game crashes for any late era

[northernfalcon]

I'm sure the fix for this is somewhere in this forum, but after spending five hours searching and coming up empty, I give up. (Just watch the thread be right under my nose.)

Every time any game goes late--around the Renaissance era--the game crashes inevitably. It starts out crashing once every 15 minutes or so, to crashing every single time the same turn ends. There seems to be nothing particular that causes it--on occasion it crashes during my turn.

I was able to load the WWII-1936 mod, but the game only lasted 10 seconds after completely loading, and crashed while I was scrolling the map.

When it crashes, it either CTDs, or the other half of the time it reboots the computer.

As far as I know, this never used to happen to Warlords: but it's been a while, so I don't remember; and Warlords seems to be having problems now too.

This problem has happened on multiple installations: when I tried this game when I first bought it, this happened, and I tried to fix it but gave up. I'm now trying to make the game work again, as I'm on March break.

I suspect the issue may be graphical, as the same thing happens for Europa Universalis III--there the game begins crashing in the late 1400s, so the problem is much worse for that game.

I have 1GB of RAM (more than enough, right?) and an ATI Radeon X1600 Graphics card by ASUS with 128MB of memory.

 

[Asplundh]

Sounds somewhat familiar, but I'm not having the problem with vanilla BTS - just the Fall From Heaven 2.030 (patch "k") and 2.031 (patch "a") mods.

Somewhere around turn 700, BTS/FfH stops working and I get a rather non-descript message to that effect from Vista. I can load the last autosave, but BTS/FfH stops working (again) after more five turns, or so. Ad Infinitum.

I get the same results even if I run BTS/FfH in XP Pro SP2 compatibility mode.

Vista is updated. Drivers are current. Even have the latest version of DirectX 9c.

The solution is gonna be simple, too, I bet.

Oh, yeah - you have plenty of RAM and a good video card. What O/S are you running? XP Pro? Vista?

 

[Asplundh]

Microsoft released an upgrade to DirectX 9.0c on 13 Mar 2008. Download and install it. Then try running BTS. It seems to have fixed the problem for me.

 

[northernfalcon]

Mine still crashes. By switching to windowed mode, I managed to extend the life of my games by about 20-30 turns; but still not enough to come close to finishing. A new message box pops up upon crashing: "Fail to allocate video memory."

In answer to the first question, I'm running XP Home Edition.

 

[northernfalcon]

Okay, the crashing has become more consistent now (that I run in windowed mode). It says, "Fail to allocate video memory", followed by "Runtime DLL error--the application has asked to be terminated in an unusual way."

Can anyone help?

 

[r_rolo1]

Memory allocation failure...... basically this map is asking for more RAM memory that the one you have avaliable for the program. You can disconnect all the non necesary programs , but it will be only a quick fix.... the only real solution is to get extra RAM memory

 

[ori]

...or a new graphics card - solving the problem with too little video memory...
anyway you can reduce graphics settings quite a lot and install static movies which does reduce video demand a lot.

 

[TheRealCzar]

Bump.

Same prob here, long running issue with my laptop only. I have 256mb radeon mobility x1300 and a gb of RAM which is well above the min reqs, so though it sounds like a simple insuffecient spec problem with "failed to allocate video mem" its more likely some sort of mem leak?

 

[Dartangnan]

I had this same issue for months. I was running Windows XP on a P4Extreme 3ghz (oc'd to 3.3ghz), 2 gbs of good ram, old PNY Geforce. I put in a better video card, slight improvement. Added X-fi Fatality SoundBlaster in hopes to reduce load on the CPU, no improvement (it was a stretch). Added more ram, no improvement. For the record I run minimal programs in the background, lowered all settings in game, and had done a clean install of the game and XP.

I think we all know what the answer really is. It the later stages of the game the game is a memory hog. There is so much going on it needs everything from your computer you can give it. I recently upgraded to a new Dell with a Quad Core, 4gbs ram and an 8800GT video card. It runs on the highest graphic settings and it runs fantastic.

But even with the new system in the later stages it does slow down a bit, but nothing like it used too.

So, I guess what I'm saying is check your suystem. If everything is kosher, then start thinking upgrade time.

 

[Woody1]

I have the same problem, but usually just when playing standard or larger maps. The bigger the map, the earlier the crashes start to ocurr. It's definitely graphics-related.

You can try turning down the graphics settings to the minimum amount. It helps, but not much. The only real solution is to play on small maps (or tiny or duel). Or get a big, honkin' graphics card.

It's some kind of memory leak or hog that Firaxis never has fixed. It happened with Warlords, too.

Don't believe the system requirements for Civ4. It requires a much better system than listed on the box.

 

[northernfalcon]

Alright, so a week ago I finally found the fix to this problem, and am now happily playing BTS. Solution? I bought 2GB of RAM. I was rather grateful that RAM is ridiculously cheap these days.

 

[dubrown]

Yup, it's unfortunately so these days that even strategy games like Civ and the EU series need top notch graphiccard like the worst first person shooter game or some other actiongame where you're used to see the need for high end graphics. We strategy nerds are used to look at a good enough CPU to handle all the calculations and enough RAM to cover that but with graphic cards not much was usually needed.

If I recall correctly this problem is all down to the graphic card. If you have a low end graphic card it can't handle everything by itself, thus trusting the CPU to help it out, putting another strain to an already stressed CPU. The ideal solution is to have a good enough graphic card that can handle all graphic related threads so the main CPU can worry about other things in the game.

So getting more RAM will likely solve the problem, but it may still lead to some graphical trouble in times of heavy load on the CPU. But then, a graphic card is a tad bit more expensive than some more RAM these days, atlest if you want something that'll last a few years.

Quick fixes without buying new gear? Turning of all animations does wonders, although the screen will be alot less appealing to look at....

 

[Jerrymander]

ok i have the same problem game crashes after awhile civ 4, bts, mods on or off it doesnt matter, i'll get to a point in the game and it will crash after i end a turn. and i dont have a low system spec in the slightest
am2 5600, 4gigs of ram, audigy 2, and 2x 8800gt 512mb. vista 64-bit
so yeah any one got any clue??

64 bit, most likely.


I have 32bit XP, 4GB of RAM (3.25GB effective), and an 8600GT. Civ4 has never crashed for me.
Edit: I did play on an older machine with 768MB and an MX4000. It crashed a few times, but only well into the Modern Era. (ie: 1980s)

 

[Woody1]

I've ordered a new graphics card and another 1GB of memory. I'll post back next week after I install it and try a large game to see if it gets rid of the crashes.

I suspect that the crashes are because of my current ATI9600 128MB graphics card, but I'll add more main RAM (for a total of 2GB) just in case it's partly because of that too. A new ATI Radeon 9550 with 256MB of video memory is cheap, and I'm hoping it gets rid of the Civ4 graphics crashes. RAM is pretty cheap, too.

If this doesn't help, I suppose it will soon be time to buy a new system. (Not just for Civ4, but I have to have some excuse.)

 

[dubrown]

I've ordered a new graphics card and another 1GB of memory. I'll post back next week after I install it and try a large game to see if it gets rid of the crashes.

I suspect that the crashes are because of my current ATI9600 128MB graphics card, but I'll add more main RAM (for a total of 2GB) just in case it's partly because of that too. A new ATI Radeon 9550 with 256MB of video memory is cheap, and I'm hoping it gets rid of the Civ4 graphics crashes. RAM is pretty cheap, too.

If this doesn't help, I suppose it will soon be time to buy a new system. (Not just for Civ4, but I have to have some excuse.)

Sounds about right, I have the same graphic card (ATI9600 128mb) that you have and I stick to small maps for stability reasons, Normal map size works in most cases but late game there'll be an occasional CTD. I've been thinking about upgrading for quite some time but well, I'm to cheap to by new fancy stuff for my old computer. I'm trying to convince my wife a brand new computer would be a good investment, but she seems to think the household budget is better spent renovating the bathroom, a new kitchen and that kind of stuff...

 

[Woody1]

Okay, after playing for 4 days with a new Radeon 9550 card and 2GB of RAM, I haven't had a single crash. Playing a huge/18 civ/marathon game, with the graphics all turned up to high detail. About 700 turns into the game.

No crashes! I'm pretty sure it's the 256MB graphics card that made the difference. Although, the extra RAM makes for less disk-access now that the game is getting crowded and is using more RAM.

The game still slows down once the world started filling up. Scrolling is a little slow, but that's probably because I have the graphics all turned up to maximum.

I'll keep playing this game, and report back if I get a crash at all.

Bottom line: a new Radeon 9550 with 256MB of graphics memory was only about $40. Less than what I paid for Civ4. Definitely a worthwhile upgrade.

 

[pulzar]

I have an HD4670 (which I got to replace an X1950 that I thought was faulty), and 4GB of RAM, and I'm still having these late game problems... everything slows down to a halt, the screen refreshes at about 1 frame per 5 seconds, and sometimes it ends up crashing. Changing the resolution in-game usually "resets" things to be ok for a few turns or so, although not every time.

Has everybody seen their problems go away with more RAM? That's certainly not what I'm needing here .

 

[TheRealCzar]

I have an HD4670 (which I got to replace an X1950 that I thought was faulty), and 4GB of RAM, and I'm still having these late game problems... everything slows down to a halt, the screen refreshes at about 1 frame per 5 seconds, and sometimes it ends up crashing. Changing the resolution in-game usually "resets" things to be ok for a few turns or so, although not every time.

Has everybody seen their problems go away with more RAM? That's certainly not what I'm needing here .

Seems to be multiple factors causing the same problem. While some people appear to have solved their woes with more mem, I have friends with less mem than me who've never heard of this problem.

I'm still dogged by it on my laptop, all I can do is turn the graphics to zero and hope to finish the game before it crashes too frequently to make it worth my while.

 

[TheRealCzar]

Seems to be multiple factors causing the same problem. While some people appear to have solved their woes with more mem, I have friends with less mem than me who've never heard of this problem.

I'm still dogged by it on my laptop, all I can do is turn the graphics to zero and hope to finish the game before it crashes too frequently to make it worth my while.

since memory is so cheap, I just ordered 4gb of it for less than the price of the game, maybe it'll help with civ and if not, maybe it'll help with something else!

 

[pulzar]

Well, I solved the problem by trying it out on Vista... No problems at all, either starting from scratch or loading a late saved game that had problems under XP.

I'm guessing there's something in the ATI XP drivers causing the problem.