1 Meg Save File issue

[mkorin]

I have a funny video issue and it seems to coincide when I the save file get to be above 1,000 KB. Then the screen will start intermittingly stop showing the graphics, ie only the bare terrain or it will show funky graphics, ie weird things. This will happen for a while and then eventually give me an error and then shut down. Now, this seems to have only happened after I loaded the 3.17 unofficial patch, but may have been that I had not played any huge games with full world wars inbetween loading 3.17 and the unofficial patch. So my questions are does anyone else have this problem, and is the problem the unofficial patch or 3.17. I have no problem going back to 3.17 (no unofficial patch) or even the version before. Please don't suggest it is my video driver as this didn't happen until I went to 3.17 and I have played many games at 3.17 where it doesn't happen. They key seems to be the extremely huge games, involving huge maps and when everyone is at war, which then produces the larger save files. I have even won Huge games since 3.17 where the save files didn't get that big. Nor do I believe it is my system as it isn't that old and I have 4 gig of Ram.

Mike

[snoopy369]

I think that's a memory issue ... http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=195598 for more details, among others. Gyathaar has a suggestion for potentially fixing it in that thread.

[mkorin]

Snoppy, thanks for the direction. It's not really a memory issue (I have 4Gigs), but rather how the game uses the memory, particulaily in saves and graphics. The fix at that site didn't work for me, but changing my graphics to low and anti-alias to 0 (from 2) worked for at least a few more turns. I'll play out the game and see how far I can get with the lesser graphics.

Mike

[martin mcmartin]

hmmm,

I got the same thing, exactly, and it has nothing to do with large or small files. it can happen right form the start at 4000 bc and during mid game. anti-alias to 0 works a few turns extra, as killing all unwanted processes. in the end, if the screen starts flickering and I don't hit ctrl-alt-del quick enough, the game freezes and it shuts down......

I have tried to figure out what it can be, but it's too much of a hassle, I managed to live with the problem....
I became a pro though in pressing ctrl-alt-del at just the right moment ;-)

Mc

[snoopy369]

There is definitely an issue relating to 1MB save files, martin you probably have a different issue (sounds like a video card failing).

mkorin, it is a memory issue, though not the sort you are thinking of; it's not a lack of memory per se but lack of memory allocation for the save, from what I've been able to gather.

Anyhow, yes, altering your graphics options seems to affect it, not sure why but some of that stuff is apparently saved to the savegame ...

[mkorin]

Snoopy, I think we're saying the same thing. I consider a memory issue hardware and an allocation issue software.

I was able to finish the game when I lowered the graphics setting and anti-alias, so I consider that a good enough fix.

Mike

[martin mcmartin]

hi Snoopy and mkorin,

yes, I suspect my problem is indeed videocard related. it also fails on age of empires, so it is not just civ. it still feels funny though that it seems civ 4 in the beginning was running as smooth as a baby's butt, but through all the patches it became more and more unstable...

thanks for helping me in the right direction.

Mc