
 
Julius Brenzaida's Avatar
 
Local Time: 12:41
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Currently cleaning the 9000 rooms of Sticky Mouse's Palace
Posts: 1,171
A totally different idea, but less efficient
There is a mod pack that makes civ2 look exactly like civ1
It's really great craftmanship
But of course, you don't get the newspapers clipings and all that cool stuff.
It's worth a try anyway. Unfortunately I don't know the link by heart.
Should not be too difficult, though
__________________
Oh Man, when will you understand that your greatness lies in your failure - Goethe
Julius Brenzaida is offline  
Old August 24, 2001, 16:53   #6
Lakeryan
Settler
 
Local Time: 12:41
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Wellington, New Zealand
Posts: 4
Thanks for that tip. I mentioned it to my Mum when she came over recently and she was quite interested so I'll have a hunt for it for her.

I tried booting my machine using the Win98 Rescue diskette and apart from having no support for the mouse and sound, it worked fine. In fact, it ran very fast so that the currently active unit flashed like a strobe light. Funny how the GUI makes such a difference. I'll still suggest that Dad reinstalls it to see what differnce that makes but at least I can make up a boot disk with mouse and sound drivers if all else fails.

Thanks for you help here. My Mum (or Mom as you lot call her) will really appreciate it.

Nick
__________________
Nick Ryan
Lakeryan is offline  
Old August 24, 2001, 17:19   #7
Julius Brenzaida
King
 
Julius Brenzaida's Avatar
 
Local Time: 12:41
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: Currently cleaning the 9000 rooms of Sticky Mouse's Palace
Posts: 1,171
You can find the Civ1 modpack for civ2 there, along with many other interesting ones ...
http://www.civfanatics.com/civ2modpk.shtml
__________________
Oh Man, when will you understand that your greatness lies in your failure - Goethe
Julius Brenzaida is offline  
Old August 25, 2001, 17:51   #8
Hunter Hutchins
Warlord
 
Hunter Hutchins's Avatar
 
Local Time: 05:41
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: United States
Posts: 102
Not a new story.
It does have to do with timing. I have no idea how get around it. =)

It happens with many older games. I just play civ slowly. The biggest problem is waiting for the city improvments to appear.

If you can decrease the speed at which the computer runs for the session, (maybe through CMOS?) that might work.
Hunter Hutchins is offline  
Old August 26, 2001, 06:51   #9
The ANZAC
Civilization II PBEMCivilization II Democracy Game: Red FrontScenario League / Civ2-Creation
King
 
The ANZAC's Avatar
 
Local Time: 07:41
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Jan 2000
Location: The Rodina!
Posts: 2,334
I heard there was a program which slows down the processor, but I'm not sure it really exists.
__________________
Georgi Nikolai Anzyakov, Commander Grand Northern Front, Red Front Democracy Game
The ANZAC is offline  
Old September 3, 2001, 15:45   #10
Gramphos
staff
Civilization III MultiplayerC4WDG Team ApolytonCivilization IV: MultiplayerAge of Nations TeamC4BtSDG Realms BeyondCivilization IV Creators
Technical Director
 
Gramphos's Avatar
 
Local Time: 14:41
Local Date: October 31, 2010
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Chalmers, Sweden
Posts: 9,294
You should try to get Civilization for Windows or CivNet.
__________________
ACS - Technical Director
Gramphos is offline  
 

Bookmarks

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:41.


Design by Vjacheslav Trushkin, color scheme by ColorizeIt!.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2010, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Apolyton Civilization Site | Copyright © The Apolyton Team