Could you please post a debug.err file? These are in the root directory (my computer, drive name) and are listed as either .bmp or .cra files if memory serves.

" [M]y notebook is not top-of-the-line (PM740/1,7Ghz [...] "

Well...if your notebook's processor runs at "7 GHz", you do have an above-top-of-the-line computer!

Oups...you're right : I jumped the gun to do some easy humour on a pseudo-typo. He did write 1,7 GHz. [blush]

Strange : the edit button vanishes after a while, so I can't go back and edit my previous reply, even though I could edit this more recent one.

Disable your virus scanner if you have it enabled or exclude the galciv directory from beeing scanned, my performance went up a lot when i did this.

Well i also run GC II on a Laptop (Intel PM760 with 2 GHz, 2 GB RAM & X600 128mb). I have no performance issues and run the game on max settings. So dau, i would advise you to update all drivers and post the debug.err file.

Also disabling the integrated wlan (if you have one) gives a performance boost.

Hope this helps

Found it. Regional setting: german, and if this is the english version, you must switch decimalisation from 1.000,00 to 1,000.00 or just change to US English. Then it'll run fine.

No, regional settings has nothing to do with games. I play on a Czech Windows with a Czech regional settings.

Do you use Omega drivers for video card? Have you tried "official" ATI Catalyst? And maybe update the soundcard driver, but to be honest, I have never needed to upgrade soundcard drivers myself.

Other than that your system seems O.K. to me. 1GB RAM is enough, ATI 700 is enough, Pentium Mobile 1.7 is enough....

I have to agree, Omega drivers are risky on a simple tower system, much less something as complex as a laptop. I recommend either drivers downloaded direct from ATI, or the SoftMod version:

SoftMod ATI drivers

Well, i have compared your debug.err to mine and the big difference is the omega driver you use. Are you sure that other drivers don't work?
Here is a part of my debug.err:

Display Info
Display device 1:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY1
Card Name: ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip Type: ATI MOBILITY RADEON X600 (0x3150)
DAC Type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_3150&SUBSYS_058E1014&REV_00
Display Memory: 128.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: ThinkPad Display 1680x1050
Monitor Max Resolution: 1680,1050
Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6561
Driver Date: 1/21/2006 22:45:12
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes


You can also get the newest video drivers via the windows update function. Just click on the hardware category.

The program can use up 1-2GB of ram easily, especially on huge and gigantic maps with a lot of races.

I got my first out of memory crash the other day. When I got out to the desktop the mem usage was at 2.6GB.
My fault I think, however. I was playing a game when Media Center started to record Dr. Who.

It was probably 10 minutes into the recording when I noticed a slow down, and it crashed when I tried to save the game.


And Dau, have you tried a lower resolution? 1024x768 might get better frame rates.