Boogly Boogly

FURIOUSLY MALCONTENT

FURIOUSLY MALCONTENT

Enough bells and whistles already

Hi. I have been putting a LOT of time and energy into a gigantic galaxy size game (I like the grandiose, you see) and have gotten to the point where I feel little can stop me from reaching a tech victory. So...I have been doing a lot less managing and doing little but hitting that "TURN" button until...guess what? THE TURN BUTTON DISAPPEARS...so I reload from autosave, try it again, AND THE SAME THING HAPPENS.

I cant create more saves because of the memory bug associated with larger games, tho I have 2gb of ram (it says im out of virtual memory every time I save).

Meanwhile, the fan on my machine goes overtime because this game, simple as it SHOULD BE, taxes the crap out my video card, tho my apartment is at a modest 68 degrees.

I have had to tweak my machine because it runs with a dual core processor.

What do all of these problems/irksome quirks have in common? SIMPLE!

Too many bells and whistles...maxing out graphics, textures, sucking up all kinds of memory unecessarily (BECAUSE IT SHOULDNT BE THAT KIND OF GAME). I mean, come on! This is an adorable game, but its a game for gamers, not twitchers, not shooters, not kids. I would play this game if it had space invader graphics, for god's sake. But NO! We have to try to stay state of the art, competetive with the graphics, and looking snazzy and cool to try to sell games to more kids who would probably be best left to their shooters, rts titles, or rpgs. Meanwhile, folks like me have to learn the secret hand shakes, sprinkle holy water, or tweak and peak our already butch machines just to play the dang thing...and still, probably have to cut our losses and do something else when a big game just refuses to play anymore.

Before anyone flames me right back, I invite you to ponder the following questions: How much MORE cool game features for gamers would this game have if the time spent on developing new unnecessary graphics sleekness had been spent instead on cool STRATEGY GAME FEATURES? How many more options for espionage, diplomacy, or ground warfare might we have had INSTEAD OF
18,364 views 31 replies
Reply #26 Top
Me too, I spend the majority of my time in iconic mode, it's really the most useful. However, it *is* fun to zoom-in on things for the pretty pictures once in a while. I could live without the fancy graphics, but you just can't get away with that market-wise these days. I think most people expect something remarkable in that area. The game probably wouldn't be taken seriously by reviewers without it.

Reply #27 Top
Mmm. I wish this game would have so memory intensive graphics (and i'd like to have low-res graphics too, performance>looks).
My comp meets the recommended specs (... well memory type is outdated as is the video card even though it should have enough memory) but i'm forced to play with the icon view. Kinda stupid

The problem with the icon view is that it's too hard to see different ships. I have a big fleet and a small one, but they have the same icon and fleet names are too similar (i don't bother to name fleets, they'll be destroyed or disbanded anyway) Space miner and Colony ships are too similar too. Constructor is a skull? Stupid icon. Could we select an icon when one creates a fleet or change the default icon to a unique if one wants?
Reply #28 Top
I would assume that most of the guys doing the 3-D artwork are not the ones doing the AI coding (since that is Brad anyway) and they may be part of a team who help come up with ideas, but I personally would doubt that we have lost too many features due to the artwork.

But I was wrong once before in my life, so it may be time for it to happen again. ;)
Reply #29 Top
I for one would have never bought this game if it had "space invader" graphics. I never got past the demo for Galciv 1 because of the graphics. Call me superficial if you want, but at the end of the day Galciv 2 has become one of my favourite games because of great graphics combined with fantastic game play.
Reply #30 Top
I think it's a wonderful game just the way it is.
For those who think there are too many bells and whistles and that causes load problems, can't you go to the Options menu and cut down on most of those bells and whistles to rduce the load? I played oblivion and even after upgrading my graphics card I still had to set the video options such as anti-aliasing just right so as to stay within the power of my card. Seems the Video section of the Options menu that offers a way for those who want to simplify.
Reply #31 Top
Hello,

This message is not intended to in any way discredit your 'cpu/graphics/memory related issues'.... am simply relaying my performance on a WAY less powerful machine.


I have an old lil 3200 AMD... just one of 'em  ;) w/a 6800 GTS maxed out pipelines (secret 4 unlocked/etc) and I'm playing in a gigantic right now with all but 2 of the available race slots filled up.

Late game: it's running fine, but on some turns: it does take close to 20-30 seconds... you just have to be patient sometimes I think. (not that I know exactly what your problem is that you're encountering).


W/your dual core, I really don't think you should have anY issues w/the performance of the software - even w/the improved textures... I'm just talking about loud here, so please don't think I'm being arrogant or condescending w/my advice.. just trying to elude to you how 'good/decent' the performance I'm getting on my lil 3200 is.... should let you know that what you have 'should' be more than sufficient.


gotta be something on your setups' end...?......
hope you get it sorted bro,


Chr*s