1.52 causes "out of video memory" error

[DaveV]

OK, so I'm under spec at 32M on my video card, but 1.00 ran fine. When I upgraded to 1.52, it terminates with an "out of video memory" error after the load or startup screens (i.e. when the main map should display). I tried setting all my graphics to low in 1.00, but that didn't help. Does anyone know of an ini file setting that would let me keep skating by? I have a laptop, so it's non-trivial to upgrade my video RAM.

[Pistolero]

I also have 32 MB on my video card. 1.00 would not run (crashed on the appearance of a leader), 1.09 ran kind of with low res and full screen. 1.52 gives me the same error very quickly. Wish I knew if there was a way out of this.

[TomVeil]

I'm in a similar situation: 32Mb video card on a laptop. 1.00 worked fine, 1.09 worked even better -- crash free in 99% of my games.
Now with 1.52, I get the video memory error as soon as I load any game. I'm not running the Harkonnen patch, and I crash both with and without the "MemorySaver=1" line in the .ini.

[Yaga]

I'm at spec with a 128 MB Radeon 9600, 5.10 drivers, 1.52 patch, 1GB of RAM, and I get the same error. (see attached)

Any help here would be appreciated.

[TomVeil]

AHA!
The upgrade resets the 3 types of graphics quality back to "high". When I returned them to "low", no "out of video memory" crash!
I think I got thrown off b/c in 1.09, the game would automatically lower my settings. I'm going to set HideMinSpecWarning = 0 (when I get back from the office) and see if it happens again.

[DaveV]

Tom,

How did you change the settings without running the game? It seems like a catch-22 to me...

[SirOsis]

I got this error last night. Now all my games hang after loading them or starting a new one. The program starts fine though. I did have 4x AA forced through the control panel (Geforce 6600GT 128MB) and when I set this to application controlled the games could load. AA worked fine before so why can't I get it to work again?

[rabel]

I'm having this same error - cannot get Civ4 to run very long before I get the "out of video memory" error.

Radeon 9600 128MB 4X AGP
Latest ATI drivers (can't get the 4.12 drivers to work)
Latest Civ4 Patch

2x AA in Catalyst - Zero AA in game
all graphic settings set to "LOW"
3GB Page File

I'm trying all sorts of .ini settings:
SyncInput=1
D3D9Query=1
DynamicAnimPaging=0
FrameRateClamp=30

This is pathetic.

[TomVeil]

Originally posted by DaveV
Tom,

How did you change the settings without running the game? It seems like a catch-22 to me...

Well, I'm lucky enough that I don't get that crash message until after I load a savegame in high-graphics mode, so I can still bring up the "Baba Yetu" startup screen. From there, I just go to the Options screen. But if you're getting the crash message right from the get-go, you can find all of those graphics settings in the Civilization4.ini file. Or, wait for the next patch, since there's clearly going to be another one.

[Achillies]

I am also having this problem. I thought this patch was supposed to make the game run better on low/middle end machines. I am getting kind of sick of this game not working. I honestly have more problems with civ4 than any other game I own. Too bad, cause it is the most fun

[Urban Ranger]

Guys, check the log files to see if there are errors.

[joncnunn]

Yaga, I only get that fatal error if I click on the Military Advisor.

But the game itself doesn't crash, it returns to the game and that screen upon hiting enter, and just blurs the overview on the bottom right until you save the game, exit to desktop, and restart Civ IV.

[TomVeil]

Originally posted by joncnunn
Yaga, I only get that fatal error if I click on the Military Advisor.

But the game itself doesn't crash, it returns to the game and that screen upon hiting enter, and just blurs the overview on the bottom right until you save the game, exit to desktop, and restart Civ IV.

The Military Advisor screen takes up a huge amount of video memory, so that's why you're getting the error at that point -- you have enough memory to start the game, but not to handle some of the game's most intensive features. I'm not sure, but I think that the Military Advisor is so video memory-intensive because it's overlaying a map of the world on top of the game screen, which means the regular screen needs to stay in memory while the card tries to draw yet another screen.

[TomVeil]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Guys, check the log files to see if there are errors.

Nothing in my log file right now (probably because I haven't crashed in my last couple of games). I'll post my log file if it reappears.

[Lycurgus]

I have set all my graphics settings to low and I still get this error. I can play the game for a time, but eventually it will just exit to the desktop, even if I don't open any of the advisor screens.