Civ 4 on X3100 - Constant 'Blinking'

I have a C2D 1.6ghz with 2048MB RAM (128 of that is dedicated to GPU). Im using Vista

It plays the game at a nice steady framerate at High on 1024x768. However, the game constantly 'blinks' basically the screen goes black, freezes, then back to game, and then moments later the blinking starts again.

Also, Windows keeps telling me that the driver has crashed and restarted, which i think is the cause of the blinking

Any ways to solve this issue? Thanks in advance

 

Did you get the latest drivers at Intel's website?

 

Stop trying to play civ4 on the x3100. The frame rate drops to about 12 fps when you zoom out and the game is UNPLAYABLE mid to late game.

 

i second on that!

 

Firstly, yep ive updated the drivers already. However, if i remember correctly, there was no blinking BEFORE updating

As for not playing it, well i dont really have a choice as my only working computer is my notebook! And also, the framerate is perfectly fine, its not like its real time anyway.

 

This game is ridiculously harsh on the CPU and RAM, but if newer drivers give a performance hit for the game then rolling back to an older driver will solve your problem.

 

Your frame rate is NOT FINE. use a program like FRAPS to test the frame rate. You will get under 30 fps when you are zoomed all the way in early game, and under 15 fps when you zoom out (before the clouds obscure the view). This is hardly playable by most gamers' standards. However, after you play for a while and the screen starts to get cluttered, the game will get extremely choppy and become severely unplayable.

 

Civ IV is going to be a bit of a strain on your GPU, especially a little later in the game, and even more so if you're playing on any more than a tiny map. Do you have anything else you can play Civ IV on? Something with at -least- 128MB of dedicated graphics RAM.

 

Firstly like i said, i can tolerate a low FPS, and as off now, im at around 900 AD on a VERY standard game. And also, this isnt a real time game so i can think and take action in any time i want. Not forgetting im running the game on High at 1024x768. However, its the 'blinking' thats REALLY annoying me and just sucks the fun out of the game, the game pausing on you every second makes me want to rip my hair out.

I have another computer, but its low on space so i havent installed it there, and also my brother is always doing his work on that, but it has a Intel P4 640 (3.2ghz), 512mb RAM and a Radeon 9550 128mb. Itll run quite a lot better, but i dont exactly have much access to it.

 

If you don't want to roll back your driver then the only other solution is to lower the graphical settings until the blinking stops. It might be the case that your graphics driver is too overloaded by the amount of info on screen.

 

Ive tried that too, but no help whatsoever = (

As for rolling back, maybe but i think id loose out on a lot too

 

Unless you play another game that requires intel drivers of X version or newer to play, rolling back to your previous driver pre-blinking will solve all your problems. It's worth the shot if everything else fails.