PLEASE fix this

I can't tolerate this..............

from GalCiv2 Forums
I have always tried to be positive and helpful when I have posted on this forum. Any criticisms I have made have been constructive. Unfortunately, I cannot enjoy this game any longer, even though I love it so much. It has a fatal flaw.

This game slows to a crawl once I am no more than midway through the game. This is happened very badly on a large sized map I was playing, so I thought I'd try a medium (5x5) map. Same result.

There was a point where it was taking in excess of a minute in between turns alone late in the game. Then in the height of my frustration, the game crashed. It was getting to point where I dreaded to end my turn, unless I needed a restroom break or something hehe.

I submitted an exception report from my last crash and a very nice tech rep suggested I change my virtual memory after my prior crash, so I changed it to 2688 minimum and 5376 maximum (doubling both default values). All of my crash reports appear to be memory related. The tech rep mentioned that the game is not handling memory well.

Here is what she said: "It doesn't seem to use all of the system ram before it starts using virtual memory, so we might be fragmenting the memory or something. As soon as I get a chance, I'm going to try optimizing the save game code a little more."


Here is my text message that I sent with the exception report for this crash:

"This game runs horribly on my computer. I have a AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3500+ @984 mhz, 1 gig RAM, 128k internal video card (ATI Radeon Express 200 series). I changed my virtual memory to 2688 min to 5376 max. I changed to this setting per your tech's emailed suggestion after a prior crash. I was only playing a medium map and it was taking almost a minute to complete the end of a turn. This truly needs to be fixed."

I love this game, but this is ridiculous. PLEASE fix it. I truly do want to enjoy this potentially wonderful game. Thank you.

PS I have the latest patch, though this game was started prior to the latest beta patch.
9,536 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I have found I always had some issues loading a save game that was started under a different patch. Beta 4 was especially intolerant of earlier patch saves. I had slowness issues under Beta 3, and the saves continued the trend when run under B4. But so far I Have experienced no slowness in games started under beta4; in fact the turn, save and load times have dramatically improved.

Does it happen with a new game started under the new patch?
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Have you tried turning off the software mouse cursor? When the game was released that solved all my freezing issues as the game progressed and I'm not sure if they've fixed that in a patch by now. Its a least worth a shot.
Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Oldstatesman: Well I"ll give it a shot, but my patience will be quite limited. (just being honest)

MarthDaul: How do you do that? (nice name btw...thought you would get that one by me didn't ya ```` )
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It's in the graphics config section afaik. I haven't had the problems you are refering to, but then my machine is more powerful. I worry about your video card tho - I'm surprised that the game can run on 128k of graphics memory. Methinks the unit you want it MB, not kB
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Wow, I have the EXACT same computer parts as you do, but my game runs fine on max graphics.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I have found I always had some issues loading a save game that was started under a different patch.


Agreed Oldstatesman. Even if a saved game supposedly works from an earlier version, no matter what the game or how I'm doing, I usually start a new game if I apply a patch.

Sorry you're having difficulty Woody. I know it ain't much help to suggest being patient and giving it another go, but this thing has been going through such an overhaul, I would suggest doing just that. We're all beta testers (assuming you're using the beta patches), and sometimes that means trying different approaches to solving problems. Hopefully, if a new game works smoothly, then you'll have found out the reason.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I've also got the same problem as you. When playing a gigantic, everything abundant map it slows down the longer I play. After a few hours turns are taking more then a minute, engaging combat takes up to fifteen seconds and everything lags quite heavily. It even wrecked a save game of me when it crashed during the autosave and every other save I've made from this game was unloadable because of a crash while loading.

What I saw when I was thrown back to desktob that XP complained about a lack of virtual memory, even though I had given it 10GB of virtual memory!

What I do now, and what have solved my problem, ist restarting the game every time it begins to slow down (about once in two or three hours, it's not good to play that long anyway ). After a restart everything runs fast again for a while. Rinse and repeat. Imho that's not to bad of a solution, but the problem really sounds like a memory leak to me. But don't know for sure, since I'm an amateur if it's about game programming.
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
OK I played for a while last night and it ran smooth, but it's early. It is definately a memory situation.

Are the settings I used for virtual memory adequate? (2688 - 5376) Should I make them higher?

Thanks, and I am sorry about my frustration. Hopefully this problem will be resolved, because this is an awesome and wonderful game that I truly love.

Also, thank you devs for being so responsive to us and truly trying to resolve our problems. I will play the game for a few more hours and let you guys know how it goes. Thank you all for your help and support.