FURIOUSLY MALCONTENT

Enough bells and whistles already

from GalCiv2 Forums
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
18,362 views 31 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
COOL SWIRLIES AND RIDGES FOR OUR SHIP WINGS OR PLANET TILES????!!!! And do cake decorations matter more than the flavor of the cake itself???

I love this game, which is why I am so frakked...love and hate so closely intertwined...but I AM TIRED OF memory problems, graphics card concerns, bugs, etc that stem LARGELY from development directions that are better left to other games. I mean, c'mon, I would play this game if there were cheesy space invaders graphics. Can we please just get our priorities straight? Sign me up for more options within the framework of what this game aspires to be (a great STRATEGY GAME) and leave the huhukaroo planet tiles and graphics and memory sucking video card taxing smorgasboards to the children. Amen.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I have run into this issue to. I believe you need to hang on and let the AI think. Normally the AI decides what to do as you micromanage. Once you start hitting that turn button a bunch that means the AI does not have time to decide what to do. Since you are taking a tech win i assume that there are several AIs left. That late in a game the AI has a lot to look at. Try waiting a bit. I usually start just messing with my fleets and planets until the AI is done.


Shadowkx

For the save bug. Try increasing the swap file size in windows.
Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I tend to agree, but do see the need for the graphics moving forward. To me, the issue is more about testing, balancing, and fixing things before adding more and more features that are just going to make it even harder to do a good job on the AIs.

On top of that, they've got separate AI code blocks for each race. That means all that smarts has to be separately designed/coded/balanced/tested. And then the icing on that cake, is that only Brad does the AI.

So the reality is adding better graphics probably didn't interfer with the game as far as a lot of these issues. Sure the memory issue does, but for the most part going back to an autosave gets around it.

I'd say just play smaller maps, or best of all play gigantic with rare stars. To me thier the most interesting anyway. Shame they are not good for metaverse scores tho...

PS. Sometimes when you get the never ending turn, if you hit tab you'll find a ship on auto with moves left, simply click the ship and move it somewhere. This ussually will wake the game up.





Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'd say just play smaller maps, or best of all play gigantic with rare stars. To me thier the most interesting anyway. Shame they are not good for metaverse scores tho...
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Hey, gallagher,
I thought I was the only one out here who was facinated with playing in a big, sparse galaxy. Makes a PQ 5 planet really delightful to see, doesn't it? Do you habitually set the tech rate to very slow, too?

I find that bonus tiles, minors and anomalies become very important. And resource SBs often become the crux of hostilities, since they are your means of space control as well as a big part of your economy/capability.

Oh, and there's essentially no problems with memory or turn delays.

drrider
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Which version of the game are you running?

 

Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Lemme add to this, please.

The situation i'm stuck into; P4-1.5 (single streaming like hell, it possibly overheats while i type this), GEForce-MX4 (No textures on ships, no clouds hover above planets, sadly but still payable), 512-Ram along with a fixed 1.4G pagefile (normally enough for plenty of 3D-graphic intensive softs, to design stuff mostly).

The type of games i HAD to choose; Tiny and Small maps, limited number of opponents (4, maybe 5 top), with a lot of patience.

Then, bought DA. Yeah, was my reaction at first... I finally will be able to figure what the buzz is all about - for myself. I rapidly came to my senses; this won't be anywhere near huge galactic opera-like gameplay, at all.

Sure, i'd love to enhance the 'feelings' with stunning images, to use maxe-out initialization setups, to conquer a full round of 9 opponents at once (all boosted for CPU core usage routines), heck even the Galaxy wouldn't be big enough at Gigantic ratios, bring 'hem on 500+ fleets and 75+ Zero-Quality planets tightly placed in the remaining corners, 57600 squares worth of parsecs -- all mine to travel into.

But, i'm just like you... a STRATEGY gamer. Who uses tactical skills to defeat. Who prefers the intelligent decisions to zooming in at Madagascar island while a Yor's flagship zooms right by, all lights on and engine spitting molecular trails for me to watch in awe and admiration.

I agree with you, Boogly... what we need is CONTEXT, not content which focuses on top-notch quality of the "extraneous" features like mentioned above. And what if the market demands it, if someone made Crysis, if Blizzard tables on Warcraft-Five and up, if Joe Schmo from Denver, Oregon or Michigan has a full-scale 3D engine that pales in comparison with anything seen in E's summits of the wits. Who cares. It's not the egg, it's the chicken, baby.

Heck, i even want TA. Modding for it, too.

Tactically yours,

- Zyxpsilon.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Brad, you ARE a glutton for punishment. It's 12:40 CST! I'm at least off work this week.

Oh, well. I guess its pretty certain that you have 'flextime'.

TA looks, feels great, BTW.


drrider
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Which version of the game are you running?
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i've noticed this problem from the beginning. recently, i found some players seem to have traced it to a ship on autopilot getting stuck, and IIRC it's being addressed.

I thought I was the only one out here who was facinated with playing in a big, sparse galaxy. Makes a PQ 5 planet really delightful to see, doesn't it? Do you habitually set the tech rate to very slow, too?
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nope, you're certainly not the only one. those are my favorite settings.

This is an adorable game, but its a game for gamers
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To me, the issue is more about testing, balancing, and fixing things before adding more and more features that are just going to make it even harder to do a good job on the AIs.
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this is indeed a game for gamers. it's also a game by gamers. that pretty much only happens in small indi companies. unfortunately they don't have a staff of thirty thousand monkeys with master's degrees in computer programing. capitalism isn't kind to people with a dream, but at least SD has enough integrity to remain committed to fine-tuning this game for everyone. chill out; like every problem before it, this one will get fixed eventually (even if it's taking longer than most).

i'm not arguing against the point that this bug and others are annoying; sometimes i wish for a "galciv2 light" that had civ2-level graphics. but i'm simply pointint out that as much as i'd like to see it fixed, i'd much prefer not seeing another nearly irrational post. next time you notice a bug, i'd suggest producing a simply, polite and respectful bug report, submitted through the official means to report a bug (email). if you need to, drink some chamomile tea to help yourself calm down. this kind of tone makes you sound like a child (albiet one with an above-average vocabulary), frustrated and disappointed with your new birthday present, throwing a temper tantrum.

cheers,
dystopic
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
hitting that "TURN" button until...guess what? THE TURN BUTTON DISAPPEARS...so I reload from autosave, try it again, AND THE SAME THING HAPPENS.
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Try cycling through your ships and making sure they've all got their moves used up. A daunting task on a gigantic map perhaps, but some have found that to be a solution.
Reply #10 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'd have to co-sign that I'd like to see an option for GC2 to run on forced bare minimal graphics. Just to allow my laptop fan to not run on high when I play. GC2 can force the laptop temp to 60-65C. That's tolerable by laptop standards, but I think running it that way for long times is not so good for health of laptop.

Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I'd have to co-sign that I'd like to see an option for GC2 to run on forced bare minimal graphics. Just to allow my laptop fan to not run on high when I play.
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Tried turning the tactical zoom slider all the way up so it's permanently in icon view?
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I would play this game if it had space invader graphics, for god's sake.
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Then try to play only in tactical mode, where everything on the map is an icon.

Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top
I've got enough graphics horsepower to play the game at high res with AA and AF cranked right up . . . and I still play in tactical mode almost all the time because I find it hard to tell what's going on otherwise. I'd like to see an option to replace tactical mode icons with a glowing outline around units, anomalies etc so I can play zoomed out in full 3d without missing anything.
Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thanks for the tips. I was indeed able to remedy the stuck turn button somewhat by manually cycling through the ships.

Setting the "Tactical zoom slider" to make everything all icons, all the time, sounds appropriate to what I hope to see from this game, and I will definately look into that.

To Dystopic regarding your quote:

this kind of tone makes you sound like a child (albiet one with an above-average vocabulary), frustrated and disappointed with your new birthday present, throwing a temper tantrum.

I have to say "YUP!" But in my defense what I was up against was having about twenty minutes worth of play to finish what had been a long, engaging, and intense game, and running into the turn bug AND the new pathing bug from the new patch stretching those twenty minutes worth of play into four hours (I was indeed able to finish the game with a win).

Put yourself in my shoes. The sci-fi dorks we all tend to be here, how would you feel, Dys, if you could rewind your life back to first seeing Empire Strikes Back when Darth Vader says "I am your father, Luke" and the film breaks? Who would be needing chamonmille tea then?

As far as being irrational, I stand by my point that I was (and continue to be, somewhat)frustrated by bugs I see as stemming from a misplaced emphasis on the graphics race. I am going to see about playing in tactical view only, as that, I maintain, captures what ships in this game should be (symbols) and think twice and then think again about investing as much time as I did in such a grand campaign. It's your game; its my game. No one should take it personally when folks are not 100 percent satisfied with our game, all the time.

-Boogly
Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
and I still play in tactical mode almost all the time because I find it hard to tell what's going on otherwise. I'd like to see an option to replace tactical mode icons with a glowing outline around units, anomalies etc so I can play zoomed out in full 3d without missing anything
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i don't think i'd really want to see outlines myself... but as a nice compromise, it'd be really cool if they could link tactical mode to a hotkey function so i didn't have to go into the options menu if i just wanted a peak into tactical mode at any zoom level.
Reply #16 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
As far as being irrational, I stand by my point that I was (and continue to be, somewhat)frustrated by bugs I see as stemming from a misplaced emphasis on the graphics race. I am going to see about playing in tactical view only, as that, I maintain, captures what ships in this game should be (symbols) and think twice and then think again about investing as much time as I did in such a grand campaign. It's your game; its my game. No one should take it personally when folks are not 100 percent satisfied with our game, all the time.
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in my own defense, i did say nearly irrational. i understand the place you had found/do find yourself in, and i should have probably emphasized more heavily that it is indeed quite frustrating. on the flipside, i used to be a customer service rep. at an inbound call center -- which if you read Inferno, is actually one of Dante's layers of hel-er-heck. i remember while i was there, our manager actually shared an article from Forbes about customer service experiences--that having a positive customer service experience, regardless of the company, is much more likely when the customer adopts a polite, friendly and humble attitude.

with Stardock it's a little stranger still, since the SD folks you speak with on these forums aren't CSR grunts, they're the actual devs. i don't think prefacing every last thing you say with 'great work, keep it up, we love you' is entirely necessary, but as they say, you catch more flies with honey. and to be fair, you're responses are much calmer and are much more reflective of what i think is probably a great sense of demeanor and curtosey--there are always one or two customers who really are spoiled children. either way, sorry for hoping on that soap box: between my customer service experience and my love of Stardock, you could definately call it a sore spot on my part.

also with the theater example, that's the sort of thing that makes me almost invariably wait for new movies to come on DVD these days :) 
Reply #17 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I thought I was the only one out here who was facinated with playing in a big, sparse galaxy. Makes a PQ 5 planet really delightful to see, doesn't it? Do you habitually set the tech rate to very slow, too?
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Same here!
Reply #18 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I think a game that only had the tactical view some have professed here would be reviewed poorly and sell accordingly.

Me, I play mostly in tactical view but enjoy zooming in to watch stuff now pretty often.
Reply #19 from Stardock Forums Top

I think a game that only had the tactical view some have professed here would be reviewed poorly and sell accordingly.
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Exactly. Many buyers don't read forums or even reviews -- they pick up the box and look at the pretty pictures.

But even so, GalCiv is hardly concentrating on the graphics to the detriment of gameplay. Nice as the new graphics are, they are rudimentary compared to the current state of the art and the system requirements reflect this. GalCiv is incredibly friendly to low-end hardware and the new optimizations will only improve this.

Reply #20 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The latest chapter of my discontent hails from newly downloaded version 1.8g. Fleeted ships aren't moving like their supposed to. Carielf published a supposed fix with test version 1.8f, but I cant seem to get it to work.

This new bug is tedious enough to make the game unplayable, for me, at least. As a substitute teacher without a gig today, I have done little else but wrestle with it, through various means, unsuccessfully. Fighting bugs, in this game, should mean killing Thalans, not battling game glitches.

With the new expansion on the horizon, I guess 'tis just the season for big bad bugs. I am resigning, reluctantly, as a Galactic Civilization commander, until the publication of of version 1.8f. Whether or not I allow myself to get hooked into this game again (and buy the expansion), will depend on the timely arrival, and quality, of the next version. Ill be keeping my fingers crossed.

Until then-
Boogly
Reply #21 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Fighting bugs, in this game, should mean killing Thalans, not battling game glitches.
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Hehe, you funny :) Anyway, I've been having really good luck with 1.8d. No major problems to speak of. You might try playing Dread Lords in the meantime. I'm revisting it after a few Dark Avatar games and appreciate how much faster and cleaner it runs. My el cheapo CPU is much happier with it.

Reply #22 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Stardock is promising improvements to memory usage in TA so just calm down and wait it out, this is a amazing game but it does have its problems. "my perional peeve is that we can't control ship to ship combat" but im more than happy because of everything else they give us.
Reply #23 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Came back....couldnt stay away. Couldn't stand the ship movement bug in DA so bought TA and am having a riot of a good time with the Beta. The Yor are very special, and the Terror Stars are very well done.

Happy for now,
Boogly
Reply #24 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Yea, hehe, no matter the bugs or issues, it's hard to stay away. GC2 is just such a great game. I already have a key for TA, but I'm going to wait until it's officially released. I want to experience the finished product first time.

Reply #25 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
GC2 is a great game, but I spend most of my time in max zoom out to plan my strategies, so much for the flashy graphics. I think we could have had a better game if the game developpers hadn't spent so much time making 3D stuff I most of the time don't look at.