Civ III on CD-ROM?

Grrr · December 15, 2000, 23:53

After having read many of the messages of ideas for Civ III, I'm starting to wonder how they are EVER going to fit the whole game, the help and the editors on a CD or even a DVD. I guess the game will be about 6 gig (about 10 CD-ROMS). I definately do not want APPLE software style, of putting the help on another CD! this is the most annoying thing ever!
I also think another major problem will be the fact that the whole game needs to be put onto an editable media if you would want to edit it.
I with the idea of Firaxis realeasing the game on an external hard drive, which could simply plug into a USB or Parallel port. This would remove the need for installation, and would allow editors to change the game as they want without using up the whole hard drive on their computer. If they would put the game on a 10 gig external hard drive or so, then there would be room for edited files and saved games, as well as the game itself. I am also sure that the game will run faster off this configuration than off a simple CD-ROM.
This would be a great idea for Laptop computers. I am sure that those with old computers will love the idea of not needing to purchase a new hard drive for the installation of this long awaited game.
The guys at Firaxis may even be able to configure this so that the drive can be connected to two or more computers for multiplayer games.
This is probably the best solution for the Fanatics like me who want 100 or more Civs in a game.

Note: I am happy to say I don't have a apple computer.

Give me commendation or discrimination on this idea, I want to know if I have any support or if there are pitfalls in this idea.
[This message has been edited by Grrr (edited December 15, 2000).]

December 16, 2000, 05:40

1. It's usualy the graphics/movies/sounds that cause the large files, Civ has more programming than graphics, etc

2. I would say no more than 2 CD's

3. MACs are used for multimedia purposes, games are just optional, whereas a PC with Windows is a strong games machine.

Maxxes · December 16, 2000, 08:55

This must be one of the stupidist ideas I've ever read on these forums.

Diablo, Bro. of Mephisto · December 16, 2000, 18:00

aahhh, Grr, have you ever played Diablo2? That game is huge, its cinematics are incredible, it takes 3 cds to play it. And its only 1.5 gigbites. Graphics, cinematics, etc., are what take up the room. If civ3 has the interface as civ2, there should be no problem.

Tical_2000 · December 16, 2000, 20:17

What the hell has happened to these forums???

Grrr · December 16, 2000, 20:20

quote:

Originally posted by Maxxes on 12-16-2000 07:55 AM
This must be one of the stupidist ideas I've ever read on these forums.

Its not that stupid, is it?
Why is it so stupid?

orange · December 17, 2000, 14:23

quote:

Originally posted by Maxxes on 12-16-2000 07:55 AM
This must be one of the stupidist ideas I've ever read on these forums.

ROFLMAO!

You obviously haven't been to the OT

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DarkCloud · December 17, 2000, 20:27

Civ will fit on a CD (650-750 MB Max space)

It will fit.

-
The DVD market is not yet big enough to warrant a DVD-rom drive (perhaps in 2-5 years)

Civ isn't really a graphics fest and sound fest, and those are the games with 1.25 gigs.

Adm.Naismith · December 17, 2000, 21:14

Grrr, selling Civ 3 boundled with hardware?

I mean, that was console playfield: cartridges, special controller as gun or driving wheels, etc.

The idea is unrealistic and not viable on technical (slow connection, lack of standard drivers) and money aspect (around 300$ for drive plus 50$ for game software).

Disk space will not be the main limit for old PC: old CPU and slow, limited graphic card, are the real stoppers.

Two CD Rom are realistic (installation and game disk, as CPP suggested), as a DVD edition with some extra (Darkcloud is right, but DVD market is growing quickly).

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Admiral Naismith AKA mcostant
[This message has been edited by Adm.Naismith (edited December 17, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Adm.Naismith (edited December 17, 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Adm.Naismith (edited December 17, 2000).]

cpp · December 18, 2000, 01:59

The SMAC CD uses only 460 MB, where 252 MB are used for movies. The actual game uses only 72 MB excluding sound files. Shipping the game with one play disc and one install disc could be possible if the space is that munch of a problem.

I guess the files we will be able to edit will be similar to the editable files in SMAC and Civ2, but hopefully much more detailed. The txt files in SMAC uses less than 1 MB, while the editable graphic files used 20 MB. The sound will probably be stored as MP3- and wave-files, much like in SMAC (in SMAC 90 MB are used for sounds). By placing the information about which soundfile are to be played when anything happens (unit attacking, government change etc.) in a rules.txt equivalent, the need for mod-makers to create a bunch of additional sound files could be reduced.

Putting the game on a CD gives you a backup if you should accidentally overwrite/delete essential game files.

The price of a CD is also much lower than that of an external storage media in the same size class. I for one would not be please if Civ3 will cost much more than the average game.

Deathwalker · December 18, 2000, 05:35

What on earth is this doing here, we have no idea how big it would be, but never in the multiple GB size.

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