"Virtual Minimum Memory too low"

Hi,

I have been playing CIV4 for nearly a month , but now I am having some difficulty when I play CIV4 which has really only just started today whilst playing the "Earth 1000AD" scenario. The graphics tend to get choppy and the game keeps pausing for no reason (even with the music OFF), and twice today the game quit itself and reverted to desktop, with a message that "virtual minimum memory is too low". What does this mean, and how do I fix it?

My computer has all the recommended requirements except video card (an NVIDIA which meets minimum requirements, so I have to play on minimum settings ). I have 46 GB of free hard disk space, and 512 MB RAM, so what is going on here?

Thank you for your assistance.

settings>control panel>system>advanced>performance options>virtual memory>change>set it to 1500 MB initial and maximum size (what is it on now?)

Right now it is on an initial of 768 MB, and max of 1536 MB. I will try that, thanks.

hm, that is weird though, it seems you have pretty much the same system as me (apart from the gfx card), and I never ran out of memory with those settings.

however, I don't think you'll get a large map to run smoothly on such a system no matter what you do.

could try removing the pagefile, defraging then making a new static one?
also as i have said 1000x over, no pagefile on c:\, (root)
not just on here, i live by that one

Ray Patterson said:

hm, that is weird though, it seems you have pretty much the same system as me (apart from the gfx card), and I never ran out of memory with those settings.

however, I don't think you'll get a large map to run smoothly on such a system no matter what you do.

Click to expand...

mine runs super smooth on huge till 1900's with 18 civs, i dont get it tho, my compy is good, but the 64 440mx, is my junker. with no civ.ini tweaks or video card tweaks too, other than bluemarble

Well, harkonen (I think sp?), said that he saw a bug in their memory management code and that it isn't suppossed to be a resource hog... hopefully he is right, because I love playing Super Huge maps... huge maps tend to get a bit slow on my system towards end of game luckily still playable but I want super huge maps

1c0n said:

could try removing the pagefile, defraging then making a new static one?
also as i have said 1000x over, no pagefile on c:\, (root)
not just on here, i live by that one

Click to expand...

How do you do that?

I tried changing the virtual memory, and there were still the same problems; the game ran ok for a little while, then started getting slow and choppy. I also notice that the problem occurs later in the game and when alot of civ's are in the game. I've played on large maps before and never encountered the problem to this degree, even late in the game, so the key factor must be the number of civs. I hope the patch can fix this.

Also, maybe it's just my imagination, but i think if i have too many save files, it starts to slow the game down.

If I download the latest NVIDIA drivers, would that help?

I think I need a new graphics card (as soon as I get the money ).

thanks for that virtual memory help. My computer meets all the specifications but the vitual memory was set to 351MB!!! I followed your steps and changed it to 1500MB initial and 1500MB maximum. I have two drives, (C and E) and E, internal, is where the game is. Ill try it out and post if it did or didnot work

I am playing the UK version on DVD. I had the renderer initialisation problem which i managed to fix. But the game still does not work. I started up the game started a new world and now when ever i commit any kind of action other than movement the program crashes. When end turn the it also crashes. I am very disappointed with this game as i was looking forward to it with great anticipation. Now i have had it for a week and still no play.

Can anyone help me with this problem. I have also tried to increase virtual memory to 2048 to 4096.

I have the same problem, but I was able to resolve it. Yes, Civ4 is a memory hog. I am running a huge map with 4 civs. Mine crashed at year 1990 when I discoved satellites and the whole map became visual. Found the problem to be a lack of memory issue. Here's my systems specs:

Asus P4C800 Deluxe Mobo
Asus Gforce FX5900 Ultra w/ 256mb
3 GB Corsair DDR400 XMS3200 memory
HP dvd200i
Sony DVD writer
Soundblaster Audigy 2

At the time it was crashing, I had only 1GB of on board memory. I updated all my drivers for the mobo, vid card, both dvd players, and sound card to the current releases.........no go. Still crashed. I checked the performance tab in the Task Manager window while the game was running and it said that Civ4 was taking a little over 550MB!! The rest of the memory was taking up by memory resident programs.........so where does that leave me? 0. I ordered 2 more Gigs of mem from zipzoomfly.com and put them in. I reran the game and WALA, solved. No more crashing, no more stuttering. Smooth as glass. I rechecked the memory usage and I had 1.8 GB avail. Firaxas wasn't kidding when they say the wanted 512MB memory. It is just for the game and nothing else.

Here’s how to fix the issue:
How to Fix Low Virtual Memory Error?

Right-click on My Computer and go to Properties.

Click on the Advanced tab (or Advanced system settings link if you are using Windows 7 or Vista) and then click on the Settings button in the Performance section.

A new window will open. Go to the Advanced tab.

Find the Virtual memory section and click on the Change button.

Select the System managed size option or manually change the size of the page file.

Click OK.

It might just be the case that your computer needs more real, physical memory. Try to add more RAM. And adding RAM to an older computer is the most effective thing you can do to upgrade it.