3GB Switch for WinXp x32bit for Civ4 ROM (how to do it tutorial)

[chichiri181190]

can i use this trick if i only have 2gb of ram?

 

[CiverDan]

Was just curious if there was a gneral rule of thumb of how big of a save game size my comp could handle before I start getting MAF's (I only have 1 GB RAM). Have a couple of 800-900 kb ones with no MAF's yet.

 

[amrod]

What happens if you tell the computer to use 4 gb instead of 3?

You can't, according to this:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/askperf/archive/2007/03/23/memory-management-demystifying-3gb.aspx

32bits are only enough for addressing 4GB total (2^32=4 294 967 296).
Half of it is usually used for the system (kernel) and the other half for the current application (seems that every app has its own 2GB address space). The /3GB switch gives 1GB from the system to the application. Giving more therefore is not possible. Also, this explains why the original post advised putting in the ability to choose at startup. According to the article, the 3GB switch leaves less memory for the system. (Though that article deals with servers, so the problem might not arise on standard PCs. Still, better be safe).

If I understand correctly, this also means that having more than 3GB of RAM is probably useless, at least if running one (bigger) application at a time. (And you usually don't want to run more than one such apps that need gigabytes of ram). Unless you have 64b OS of course. But I think I heard that not all software run well on 64bit windows, anyone have more info on that? Might consider switching myself (also good for engineering software).

Correction: having more than 3GB for the application would be unnecessary, which would translate to 4GB physical RAM if I understand correctly. (As 4G is the max 32bits can address, though I don't know if paging or similar trick is used for physical ram or not? Someone?)

 

[BlueTemplar]

You can do the 3Gb switch on Windows 7 too!

Here's an interesting article about the problems when you reach the upper space of the 32-bit memory space.
Though I have some questions : Why with a 1Gb graphic card I only see 769Mb lost on my 4Gb RAM system?
Why before I used the switch the game was crashing when it was reaching around 1 Gb used? Shouldn't it have been a 2 Gb limit instead?

 

[BlueTemplar]

Looking into information given by msinfo32.exe :
For some reason my graphic card only uses up around 256 Mb of memory space, 235 Mb are dedicated solely to the AMD PCI Express (3GIO) Filter Driver (so it's probably the graphic card too), and my motherboard uses up whole 256 Mb too (why, I have no idea...).

 

[bhinso]

I have Windows 7 and (presumably) run Civ 4 on 64 bit. I say presumably because I'm honestly not sure! I think Windows 7 caters for both 64 bit and 32 bit, because I have two "program files" in my C drive, one says (x86) the other doesn't.
Anyway, is there anything I can do to get rid of the CTD's which I still get? I've tried entering BCDEDIT.EXE /Set IncreaseUserVa 3900 to do the 4GB thing but I get the feeling this is only for 32 bit systems?

 

[Dancing Hoskuld]

I have Windows 7 and (presumably) run Civ 4 on 64 bit. I say presumably because I'm honestly not sure! I think Windows 7 caters for both 64 bit and 32 bit, because I have two "program files" in my C drive, one says (x86) the other doesn't.
Anyway, is there anything I can do to get rid of the CTD's which I still get? I've tried entering BCDEDIT.EXE /Set IncreaseUserVa 3900 to do the 4GB thing but I get the feeling this is only for 32 bit systems?

This is only for 32bit OS.

 

[bhinso]

So is there anything I can do to get rid of the CTD's which I still get? on my 64 bit OS

 

[Dancing Hoskuld]

So is there anything I can do to get rid of the CTD's which I still get? on my 64 bit OS

Try "Rise of Mankind - A New Dawn" 1.75C instead.

 

[Brashin]

I stumbled across this as I am playing the Pacific WW2 mod for BTS 3.19 and I have a Lenovo laptop with Win 7 32bit OS on it. I have a 256gb ATI vid card, and 4GB ram. I get memory fail error when I try to load after the first game and not only that but during play the game will slow to a crawl. I saw the fix for Win 7 on the previous page however I'm concerned that if this causes other issues in different programs I would like to know how to undo it.

Could someone please let me know, Thanks

 

[Megalamon121]

I'm using a Windows 7 OS, and I made it into the "Startup and Recovery" section of the advanced settings, but it doesn't have an edit button. Is there another way to activate the switch, or is it not possible on 7 OS?

 

[Azraile]

I got home edition x.x now my computer says this when I try and load civ 4... so i guess it don't work

Initialize renderer failed. Dcheck DirectX Installation, Latest Graphics Drivers and Graphics Settings Paramters:
width = 1152
height = 864
flags = 0XB (or8)
hwnd = 0x6012a
adaptrid = 0
deviceid = 3
Error:Creation failed: Invalid 3D device type

 

[Azraile]

Aprently the ATI Radon HD 3870 X2 's I have don't like the 3GB switch trick..... any idea how to get around this?