Optimizing Your System To Run AACW

[Black Cat]

That says it.

Any hardware/software pros around to give advice ?

I notice that the AI `s Campaign Game turns are taking much longer as I move into 1863.

I have:

Intel Pentium R Duel CPU 3.00GHz.
1 GB of Ram

Windows XP & Service Pack 2

Windows manages memory.

This is a pure Gaming Machine so anything I can do to get faster processing speeds for AWCW would help. Would limiting what programs load at start up help ?

Thanks

[Pdubya64]

If you are using the options "Use all behaviors", "Activate AI" and "More time" as I do, the AI thinking phase will take longer as the game goes on and more units are on the map. I haven't asked Pocus, but don't know whether or not AACW takes advantage of multiple CPU cores.
I have found that after June of 1861, it takes anywhere from a minute to 2 minutes for it to finish thinking. You have a bit newer system than I do right now. The good news is Pocus has improved the speed of the AI turn once already, so there is hope for the future.

[Kotik]

Increase the ram I would say, as that would give the computer more room to load up in advance, 2Gb atleast but more is allways better

Also what graphicscard do you have? With an CPU speed of 3GHz then I would suggest atleast 256Mb memory to really get things moving.

As far as I understand when it comes to limiting programs, there usually few programs you can turn of without making your computer crash, offcourse this applies only if you dont have any programs starting automaticlly when windows start.

[Pdubya64]

Just realize that more than 2GB of memory is probably not going to help you much for reasons noted here at Anandtech. 2GB should be all most people will need until 64-bit apps and drivers are commonplace.

[Pocus]

If you have 1 gb of RAM, then it is enough for the game. AI speed will then be related to your CPU power. For now, alas, multiple cores are not used directly by the AI, but Windows is still able to use them somehow, but less efficiently compared to we could have achieved by coding AI repartited on several cores.

As for AI speed, it will be improved again in the next weeks. Expect again a 30 to 40% increase in speed.

[Pdubya64]

As for AI speed, it will be improved again in the next weeks. Expect again a 30 to 40% increase in speed.

See Guys? Ask and ye shall receive! (just don't expect miracles)

[PBBoeye]

I've got 1.25 MB RAM on a 2.4GHz P4. The AI is fine, but the scrolling stinks. Not sure if it's the video card or what - my Dell Dimension 2400 is like 4 years old, but I have the latest video card driver.

[Kotik]

I've got 1.25 MB RAM on a 2.4GHz P4. The AI is fine, but the scrolling stinks. Not sure if it's the video card or what - my Dell Dimension 2400 is like 4 years old, but I have the latest video card driver.

You got to mean 1.25Gb not Mb, right? Well it should be okay if you have a decent videocard, atleast 128Mb I would say. My old computer with a 128Mb videocard, 1,8Ghz cpu and 1Gb of ram was slow and could take minutes to finish a turn when you hit mid 1862. Now I have a much better computer and the turns fly by.

[PBBoeye]

Yes, I meant GB, not MB.

Well, I've got an Intel 82845G/GL/GE/PE/GV Graphics Controller, so not sure if I should ditch it and upgrade to a better video card?

[mikee64]

PB, see this thread: http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?t=4921

In my experience a video card upgrade on an old(er) Dell is the best way to deal with the scrolling issues.

[PBBoeye]

Thank you, Mikee. I was coming to the conclusion that my card just wasn't cutting it. Everything else is fine.

So you like that GeForce 7600GT?

EDIT: well, I've gone and bought a new GEForce FX 5200 for my Dell (which I bought in 2003; gonna get about 5 years out of this setup!). Going to give ol' AACW a whirl right now. Set at 1024x768 at 72 MHz refresh rate. Let's see about this.....

EDIT: YUMMY!! Smooth, and the colors are, oh so much better. Mo Betta Colors.

[Pdubya64]

That's great PBBoeye!
Yeah, in my experience of over 14 years building my own PCs, stretching use of a videocard much past 2-3 years starts giving you problems, some just odd, others are catastrophic.

It's not so much that you have a lousy card, or that it's going bad (although that can happen); it has more to do with manufacturers and Microsoft "moving on" with new driver models that start adding functionality. In the beginning, they will support older cards, but outside of 2 years things get a bit dicey as to whether your card really works as well. One solution is to stick with older drivers. The problem becomes one of now your bright, shiny new ACW game doesn't want to play "nice" with your old driver, maybe even the card itself.
Backward compatibility is, at the same time, the biggest plus and minus for PCs. It is a real headache for developers like Pocus, but for you its money in your pocket you didn't have to spend for a long while...

For what it's worth,
pw

[PBBoeye]

Yes, PB - I have finally learned that via my own lesson with this. I suppose since I am not a 'gamer' (of games that usually require a good video card) I've gotten around it quite a bit. Lesson learned.

I'd say that one of the Number One things players need to consider is their video card's capability to handle this game. 256MB seems the necessary size to scroll smoothly; 128MB is dead on the water.