Running Civilization on a fast machine

Lakeryan · August 21, 2001, 03:48

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

Marquis de Sodaq · August 21, 2001, 08:29

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...

DaveV · August 21, 2001, 09:08

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).

Lakeryan · August 22, 2001, 06:10

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.

Julius Brenzaida · August 22, 2001, 06:22

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

Lakeryan · August 24, 2001, 16:53

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

Julius Brenzaida · August 24, 2001, 17:19

You can find the Civ1 modpack for civ2 there, along with many other interesting ones ...
http://www.civfanatics.com/civ2modpk.shtml

Hunter Hutchins · August 25, 2001, 17:51

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.

The ANZAC · August 26, 2001, 06:51

I heard there was a program which slows down the processor, but I'm not sure it really exists.

Gramphos · September 3, 2001, 15:45

You should try to get Civilization for Windows or CivNet.