BtS: Fatal bad memory allocation

[potoroo]

Road to War mod, 1936 Pacific scenario

[Dale]

You hit the 2GB limit of Windows. Try this:

32 bit windows limits any single program to max 2GB memory...

However.. since you run vista, you can increase this limit to 3GB for BtS by running this command:

- Open a command prompt with Administration rights. You find it under "Programs->Accessories->Command prompt" click right and select "run as administrator".
- Enter "bcdedit /set IncreaseUserVA 3072" (without quotes) in the command window and press enter.

You need to reboot afterwards to make this take effect

[potoroo]

I run XP Pro SP2, not Vista.

[Kuciwalker]

Wait, seriously? 32-bit Vista can give processes 3GB of memory?

Is there some sort of performance penalty for upping it?

[potoroo]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Wait, seriously? 32-bit Vista can give processes 3GB of memory?

XP Pro can do it too but not on an individual process basis. You have to use the /3GB boot switch in boot.ini to change the system balance from 2GB processes/2GB system to 3GB processes/1GB system. It's rarely done though because apps need to be 3GB aware to be able to use the extra process space and most aren't.

I must say I'm not particularly impressed with the idea that Firaxis are shipping mods that require such a radical system setting.

[Kuciwalker]

I assume, then, that CivIV (or at least BtS) is 3GB aware? Shiny.

[greenday_234]

I thought they said they solved this problem in BTS?! If not that is really disappointing as I can't play my epic sized earth map without this fix. And I can't use any of the solutions given here as I have XP Home edition

[Dale]

It is solved (as much as the game can do). The rest is up to how windows handles memory (XP or Vista).

[greenday_234]

Does this mean that I can play a saved game exceeding the 2MB limitation that previously caused the allocation failure?

[Willem]

Originally posted by Dale
The rest is up to how windows handles memory (XP or Vista).

I'm starting to get really annoyed at how poorly Windows handles RAM. I've recently learned that Macs can currently use up to 16 gig of RAM, yet I can't even access 8 with Vista even though I have 4 RAM slots and there's 2 gig cards available. Talk about under-utilizing the potential of my computer.

[Wiglaf]

So, does BTS improve performance or not? It seems like it does but I can't be sure.

[potoroo]

Originally posted by greenday_234
Does this mean that I can play a saved game exceeding the 2MB limitation that previously caused the allocation failure?

Yes. I've successfully restarted the BtS/RtW scenario that crashed and been able to finish it. The fact that restarting a scenario at any given point utilises far less memory than it did at the moment it crashed strongly suggests the game has a memory leak or is otherwise very inefficient in the way it uses memory.

[Wiglaf]

If you play anything for hours you'll experience that problem.

[potoroo]

Originally posted by Wiglaf
If you play anything for hours you'll experience that problem.

Nonsense.

[Dale]

potoroo try using Office 2007 constantly for 10 hours. Even it crashes due to memory overload.