Hi all
This is a guide on how to activate the 3GB Switch on windows xp 32bit.
First of all i would like to be informed if there is another post or topic about this, if so, i will delete this thread (i couldnt find it anywhere)
I hope this guide is somehow usefull, if not and if any of you think its useless let me or a moderator know to either delete it , leave it as it is or whatever u like doing with it, i dont mind, this was just to give a hand to those who might not know how to do the 3GB switch.
Also, if any of you have suggestions, corrections or other ideas on this topic PLEASE reply here or pm me , i would like to know.
On topic:
I would suggest to put this as sticky for others to access it easly. Would also be great to put a link to this post in the FAQ thread under the issue about CTDs and MAFs.
I originally playied on a older version of ROM (that was a year or so ago) and had no problems then, few days ago i downloaded the new version of the mod (v2.91) and discovered that if i try playing this mod on a machine that has Windows XP Pro x32 bit i would have to deal with alot of CTDs and memory lack errors (bad allocation or something). Anyways, there is a fix wich i havent tought about it and someone else told me to do it so thanks to vicentz for this. I know that in the FAQ thread there is this problem and "how" to solve it but there is no link to a tutorial or how exactly u do this so i tought it wouldnt hurt to post a simple step by step tutorial on how to do the 3GB switch.
Without the 3GB Switch on Win Xp Pro x32 bit : Game has alot of CTDs and Memory shortage errors wich terminates the program making the game unplayiable with the mod on.
Reason : The mod adds alot of new buildings, units, techs and alot of other things, other mods and so on making it a very complex mod and that requiers more memory to work than the Vanilla BTS and the problem is that all windows xp x32 Bit versions only allows 2 GB memory for the program to run wich apparently isnt enough.
With the 3GB Switch activated : CTDs and MAFs (Memory Allocation Failure) are significantly reduced (but only regarding the memory shortage problems)
Reason : Simple, it "tells" your windows xp x32 bit to allow the usage of 3GB memory (RAM) for program usage wich originally was 2GB max.
How to do it :
Note : This is only for Windows XP 32 bit version, the 64 bit version has this already done by microsoft.
Note 2 : Be aware that the following procedure involves in editing a file wich if edited wrong may cause your computer to have problems booting up, edit at your own risk. If you follow the following steps corectly you wont have any problem.
Step 1 : Right click on "My Computer" and select proprieties from the menu that just showed up.
Step 2 : A new window will appear, please click on the Advanced tab located in the upper left corner of the window.
Step 3 : Now click on the button Settings located in the Startup and Recovery section.
Step 4 : That should open a new window with some things regarding the startup process of your computer, to those who dont know exactly what all that means please dont change anything. Now click on the button Edit to continue.
Step 5 : Once you click on the Edit button a text file should open, now i strongly suggest u backup this file in case something goes wrong (a.k.a u edit wrong) so u can restore it. Now the text file should contain the following (see image) :
Note : the text file that opens may vary from the one i got so if u find something different and dont know how to continue, reply to this thread or contact me at liberty4life@live.com for further help.
Step 6 : Now all you have to do is to copy the last line (multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect) and paste it under the last line. Should look like this (see image) :
Step 7 : Now add " 3GB " after "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" but let it be inside the quotes ("Microsoft Windows XP Professional 3GB") and add also "/3GB" (without quotes) at the end of the line. Once u did all this the whole thing should look like this :
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional 3GB" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /3GB
See image also :
After that, save the file and reboot your computer, when rebooting u will be prompted to choose between 2 windows versions, the original one without the modification in the ini file wich allows only 2GB memory usage (in case u want to use this) and the new modified version wich allows you to use 3GB of memory instead of 2. Obviously choose the second option and have fun , the game should present no CTDs or MAFs any longer (only for this issue, other CTDs can happen if there is something wrong with the mod itself)
Have fun playing this awesome mod CTD/MAF free
Sry for any spelling errors, im from italy and i tried the best i can to make this very easy to understand and with no major errors.
Thanks for understanding.
This is a guide on how to activate the 3GB Switch on windows xp 32bit.
First of all i would like to be informed if there is another post or topic about this, if so, i will delete this thread (i couldnt find it anywhere)
I hope this guide is somehow usefull, if not and if any of you think its useless let me or a moderator know to either delete it , leave it as it is or whatever u like doing with it, i dont mind, this was just to give a hand to those who might not know how to do the 3GB switch.
Also, if any of you have suggestions, corrections or other ideas on this topic PLEASE reply here or pm me , i would like to know.
On topic:
I would suggest to put this as sticky for others to access it easly. Would also be great to put a link to this post in the FAQ thread under the issue about CTDs and MAFs.
I originally playied on a older version of ROM (that was a year or so ago) and had no problems then, few days ago i downloaded the new version of the mod (v2.91) and discovered that if i try playing this mod on a machine that has Windows XP Pro x32 bit i would have to deal with alot of CTDs and memory lack errors (bad allocation or something). Anyways, there is a fix wich i havent tought about it and someone else told me to do it so thanks to vicentz for this. I know that in the FAQ thread there is this problem and "how" to solve it but there is no link to a tutorial or how exactly u do this so i tought it wouldnt hurt to post a simple step by step tutorial on how to do the 3GB switch.
Without the 3GB Switch on Win Xp Pro x32 bit : Game has alot of CTDs and Memory shortage errors wich terminates the program making the game unplayiable with the mod on.
Reason : The mod adds alot of new buildings, units, techs and alot of other things, other mods and so on making it a very complex mod and that requiers more memory to work than the Vanilla BTS and the problem is that all windows xp x32 Bit versions only allows 2 GB memory for the program to run wich apparently isnt enough.
With the 3GB Switch activated : CTDs and MAFs (Memory Allocation Failure) are significantly reduced (but only regarding the memory shortage problems)
Reason : Simple, it "tells" your windows xp x32 bit to allow the usage of 3GB memory (RAM) for program usage wich originally was 2GB max.
How to do it :
Note : This is only for Windows XP 32 bit version, the 64 bit version has this already done by microsoft.
Note 2 : Be aware that the following procedure involves in editing a file wich if edited wrong may cause your computer to have problems booting up, edit at your own risk. If you follow the following steps corectly you wont have any problem.
Step 1 : Right click on "My Computer" and select proprieties from the menu that just showed up.
Step 2 : A new window will appear, please click on the Advanced tab located in the upper left corner of the window.
Step 3 : Now click on the button Settings located in the Startup and Recovery section.
Step 4 : That should open a new window with some things regarding the startup process of your computer, to those who dont know exactly what all that means please dont change anything. Now click on the button Edit to continue.
Step 5 : Once you click on the Edit button a text file should open, now i strongly suggest u backup this file in case something goes wrong (a.k.a u edit wrong) so u can restore it. Now the text file should contain the following (see image) :
Note : the text file that opens may vary from the one i got so if u find something different and dont know how to continue, reply to this thread or contact me at liberty4life@live.com for further help.
Step 6 : Now all you have to do is to copy the last line (multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect) and paste it under the last line. Should look like this (see image) :
Step 7 : Now add " 3GB " after "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" but let it be inside the quotes ("Microsoft Windows XP Professional 3GB") and add also "/3GB" (without quotes) at the end of the line. Once u did all this the whole thing should look like this :
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional 3GB" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /3GB
See image also :
After that, save the file and reboot your computer, when rebooting u will be prompted to choose between 2 windows versions, the original one without the modification in the ini file wich allows only 2GB memory usage (in case u want to use this) and the new modified version wich allows you to use 3GB of memory instead of 2. Obviously choose the second option and have fun , the game should present no CTDs or MAFs any longer (only for this issue, other CTDs can happen if there is something wrong with the mod itself)
Have fun playing this awesome mod CTD/MAF free
Sry for any spelling errors, im from italy and i tried the best i can to make this very easy to understand and with no major errors.
Thanks for understanding.
especially now it is sticky 
