CIV IV Beyond the Sword Super Slow Game Play - what am I doing wrong

[breadandbutter]

I hope someone can help...I don't know a lot about computers, I just know that something isn't quite right!

About 4 months ago, I got a new laptop and just recently got around to installing CIV IV Beyond the Sword on it, something I've played a million times and without any problem on my old dinosaur of a laptop.  It won't play right on my new one!!!

I have an HP Pavilion dv2700 Notebook with that 64 bit Vista that they talked me into at Best Buy.  My processor is the AMD Turion 64x2 TL-60 2.00 GHZ, 4 GB RAM and a Nvidia 64mb graphics card.

I searched through the message boards and found a link to that Can You Run It? website, which I tried and it tells me that I meet both the minimum and recommended requirements to play this game.  Why am I having trouble?

I would greatly appreciate any advice, dumbed down for the computer illiterate.

Thanks!

Crissy 

[killerb255]

Uh...no.  You don't meet the recommended.

# Windows 2000 (SP1 or higher), Windows XP (SP1 or higher), Windows Vista
# 1.2 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor equivalent
# 256 MB RAM
# 64 MB video card with hardware T&L (GeForce 2, Radeon 7500 or better)
# DirectX 7 compatible sound card
# 1.7 GB free hard disk space
# DirectX 9.0c (included)

These are the minimum.  Laptop graphics are seldom good for heavy gaming...

You have 64 MB video RAM.  The game requires 64 MB video RAM.  Sounds like minimum to me.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Laptop graphics are seldom good for heavy gaming...

It actually depends on what laptop it is. Some laptops are designed for heavy gaming, animation, designing, movie making, ect....

I don't understand this though......
2GHz Dual Core Processor, 4GB RAM, yet they only give you 64MB Video RAM?
Something isn't right....

Anyways, even though it may be just hit the game specifications, it should still run nonetheless.

What error message are you getting when you try to run the game?

[quaxo]

Check your Nvidia control panel (right-click the Nvidia icon in the system tray). Under "3D Settings -> Manage 3D Settings", there should be 2 tabs on the 3D settings, global and program settings. Under global, make sure any option that has "Application Controlled" as an option is set so. Allowing Nvidia (or even ATI cards for that matter) try to force setting unto some programs/games can cause them to slow down dramatically.

For the Nvidia control panel, generally the best option for games to choose is the one in the list with the Nvidia icon next to it.

In program settings, there is a listing for Civ4. You can adjust the default settings the Nvidia control panel chooses specific to Civ4 there.

[Raptor]

Laptop graphics are seldom good for heavy gaming...
It actually depends on what laptop it is. Some laptops are designed for heavy gaming, animation, designing, movie making, ect....

They're designed to do so within the limitations of a laptop form-factor. So they might be a little better than their non-specialized counterparts, they're still not as good as their desktop counterparts.

Anyhow, that is not a problem here. This guy just wants to run a piece of software. It could even be a graphic card intensive screensaver, as long as the laptop doesn't overheat or has to work harder than it's originally intended to do, you should be fine.

something I've played a million times and without any problem on my old dinosaur of a laptop. 

What kind of laptop did you have before and what version of Windows was installed?

[Calum]

The poster hasn't been back for 2 weeks, I think it's safe to say this thread is dead.

[Raptor]

Bah, way to get your post count up by digging up old crap, Quaxo. And making me waste time thinking it's a new topic.

[quaxo]

The poster hasn't been back for 2 weeks, I think it's safe to say this thread is dead.

Yes, but if he selected the option, he'll be notified of the new response and might come back to find the solution he was looking for. 2 weeks isn't all that long, especially when people are busy with real life things and also given the time of year people are probably extra busy.

If it was something like a year or more old, then I'd agree with you. 

Bah, way to get your post count up by digging up old crap, Quaxo. And making me waste time thinking it's a new topic.

-=EDIT=-
Nevermind, I'll save that comment for the admins.

[Calum]

Yes, but if he selected the option, he'll be notified of the new response and might come back to find the solution he was looking for. 2 weeks isn't all that long, especially when people are busy with real life things and also given the time of year people are probably extra busy.

True, but I was judging by the fact that they haven't been online since, and there had already been two replies.
If they come back, I'll eat a virtual hat