cms Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 I have been playing CMBB,and CMAK on this system for a year now without any promlem. Recently,though,the following has been occuring. Both games take forever to load. Once a game is started,the game minimizes,and I get a pop-up saying that the system is low on virtual memory,and windows will increases it. Once I maximixe the game,it runs without a problem. I have un-installed and re-istalled both games. I have updated the directX 9 file. I have de-fragged the system. I have tried turning off the anti-virus software before playing. After doing all of the above,everything was o.k. for a week,then the problem re-appeared. I am able to run Pacific Fighters,and Silent Hunter III without any problems,so I think I can rule out any issuse with RAM or graphics card. System specs.: CPU:AMD Anthlon 3800+,2GHz. VGA:ATI Radeon X1300 pro 256 Mb. Ram:512 Mb. OS.Windows XP pro,service pack 2 Anyone out there have any ideas? Thanks, CMS [ January 09, 2008, 08:44 AM: Message edited by: cms ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rune Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 It is not the game it is the operating system, and not enough memory available. You can do this: Windows XP 1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties. 2. In the System Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab. 3. In the Performance pane, click Settings. 4. In the Performance Options dialog box, click the Advanced tab. 5. In the Virtual memory pane, click Change. 6. Change the Initial size value and the Maximum size value to a higher value, click Set, and then click OK. 7. Click OK to close the Performance Options dialog box, and then click OK to close the System Properties dialog box. Rune 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cms Posted January 1, 2008 Author Share Posted January 1, 2008 Tried all of that when I first encountered this problem,and set the page file to "system managed".Problem persists. Funny thing is,that it does not happen all the time. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wicky Posted January 1, 2008 Share Posted January 1, 2008 bung in another 512mb stick? Originally posted by cms: Ram:512 Mb. Anyone out there have any ideas? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cms Posted January 2, 2008 Author Share Posted January 2, 2008 Played CMBB last night. Game loaded right up, no problem! Thanks for the help. Cms 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sudowudo Posted January 2, 2008 Share Posted January 2, 2008 i would definately recommend another 512 of ram,not so much for CM but you will notice that PF will run smoother. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cms Posted January 4, 2008 Author Share Posted January 4, 2008 O.k... Tried all of the above, short of buying more RAM. The problem is back. Frankly,I'm stumped. CMS 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.R. Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 OK, this sounds to me like possible Virtual Memory issues-- I mean possibly with the file itself, not necessarily your settings. Have you checked your disk for errors? You can do this from the same tab you use to defrag. Make sure to select the option to check unused sectors. The box will tell you it can't get exclusive access, and ask you if you want to do the check at boot time. OK this and restart. The chkdsk screen should come up. Let it run-- it may take quite awhile. Another option is to clear your VM entirely by selecting the appropriate item from the advanced setting tab on My Computer. Restart. Don't try to run anything, just let the system boot-- with your limited RAM, you won't be likely to be able to start anything without running out of memory. Then reset your VM settings to whatever you think you want. Personally, I use a set 2048MB. Setting max and min to the same size supposedly lays out the VM file contiguously and in a special format that speeds up VM access. IIRC, VM is supposed to be set to double the physical RAM on the system. Like I said above, personally I just set it to 2048. Hope this helps! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cms Posted January 5, 2008 Author Share Posted January 5, 2008 Originally posted by J.R.: OK, this sounds to me like possible Virtual Memory issues-- I mean possibly with the file itself, not necessarily your settings. Have you checked your disk for errors? You can do this from the same tab you use to defrag. Make sure to select the option to check unused sectors. The box will tell you it can't get exclusive access, and ask you if you want to do the check at boot time. OK this and restart. The chkdsk screen should come up. Let it run-- it may take quite awhile. Hi J.R, I forgot to mention that I have a new internet security program that I am still becoming familiar with. Even though I have "exited" Bitdefender internet security before playing,a look at the task manager still shows quite a bit running as procceses. This morning as I was fooling about with some settings,it seems that the anti-virus module was set to scan applications upon access. This is just a hunch,but it could be the cause of the problem.Let me change some settings in Bitdefender,and see if it works.If it does'nt I'll try what you suggest. Get back to you when I can... Chris Another option is to clear your VM entirely by selecting the appropriate item from the advanced setting tab on My Computer. Restart. Don't try to run anything, just let the system boot-- with your limited RAM, you won't be likely to be able to start anything without running out of memory. Then reset your VM settings to whatever you think you want. Personally, I use a set 2048MB. Setting max and min to the same size supposedly lays out the VM file contiguously and in a special format that speeds up VM access. IIRC, VM is supposed to be set to double the physical RAM on the system. Like I said above, personally I just set it to 2048. Hope this helps! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cms Posted January 5, 2008 Author Share Posted January 5, 2008 O.K.! Looks like "problem resolved"! So I hope! Let me see how it goes the next few days... I'll keep everyone informed... Looks like it was the anti-virus setting causing it all. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leprechaun Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 To optimally set the virtual memory you first want to turn it off and then restart the computer. When it restarts, run defrag and after its finished reset the virtual memory by setting max and min to the same values. As another posted stated, twice your RAM is a a good choice (1024 in your case). I have the same amount of RAM as you and run the above virtual memories with little difficulties. An other problem area can be number of programs that automatically start up when you boot the computer. A lot of these programs are not needed and can suck up lots of RAM (Nvidia, Quicktime, Real, etc). You can disable them by manually editing the system registry (not advised unless you really know what you're doing) or by using a nifty program like Start up Control Panel. Another RAM hog is Windows services where again a lot services are activated that are unnecessary. A Google search in this area should give you list of the nonessential ones that you can shut down. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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