Huge map, 32 civs and my comp....

Spec · February 24, 2003, 10:15

How much time between turns? I have a 1000
mhz, 512 ram and a 64meg video card. Should I buy 256 more ram before starting my game or will it not change anything?
Thanks.

SPec.

Alex · February 24, 2003, 10:30

You have a 100 Mhz computer? How did you manage to install Civ3 on it?

alva · February 24, 2003, 11:01

A good indication will be the first turn, which takes quite long because so many cities being plopped down.
The good news is that the next hmm 50 turns will be ~~faster~~ eugh less slow

Looking back at you config, I guess you have a gigahertz(1000Mhz) processor.
In that case, you should be ok.
No real need for more RAM, unless you can afford it offcourse (and it is cheap ATM)

Spec · February 24, 2003, 11:33

Sorry, it IS 1000mhz.

So how much time will I wait between turns in 1500 A.D.? 5 min or less?....or more?

Spec.

Skeeve · February 24, 2003, 13:00

I used to play on a 600MHz machine and it could approach 5 minutes in the middle industrial age, but at 1000MHz, I think it should be under 5 min.

Currently, I have a 2400 MHz, and it hardly goes over a minute.

Good luck,
- Skeeve

Jahi · February 24, 2003, 13:57

my laptop has the same specs and its about 2 min a turn at the modern age with 16 civs

MoonWolf · February 25, 2003, 11:43

More RAM won't help you that much. Reaching the modern world with 16 civs on a 256*256 map, it can take 10-20 min pr. turn on my computer (XP1800/1533Mhz). I have recently changed my motherboard so I can't tell if that helped yet, but I have a feeling Civ3 is very CPU-depended

alva · February 25, 2003, 12:15

Quote:

my laptop has the same specs and its about 2 min a turn at the modern age with 16 civs

The difference is in the amount of civs, and it is a huge one at that. (The delay is manly in things as culture and trade caculations.

alva · February 25, 2003, 12:18

Quote:

Originally posted by MoonWolf
I have recently changed my motherboard so I can't tell if that helped yet, but I have a feeling Civ3 is very CPU-depended

Although a better cpu is nice of course, the biggest boost you can get is RAM.

Take a look at your swap file (task-manager) when entering modern or there about. 500 to 600 MB isn't unusual.

Mad Mariner · March 6, 2003, 11:47

Quote:

The difference is in the amount of civs, and it is a huge one at that. (The delay is manly in things as culture and trade caculations.

Is this right? my computer is proper garbage but if i reduce the map size the game proper speeds up which it does not do by reducing the amount of civs. Fair enough ive never played with 32 civs but still..

TheStinger · March 7, 2003, 07:27

On big maps if you have lots of civs it means the cpu has to calculate for every civ in every city every turn.

on small maps there are less cities so the calculations take less. if you reduce map size and number of civs it speeds up alot.

Mad Mariner · March 7, 2003, 12:42

Yes fair enough but doesnt he tile management that the cpu have to calculate slow the game down more than the city management?

Willem · March 7, 2003, 14:11

Quote:

Originally posted by TheStinger
On big maps if you have lots of civs it means the cpu has to calculate for every civ in every city every turn.

on small maps there are less cities so the calculations take less. if you reduce map size and number of civs it speeds up alot.

The biggest problem is in the pathfinding. The larger the map, the more choices the AI has to make as far as movement is concerned, and the longer it will take to make a decision. You'll notice that things slow down as more and more units enter the game. This was confirmed by someone at Firaxis.

alva · March 7, 2003, 15:27

therefore, more civ's = more units.....

there isn't a big difference between 7 or 8 or 9 civ's of course.
But try it out with 24 civ's on the map map.

Mad Bomber · March 7, 2003, 17:31

Quote:

Originally posted by alva
therefore, more civ's = more units.....

there isn't a big difference between 7 or 8 or 9 civ's of course.
But try it out with 24 civ's on the map map.

I have a 1.5 GHTZ P4 and it starts to slow down after the 1000 unit mark (with 32 civs that would be around the early industrial) turns can take more than 5 min with about another 5 with the city production move. One thing that is not mentioned though is the time you will need to complete your turn and after I reach the 1000 unit level for my civ (about 2200-2500 in game) I will need aprox 45 min to complete the turn (more if you do not automate any workers) I only have 256 MB of RAM so your game should be a little faster but not by much. One thing that will speed up the game is to not check the options to animate moves under the preferences menu. Time spent on diplomacy is a variable in the length of turns as is the number of wars fought (more wars=more units=more time per turn)

alva · March 7, 2003, 17:37

If you're using WinXp, buy some more Ram, you will notice the difference. If you're using win98/ME, don't bother.
-
A 1000 units!! first time I read it, I thought you meant a 1000 units in total. Don't think I had even half, come to think of it, I'm pretty sure

.

You are using huge maps, aren't you?

Mad Mariner · March 7, 2003, 17:57

now this is strange my computer is a 400mhz budget stone age processor with a easel for a graphics card yet the slowdown has never got as bad as 45 mins (max about 5mins) is this massive kind of slow down the norm or was u exagerating for emphasis?

Ps oops i think mis read ure reply u mean coz ure civilization is so big and all the units and stuff u personally have to sort out it takes 45 mins yes?

Mad Bomber · March 7, 2003, 19:40

Mad Mariner:

Correct, I find the time killer for me is not the between turns but the time it actually takes to cycle through all my units, this has been reduced slightly with the move stack option in PTW but it still takes a while to plant all of them damn forests on tundra (and assigning workers to clean up pollution after a nuke exchange can be a major task also)

Alva:

I was talking about both actually, When there are 1000 units in the game (usually I have about 500-600 at this time) is when my game starts to slow down. After my civ reaches the 1000 unit level, it starts to crawl. Is there another map size?

Master Zen · March 8, 2003, 00:00

I HATE THESE THREADS!!! It reminds just reminds me of the feebleness of my P3 500

Lemme tell you, 24 civs on a Huge map, the late industrial age ends up with 15 min. turns.

maciek · March 10, 2003, 17:21

Try the World 2003 scenario as a good, soft benchmark: http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...threadid=77703

It's not only the quantity of RAM, but also its speed that counts. It's best to use the latest DDR or even RDRAM (if you can afford that).

One more thing: if you have NT, 2000 or XP, press CTRL+ALT+DEL to open the Task Manager, then find the Civ3 process and increase its priority. It can hang your system though...

Master Zen · March 10, 2003, 17:28

Quote:

Originally posted by maciek

One more thing: if you have NT, 2000 or XP, press CTRL+ALT+DEL to open the Task Manager, then find the Civ3 process and increase its priority. It can hang your system though...

Interesting idea, I'm gonna try it and hope it works

Panag · March 12, 2003, 18:44

Quote:

Originally posted by Spectator
How much time between turns? I have a 1000
mhz, 512 ram and a 64meg video card. Should I buy 256 more ram before starting my game or will it not change anything?
Thanks.

SPec.

hi ,

the more ram , the faster it shall be , and not just civ or ptw , ....

try to max out on ram

have a nice day