Reducing Stress on RAM?

[_wtravis]

Hey everybody!

Long time lurker as a "guest", first time poster.

Just bought Civ5, love it, but it's been stressing out my computer. At first my graphics card was overheating and shutting down (had this problem with GTA IV too), so I turned down the settings and disabled the opening movie. That did the trick.

However now I have a new problem: Been playing on YnAEM (Huge Earth Map) and got to about 300 turns or so. Right around meeting all the other civs I've started to experience fairly regular game crashes. I'm not sure, but I'm assuming that the problem is most likely that the big map and many civs I'm playing with are the cause, and it's taxing my system a little too hard.

My question is: Is there anything I can do to stop the game from crashing to the desktop, aside from simply playing smaller maps with fewer civs, or buying a new computer? Are there any settings (aside from graphics, which I've already got on low settings) I can adjust under the hood that will allow me to play bigger maps? I'm willing to trade quality for performance here.

My specs:
Windows Vista 32-bit
3GB RAM
Nvida GeForce 9800 GT
Intel Quad Core 2.40 GHz

 

[_wtravis]

Oh, and I got the game from Steam (downloaded and installed Steam just for Civ5). Version 1.01.275.

 

[freedomna]

I had the same problem, what worked for me was I went on Dx9 instead of 10 or 11 and I set my graphics to low. Helped improve preformance but the time between turns will always suck since the AI likes to move EVERY unit they have, no way to fix that unless they make a mod that stops the AI from doing that.

 

[Sjru]

Hey everybody!

Long time lurker as a "guest", first time poster.

Just bought Civ5, love it, but it's been stressing out my computer. At first my graphics card was overheating and shutting down (had this problem with GTA IV too), so I turned down the settings and disabled the opening movie. That did the trick.

However now I have a new problem: Been playing on YnAEM (Huge Earth Map) and got to about 300 turns or so. Right around meeting all the other civs I've started to experience fairly regular game crashes. I'm not sure, but I'm assuming that the problem is most likely that the big map and many civs I'm playing with are the cause, and it's taxing my system a little too hard.

My question is: Is there anything I can do to stop the game from crashing to the desktop, aside from simply playing smaller maps with fewer civs, or buying a new computer? Are there any settings (aside from graphics, which I've already got on low settings) I can adjust under the hood that will allow me to play bigger maps? I'm willing to trade quality for performance here.

My specs:
Windows Vista 32-bit
3GB RAM
Nvida GeForce 9800 GT
Intel Quad Core 2.40 GHz

I don't really think it's because of RAM. Normally most crashes happen because of the Scroll crash, or bug within the game itself, you said you play on Yanem, that's a mod? If so it might be an unstable mod (most are).

Another important thing: You have vista 32-bit, and got 3gb RAM. 32bit system are locked to use maximum 2gb at a time. 64 bit on the other hand have a very big maximum RAM allowed.

If you're talking about RAM and are concerned about that, upgrade to a 64bit OS, this time Windows 7, since Vista is crap and cause problems.

If that's not an option, try enabling the /3gb switch. I cannot really help on that part because I use XP and I think Vista doesn't have that option, also it may not solve your problem at all, since is a trick and not a magic option.

Other thing: CiV is unstable and rushed. Randomly on some specs the game usually crashes a lot and on other machines it doesn't. Generally the bigger the map and the more the civilizations on it, the more chances you got to it crash each turn. It could be exception, memory leaks, memory violations, anything. If I were you, I would venture from a safe start and then finish games, then bumping the civs and the size to check whats your machine limit on that,
Cheers.

 

[_wtravis]

Thanks for the reply Sjru! I didn't know that about Vista and RAM. I guess it is time to upgrade my OS.

What's the "scroll crash", and how do I prevent it (or can I?)

 

[Sjru]

Thanks for the reply Sjru! I didn't know that about Vista and RAM. I guess it is time to upgrade my OS.

What's the "scroll crash", and how do I prevent it (or can I?)

The infamous scroll crash is a crash that happens when the game is scrolling from a part of the map to another hastily. It does happen because the game tries to load things faster than the processor can handle. Clearly if you're asking then you're not suffering from the crash.
The last patch however fixed somewhat the scroll crash.

BTW: If you're going to purchase Windows 7, ask for 64-bit not 32-bit. It's easy to get confused.