CTP-2 on a low-end system- first impressions.

Kautilya · November 20, 2000, 03:11

Since I have a P-2 300 with 48MB of RAM I was naturally rather worried how well CTP2 would run on my computer. I noticed there were a few other people who also had the same worry so this might prove useful to them as well.

Basically so far it seems quite tolerable. The loading time is a little long and the AI takes about 1-2 minutes to reply in the Alexander scenario but otherwise I didn't have too many problems.

I have only played a couple of hours in my game and haven't developed a very large civ yet so first impressions might not be very accurate. However I also tried the nuclear scenario and used cheat mode to show the whole map. I gave about 15 extra units to the other civ. Still it seemed to run fine. In fact I would say it was significantly better than SMAC which had lower minimum requirements.

I have no doubt that my system would be completely incapable of handling huge maps with lots of civs. Fortunately for me I prefer small or midsized games so that isn't the least bit ofa problem for me.

Anyway to others with low end systems: if your system is better than mine I would guess CTP2 will run OK for small and medium maps.

MidKnight Lament · November 20, 2000, 05:56

Thanks for that. What's your video card?

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- MKL
"And a sun that doesn't set but settles" - Augie March
Shameless Plug: http://www.poetic-license.org ............. All welcome.

Kautilya · November 20, 2000, 10:40

I don't even know if I have a video card. I have 4MB of video RAM. As you can guess I am not a big-time gamer. I mostly play strategy games and these have worked fine on my machine till now. But the latest batch of strategy games seem to be stretching my system to the limits so I might have to upgrade soon. OTOH the games that I already have will last me for at least one more year so I can wait.

wheathin · November 20, 2000, 11:14

I'm torn. I have a P-200 w/ 64 MB and a 17" monitor (tiny 2.5MB video card), and a P2-450 64MB laptop w/ 600x800 monitor. Speed or eyecandy?

Any advice for which would be better? Will the game run at all on the P-200?

Locutus · November 20, 2000, 11:22

wheathin,

I have a P200 64 MB (15" monitor 1024x768) and it runs fine on my system, but others, with even faster processors, have reported that the game runs slow. Guess you'll just have to try and see (I wouldn't try the Alexander scenario though

). At least you have a laptop to fall back on if it's too slow...

Yatermie · November 20, 2000, 14:42

You need RAM.. the AI is a major RAM hog(almost as bad as UO

)

My p2 350 with 64 just crawls durnig the AI turn, but works at a quite acceptable level during my turn

When i installed it on my p 667 with 256 megs of ram it runs like a dream.

The ram was the major difference, it has so much of an effect on the game, much more pronounced than others.

meriadoc · November 20, 2000, 14:55

Wheathin,

If you can plug your 17" monitor into your laptop then you've got the solution right there. I know that my laptop has a SVGA port on it.

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The Electronic Hobbit

Tis I · November 20, 2000, 16:50

Thank you Kautilya! I seem to have the same system except i have a Celeron 300 rather than P-2. Same 48megs and 4mb Video card though.

shmily_dana · November 21, 2000, 11:22

I was really surprised about the 4meg video card requirement. What is in the game that needs that? I looked at CTP and it only needed a 1meg video card. I have Age of Kings and that only needs a 2meg video card. So what video card is everyone using?

MidKnight Lament · November 22, 2000, 00:57

I think I'll just post what I put in the other thread.

quote:

Fingers crossed.
I have a 2MB Diamond Stealth that I'm hoping will get me by for now. Might be a bit of a stretch, but it's worth a try. I only have a P2 233, but I'm hoping 192MB Ram is going to pull me through.

Wishful thinking? Probably.

From what you're saying though, the Ram is a lot more important than the video card. (If you could but see me smiling now.......

)

jkadabomb · November 22, 2000, 02:22

I got a k6-2 with 3d now 64megs of ram, 2 meg vid card and the game ran just fine on gigantic map with 8 civs( although animated trade routes turned off as well as goods)

Tronq · November 22, 2000, 04:39

I use a Duron 700/64mb/Geforce2 32mb. I am playing on a medium map, there is only me and the Incans left and I just discovered technocracy. Because of all the harddisk activity each turn (also with autosave disabled) the game runs almost as slow as CTP1 did on my P200 with 80mb ram!

It looks like my system is just begging for some more ram...

Provost Harrison · November 22, 2000, 08:48

Yeah, with that kind of spec, you could do with at least 128Mb RAM, on a computer of that spec, it was very tight-fisted not to put in it. Get another 128Mb on top of what you have, or even another 256Mb if you are feeling flushed with money...

Locutus · November 22, 2000, 10:16

Tronq,
Maybe you should try to turn the Autosave off (no idea how to do that but I'm sure there's an option in the Advanced Options menu or something). On most systems autosave goes very smooth (hell, I didn't even know it had autosave until Markos mentioned it in the previews), but if you have a very slow harddisk or something like that, that could be causing your problems. Of course, with a fast processor like yours, it's rediculous not to have at least 128 MB memory (esp. if you're using Windows ME and/or a lot of TSRs).

Tronq · November 22, 2000, 16:58

I defragmented my harddisk and it helps a little. I had autosave already turned off (in gameplay options).

My budget isn't too big, so I built the system myself, planning to add more ram later. It just surprises me that CTP2 needs so much ram, since other games I play (Q3, UT, AOE2) run great.

zaz · November 23, 2000, 12:24

Anyone wondering if CTP2 is playable at or below minimum specs?

Finally got my copy yesterday.
I have a P166(min spec), 80MB, 2MB Video(below min spec), 200MB swap, Win95. So far I'm about half way through my first game. I have autosave on, 6 civs, regular map. Delay between turns 5-10 sec. I call this extremely good considering the system. Can't wait til I upgrade to 1+GHz in 2001. Thanks Activision.

MidKnight Lament · November 24, 2000, 07:14

Oh, yeah! That's the stuff, zaz. Fingers crossed I can get by with my video card too! Best news I've heard all day.

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- MKL
"And a sun that doesn't set but settles" - Augie March
Shameless Plug: http://www.poetic-license.org ............. All welcome.

zaz · November 27, 2000, 09:52

MKL - Almost to the end of my first game. Turns now taking 15sec, not bad for the system. You should have no problems with the video card, my 2MB is a generic piece of sh** in a 5 year old HP. Found something out yesterday that has really sped up my game, you can seriously adjust the unit movements with a slider bar in the options. I must have missed this when I loaded the game. I thought all the pieces were moving slowly due to the system. Once I adjusted the slider, the pieces were flying.
Two things I think, from playing and reading other players comments, that make the difference: RAM - over 64MB and Operating System - low-end machine must have Windows 95.
Hope you get to play soon, I'm loving it.

Kautilya · November 27, 2000, 11:29

Well I have got near to the end of the game (1800's) with five civs and medium map. I wouldn't call it quite "smooth" but it is tolerable. If you turn off the enemy unit view the game speeds up immensely with 5-10 seconds after each turn even at the end. You lose some information but not that much and it's well worth the extra speed.

I would say that playing all the 600-800 turns might be slow on a low-end machine but that's just fine with me. Anything longer than 500 turns is a bit too long for my tastes anyway regardless of the machine.

MidKnight Lament · November 28, 2000, 00:53

That's good news. The animation sliedr setting was available in CTP with a patch.

Now I've just got to wait nearly another two weeks to play the damn thing!

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- MKL
"And a sun that doesn't set but settles" - Augie March
Shameless Plug: http://www.poetic-license.org ............. All welcome.