Huge slowdown in DA on Vista - not the crash issue.

I have this very same problem. However, I noticed an odd thing, that if I press Backspace to hide the menu bar on the bottom of the screen, the game suddenly becomes silk smooth, zooming, map dragging working as a charm. As soon as I get the menu bar back up, the game goes back to its semi-crawl mode (mind you, it's playable, but this strange behavior baffles me. With the menu bar DOWN, it's supposed to draw MORE pixels)

Specs:
P4 2.6ghz
1GB RAM
Geforce 7600GS
Vista
Forceware 101.41

Others have reported this as well. My guess is it's probably another oddity in nVidia's drivers...

Yup - this is replicated on my machine too. I have the same specs as ShunterAlhena.

GalCiv 2 and DA ran like a dream under XP (same hardware), but the camera controls thus far are buggy/choppy SO LONG AS the menu bar is in view. Once you remove the menu bars... it runs fine. I can load up the background with tons of affects and max out resolution (or conversely drop it all down) to no effect. But adding/removing the menus drastically changes camera performance.

P4 dual 2.6Ghz CPUs
3GB RAM
GeForce 7600 GS; Forceware 100.65 Drivers right now
Vista 32-bit

Yes, minimizing the menu bar solves the issue for me as well, while it's minimized. Bringing it back up, restores the slow framerate.

This happens on my Vista system also. the game seems to run great with the menu bar out of the way, but with it turned on, the game stutters like mad. I can't really enjoy DA until either Nvidia or Stardock fixes this issue. I love the game, so please hurry!

AMD X2 4800+
1 GB Ram
GeForce 7800 GTX - running 100.65
Vista 32bit

You can add my computer to the mix.... same thing, DA on Vista 32 bit, works great w/o the menu bar up, stutters when the menu bar is up.

Intel Pentium 3.20 GHz
2 GB RAM
GeForce 7900 GS running 100.65

We're going to have to look into this and see if there's anything that we can do about it.  Even if it's a driver issue, we may be able to get a workaround for this one. 

That's all we can ask for, CariElf.
Please notify us if you find anything.

I have the same problem too. Just figured the more people who mention they have this issue the merrier. I am running Vista Home Premium.

Yer same here!! I have this problem too. Running windows vista 32 bit home edition. The game runs fine except with the menu bar up. Pressing backspace and the game is fine. Weird???? Great that it works on vista though if only they could solve this problem as the game is unplayable really. Hurry up and get a FIX PLEASE!!

vista is a crap os with hardly any good drivers released and nvidia being one of the worst. fact is, this os probaly wont be stable enough to use until the first service pack. i dont even bother running this game in vista, i just load up windows xp.

solution:
go back to windows xp
better solution:
duel boot with windows xp/vista

we all know M$ will force us to change, and they will bully all manufactures to only support windows vista (dx 10 causes this) so you have no choice but to switch over, but not yet and avoid it as long as you can. i work for tech support and the people who upgrade are having alot of issues. pretend final release is first beta release, if your not comfortable with betas then dont run it

I'll e-mail my contact at NVidia and see if I can get a status report on this. 

I know this may sound stupid, as I am ignorant when it comes to these things, but are we sure it's a driver problem? Given that the game runs perfectly without the Info box open, could it be something else?

I've got the same problem as the one mentioned here. Nvidia graphics card and vista = crappy framerates.

I have the same problem and it is really chapping me. My machine is similar to the configs above, AMD, nvidia, vista 64 bit. Has anyone found a fix yet (besides minimizing the minimap)? What's the status?

...sorry clicked twice

How long do we have to wait for a fix for this. Months??? Its totally unplayable with this problem. Ive had enough waiting now and have uninstalled all the galciv games. I think I will stick with Battlefield 2. It works with vista no problem and im not waiting forever for this. I advise all of you to forget about DA with this problem. Uninstall it and chuck it in a cupboard. Play Battlefield 2. Now that is a cool game with no problems what so ever. Far better than DA. Well ive never played DA due to this problem but there are so many problems with this game. Whats the point of playing if every week you have to download a new update. Your halfway through a game and then an update comes out. I hate playing games where you have to constantly update. You might as well forget about the game. Its ridiculous. There are far better games out there without all this hassle. STEP 1 - Dont blame Vista - Its a good operating system and I happen to like it very much. STEP 2 - Blame the game companies, not VISTA because its them who should have prepared for it. STEP 3 - Get a bowl of acid and chuck your galciv games in there. STEP 4 - Purchase Battlefield 2 and enjoy. STEP 5 - Uninstall stardock and forget about the updates although you may dream about them in your sleep. STEP 6 - Dont bother coming to these forums anymore because you will get sick of no solutions to problems.

Wow, another satisfied customer I see! Well at least he outlined the 'steps' for us to take although I wonder how most of us without a CD will act on step 3...
All I can say to this community is this... no matter how much bitching I have done, how much ranting, slamming, flaming, or complaining with regards to this game and ALL of the problems I have had with it... at least I still LOVE the game and give it/the devs all of the credit in the world for their attempts at making what has to be, one of the best PC games out there ever. Just remember this reply the next time I'm acting like an ass because my game keeps crashing and I'm pulling my hair out over losing thirty plus hours of game time... remember that at least I am an advocate of this game and it's developers... even when I can't play the game.
Peace people!

Maybe I don't like Battlefield 2? Anyway, I'm sure that Nvidia is going to look at it. One month from bug report to a fix online seems pretty fast to me.

I wonder why nvidia still has a beta driver?? I mean ati has fully released vista drivers for how long now? I thought nvidia was their competition. Having always been a fan of nvidia, I think all of this mess has turned me to ati. So my next cards which I am setting up with sli will be ati based. This time, I am truely disappointed in nvidia, I really am. Especially since its been months and still only a beta driver that still has issues. Then, all the while the ati guys are laughing since they are ahead of the competition. Not sure why ati was able to pull it off and not nvidia, maybe ati being part of amd now is what made that possible.

Actually, with ATI you would be setting up a Crossfire solution - not SLI.

Don't be tricked by "released" drivers. Go ahead and try to use the ATI drivers with Open GL. or two monitors. Both companies drivers were pretty bad out of the gate, and they are both getting better...

Then again if every company that writes a driver has problem, the blame may belong somewhere else

OK, just got Nvidia's 158.18 driver loaded up, and same deal.... choppy scrolling unless I got the menu bar on the bottom hidden.... see above for my system specs.

Yup - I installed the latest Nvidia drives. Performance has improved, but only marginally. Removing the UI returns the camera to pre-Vista operation. Otherwise, with the UI engaged, the camera is choppy at best.

As for the whole Ditch Vista/Ditch GalCiv responses... by and large those of us posting in this and other threads about this problem obviously don't care to do either, for all of our own personal reasons. And of course, not every game made prior to Vista (or prior to any new operating system) can be made compatible. Whether or not is should is a different questions - but clearly the folks at Stardock are interested in resolving the issues and making this game technically available for as many of their customers as they can. To suggest otherwise is immature and typical of the internet tweenies and teens who post everywhere about how r0xx0r their l337 system is and how they can pull off headshots in Counterstrike/BF2.

As someone in IT, I work with a vast array of OSs, and to be honest, Vista was a major improvement over XP in terms of reliability and services. The only true shortcoming is the lack of driver support - so for many, upgrading isn't necessary/sensible until service pack 1. For me, I have access to XP and run the game fine; but I am keenly interested in getting this game running like butter on Vista.

Yep,

Me too...I just hope they fix it soon because I just have Vista loaded and so I can't switch back and forth. I have to wait it out...and that sucks