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

strategyonly said:

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

or is it in post # 153 better??

Click to expand...

It's pretty much the same procedure...

However the linked page is talking about creating a large block of virtual memory. Usually such settings are already used because players who enable the /3GB setting also have a large amount of physical memory and thus also need a comparable amount of virtual memory, but maybe you didn't set the virtual memory settings this high. So you could check that.

The rest of the post is also mentioning a double boot option which can be useful if you want to be able to switch between the normal 2GB and the enhanced 3GB setting (which is sometimes less stable). However, you need the 3GB version to solve the MAF errors and thus the ability to switch doesn't help with the MAF error.

So is there a difference then cause i have this:

[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 /Userva=2300

and he suggest this:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Home Edition 3GB" /3GB /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn /Userva=2900

some things are moved around??

Also do i need to increase my virtual memory??

Mine is set at : Initial size: 1728
Maximum size: 3456

I wont do the double boot, sounds to risky.

strategyonly said:

So is there a difference then cause i have this:

[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 /Userva=2300

and he suggest this:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Home Edition 3GB" /3GB /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn /Userva=2900

some things are moved around??

Click to expand...

I guess that you don't have the spaces in the name Microsoft?

Adding the switches at the end or directly after the closing "-sign shouldn't make a difference.

Also do i need to increase my virtual memory??


Mine is set at : Initial size: 1728
Maximum size: 3456

Click to expand...

That would likely be a good idea. You have 2 GB's of physical memory, you may have twice that in virtual memory (4096 kb). Whether it will help you however is doubtful. But since you have been trying for so long to stop the MAF error and this is such a minor harmless change, I would advice you to try it (and combine it with a few Userva settings).

I read that you had tried the Userva setting at all kinds of values and it didn't work at any value and you got all kinds of video problems. It seems that your video card driver is very specific about the memory it wants to use. It sounds very likely that these tricks to circumvent the MAF error will not help you. I'm sorry.

strategyonly said:

I wont do the double boot, sounds to risky.

Click to expand...

It just allows you a choice at system startup to choose between the old normal 2GB memory system startup and the modified 3GB memory startup. It's nothing scary, but it's also not needed. It just allows some flexibility.

The spaces in the names of the boot options were unintentional, I wrote the text in Notepad before pasting it to the forum textbox and I missed some formating errors, including the spaces.

The order of switches is not important, I just copied my boot.ini line for reference.

As Roland said, the dual boot option is just there in case some programs don't work with /3GB (although I didn't heard of any problems so far).

As a rule of thumb I always had Virtual Memory set to twice the physical RAM, but more than 4GB or 6GB in Windows XP aren't really neccessary in my opinion.

Edit: strategyonly, could you please post your system specs.
Edit2: Just noticed that while trying to Edit my original Post Microsoft is indeed written right, but the forum software always changes it to "Micro soft"

[QUOTE=Stormwind;7661873Edit: strategyonly, could you please post your system specs.

Sure:

Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.080814-1236)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation
System Model: Dimension 8300
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A05
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Memory: 1152MB RAM
Page File: 401MB used, 2424MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINXP
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

strategyonly said:

Memory: 1152MB RAM

Click to expand...

This is likely the bottleneck. In post 142, you still said that you had over 2 GB of memory installed, so I thought that was fine. But this is more like 1 GB of memory which isn't enough for the biggest maps of civ 4 and also explains why your graphics card has problems loading when you use the /3GB switch when starting your system.

It could very well be that with an expansion of the physical memory of your computer, your MAF-problems will be gone.

hmm. i'm going t o have to try this.

Roland Johansen said:

This is likely the bottleneck. In post 142, you still said that you had over 2 GB of memory installed, so I thought that was fine. But this is more like 1 GB of memory which isn't enough for the biggest maps of civ 4 and also explains why your graphics card has problems loading when you use the /3GB switch when starting your system.

It could very well be that with an expansion of the physical memory of your computer, your MAF-problems will be gone.

Click to expand...

I just went out and bought 2GB more memory and i still get the same problems, here is new specs:
Time of this report: 1/19/2009, 18:10:56
Machine name: ....
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.080814-1236)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation
System Model: Dimension 8300
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A05
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Memory: 3200MB RAM
Page File: 273MB used, 4525MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINXP
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

I tried the 3GB above method, and StormWinds both, same results, still gettting MAFs right after the industrial era, after Assembly Line tech, course i have mine set on High Graphics. And am using the BIGGEST mod available for Civ4.
I started out at the 2900, but it BSODed me a dump right away.
I am down to 2600 right now, the lowest i have tried before was 2300?? (Also i just got a memory failure and a runtime at the same time?)

strategyonly said:

I just went out and bought 2GB more memory and i still get the same problems, here is new specs:
Time of this report: 1/19/2009, 18:10:56
Machine name: ....
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.080814-1236)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation
System Model: Dimension 8300
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A05
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Memory: 3200MB RAM
Page File: 273MB used, 4525MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINXP
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

I tried the 3GB above method, and StormWinds both, same results, still gettting MAFs right after the industrial era, after Assembly Line tech, course i have mine set on High Graphics. And am using the BIGGEST mod available for Civ4.
I started out at the 2900, but it BSODed me a dump right away.
I am down to 2600 right now, the lowest i have tried before was 2300?? (Also i just got a memory failure and a runtime at the same time?)

Click to expand...

I'm sorry to hear that.

In your previous reports, you also mentioned problems with your graphics card. Have you checked whether the drivers install correctly during system startup, like Stormwind explained in his post:

Stormwind said:

3. After the reboot you may encounter wrong resolutions or refresh rates. Even if you don't notice anything unusual, please check the following:
Go to Control Panel - open System - click on Hardware Tab - click on Device Manager. Open up Display Adapters. If you see any yellow exclamation mark in front of your Graphics Adapter your drivers aren't loaded properly.

Click to expand...

You can use this method to find the maximum userva setting where the graphics card drivers still install correctly (by changing the value, restarting and checking the graphic cards drivers again). You would want the maximum value so that civ will have as much memory as possible. At userva=2600, civ will have 30% more memory than without the adjusted bootup (where you have 2GB's) so it should help with the frequency of the MAF's and moment where the MAF start to occur. But this will not fully solve the issue when you push civ far beyond the standard game.

64-bit systems can use far more memory, so if you have a 64 bit system in the future with a 64bit operating system, then more might be possible. At the moment, civ + biggest mods + late game = MAF Problems for 32 bit systems. The game was apparently just not designed for that.

Note that Slyflyer also mentions the 64 bit operating system in his first post of this thread.

Uhm, but don't start buying a new operating system because I think a 64 bit system could solve the issues. I don't want to be responsible for your purchases...

One thing i just noticed, it only MAF's when a Civ Leader wants to talk, other than that works ok, but now i am down to 2500.

I think i might just have to go to a 64 bit, but i really dont trust Vista???
Then if 64 bit, whats the best one??

strategyonly said:

One thing i just noticed, it only MAF's when a Civ Leader wants to talk, other than that works ok, but now i am down to 2500.

Click to expand...

From what I've read on this site, this is pretty typical. It means that you were already on the brink of a MAF, but the additional memory needed to load the graphics of a Civ Leader puts you over the edge.

strategyonly said:

I think i might just have to go to a 64 bit, but i really dont trust Vista???
Then if 64 bit, whats the best one??

Click to expand...

I can imagine that you don't like Vista. It's a bit bloated operating system leaving less system resources for games.

There exists a 64 bit version of windows xp, so you could go that way, but you could also start using the new 64 bit version of windows 7. From what I've heard windows 7 should not be such a bloated operating system and I can see it becoming the new windows XP.

I just googled a bit and this article that I've found supports my view on things a bit. However, you should never read a single article and be convinced of its truth. There are also articles out there that seem to be written by independent reviewers but are in reality written by someone under contract by the developer. So always try to find several independent articles about a product when you're trying to form an opinion about a product.

Note that I think the CPU also needs to be 64 bit before using a 64 bit operating system, but it's an area that I'm going to be silent on. I have a 32 bit system myself and haven't really looked into the requirements for a 64 bit system. Maybe someone else can comment on that one.

Hi there. I'm a French fan of CivIV, so if you could please excuse my weird english...

Got this problem about MAF stuff, and tried the solutions from the different posts, and nothing's working.

We play LAN on beyond the sword, with mod "Amra". I was playing on my old computer, AMD athlon 64, 3200+, with 2,5 gb of RAM, GeForce 6200SE 256 mem (OS winXP hom edition). A bit slow after 300/400 turns, but always ok, no crash ever.

I recently get a nice Asus laptop, dual core T5800 with 4 gb of RAM, GeForce 9650M GT 1024 mem (OS Vista home 32 bit). And with this nice laptop, i get the so famous MAF problem. Sometimes before talking to leaders, or just after. Or while autosaving. Small maps, large ones, lots of civ or just a few, it's all the same, more or less turn 200, the game crashes and it's all over.

Virtual memory 4096 for both.

Sooooo.... i'm really disappointed to see that on my old CPU everything's still alright. I would apreciate to play civ on a better CPU, to enjoy some good graphics and flow turns. I just don't understand, i've check the RAM allocation and CIv goes over 600k.

Does anyone have a piece of clue that i could understand with my poor english?
Ty anyway...

damn. sounds like a vista problem

@Xaxxa38:
just checking: you did enable the larger memory usage for windows? is this Beyond the Sword or Civ4 or Warlords?

Welcome to Civfanatics

Beyond the sword, amra modpack (with 1.13 patch)

and where dyou enable the larger memory usage in windows (i might know what you mean in french, but in english i'm not sure).

Damn damn damn....

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa906211.aspx

At the command prompt [cmd.exe] type in:

BCDEDIT /set increaseuserva 3072

Click to expand...

Did you do what the last line says? if not - try that, restart the computer - see if the problem persists...

Well, i actually did, without effect.
My my

Here's something new.

When i did this (BCDEDIT /set increaseuserva 3072) from the command prompt directly from windows, i have a window appearing and disapearing too fast, can't see what it's saying.

So, i went to dos commande cmd.exe. On C:/users/admin, and write the BCDEDIT /set increaseuserva 3072 stuff. And get an error message (i translate it from french)

"impossible to open the opening's configuration datastore, acess denied".

All my thanks to Bill G. As usual...

Waaaaouuuuh !!

I did it. If anyone try this solution and still got the problem on Win Vista 32, i think i got the clue.

you can't use the BCDEDIT /set increaseuserva 3072 command from windows.
you have to boot your computer on the administrator's mod with command prompt (i dont know the name in english, in french it is called "mode sans echec avec invite de commande").

Then you can use the bcdedit and it all worked well. Maybe it was an obvious way for many of you, but to me it was... well not so obvious.

Anyway, ty to have helped me.

hey!
I got MAF problems on my highend vista 64 laptop.
I have downloaded the CFF explorer, and opened thw warlords exe, and checked for the 2 gb limit, but I get "can't save the file" both in overwrite and "save as" . My useraccount is admin,,
anyone knows why, and how to solve this?
Thx!