why isnt civ4 using all available memory?

[kattana]

so i upgraded my system the other day to 2GB ram in preperation for some LAN gaming sessions.

i was surprised to find that civ4 WASNT using all my available memory and instead still using VM...

case in point..at one time during a large map with 9 civs at the tank era..i checked and civ4 was using around 800MB of system memory and about 560MB of VM...even though i still had another 800MB FREE of on-board memory.

the same thing with all map sizes..it refused to use all my system memory, or even come close to it, and instead wanted to use VM.

 

[oldStatesman]

It is not the amount of physical memory you have per se. Civ 4 should run reasonably well on 512MB....but....

...There seems to be a bug in the way civ 4 manages memory address spaces. See this thread.

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

Harkonnen, who has done a great job hunting this down ( ) , summarizes in Posts #122 & #123.

From his research, (you really have to read the entire thread to corrolate this evidence) it may be that 1GB is the optimal RAM size to run civ 4 on as it stands with the bug...larger physical memory sizes could possibly cause issues in some rigs unless tweaked... i.e., YMMV.

Harkonnen 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.

 

[Matte979]

I am running 2GB recently upgraded from 1 GB, 2GB makes the game run much better. I have disabled the pagefile (VM) Disabling the Page file is much better for any games that are memory hogs got a noticable improvment in Battlefield 2 as well.

 

[Morten Blaabjerg]

I have disabled the pagefile (VM) Disabling the Page file is much better for any games that are memory hogs got a noticable improvment in Battlefield 2 as well.

How do you disable this?

 

[JakeCourtney]

Memory Leak needs to be fixed real soon.

 

[screwtype]

so i upgraded my system the other day to 2GB ram in preperation for some LAN gaming sessions.

i was surprised to find that civ4 WASNT using all my available memory and instead still using VM...

case in point..at one time during a large map with 9 civs at the tank era..i checked and civ4 was using around 800MB of system memory and about 560MB of VM...even though i still had another 800MB FREE of on-board memory.

the same thing with all map sizes..it refused to use all my system memory, or even come close to it, and instead wanted to use VM.

A techie once told me that Windows98 has trouble utilizing memory above 512Mb, while Windows XP does a poor job of utilizing memory above 1 Gig. So maybe that's part of the problem.

 

[Rabbit_Alex]

I am running 2GB recently upgraded from 1 GB, 2GB makes the game run much better. I have disabled the pagefile (VM) Disabling the Page file is much better for any games that are memory hogs got a noticable improvment in Battlefield 2 as well.

Civ IV and BF2 are my two favorite games too!

I only have 1 GB of RAM and can't upgrade it (it is a year-old laptop, Dell XPS). Do you think disabling my page file would be a good thing?

 

[Rabbit_Alex]

How do you disable this?

Right-click on My Computer, go to properties, click on the Advanced tab, click on the Performance Settings button, click on the Advanced tab, click on the Change button and click the checkbox to disable the page file.

 

[AsnoT]

A techie once told me that Windows98 has trouble utilizing memory above 512Mb, while Windows XP does a poor job of utilizing memory above 1 Gig. So maybe that's part of the problem.

win98 COULD NOT use memory above 512mb
win2k and winxp can not use more than 2 gb PER APPLIKATION, but 4 gb in all
the win2k3 extended server and enterprise versions support 16 respectively 64 GB of ram

windows vista will support a wide variety of ram sizes, all above 4gb, depending on the version you have.

anything else is pure BS, sorry.

 

[Sorceresss]

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

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) ?

 

[AsnoT]

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) ?

yes, daniel petri does:

http://www.petri.co.il/pagefile_optimization.htm

in short - not recommended.

EDIT:
same thing in different form:
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000422.html

 

[Sorceresss]

yes, daniel petri does:

http://www.petri.co.il/pagefile_optimization.htm

in short - not recommended.

THxxx a lot. I will read that carefully. I have also asked the very same question, a few minutes ago, on the Technical Support forum.

 

[oldStatesman]

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

Is it wise to drive around in your car without a spare tire so you can have a bit of extra space in the trunk? Or to make the car a bit lighter so it goes marginally faster?

If you are daring...go for it. If not, better safe than sorry....it's your choice depending on whether a little more space and a touch more speed occasionally is worth the loss of the safety net...

The daniel petri link above is an excellent discussion of the subject.

Yes, you can run windows without a page file...but WinXp will still create a 'page file' , however instead of putting it on a hard disk, it will create a 'virtual' one in RAM. It still allows space for that 10-15% of rarely used pages there instead...thus locking up some of your RAM, instead of locking up some of your HDD. It also will reserve (lock out) some extra space in RAM over and above what is required for running aps ... as a safety net.

For me, I have tons of free HDD space, and I don't have a problem with the occasional window being slow to open...it happens rarely. I do use Fast User switching, so a physical page file is better. And I always keep a spare tire in my trunk too...

 

[kattana]

thanks for the link oldstatesman.

i found it interesting that no one seemed to pick up on that one link you posted about the reasons for the CTD, ie the animation thingy.

i, personally, do not have any issue with the CTD. And i also would not recommend anyone turning off their VM.

 

[Randle]

Is it wise to drive around in your car without a spare tire so you can have a bit of extra space in the trunk? Or to make the car a bit lighter so it goes marginally faster?

Operating a pagefile is more like siphoning out all but 2 gallons of gas and then driving to work and back.

If all of the physically memory is being used and there is no pagefile to make use of, all requests for memory will be denied.

 

[oldStatesman]

thanks for the link oldstatesman.

i found it interesting that no one seemed to pick up on that one link you posted about the reasons for the CTD, ie the animation thingy.

i, personally, do not have any issue with the CTD. And i also would not recommend anyone turning off their VM.

You are welcome!

Sometimes I think people get so involved in 'discussing' they miss the nugget of info that may help them.... BTW, that does work, but I still get CTD's; not as often - I got a serious BSOD last time I tried that took me several reboots to recover from - so I quit playing the game. I am not going to chance Data loss - Civ 4 is far from the most important thing I use my pc for - and am patiently waiting for the patch.

I'll let mr petri and the other link provided above talk about the VM issues...all the evidence is there for people to use to make up their own mind...though I agree with you.

Congrats on no CTD's; I am jealous! It is frustrating that the issues seem to be hit or miss...and that is why they are so hard to diagnose and patch.

@Randle - yes, your analogy is a good one too...and a good point is made!

 

[kattana]

the only CTD, knocks on wood....., i have had on my home system, is when i was doing some lan gaming with 2 other people. on one archpeligo(spelling?) large game map, the game suddenly crashed to desktop for all 3 of us after like 15 turns, at the EXACT same time. on a reload of a save, it did the exact same thing to all 3 of us at the same turn again.

that was scary, as all we were doing at that point was hitting enter to end turns, and if a map can potentially cause a crash like that then that leaves me going...hmmmm

anyways...im sure they will have a patch out soon enough.

 

[Pyrion]

WinXP can technically allow 3gb per application, if the application supports it.

You just have to edit your boot.ini to start Windows with the /3GB switch.