Civilization4 memory usage fix

[Harkonnen604]

I think it just doesn't reach large enough memory use, so you don't see any problems. If so, you may set it to 1Gb (vid_mem_usage = 1024), and it still will be fine... until you try some huge savegame

[player1]

Where is the link to that your huge save game?
It will be handy to testing...

[Kuciwalker]

I would use this, except I have 2 GB of RAM...

[Harkonnen604]

http://sampo.ru/~headden/Harkonnen%20AD-1961.Civ4SavedGame

[Solver]

So you're from Karelia ?

[Harkonnen604]

Yes

[Zen]

I tried it...

Harkonnen,

I tried it, but can't start Civ IV, I get this message...

Civilization4.exe - Bad Image
"The apllication or DLL c:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\PatchByHarkonnen.dll is not a vaild Windows image. Please check this against your installation diskette."

ummm... I am going to try a few more things, but let me know if I am just missing something obvious.

-Zen Blade

[Zen]

That problem is solved Harkonnen.

Apparently the download screwed up for some reason. I redownloaded and the file was about 30% bigger the second time.


Trying again, currently it says "insert correct disk".

-Zen Blade

[Harkonnen604]

Wow... that appears to be downloading problem or something. Never faced that before.

Please try this mirrored URL:

http://209.174.48.134/downloads/harkfix.zip

[Harkonnen604]

Zen
If you ran the game in compatibility mode (win-2k compatibility mode for example), this setting could die after corrupt image problem. Please create a new shortcut for civilization4.exe and set compatibility mode to the one you used before. Or wasn't this the issue?

[Zen]

Not sure,

my comp decided to act up.
I opened CD-ROM and put back in, and then everything was recognized and went.

Currently, the problem I am having is trying to get a few of my saved files to be recognized.

Some don't come up on the "load game" screen, and when I click directly on them it says "error opening Harkonnen.ini".

These files are located elsewhere, and that may be the problem...

The Download problem might be due to my wireless signal dropping. I don't know what was up with the CD-ROM drive problem, maybe a cache or something just needed to be reset.

Will let you know if I figure out the issue with the saved games/scenarios---oh, these were all originally saved while in WorldBuilder, don't know if that could be an issue.

-Zen Blade

[Harkonnen604]

Zen
Oh yes... I search for Harkonnen.ini from current folder which isn't game folder when you double-click .savegame. I will fix that.

Currently please start civilization4.exe natively (e.g. via desktop shortcut), and load savegame from game menu.

[Zen]

Harkonnen,

so, this is what I found. Some of the save game files (made through worldbuilder) don't appear on the load menu when you go to single player, and go from there.

This is what I did... I loaded a different game, entered worldbuilder, and then loaded one of my save games from there. That did work.---for whatever reason the games appeared on that load menu, but not the other.
But I don't recall if this was a pre-existing problem. I usually load the work-in-progress stuff straight from the saved game file.


Now, for the load time.
With your basic settings, I loaded my big map (no cities, a few units, ~810kb size file) and it took just over a minute and 15 seconds. This is a dramatic improvement. With the 1.09 patch, the time was usually about 3min to load.

I have to figure out how else to adjust your settings to optimize speed.

ALSO, BIG THANK YOU... you solved the black screen problem mentioned here..

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=144650

You may want to post your patch in the "suggestions for new patch" thread, or in the "easily patchable ideas" thread (or whatever the official names are)

so, your patch is very nice so far. I will let you know if I come across anything else.

-Zen Blade

[Harkonnen604]

Zen
Thank you for kind words. I will post link at those threads. I'm primarily civfanatics attendant, so I didn't know where people talk here...

Harkonnen.ini provides big comments on two values you can play with. Also you may read first two pages at original civfanatics link (my 1st post in this Apolyton thread) - most tweaks are discussed there.

[polarnomad]

Followed your instructions for installing your patch since I've been wanting to play the scenarios and haven't been able to due to crashing. Just wanted to note that when I start a new game it hangs when the new game progress bar reaches "Finishing". I can hear the music for the civ I chose and some map sound effects, but it takes a while (minute or so, didn't actually time it) for the progress screen to disappear and the map to show up.

Anyway, am off to see if this allows me to finally play the scenarios.

Oh, also a question... Will I be able to play on-going PBEM games with the updated python24.dll file, or do I have to switch the original back in? (Not sure how it works, so am sorry in advance if this is a stupid question.)