Civilization4 memory usage fix

[Harkonnen604]

I have just finished writing my own memory-fix which I started a month ago at another civ4 forum. It appears to solve a lot of CTD/swapping/slowness issues.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?p=3420615

[ghen]

Interesting ideas, is this a final release yet?

[Nikolai]

Great work! Have you posted this in the files forum too btw?

[Harkonnen604]

Not yet posted.

Well, according to effects this can be claimed as final, but there will be more releases during this week. Later today I will turn it into loader, so that 1.8Mb python24.dll won't be necessary.

Also there are some ideas how to decrease it even more.

[mike2h]

looking forward to your 'update', will definetly give this a shot. thx!

[Kuciwalker]

I have an even simpler fix! Exit the game and start it up again

edit: wtf? why did : p turn into

edit2: hm, they fixed it. Markos, add the damn santa hat to already!

[Zen]

Harkonnen,

I read your other thread (fanatics). You mention a memory leak thread of some sort.

My basic question is this:

what does your program/patch exactly solve (in very simple terms)?

Does your program simple reduce the amount of data coming from each plot? Or does it reduce the memory required to display each plot? or does your program somehow stop the "memory leak"?


Will your patch be helpful to those of us who don't have CTD and other problems, but do experience a HUGE slow loading time/operation time when playing on larger maps?

I say this because I have a map that I am trying to work from that is ~8000 tiles big. It takes around 2 min just to load on my computer. I fear this slowness may force me to reduce the map size to create the scenario I wish to create---which would suck.

thanks,

-Zen Blade

[StarLightDeath]

lol I love it. Fans fixing incomplete games.

[Bill3000]

Originally posted by StarLightDeath
lol I love it. Fans fixing incomplete games.

Better than not having the ability to fix it.

Trolling is bad, BTW.

[Harkonnen604]

Zen
The primary goal was to reduce memory usage. You may read first 2 pages at shown thread - there I explained basics when someone else asked.

Also it helped some people with CTDs - the thing I didn't expect from this patch It appears that CTDs were caused by memory overuse.

My aim with this patch was to make my savegame playable with my 512Mb configuration, and I've put it down from ~650Mb to ~480Mb. It still swaps a little, but generally works nicely.

All in all, yes - you should give it a try. This patch is driven towards reducing memory usage. Civ4 allocates identical items many times (e.g. many water squares), and I fight memory usage from this point.

[Solver]

Please keep in mind that, since this patch replaces game system files, you will not be able to play normal multiplayer games if you install that.

I definitely hope, though, that the next offcial patch has a performance increase such as this.

[dannyevilcat]

Originally posted by StarLightDeath
lol I love it. Fans fixing incomplete games.

As far as I can tell, this "fix" consists of pretty much turning off all the eye candy. Gimme a break, it would be unacceptable if this was coming from Firaxis.

[Harkonnen604]

Solver
1) python24.dll isn't game core DLL, and it's the only DLL coming with the game which is affected.

2) In my next release python24.dll won't be affected.

3) People tried to update binkw32.dll and mss32.dll (movie and sound subsystems) - I didn't hear anyone of them couldn't play multiplayer.

dannyevilcat
I am sorry, but you are wrong on this. You may leave your settings intact (highest or whatever), and it still will improve memory usage and speed it up if memory usage was critical for you before my fix. This fix DOES NOT eliminate any detail level. You may compare screenshots with and without patch if you want a proof

[Solver]

I think, though, that changing the Python DLL would still lead to MP incompatibility. If it's not so, though, then great.

Did you make the video memory unmanaged?

[Drachasor]

Nice work, this does make huge games playable on my computer. Before even after my many troubles in configuration huge games were very slow to respond, but now it's pretty darn good (still some long pauses between turns, but that's alright).

-Drachasor

[Bill3000]

I'm noticing a huge difference already.

[Zen]

Harkkonen,

please post again when your newest version (that doesn't alter a game dll) is out!

-Zen Blade

[Finarfin]

This sounds great. I am definitely going to try it as larger maps are unplayable for me, even with 1GB RAM.

[Enigma_Nova]

If only I had the skills to create something this useful.

[mike2h]

Originally posted by Zen
Harkkonen,

please post again when your newest version (that doesn't alter a game dll) is out!

-Zen Blade

2nd that one!

[gwgardner]

Wow! I installed your patch/fix and it has made an enormous impact on gameplay. Fast movement in scrolling and by units, information popups occur instantly now, etc. Thanks very much for your hard work on this.

I have a Dell 3000, pentium 4 3Ghz, 1 gig memory, nvidia geforce fx5500. Before your patch the game was achingly slow. Not it screams along.

Oh, by the way, I did have to set the insane mode to 0 due to the black screen after an alt-tab.

[Harkonnen604]

Solver
Not exactly... It's unmanaged for D3D, but it's managed by my DLL instead.

All
Thanks for good words. Much appreciated

All
If size of python24.dll is the issue, you may download zlib1.dll instead (it does exactly same thing - loads my DLL).

http://www.sampo.ru/~headden/zlib1.dll

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

Please, can anyone test it with multiplayer?

[mike2h]

thx! kust downloaded.

[player1]

Hmm...
How to set memory use for a computer with Radeon 9000 (64MB), and 1GB or RAM.

P.S.
I think that AGP thing is set to 128 in BIOS.

[rjwoer]

Nice work.

Your fix actually made it possible to load the game on both my systems for the first time with 1.09. Up to this point I'd reverted to 1.00 because it just wouldn't load. Needless to say, it's much appreciated.

[Blake]

Works great. Much snapier and better memory usage, no longer grinds when quitting/alt-tabbing out.

The leader portraits go flatcolor sometimes tho... there might be a setting to fix that... it didn't really bother me because I recognize them by the music.

edit: I'll also note I was playing multiplayer with v1.00, so this patch is indeed "very compatible" as advertised.

[Harkonnen604]

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

Blake (and all othrers experiencing leaders flat-coloring)
Try reducing 'vid_mem_usage' by 10 or 20. If that is still a problem, try 'insane_mode=0', but check performance changes, especialy after setting 'insane_mode=0' with 512Mb system.

Also note that 'insane_mode=1' is good until you alt-tab frequently. If you alt-tab frequently (especially in full-screen mode), you should use 'insane_mode=0' or switch to windowed mode.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Yes, it seems snappier overall...excellent! Although, I also had the problem with leaderheads displaying as a gray box. This was with vid_mem_usage set to 64, insane_mode=0, high quality settings on a 128MB GF6600GT.

I also had an odd artifacting problem: When I move the map, the base of some towns had a weird shimmering effect. I tried to get a screenshot of it, but it didn't work very well...I highlighted the areas that were doing it on this shot:

[Harkonnen604]

I had shimmering too, but I thought it's general z-buffer artifact, I will investigate...

Well, summing up - so far gray leader-box appears to be the only problem with some systems, and globe view speed didn't improve as was expected.

[player1]

Originally posted by Harkonnen604
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

Interesting...
I tried 80 and 160! and none of them gave any problems.
Exempt standard alt-tab problems for insane mod only.

Although I did only tested just my vicotry standard map games.
I don't play larger maps much due to tedious mircomanagement.