God I hate the Civ III graphics

Tyrannical666 · November 14, 2001, 10:57

Before I'm flamed too much, I started with the original Civ back in '91, so I'm a long time player.
I can't stand the Civ III graphics and I'll list why.

1: Leader Portraits: Damn, were they all beaten by the ugly stick? Not just some, but evey one of them. Did they hire a troll for an artist?

2: Units: Umm, sure the little 3d animated unit icons seem nice at first. But they are so small that I can barely tell my units apart. The colored area to denote nationality is so small it is hard to see. Enemy units also blend in well with the terrain. I'd rather go back to the colored square with a 2d icon in it.

3: Resource Icons: Small and hard to see. When I do see them they are sometimes hard to tell apart. I never had a problem telling goodie huts from gold ore in the previous Civs.

4: The Map: I thought the map looked ok until I tried to tell terrain hexes by looking at them. All the terrain graphics spill out onto other hexes, making it real hard to tell if plains near a forest are plains or forest. They do have trees on them after all. It is impossible to even try to determine terrain type by looking without the grid on.

5: Citizen icons: Reminds me of Mona Lisa, you call that a smile? If it wasn't for unhappy citizens being spaced to the left, I couldn't tell them apart. I notice someone released a patch going back to civ 1 faces.

If I think about anything I like about the graphics, I'll add it to this post later.

yin26 · November 14, 2001, 11:00

Well, I like the spaceship screen. Seen that one?

General Ludd · November 14, 2001, 11:01

Quote:

Originally posted by Tyrannical666
2: Units: Umm, sure the little 3d animated unit icons seem nice at first. But they are so small that I can barely tell my units apart. The colored area to denote nationality is so small it is hard to see. Enemy units also blend in well with the terrain. I'd rather go back to the colored square with a 2d icon in it.

3: Resource Icons: Small and hard to see. When I do see them they are sometimes hard to tell apart. I never had a problem telling goodie huts from gold ore in the previous Civs.

You might want to get your eyes checked.

Pandir · November 14, 2001, 11:15

Yes you need to go see an optometrist. Seriously I have no problems making them out.

Wexu · November 14, 2001, 11:16

Or maybe a bigger monitor would do the thing? I have NO problems at seeing different units with my 19" monitor.

I think Civ's graphics are quite personal. Maybe a bit too sweet for my taste, but they are ok.

TheDarkside · November 14, 2001, 11:18

I have to disagree. I'm quite happy with the graphics, especially the units and terrain. The units look very realistic (well except for the early tank... i just get annoyed by how it "breathes" in it's idle animation....) and their animations are superb. The terrain is magnificent and finalyl starting to look 3d, those mountains really look like mountains for once! Especially the way they draw the roads to go around the mountain, instead of just "Webbing" it so it looks flat. (but hills still have this problem).

My only gripe about the graphics is, as a modder, I can't do that!! It would take me years to make an animated unit which *might* fit into the others...

oh and you do have a good point about resources, if Firaxis had a map overlay which made all the resources very visible, sort of like CTRL + SHIFT + M but without military units, then i'd be set.

uh Clem · November 14, 2001, 11:37

Quote:

Well, I like the spaceship screen. Seen that one?

Starship Dildo?

uh Clem · November 14, 2001, 11:41

Gold does look like Goody Huts. At first glance.

But speaking of graphics, is there a way to get rid of city names? I know about CTRL + SHIFT + M, but I mean just the names so I can see what's in the tile directly below the city.

Robert Plomp · November 14, 2001, 12:21

you need to get used to the new graphics.
After playing a few (hundred) hours you'll tell them apart.

btw, if you're playing civ already for 10 years......
you must be 20+ right now, ok ?
Why does your name still contain '666' if you're 20+ ?

And I still wonder what 'God' is doing in the subject line.
You don't refer to him anymore......
God is an Off Topic subject btw, leave that in that forum.

Evan · November 14, 2001, 12:28

"Units: ... But they are so small that I can barely tell my units apart."

"Resource Icons: Small and hard to see."

"The Map: ... It is impossible to even try to determine terrain type by looking without the grid on."

You either need to get a bigger monitor (what size are you using?) or get your eyes checked.

Neither I or any of my friends that are playing are having anything like the problems you are having.

Max Webster · November 14, 2001, 12:37

God I love the CivIII graphics

m_m_x · November 14, 2001, 12:46

the graphics are great!!!

Blackadar1 · November 14, 2001, 12:54

I'm not fond of the graphics either, but found them to be vastly improved with the recent graphics mod that's come out. My apologies to the author of that mod for forgetting who he/she is...but it vastly improves the graphics IMHO.

Footie Mad · November 14, 2001, 13:04

At least they are way better than SMAC:s dark and hostile graphics, I know its a great game but I just cant get enthusiastic about it when its that dull and lifeless. Civ 3 graphics could be better, but i'll choose those cartoony looking graphics over the graveyard ones in SMAC any day.

michaelmagnus · November 14, 2001, 13:28

The railroad graphics really suck. They look like highways instead of rails.

Zizka · November 14, 2001, 13:40

I'll add my 2 ducats to that.. the railways look like drab spagetti...grey and hyper ugly! 10 billion loops going no where. Once you have several connecting raiload ties the who landscape looks like railway accident waiting to happen..

Max Webster · November 14, 2001, 13:52

Yeah Civ2 was the same, railroads everywhere.

General Ludd · November 14, 2001, 14:06

Stop trolling, CyberShy.

Apolex · November 14, 2001, 16:06

I agree things are too small. Only one level of zoom? I remember in Civ II being able to zoom in until you could see ta-tas on that hottie spy. And if you're attacking another unit at the 2-O'Clock direction you can't see their hitpoints. And there should be a search capability to find resources instead of having to manually scroll all over the map looking in other civs' territory trying to find that coal that is buried under a unit, railroad and mine.

BTW, how do you access an oil resource that's in the water... do you have to get to miniturization first and build a platform? Thanks.

HugoHillbilly · November 14, 2001, 18:07

Quote:

Originally posted by Apolex
BTW, how do you access an oil resource that's in the water... do you have to get to miniturization first and build a platform? Thanks.

Have you actually come across Oil in the water??? If so could you post a screenshot, as far as I know this shouldnt happen.

David Murray · November 14, 2001, 18:14

I think complaining about graphics in a Civilization game is the ultimate indication of being a complete Philistine.

I mean...come on.

Zizka · November 14, 2001, 18:22

LOl i guess beauty is only skin deep.. ugly goes straight to the bone..

Z

Andrew_Jay · November 14, 2001, 18:37

Hey, I like the road and railway graphics. Sure the railway looks like a plain grey (or is it gray?

) ribbon, but you would guess it would from really high up in the sky. I like how there are so many graphics for them so they wind around the country side, and don't look rigid, but more natural.
Only problem I've had is I get some of the ancient units confused if I'm not paying attention, especially the archer and a settler or worker. Once I moved my settler into harms way because I thought it was my archer, needless to say it got killed

But besides that the graphics are great. Wait, I have one more graphical complaint, well, more of a game play complaint, but the map grid doesn't show your city radiis, so you can't see if the area they are working overlaps.

Steve Clark · November 14, 2001, 19:00

Some of you guys still don't get it do you? Graphics are truly subjective and customizable; if you don't like any of them...change them yourself (sn00py showed you how) or download sn00py's or anyone else's graphic updates. Instead of coming here complaining, get working or get downloading. Sheesh.

Zanzin · November 14, 2001, 19:18

Only thing I don't like about the graphics are the railroads. Quite ugly.

Other than that, I think that they rock, especially with snoopys graphic mod

Seeker · November 14, 2001, 19:31

I am more and more not liking the no 800 x 600.

I have a 33'' Gateway Destination presentation monitor, and a 64MB 3D Prophet II video card.

The units ARE small, and the resources ARE hard to tell apart (silk and incense, iron and game..)

This would not be a problem if only I could zoom in more like in Civ II.

dexters · November 14, 2001, 19:40

I think the folks complaining about the game's graphics are bad are in a minority here, a small minority at that.

Robert Plomp · November 14, 2001, 19:43

Quote:

Stop trolling, CyberShy

1. I putted content in my post that made sence ("you need to get used to the new graphics.
After playing a few (hundred) hours you'll tell them apart.")

and about me reacting on his 'God' thingy,
in fact I'm really bothered by people doing this.
Is it trolling if I react to that ?

What about your spam post ?

Ulfang · November 14, 2001, 19:46

Well I ain't got the game yet as it's not our till Friday in the UK but from what I read here I figure most people are quite happy with the Graphics!!

Thanks the Gods

Apolex · November 14, 2001, 22:26

Quote:

Originally posted by HugoHillbilly

Have you actually come across Oil in the water??? If so could you post a screenshot, as far as I know this shouldnt happen.

Yeah! I can't find oil ANYWHERE else on the whole map, except the water. And I don't know how to access it there (miniturization maybe?). If someone can help me out, please post. Thanks.