Ships cause massive slowdown (even after 1.6 patch), but not planets!

from GalCiv2 Forums
Dear Developers & others!

I just love this game and dark avatars is just great.. Except one thing, Performance! (and this is after the latest better performance patch mind you)

I just have one wish from developers or some modders out there, is it possible to have / fix a setting so i can see planet textures, but not ships? My problem is that whenever i see a ship in the window it immidiately gets severely choppy..as in really not playable.. I mean even with 1 small scout orbiting one planet is enough. Atm i have to play the game zoomed so far out i onliy get icons.

I noticed one thing, and that is planet textures maxed graphically doesnt result in any choppy / framedrops. Is there a way to make ships appear as icons (like when you zoom all the way out) but still have planets with full details (as in not icons fully zoomed out)? It would really make this game playable on low end systems also!

If there is a way i would be so happy! I mean ships being icons is not bad, but when planets are just grey dots too.. eh.. much more boring universe!

Hope someone can enlighten me on this issue, or tell me if there is a way to have ships turn to icons but same time have planets shwon in full details!

Cheers
Prito
2,007 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
What are the specs for your system? Video card especially but processor and memory wouldn't hurt either.

Edit: For that matter, what resolution are you playing at and what do you have antialiasing set to? I know for my GeForce 8600GTS I have to run at 2x or it lags a bit.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
For starter I know i have a really sub optimal setup, but i was mainly puzzled why 1 ship with all graphical goodies disabled lag me but thousand planets fully detailed do not..

I do not expect to be able to see alot of ships with my.. laptop! 1.5 pentium m, 1.2gig RAM, and video card.. well im not sure but its for sure not the best lol. Being laptop and all hehe..

Im playing on 1024 x 768 resolution, and have taken all the settings to lowest of the low. In fact atm im playing in all icons mode (fully zoomed out with tactical zoom). It would just enhance gameplay so much if i were able to see the planets in full details but same time have ship icons.. hmm.. oh well.. too bad im not a guru modder or could answer myself

Cheers
Prito
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Please go to C:\Program Files\Stardock\Totalgaming\GalCiv2 (or wherever you installed the game at), open the debug.err file you find there in notepad, and copy/paste the contents into a post here. If this is a DA report, you'll find the debug in C:\Program Files\Stardock\Totalgaming\GalCiv2\DarkAvatar instead. This will give us some technical information that can help troubleshoot your problem.

Be sure to copy the debug immediately after the error occurs; if you start the game again, the debug will be erased and recreated for the new session.

Note: If running on Vista with DA 1.6b2 or later, the debug.err is now located in My Documents\My Games\GC2DarkAvatar.