Need help - Graphics Issue - Wanting to "turn up" the graphics

(No, this isn't another "How i fix gfx 4 gme?")

from GalCiv2 Forums
Ok I fibbed in sub title.... anyways...

I have a somewhat unorthodox problem.... maybe my intelligence and common sense have UTTERLY failed me but honestly... how do I turn up the graphic on GC2?  The video options have alot of "disable ------" but honestly the graphics are sh** for me right now so thats kind of the opposite of what i need...

To clarify i currently display all ship textures as a bare bones solid color rough edged hunk of polygons. They lack ANY detail work at ALL and look awful to the point that i almost cant play the game.   Now my machine is dated, a couple years dated to be more precise, but i still meet all of the recommended specs for GC2. Basicly I'm wondering where i can find the "Graphics quality" slider bar.... maybe I'm wrong to assume there is one... if thats the case I'll have to an hero cause this is kind of rediculous. I feel like a retard asking this but in short, how in the hell can i turn up the graphics from these crappy 16-bit color, jagged edged, polygons to the pretty graphics that I'm seeing all theese screen shots of...?

I've googled for hours now trying to find help and have resorted to a post of my own now, so please someone, help this brain dead gamer.

I really hope I'm not just incredibly stupid and missing some critical button or something.....
2,637 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
What kind of graphic card do you have? If you're not seeing textures it could be an incompatible video card.

There's a graphic level slider at the top left of the video page and the resolution selector, but beyond that most of the options for video are just little tweaks.

Make sure you update all the drivers for your hardware as well(esp. video card)!


Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I take it you have a Geforce 4 MX or Go card? They are known to have this issue, because they're actually just dressed-up Geforce2s (a DirectX7 card), not even DirectX8 like the rest of the Geforce4s, or DirectX9 as the game requires.

You can try the workaround described in reply #2 of this thread if you want to try and get textures working without buying a new video card.

As to the jaggy edges, that's just a matter of turning antialiasing on, but a GF4MX is not likely able to sustain a very good framerate with AA of any sort enabled.


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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
As to the jaggy edges, that's just a matter of turning antialiasing on, but a GF4MX is not likely able to sustain a very good framerate with AA of any sort enabled.
End of quote


As far as picture quality goes you can often increase picture quality for less of a framerate hit if you turn up the resolution before you use AA. You'll still have jaggies, but the increased resolution makes them less severe.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thanks for the responses, I'm about to try 3D Analyze for this i can't believe i didn't think to use it before, already had it downloaded from me trying to get my (you guessed it) Geforce MX4000 to run Deus Ex: Invisible War :) Sorry about my previous post and how hard it was to understand, it was late, and i was VERY frustrated. I'll try this out, and in the mean time I already got a new video card in the mail as i figure its time i quit being stingy and upgrade my friggin' comp. Thanks again for the replies. Later.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
-.-;


In short, it worked, but for some dang reason all the sudden i don't have planet or ship textures. Reading around I've read that this is solved by installing the patch. The patch is installed already... nothing has changed other than i reinstalled Galciv2 shortly before my last post and re-patched it then ran it with 3D Analyze. I now have pretty textures... but they don't show up on the overview, they only show up in areas like the ship designer or the race customizer. Man, this is really starting to grate on my nerves. I'm gonna work at it awhile, any suggestions would be appreciated. I was thinking I'd COMPLETELY get rid of ALL traces of GC2 then re-install re-patch and try again.