Memory-fix by Harkonnen is out!

[arioch99]

Hi

great work Harkonnen, The patch done some work on my system.

But there is somthing that I'm not sure that I understand well.

For Vid_Mem_usage in Harkonnen.ini file, I'm not sure of the number I must use for the formula Vid mem + AGP Aperture Size - 100 (For low setting)

You say to set AGP Aperture size to maximum in Bios (My maximum is 256MB)
Video Card = Msi Geforce3 TI 200 64 MB memory
System memory 256

The formula must be : 64MB (Video Memory) + 256MB (Maximum agp aperture Size) - 100 = 220

My Vid_mem_usage in harkonnen.ini must be 220 that's right??? this number seem to be huge compare to your.

Please explain me what number I must use for AGP aperture size.

Thanks

 

[Harkonnen]

arioch99
That was my expectation when I released it, but it appeared to be wrong.

You may try 220, and it might work fine, but slow. I think value of 30-40 would be more preferable.

Currently I see formula as such:

High settings: Max(32, video_memory - 80)
Low settings: Max(32, video_memory - 60)

So, you want it as 'video_memory - 60..80', but don't set it below 32.

I haven't learnt enough yet AGP effects on my fix. Using AGP memory usually works, but usually it works slow... So better give it a try. Try 32, 70, 150, 200, or at least 32 and 150.

 

[Bast]

I got Three Gorges Dam right after hitting enter. It worked fine and the game played fine too.

Thanks. I will wait for your fix to the globe view.

 

[arioch99]

Excuse me Harkonnen for this question, but I set the Agp Apeture size to 32 or Vid_mem_usage at 32...

 

[Harkonnen]

arioch99
You should set AGP apperture size to maximal posssible.

Set 'vid_mem_usage = 32'. Also better set 'insane_mode = 0' as it was buggish with some other GF3 card.

 

[CyberChrist]

Hmm, seems that some Moderator ninja-merged the 'Thank you Hark' thread with this one - and overwrote the original title of this thread. Perhaps you should change title to reflect that it contains a patch for any new people that might be browsing (now or later) and unaware of your work

 

[Harkonnen]

CyberChrist
Hmm... I didn't see that thread, but I have noticed change in the title. And I don't see moderator action anywhere here. I have already PM'ed site administrator (Thunderfall) about this issue, but you have answered what happened.

Surely, I will rename it back. Thank you for clarification

And I can't edit thread title... At least when I edit post #1 in advanced mode, I see original title. When I click OK, it still remains 'Thanks Harkonnen'. I'll wait for Thunderfall reply.

 

[0010]

I just had to register to say THANK YOU Harkonnen for the patch you have supplied us with.

Currently my ini settings are vid_mem_usage = 120, insane_mode = 0 and it works like a charm. No more CTD's on games that used to CTD *all* the time.

Thanks again.... hopefully you will be greatly rewarded for your contribution to the civ community.

And shame on Firaxis/Take Two for letting their dedicated fans provide working patches!

All Hail Harkonnen!

 

[Smidlee]

Pendle Witch
I don't know why Firaxis haven't contacted me yet (I will do that myself when I release update). So far I see 3 possible explanations to that:

1) They will do so after this weekend themselves, just they looked after this thread to see if it's worth the effort.

2) Firaxis programmer who is responsible for graphics engine is also the only one who seeks forums for information on that, crash reports for example. So I think he might avoid reporting that some russian jerk has solved a problem with binaries which he couldn't solve with game source by hand.

3) Firaxis doesn't think memory usage is a big problem, i.e. that's not an issue to be fixed and to spend money for. Well, actually "Take2" is sooner to think so... developers differ a little from distributors in their attitude to quality vs. quantity. They had a lot of reviews on or before release date and that's why they had their sales... Though, lazy supporting after that makes me scaring for the future if CIV5 and SMAC2. Pirates! my suffer too.

4) OR Waiting until you fix the globel view like I am. The next patch may be a few weeks to a month away so they are probably not a rush to jump on your patch unless they know it's stable for everyone.
Also I doubt they would use it in a patch where you have to figure out what to set the "vid mem usages" setting. The insane mode could be a option added in inc. for a future patch though.

Either way it doesn't matter that much since you have already help so many players to get more out of their game.

 

[Harkonnen]

Smidlee
I don't think that too many people who bought the game visit forums. Yes, their number is noticeable, but not as high as those who press 'Update' button and hope for wonder.

Also, I might have written some text like "patched by devoted fans as Firaxis/Take2 couldn't do it" somewhere in year 2007 game on window title or so. I don't think Firaxis would want such patch to be a free-of-charge advance for them...

There is nothing affecting a user playing with my fix, but there might be something affecting Firaxis/Take2 image in the eyes of their respective buyers...

 

[Kilim]

Kilim
This might be set to 'no' if it is 'PCI express' card... Anyway, please start dxdiag.exe and go to 'display tab', then post a screenshot. In the top-left part (named 'Device') there will be a thing called 'Approx. video memory' (I have 128Mb there). In the middle part (named 'DierctX Features') there will be three items with 'Enable/Disable' buttons: DirectDraw acceleration, Direct3D acceleration, AGP Texture Acceleration. I have all 3 enabled as most people should have...

Ok the Video Memory I have states 256MB.
But like I said soemhow my AGP Texture Accelration is grayed out and states 'Not Available" and I have no idea why this is so and how I can fix that.
And no my Vid Card is AGP and Not PCI-E.

Shoudln't I be able to have that option available due to my ATI X850XT should be a Higher End Card than my Nvidea GeForce FX5600XT?
below is the Screenshot of my DxDiag Display Info:

 

[Harkonnen]

Kilim
1) Do you have PCI-E (pci express) or AGP video card? X850 goes in both versions.

2) Can you find something in BIOS (pressing 'del' at during boot-up) about AGP enabling and AGP aperture size?

 

[The Great Apple]

Does anybody know why the name of this thread has changed? While "Thank-you Harkonnen!" is a good name... surely it should relate in some way to what it actually contains (apart from the numerous "thank-you"s)

 

[jeannie]

Your thread stated:
1) Modify "Civiliation4.ini" - set "D3D9Query = 1", "DynamicAnimPaging = 0". If you have trouble finding/editing this file, don't care and skip to step 2.
2) Run the game (if it doesn't run, follow past step 8)
3) Set it to windowed mode (not must-do, but preferable to get stable first launch)
4) Set anti-aliasing to 0 (also not 100% required)
5) Set all low/high settings on the left to 'low' (same as above)
6) Check 'Low resolution textures' (same as above)
7) Then you may check anything on the right, i.e. effects and animations.
8) Exit the game

I skipped step 1, but did the rest. I didn't do any of the further things you suggested.

I'm not "techie". My only problem with your patch is that after I've played a few turns, I no longer can see the pictures of the AI civ leaders on the diplomacy screen, or see the graph of the game scores when I look at that screen. If I save the game, quit, and re-load the game, I'm ok for a few more turns, then the same problem reoccurs. It's slightly annoying, and I don't know how to fix it. Any ideas?

I'm running Windows XP, have an ATI Radeon 9200 graphics card, and have 512 MB of RAM and a Pentium 4 processor 2.8 GHz, if that info helps.

 

[Smidlee]

@ the great apple
I believe a modertor must have merged the "thank you, harkonnen" thread that began in general Civ4 forum last nite with this one.

 

[Harkonnen]

jeannie
Try reducing vid_mem_usage by 10 (or setting it to 40 just for the test).

You may read my conversation with Bast through last 3-4 pages. Same problem was solved there.

ANYBODY
How can I rename the thread? Editing post #1 title doesn't help and I see original title there...

 

[Jokerman61]

First post. I would also like to add my thanks. I am glad something is being done to fix all of these problems. Civ3 was the best game I ever played and IV is the only game I have ever bought when it was new. Wanted to do so to add my "vote" so they will keep making new ones. So far, it is far worse than wasting $50. It has nothing but pure aggrivation.

I have a question as to what the following means. If you could "bumb it down" a bit, I would really appreciate it. For some reason, I understand the remainder of your initial post just fine except the following:


zlib1.dll just loads 'PatchByHarkonnen.dll', otherwise it was compiled from most recent zlib source from zlib.net

Note that it is necessary to download and replace zlib1.dll (either via .zip or solely), otherwise memory fix won't have any effect because PatchByHarkonnen.dll won't be loaded.


Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again to all of you for all your hard work. I sure hope Firaxis is paying you well, you deserve it. (The least they could do is thank you in the credits.)

Chris

 

[Colonel Kraken]

ANYBODY
How can I rename the thread? Editing post #1 title doesn't help and I see original title there...

Only a moderator can do this.

 

[Briareos]

I have a question as to what the following means. If you could "bumb it down" a bit, I would really appreciate it. For some reason, I understand the remainder of your initial post just fine except the following:

zlib1.dll just loads 'PatchByHarkonnen.dll', otherwise it was compiled from most recent zlib source from zlib.net

ZLib is an open source data compression library, which is probably used by the game to access it's compressed data files.

Since Harkonnen made his fix a separate DLL (PatchByHarkonnen.dll), he needed a way to make the game load it, which it normally doesn't do of course.

Since he can't change the game itself (there are no sources, and the copy protection probably prevents patching the executable), he took the (freely available) sources to ZLib1.dll, changed them to additionally make it load his DLL at some point and compiled it into a new version of that DLL.

So in summary, his zlib1.dll acts exactly like the one that came with the game, but it also loads his patch... so if you don't replace it, there's nothing to load his patch.

Does this clear things up a bit?

np: Neotropic - Cornershop Candy (La Prochaine Fois)

 

[Harkonnen]

Briareos
You have explained it better than I just did

Colonel Kraken
Thanks for the info.