Can the 2GB memory limit be circumvented?

from GalCiv2 Forums
I was on the Genesis Rising forum and noticed that they were also having a lot of memory allocation errors as well.

One user got around it by utilizing the 3GB_Enabler program.
The tool will add the "LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE" header for you to your executable, which will allow the game to use more than 2GB.

There is also a switch you must add to the Boot.ini file for WinXP to allow the OS to be able to assign more than 2GB to an application.

It was first made available for Supreme Commander users, but it apparently works with Genesis Rising as well. I tried it on GalCiv2.exe and it added the header and I was able to start a game, so at least it did not screw up the file.

I have not gotten far enough into a game to see if it will use more than 2GB yet, but I'll be working on it.


I would hope that the devs could experiment with it a bit, and perhaps add that entry into the exe as an update if it works. Then it would only require the simple tweak to the Boot.ini file.


There are instructions included, but you will need to rename the exe to supremecommander.exe for it to work. Then you can rename it back to the original filename.

Here is the link to the 3GB_Enabler program:
WWW Link
3,342 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hmm, if it worked and does what it's supposed to that could help a lot of people!
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Really?
No interest?
Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
No interest?


A few reasons, probably:

So long as the game is being generous with its memory usage (even if it's not truly leaking as such), it'll just give it a bit longer before it runs into the new limit.

Taking that extra GB away from the kernel can lead to other issues.


Especially since 1.7 is already going down the path of agressive memory deallocation, this should hopefully not be needed.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Personally, I would rather use a bit more memory to keep the game as fast as possible.
IMO, the deallocation should not be done until the available memory is starting to get low.

Here is some official info from Microsoft, and there is no mention of any issues that might arise from shifting another gig of address space to applications unless the system has more than 16GB of physical ram. The kernal simply does not need that much on a system with 4GB or less.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Ive used the 3GB Enabler program to some effect on Sid Mieres Railroads, which went from crashing all the time to now only crashing sometimes.

I would be interested to see how you go, as I dont bother playing GalCivII on anything bigger than a large map due to crashes. Hopefully the new patch will fix this anyway.