Low-Graphics Mode

[Shadowstrike]

Been playing EU4 with a older laptop that just barely meets the minimum requirements, and it's surprisingly playable with draw_water off (in the sense that speed 5 = normal speed 2, but still playable). It occurred to me that it would be great if the default water color was blue instead of black, so that the flat parts of the map where the (not-drawn) water goes would be blue and at least kind of look like water, instead of interstellar space.

Even further that that it would be great if there was a super low-graphics mode so that you can save your precious CPU cycles for the game itself. The map could just be flat, cities and armies would be static images, but the game mechanics would be otherwise the same. since much of the game is played from menus anyways. It wouldn't look pretty, but it would make the game a lot more fun on older computers.

 

[ShadowCammy]

Maybe it could switch to an older Clauzewitz look. Like in Victoria II, since I have an older PC that runs the game at a good frame rate, as opposed to the 15 FPS I get in EU4

 

[Danfish77]

Even further that that it would be great if there was a super low-graphics mode so that you can save your precious CPU cycles for the game itself. The map could just be flat, cities and armies would be static images, but the game mechanics would be otherwise the same. since much of the game is played from menus anyways. It wouldn't look pretty, but it would make the game a lot more fun on older computers.

You're not really using a lot of CPU cycles on graphics, that's what a graphics card is for. Still, it would be nice to have a few quality options other than hiding trees and rivers and whatnot (like using flat textures for cities or armies, perhaps).

 

[magnusvejby]

Well if it can make many more people with older computers enjoy EU4 more, i would love to have this in game. +1

 

[Fluffy_Fishy]

There are quite a few mods that help with this like flat map and such. They make the game much smoother.

 

[Shadowstrike]

I'm playing on a laptop without a dedicated graphics cards (it just uses CPU cycles) - which as I understand isn't too uncommon - it does noticeably drag when graphics requirements are higher (in retrospect, it was not a good time to start a Muscovy campaign). I haven't tried the flat-map mods - do they help performance much? I turned off trees, etc. as a matter of fact, but the only real performance boost I noticed was turning off the water.

In any event though, I would be happy as a clam to have the option to play with the graphics as simple as possible - even if the map is a flat board, and the units are static images, just like in EU2.

 

[ShadowCammy]

You're not really using a lot of CPU cycles on graphics, that's what a graphics card is for. Still, it would be nice to have a few quality options other than hiding trees and rivers and whatnot (like using flat textures for cities or armies, perhaps).

More basic graphics does actually make it run better, at least in my experience.

 

[Danfish77]

More basic graphics does actually make it run better, at least in my experience.

Definitely, but it's probably not CPU cycles that we're talking about, it's RAM, VRAM, and GPU. I would assume CPU time is spent dealing with AI and modifier checks, monthly income, etc. All those things that happen with every game tick, like running through a list of provinces and country tags to check revolt risk or autonomy (I assume, I don't actually know how the engine works).

...but hardware isn't my specialty, it's making semi-informed comments on public forums.

 

[ShadowCammy]

Definitely, but it's probably not CPU cycles that we're talking about, it's RAM, VRAM, and GPU. I would assume CPU time is spent dealing with AI and modifier checks, monthly income, etc. All those things that happen with every game tick, like running through a list of provinces and country tags to check revolt risk or autonomy (I assume, I don't actually know how the engine works).

...but hardware isn't my specialty, it's making semi-informed comments on public forums.

Oh, I was confused. Maybe a thing to calculate regions rather than provinces on this mode could be a thing. Of course, this would require a whole new system and probably is too much effort for the result. But it's a start of an idea.