512mb of RAM isn't enough.....

[brian_banks]

If you like to run games with globe size larger than standard....be prepaired for heavy ram usage. On several games I've had ram utilization from Civ4 around 710+ mb. That's just the game alone; I'm not counting other memory resident programs like zonealarm and Norton.

This created absolutely horrible performance and occasional virtual memory errors. I highly recommend having 1gig of ram to play this game. The Firaxis recommendation of 512mb is seriously flawed.

 

[1c0n]

increase PF size, move to a less active drive, try running in a window, minimize it once in a while when it lags up, or like i do really late game, run a mem recoving program like FreeRam XP pro, set it to attempt to clean 60% of your ram in 5 passes, it will take a minute, but im back up to 600Mb free from EEEK 95Mb free... yep mine can hog upwards of 805MB not inlcuding a 1.5gb pagefile

try that and let me know if it helps

 

[heppcatt]

Or buy simply another 512 MB. I had 512 MB, and the game performed horrible even on standard and smaller maps. NJow I have 1 GB, and standard maps are playable, although in the endgame it still slows down, but it isn't as bad and it works fine.

heppcatt

 

[1c0n]

lol that goes without sayin
i was tryin to give free alternatives 1st

 

[asmodee]

I have 1024 ram. Game is slow as hell.

 

[brian_banks]

Thanks 1c0n.

The pagefile is about 1.25 gigs, and my system is a dual boot win2k Pro system and XP pro. In XP, it flat crashes out, even if i disable myself from the network and kill all memory resident programs. And I mean crash out, it acts like it blows the refresh out and will put the monitor in standby. On some occasions it would give an ATI crashdump because the driver stopped responding. I've changed refresh and game options to prevent this....plus random drivers...nothing works. BUT on the same machine, rebooted to win2k pro.....runs slow but never crashes on me.

Their code is sh*t and they need to clean it up. I just got back from Fry's with an additional 512...so that should help a lot. <still waiting on patches>

 

[1c0n]

try a program called multiRes, it can override applications changing the refresh rates, also, have you tried in a window? if you dont like it small just set it to run in a window AT your desktop res, you will only see a bit of the task bar, runs best that way for me, and no, i mean ZERO CTD's when in a window, i think windowing fixes much of the CTD for most people... i *think* runs better in general tho.... oddly enough

 

[oldStatesman]

There is a bug in the way civ 4 uses memory address spaces. See this thread.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=137706

Posts #122 & #123 for the summary.

Good news is it should be able to be fixed with a patch...so I would guess that 512 should be able to play the game.

Harkonnen also recommends setting the swap file to 2GB minimum in his posts, as this will help minimize (not solve) the issue until a patch comes out.

 

[lifeaquatic]

how do you run it in a window?? What does freeram xp pro do and where do I get it? I have 512MB, same problem. I prefer the game with high graphics but the performance is a bit slow.

 

[TheBarnacle]

again....stop perpetrating this on other people, there is simply too much conflicting evidence to say memory alone is the problem. plenty of people with tons of mem have slow games, others with 256mb are running fine.

don't spend $$ on mem (or worse, a new vid card) until more is known.

 

[Old Dood]

Barnical has a point. I seriously believe in more ram is better though. I am currantly running 2Gb of 533Mhz ram. The game runs just fine with that. I also have an ATI Vid Card.

As I write this I am waiting for the UPS truck from Crucial. I am getting 2Gb more ram to max out my machine. Why? Because I can.

 

[oldStatesman]

again....stop perpetrating this on other people, there is simply too much conflicting evidence to say memory alone is the problem. plenty of people with tons of mem have slow games, others with 256mb are running fine.

don't spend $$ on mem (or worse, a new vid card) until more is known.

Agreed. See my post #8 above. It's most likely a bug in the Civ 4 exe, not physical memory issues; (Although it may be overkill, as Old Dood says more memory can never hurt your system if you can afford it...)

 

[Sir_CharlesIII]

It seems ridiculous that Civ4 would NEED this much Ram to run well.

 

[Old Dood]

It seems ridiculous that Civ4 would NEED this much Ram to run well.

It does until the memory leak is PLUGGED!

 

[lifeaquatic]

again how do you run this app in a window. Also I notice from the RAM XP thing that I have only 222 available, seems like not very much considering I have 512 MB. Thats just with it sitting here. Any ideas how to slim this sucker down??

 

[oldStatesman]

again how do you run this app in a window. Also I notice from the RAM XP thing that I have only 222 available, seems like not very much considering I have 512 MB. Thats just with it sitting here. Any ideas how to slim this sucker down??

Windowed mode info thread:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=134045

AFA memory issues, no real solution if you are having problems, wait for the patch. See post #8 for a link to one of the threads discussing this.

There are many more with advice that may work for you; check out the various stickys in the Tech and Bug support forums or just browse; (you can do a google search, but I think the forum search is still disabled unfortunately); lots of threads on this issue.

 

[Sorceresss]

Originally Posted by Matte979

" I am running 2GB [...] I have disabled the pagefile (VM) Disabling the Page file is much better for any games that are memory hogs "

[I then replied :]

No virtual-memory page file ?! Is that wise ?

It was somewhat discussed on the Technical Support forum.

One guy's theory was that since the Civ IV (and Windows) mismanaged memory, the faster RAM was not utilized in an optimal fashion, so there was too much use, instead, of the much slower HDD virtual memory. As the theory went, one had to "force Windows" to first use RAM before going to the HDD's page file.

The solution proposed was to restrict the size of the page file. Here, you go further : NO page file !

Does someone have the tech knowledge to evaluate the consequences of disabling the Windows page file (if, of course, the user has at least 1GB of RAM) ?

 

[1c0n]

i do it. when i had 2GB i would see windows using 160mb of RAM and still using the PF, with 1900Mb free on the RAM. disabled for nearly a year only issue was the annoying "windows is out of virtual memory" tooltip that pops up like a windows update. hardy anything more than an annoyance

 

[Old Dood]

Well I added my other 2Gb ram kit and I am now up to 4Gb of 533Mhz ram.

The game does load quicker. The opening movie is clearer...snappier.

I haven't had a chance to try a Multi-Player game though. That is where my real problems are.

 

[Alvesang]

Wow, this game seriouly pushes hardware sales...