Video memory problems

[unamablebuiler]

what causes the video memeory to run out?
i have updated my video drivers about 2 weeks ago but haven't played alot of civ4 now with the new drivers i am getting out of video RAM crashes to the desktop after a couple of hrs. The game says lower your settingsto correct it but i ran it fine on medium settings without problems on my old drivers.

My system is amd 2700 ATI R9600with 128 Meg vidRAM and 1 gig ddr400 and my divers are 6.14.100362. How up to date is this driver? should i go back to my old driver or should i go to the next one?
is the video card to blame and about to give up the ghost ?
i have never had this particular problem before

[Urban Ranger]

There's a "Help" forum for this.

[Nubianmercenary]

Heres SOME suggestions

: Try installing the Direct X version (9.oc) that comes with the actual civ4 disc (even if u alredy have 9.0c, install the one on the civ4 disc anyways as it has several .dll (dynamic,link,library) files which are not located in the original Dirext X 9.0c software. You can do this by going into "my computer" then right click D: drive then click open, from here go into the "Directx9" folder and open the "DXSETUP", follow the onscreen instructions until complete. Now try to run civ4 again.
:
: Still crashing? Well then get the 1.52 patch for civ4, as this fixes several "crashes" that were not "ironed-out" on the release of the game.
:
: Still crashing? Uninstall the game from your drive, and the patch as well. Then reinstall the game.Once the game has been reinstalled. Go into "my computer" then to D: drive,(The civ4 disc must be in the drive) once there double click the "DIAG" icon. This should restart the game in "safe" mode.
:
: If crahses still occur try going to the "help" forum for additional info.

hope it helps.


Nubianmercenary.

[Locutus]

The latest version of the ATI drivers you installed is causing the problem, it takes up too much much memory (or something like that, I can't access the bug report ATM). This is only an issue on some 9600 cards. The solution is to revert back to an older driver version. And notify ATI of this, this is primarily their problem, not a Civ4 problem, Firaxis probably can't do a whole lot about it. You won't be the first to report it but the more people complain the more likely ATI is to fix it.

And yes, this belongs in the Help forum, so I moved it.

[marvinkosh]

One thing you should definitely take note of is that when you install a new driver, it assumes certain defaults which may not be ideal for your video card.

Therefore, if you have made any recommended optimisations in the past, you should look to re-apply those. Turning off some features may restore stability without any noticeable loss of performance.

[tiger00]

thanks for the reply Locutus, but can you point to a website or what version of drivers we need to step back too?

[unamablebuiler]

part of the problem was i had a second version of the drivers beign used these were killed then reinstall drivers reset setting and so far its all right
Also renistalled DX9.0 C
Now running drivers 6.14.100632 and have available catlyst 5.6 and 5.8 also seen 6.30 also.

Also found all of my settings were for quality not performance corrected this also

main lesson: when upgrading drivers remove the old ones first

thanks for the replies everyone