Memory-fix by Harkonnen is out!

[Harkonnen]

atomant
Nice I didn't expect insane_mode to work with 64Mb... If you will face problems later (like leader heads corruption), reduce vid_mem_usage down to 32 or better leave it at 50-60 and set insane_mode=0. Again, just in case of trouble... If it's ok now, better don't touch it until then

I am changing window title, but that's visible only in windowed mode.

I could not yet avoid a problem with ATI Tray Tools, so I will add FPS meter and memory info into the game, and my banner too (actually just a text).

intro.bik problem is something very strange. I think this is problem with .bik engine. I had similar problem with PainKiller on every 2nd episode ending movie and in some other game, I don't remember which one, but it was year 2003-2004 game. My patch can't fix this since intro movie doesn't suffer from memory usage issues... Probably later I will investigate this matter closer personall for .bik, currently I'm busy with globe view.

oldStatesman
I am currently reading through blue marble thread... and looking for civscale.

So far I see this is not clouds problem. This is cities problem.

1) Start huge map
2) Enter word builder
3) Add all ancient teches (for calendar)
4) Add all modern teches (for satellites)
5) Check the globe.... it's very smooth
6) Now add some 20 cities with distribution close to my savegame (3-4 tiles away from each other)
7) Check the globe.... it's sluggish as hell (with only ~250Mb of memory usage)

 

[Harkonnen]

atomant
I wish I could get my 50 dollars back and send it to you. Is there something we can do to help with Firaxis on your behalf?
You all are already doing that by showing me and Firaxis that this patch does work and does solve problems

I will contact Firaxis this week once I fix globe view problem (or give up doing so).

 

[Harkonnen]

I have replaced python24.dll with zlib1.dll:
http://www.sampo.ru/~headden/zlib1.dll

Just the latter is also open-sourced, but 70Kb in size only. Just for the info about mirroring... You don't need to download this one if you seek for any improvement, this comes later... I have also modified original post in this thread.

I thought a little, and came to conclusion that creating aside loader.exe isn't good. Just because civilization4.exe will restart original exe, not loader. Also some people won't be able to fix shortcuts, and I will have to fix .savegame filetype, so that double-clicked savegame loads patched.

 

[Sutego]

This patch works for me with your save file. Everything is smooth except for globe view like many have already reported. The delay between turns while waiting for the computer is only around 5-7 seconds for me.

On a side note this is at 1280x1024 full screen mode using 4x AA and all high graphics settings. I set my vid_mem_usage in the ini file to 180. Not sure on my fps but its definately above 30.

My Specs:
P4 519J 3.06GHz @ 533MHz
1.5GB PC3200 (DDR400) Mushkin Black (2-2-2) @ 400MHz
ATI Radeon PCI-E X800XL w/256MB GDDR3, Driver: Omega 2.6.83
Pagefile on separate 200GB SATA150 drive.

 

[TLHeart]

Testing your patch with a celeron 2.0 processor, 512meg memory
geforce fx5700 nvidea 256meg

set harkonnen.ini to vid memory to 200
insane mode to 0

get a black screen when alt tabbing between programs from full screen mode, wait about a minute, scroll edge of screen, and the game returns.

This is after using your suggestions...
Loaded my standard map that always crashed, played thru the turn and no crash, no swapping to disk.

using medium graphics settings, no AA.

Loaded your large game file, it is playable, map scrolling works, swaps to disks at times, but seems to be stable with this nvidea card.

 

[player1 fanatic]

What would be recommended video usage settings in case of 9000 Radeon (64MB) and 1GB of memory

I think that AGP thing in BIOS is set to 128 for me.

 

[Harkonnen]

player1
I'd suggest to try some minimum first:
vid_mem_usage = 32, insane_mode = 1

If there are problems with the above settings, try this instead:
vid_mem_usage = 32, insane_mode = 0

You may then try to increase 'vid_mem_usage' in increments of 10-15 until the game starts to run slower or visual artifacts start appearing.

 

[Tormunda]

Harkonnen, your the man. Thank you very much for all your hard work.

I think the Civ community would be very happy if Fraxis either sorted you out a deal or gave you some kind of reward for this.

Until then.... It's a great Xmas gift you have given us all

 

[Smidlee]

When I tried to load a save game I get an error message from Harkonnen inc.

 

[player1 fanatic]

By the way I'm curious,
While I understand that DX queries need to be turned on...

Why is important to disable Dynamic Animation Paging?

 

[Harkonnen]

By the way I'm curious,
While I understand that DX queries need to be turned on...
Why is important to disable Dynamic Animation Paging?

Actually neither of these has any significant effect. DX queries are still a mistery to me, but DynamicAnimPaging should affect a lot, but it doesn't.

I asked to change these values, so that in case we get a lot of bugs, it would be easier to reproduce them at my system in case they are caused by one of these values (dx_queries or dynamic_anim_paging).

 

[Harkonnen]

Smidlee
What actually was this error message? A screenshot would be much appreciated!

 

[phalzyr]

Just for the info about mirroring... You don't need to download this one if you seek for any improvement, this comes later... I have also modified original post in this thread.
.

OK Won't worry till you get another release , While at work my T1's max outage throughput went up to 12% It is normally at about 6-8%...

Anyway I played with your fix a bit, and it seemed both my computers handled it the same. I had to create my own savegame since my game is heavily modded but if I recall it was same or more than yours memory usage wise...

1152x864 with 2AA and rest high
3.0GHz Dual Core, 1GB RAM, X850xt with 256MB Memory
and 2.66GHZ, 1GB RAM, FX5700 with 256MB
Before = 871M
vid_mem_usage = 80, insane_mode = 0 = 617MB (254MB Gain)
vid_mem_usage = 180, insane_mode = 0 = 643MB
vid_mem_usage = 80, insane_mode = 1 = 543MB (328MB Gain)
vid_mem_usage = 180, insane_mode = 1 = 485MB (386MB Gain)
Dynamic and d3d setting did little, setting to 0AA also did little

 

[Harkonnen]

phalzyr
Thanks for these mem-usage logs! I personally liked 386Mb Gain out of initial 871Mb

 

[Caledorn]

I am very impressed, Harkonnen! Thank you for your hard work on this fix, which works wonders with my late game sluggishness! 5 stars awarded for this thread

 

[V. Soma]

Hi, Harkonnnen!

I gave your fix a try, and set vid-mem to 64, insane to 1.

I have

Prescott 3Ghz
ATI Radeon 6600

Before you, I could play the game fine but videos were not smooth and game got slow on huge map.

With the fix, in the first turns it went smooth and fast, but then
at the first video it almost stopped, played only a few stills with no sound and VERY slowly, and then after this was what I saw:

What shall I do?

 

[Harkonnen]

V. Soma
Try setting 'vid_mem_usage=32' and setting 'insane_mode=0'. How much video memory do you have?

 

[V. Soma]

I have 2 x 512 MB RAM

 

[Harkonnen]

V. Soma
That's physical memory. Video cards have only recently reached 1 x 512Mb, but 128-256Mb are usual values. I mean memory on your ATI 6600 video board. Or did you mean GeForce FX 6600?

 

[lord_graywolfe]

ok i made the changes you suggested and put the Harkonnen.ini in my game folder. i loaded a saved game from 1780 that i had given up on due to the graphic problems every turn. it looked perfect, i ran it for a turn opened up all the advisor windows, which usally caused it to go black and it still stayed normal. i cant believe i can actually finally play the game without having to reload every turn. i havent seen what will happen with an in game movie or when a leader head pops up yet but if it still holds after a few turns and those pop ups it will be awsome thanks Harkonnen.

oh by the way when i tried to download the first 2 fills on your first post they wouldnt do anything as my system says it can not open them.