Is it my computer or the game

[Daithi MacGuillaCathair]

I have a fairly decent computer, with a 1.5 GB graphics card, 8 GB of RAM and 4 quad 3.2 GB processors, so i thought my computer would be able to handle the game no problem.
But i have to keep the graphics on a low medium setting to stop everything flickering , but even then on the odd battle the shadow effects flicker so much its hard to see whats going on. It also crashs from time to time. I know there are issues with the game, but surely ishould be able to have the graphics on a relativly high setting or at least handle medium with little problem.

[Feanaro]

Have you updated your drivers recently?

[Merak]

yes remeber to update graficard, sound drivers and the prosessor drivers. and motherboard

[Fisherking]

You can experiment with higher setting and the shadows turned to low. Also the heat effects don’t add that much unless you are watching very close.

I still get a jittery intro and the videos don’t work so great, I think some of it is just game issues.

[Beskar]

I have a fairly decent computer, with a 1.5 GB graphics card, 8 GB of RAM and 4 quad 3.2 GB processors, so i thought my computer would be able to handle the game no problem.
But i have to keep the graphics on a low medium setting to stop everything flickering , but even then on the odd battle the shadow effects flicker so much its hard to see whats going on. It also crashs from time to time. I know there are issues with the game, but surely ishould be able to have the graphics on a relativly high setting or at least handle medium with little problem.

I got the same processor, the same ram, though I have a 8800GTX 756mb card.

I am running the game on Ultra, all max settings with no lag (bar the usual game taking its time at the end of turn waiting for the AI to make its move.)

So it is most likely you not dealing with your drivers and other computer side stuff.



Since you got Vista, I recommend this as well - http://www.auslogics.com/disk-defrag
It's a very good free disk-defrag, since Vista doesn't actually have one. (Well, it has one that says it is working, but does nothing at all.) Though, it might not be a issue with the lack of defragmenting, but its a free tip for you, as if you harddrive is really fragmented, that would slow your computer down like crazy too.

[Veresov]

Come on guys. Refer him to the technical forum on the company website so that he can see that there are dozens of people with his problem. Empire has a lot of hardware issues. Drivers, defragmenting, performance tips, are just the usual knee-jerk reaction solve all problems type answer. It isn't going to do anything to help him.

[Barkhorn1x]

Come on guys. Refer him to the technical forum on the company website so that he can see that there are dozens of people with his problem. Empire has a lot of hardware issues. Drivers, defragmenting, performance tips, are just the usual knee-jerk reaction solve all problems type answer. It isn't going to do anything to help him.

Don't doubt that what you state in terms of dozens of people having issues is accurate. But it is odd that this guy has a killer box and he can only play on low/medium and I have a low end box:

- AMD Althon 64 3500+ single core (really a 2.5 Ghz CPU) - although AMD is faster :)
- 4 Gigs of DDR2 RAM
- 9800GT 1G GPU

...and I can play on medium/high with units on Ultra. (Admittedly, I don't check all of the effects boxes except Hardware Shadows). - and I play at my monitors native rez 1280x1024.

Just odd.

[Eusebius86]

Come on guys. Refer him to the technical forum on the company website so that he can see that there are dozens of people with his problem. Empire has a lot of hardware issues. Drivers, defragmenting, performance tips, are just the usual knee-jerk reaction solve all problems type answer. It isn't going to do anything to help him.

Not true. When I purchased Splinter Cell Double Agent I couldn't enable shadows because I had an old driver... Once I updated the driver the game ran much smoother and stopped crashing. Also, defragging through auslogics caused the AI end turns to go 2x faster for me (dropped from 40 seconds to 20).

[Lord of the Isles]

As for drivers, the CA advice is not to use the most recent public release: 182.08

Instead try older ones: 182.06 or 181.22 or, if you feel lucky, the newest beta: 182.46.

Mind you, as Veresov says, lots of us are having CTD problems, and better hardware doesn't make you immune. Check the Technical Help forum for some suggested workarounds, and/or wait for the next emergency patch from CA.

[pevergreen]

4 quad 3.2 GB processor

Is that even possible?

Intel core2 quad extreme only goes up to like 2.8

i7's are around 3.0 max...

[johnhughthom]

I have lower specs than the OP, dual core AMD 5000+, 4 gig RAM and an HD 4650, play on High across the board and Ultra unit settings with a very smooth experience. Definately sounds like something is wrong there.

[Grumfoss]

4 quad 3.2 GB processor

Is that even possible?

Intel core2 quad extreme only goes up to like 2.8

i7's are around 3.0 max...

Na.. I have a Quad core Q6600 stock speed is 2.4 per core, mine is overclocked and running stable at 3.0. It is quite easy to do as long as your careful about voltage and the cooling (My rig is Liquid cooled) you can even overclock your GPU as well it really can make a difference so I would say 3.2 is very doable

but I would say 4 quad cores is a little much more like one quad core

[Beskar]

Come on guys. Refer him to the technical forum on the company website so that he can see that there are dozens of people with his problem. Empire has a lot of hardware issues. Drivers, defragmenting, performance tips, are just the usual knee-jerk reaction solve all problems type answer. It isn't going to do anything to help him.

Yet if everyone did that, there would be far less complaints. That is why Tech support staff can appear annoying as they regularly deal with people who don't know their hard drive from their floppy drive.

[CanCritter]

sounds like the game or a setting and or driver...your system should be eatin this game up....
am running 2.2 amd athlon and 1gb vid card and 2 gb of ram or memory? at 800mhz...game runs fine ..although full armies can lag on MP....

am comp novice myself for most part buy am sorting out hardware finally...would look at upgradeing memorey if its slow or lacking....belive the higher the mhz on the memory the faster it gos...on hindsight passed up 2gbs of 1300+mhz for the 800...

[Daithi MacGuillaCathair]

thanks for the help.

sorry not 4 quad, i have 2, but i dont see the difference between 1 quad and 2, makes no difference i can see.

yeah i updated my drivers , except my mothboard one i forgot that as always, updated and now the game dont work :(

it either crashs or the game starts up as a window and i cant move around the campaign map.
that could have something to do with the fact that its dial booted and the new apple OS update has crashed the apple OS , so it no longer works at all.

aah computers, what can one do?

im off to dig out my old box of risk from the attic, but not before i tie my computer to the back of my car and drive around town.

[satchef1]

What is a 1.5GB graphics card? There's a huge difference between a GTX-295 with 1.5GB VRAM and an 8400GT with 1.5GB VRAM. The first would fly, the second would explain the settings :)

Also, can you screenshot a DXDiag and post it up here? Start -> Run -> Type "DxDiag" SS the first two tabs and upload here.

[AussieGiant]

I got the same processor, the same ram, though I have a 8800GTX 756mb card.

I am running the game on Ultra, all max settings with no lag (bar the usual game taking its time at the end of turn waiting for the AI to make its move.)

So it is most likely you not dealing with your drivers and other computer side stuff.

TiberiusBeskar!!

I have the same card and just followed your advise!! It just blew my head off!! I was playing on High setting with 4xAA and 16xAF and just one check box.

Now I've dropped back to 2xAA and 2xAF and switched to Ultra settings and it rocks!!

What are your exact settings?

I'm running an overclocked 3.4Ghz Dual Core, a 150GB Raptor 10000rpm HDD and have 2Gigs of 800Mhz Ram.

I'd really like to know...if possible what setting you have in the Nvidia Control Panel also.

My advise to everyone is turn off AA and AF, uncheck all your boxes, run fraps, run the same preset battle over and over, find how high you can set things (ie low, medium, high, ultra) and then slowly turn on AA and AF in small amounts and then some check box options until you are running at 30 fps as an average.

[tgi01]

Hmm can this be as simple as a power supply issue as you experience crashes too ( gtx 295 for example requires at least 680 W )... would be nice to know what graphic card you got ..

TGI

[AussieGiant]

anyone running a PSU under 750 watts with cards beyond the mid range 8000 series is asking for some trouble. Many PSU are substantially running under their apparent specifications.

[Daithi MacGuillaCathair]

here is my system , as far as i can see it should have no problems running this game, i never have with any other one

System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 3/25/2009, 18:43:52
Machine name: DAVID-PC
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Ultimate (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.vistasp1_gdr.080917-1612)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Apple Inc.
System Model: MacPro3,1
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU X5482 @ 3.20GHz (8 CPUs), ~3.2GHz
Memory: 8182MB RAM
Page File: 2624MB used, 13922MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 6.00.6001.18000 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
Display Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Sound Tab 2: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D: 0/4 (retail)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (retail)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (retail)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: Quadro FX 5600
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_019D&SUBSYS_040910DE&REV_A2
Display Memory: 3559 MB
Dedicated Memory: 1513 MB
Shared Memory: 2046 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (72Hz)
Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor

[AussieGiant]

Daithi MacGuillaCathair,

mate, mate...mate...you're running a Quadro card.

--------------------

NVIDIA Quadro® professional solutions deliver the fastest application performance, the highest quality workstation graphics and are fully certified on all industry-leading professional applications. But raw performance and quality are only the beginning--NVIDIA Quadro takes the leading computer-aided design (CAD), digital content creation (DCC), and visualization applications to a new level of interactivity by enabling unprecedented capabilities in performance, programmability, and precision.

NVIDIA Unified Architecture
Industry's first unified architecture designed to dynamically allocate geometry, shading, pixel, and compute processing power to deliver optimized GPU performance.

C Programming Environment for the GPU
The NVIDIA® CUDA™ GPU computing software provides a C language environment and tool suite that unleashes new capabilities to solve complex, visualization challenges such as real-time ray tracing and interactive volume rendering.

Next-Generation Vertex and Pixel Programmability Shader Model 4.0
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Best-of-class Industry Solution
Flexible platform to deliver professionals best-of-class industry solutions paired with NVIDIA Quadro G-Sync II, SDI, or NVIDIA® SLI™ technology.

--------------------

You've got a 3000 USD graphics card there mate and it's made for CAD and running ridiculous applications in parallel. It's a workstation card not a gaming card. The CA graphics team use these cards to MAKE the graphics we see on our gaming rigs. What is your job?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Quadro

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/vid...00-fx4600.html

That's it in a nut shell. Sorry.

[Daithi MacGuillaCathair]

yeah we use it for CAD applications and the like, so its no good for games then ? bummer, pity both of us who used it lost our jobs and no longer used CAD or 3D studio max etc.

thought id spend the recession playing games. I was wondering why i got the computer so cheap, Gamers wouldnt be intrested in it.

next time ill do my research better

[Lord Zimoa of Flanders]

Even than you can have or buy the best gaming hardware in the world, but we have some serious code issues here.

64-bit OS or 1GB video cards may even provoke a CTD easier because of "Insufficient Video Memory". Good to hear though CA admits this and will address this in the future.

And a big chear to MadBoris for his thorough explanation.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=238484