Maybe THIS is the source of the problem(s)

[Dr,ape]

The game went fine for the most part (except the choppy wonder video sound), until I hit the Industrial era. It has crashed to the desktop several times tonight.

One thing I found out - it doesn't matter how much I play - what matters is how long the game has been running (even if I leave it alone not doing anything).

After the last 2 crashes, I've found something disturbing in the Windows Task Manager - the total # of handles keeps on adding up, about 10 per second. It is now 31529 and counting as I type (31659 now).

If nothing else, THIS would kill it. It would kill the OS session, too, if I leave it going long enough.

[Dr,ape]

nope. Looked further into it and it turns out to be my fault, not the game's. (webcam driver problem)

Sorry folks.

Apologies to the devs.

[wilebill2]

Just my way of doing things, I've been working with pc technology since it first came out. When running a new game, turn off everything in the background, real time virus file scan, ad ware scan, exit from everything in the right side of the tray except video and sound controls and firewall. Make sure, of course, you have no adware or viruses on your computer.

Do not run any other programs at the same time, not even your browser. No tunes, no nothing. I had no problems with Civ4 of a technical nature, and still do not.

Think of running something new on any OS as being like walking on eggs.

[vee4473]

It would be funny if the real source of the problem was that those who are having crashes and memory hogging problems are on this forum typing posts about it while civ4 is minimized, with 2 other brower windows open, an instant messenger client in the background, an unfinished email open and the local weather report coming in on some weather alert app...OH and the stock market prices ticking in too.

ha...i wonder why I dont have enough memory?

I'm sure that's not true in all cases, but turning off everything might be being overlooked.

And there might genuinely be some sort of memory problem, but never underestimate the value of turning off apps.

[alva]

of the problem was that those who are having crashes and memory hogging

non standard drivers, terminating services "hey, them things do nothing!!!", etc...

[Dr,ape]

funny the faulty webcam driver wasn't really eating up more memory, but just the number of handles. It was showing in the process tab as "System" process eating up the handles, but Process Explorer gave me a clue on which regkey "System" was loading up repeatedly.

So anyway, this "problem" went away as soon as I unplugged the webcam from the usb port.

But... Civ4 still requires an app restart every once in a while. I'm in Industrial era, on a huge map. Panning the view port around too much seems to do the trick if I want to crash it to the desktop...