I Fixed The Maf Error... Here Is How!!

ok - these changes are not there in order to solve problems with errors on startup. Also the BtS file already has the 3GB flag set anyway.

now what exactly is the error - did it always occur on startup and what patch version are these games?
also just checking: you do have sufficient memory to run the game?

ori said:

ok - these changes are not there in order to solve problems with errors on startup. Also the BtS file already has the 3GB flag set anyway.

Click to expand...

I knew that i was just saying that as what happend, also.

ori said:

now what exactly is the error - did it always occur on startup and what patch version are these games?

Click to expand...

Dont know for sure on each all i can read real fast is the Runtime error when Warlords starts, then with the BtS one, i am trying to get a World Map ingame in the Industrial age. And it crashes fast again and all i could see again was Runtime error.

ori said:

also just checking: you do have sufficient memory to run the game?

Click to expand...

I have over 2GB of memory installed. With an ATI card that also has a 256 memory.

the error message should be listed in the windows event manager - just look there for anything related to warlords and/or bts

I have been reading the forum for a few weeks now and from what I've read XP Home users cannot circumvent the MAF error due to the 3GB switch don't working.

This is wrong

The /3GB switch works for my XP Home Sp3 system like a charm, even with only 1,5Gb physical RAM.

I'm using Civ4 with BtS and official patch 3.17 and XP Home with Service Pack 3.
Additional to the /3GB switch I had to add /Userva=2900 or my graphics driver would not load.

System specs:
AMD Athlon XP 3000+
1,5GB RAM
Nvidia 7600GT

I have an assumption why this works, but that would get a little technical.

What does this mean??

Failed to allocate memory?

\main\civilization4\SDKs\Gamebryo2_0\Corelibs\NiDX9Render\NiDX9SourceTextureData.cpp, Line 321?????

the game has too little memory for some of its 3d graphics to display and crashes because of this...

Is there anyway to resolve this then?

- make sure there is enough memory available - if you used the /3GB flag proposed in this thread you might need to take some of it back by using the /uservar flag
- reduce graphics settings
- I am pretty sure I asked you this already - but I forget and am too lazy to check: is your graphics driver updated?
- use some of the memory savings settings in the civilizationIV.ini especially those with bik or bink in their name...

ori said:

- make sure there is enough memory available - if you used the /3GB flag proposed in this thread you might need to take some of it back by using the /uservar flag
- reduce graphics settings
- I am pretty sure I asked you this already - but I forget and am too lazy to check: is your graphics driver updated?
- use some of the memory savings settings in the civilizationIV.ini especially those with bik or bink in their name...

Click to expand...

OK what is the uservar flag, do i put that inplace of where i put the 3GB?
updated: Yes, by your request before, thx.

as for the bik, is this what your referring to?
; Set to 1 for no in-game movies NoMovies = 0
; Don't skip frames if falling behind
BinkNoSkip = 1

; Copy entire image each frame, not just dirty pixels
BinkCopyAll = 1

; Show movies using hi-color, not true-color (may be faster)
Bink16Bit = 0

; Copy ever other scanline during movie playback (faster)
BinkInterlace = 0

strategyonly said:

OK what is the uservar flag, do i put that inplace of where i put the 3GB?
updated: Yes, by your request before, thx.

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There is a similar thread to this one in the technical support forum (it was actually based on this one):
Working MAF fix for WinXP Pro 32bit!!

In the tenth post of that thread, I wrote a bit about the userva switch. Maybe it's the same as the uservar switch which ori mentioned. I do know that it is regularly useful to people who are suffering problems with the memory requirements of their graphics card drivers when they employ the /3GB switch. This seems to be the case in your description. Try to follow the instructions in that post combined with the instructions in the first post of that thread.

Good luck!

Roland Johansen is right - I mistyped I meant the userva switch

also: yes those are the settings -try playing around with putting them on (to 1)

Alot of that pertains to WinXP Pro, I have Win XP Home? What then to use?

Here's what i have now.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINXP
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINXP="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn/3GB

strategyonly said:

Alot of that pertains to WinXP Pro, I have Win XP Home? What then to use?

Here's what i have now.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINXP
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINXP="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn/3GB

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I'd try the same as what has worked for Windows XP professional users. If you look at Stormwind's post a few posts before (post 144), then there is clearly some hope that this will work. However, every computer has different hardware and software and thus differences in succes with these startup instructions can occur. I'm not sure whether all of this works with Windows XP home edition. I do know that for Windows XP professional, you need service pack 1. So from my post in the other thread:

-Create a system restore point
-change the last line of the boot loader to: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINXP="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn /3GB /Userva=2900
-if that doesn't help try multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINXP="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn /3GB /Userva=2800
-if that doesn't help try multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINXP="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn /3GB /Userva=2700
-etc.

The idea is to find the optimal userva setting. It determines the amount of memory that civ (or any program running on your computer with the right settings) can use. Ideally, you'd put it at 3072, but a too high userva setting will result in video driver or video memory problems.
Note that I put a space before the /3GB switch. I'm not sure whether that is important, but in every example that I've seen there was a space before the switch so better safe than sorry I'd say.

OK i tried everything right down to the /3GB /Userva=2800 point, but instead of a MAF i got a BSoD that said physical memory dump, will begin dumping now (or words to that effect). Never had that before??

this is likely the graphics card not working properly - try going even lower - like userva=2700 or 2600 - some cards however just hate it no matter what

OK heres what i found out so far from changing all the graphics around.

You can play on High Graphics till around Industrial Age, then change to Low Graphics and do the change as specified in this thread. (When playing a big mod or alot of civs)
Make sure you save game almost every turn, when i played at 2500 it would go to my mod, but when i tried to play, it went to a blank screen and i had to shut off my puter.
What i found out was my Desktop is set to 800X600. But when i placed it on 1024X768, BEFORE starting Civ4, it worked for a little while, but again save game almost every turn, it didnt clear the MAF problem, but at least when i got one i had a saved game. SO i could play like 15 turns before the next MAF.
Then at 2400 it didnt matter if i had changed the Desktop from 800 to 1024 or not, but still got MAFs more often.
Then at 2300 again found out you have to change your Desktop to 1024 again, otherwise, blank screen again. But i can play at least for another 15 turns, then MAF. So i guess i am just stuck with the MAF's????

I dont think i should go any lower, what do you'll think??

I hope i made this clear enough?

Hey gang... I have tried everything from what is written on here, and no dice.

Just got a new laptop, running vista 64, 4 gigs ram, 512 vid card, and I changed the .exe to allow 2 gigs.

If anybody has any ideas please shoot them out, because I miss playing this game!

Thanx in advance

did you run the command line item from the first post?

ERLoft said:

did you run the command line item from the first post?

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to be honest now I can't even get through about 100 turns before I get a MAF. I think it might be the comp, so I will try again with the new dell.

Thank you very much for the quick response, I appreciate it

Is this a correct way of doing this? http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=306422

or is it in post # 153 better??