32bit game memory usage explained [Archive] - EQ2 Forum Archive @ EQ2Wire

deadcrickets2

09-14-2011, 06:09 PM

I thought it might be a good time to do a very simplified post as to why a 32bit application such as EQ2 is limited to 2Gb on a 64bit operating system.The main idea behind a 64bit operating system is to allow a computer to use beyond 4Gb of RAM. It'd be able to use larger datasets and in theory run faster than a 32bit operating system. When you run a 32bit application such as EQ2 it is limited to the 2Gb limitation that is not automatically extended by the operating system. Therefore you can run into a situation where the game can crash due to a memory error. One way around it is to use a switch recommended by Microsoft. The way to use the switch varies based on whether you are using Windows XP or Vista/7/8. Essentially what you are making use of is called 4GT. <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc786709(WS.10).aspx" target="_blank">4GT per Microsoft</a>:"The technology called 4-gigabyte tuning (4GT), also known as application memory tuning, or the /3GB switch, is one of two technologies that increase the amount of physical memory available to user mode applications.""4GT makes more of the computer’s virtual memory available to applications by making less virtual memory available to the operating system. By enabling 4GT, applications are able to access 3 GB of virtual memory instead of the 2 GB normally allocated for user mode processes. This is a 50 percent increase in virtual memory, allowing more data to be cached and potentially significantly increasing performance."Again, per Microsoft, this is not automatically done except on the Windows 2003 server family. You have to manually enable it. There is a lot of bad information on the internet in referece to this and many other switches available on the operating system. I suggest users only follow legitimate sources, such as Microsoft itself, to determine if this is right. As always, this solution is not endorsed by SOE.How to enable the switch to avoid the memory crashes:Vista/7/8:Click on the Start menu, type in cmd.exe. Right click on cmd.exe and click Run as Administrator. Once the command window pops up type in bcdedit /set IncreaseUserVA 3072 and press enter. Restart your computer.On Windows XP x64:‪1.‬Right-click My Computer and select Properties. The System Properties dialog box will appear.‪2.‬Click the Advanced tab.‪3.‬In the Startup and Recovery area, click Settings. The Startup and Recovery dialog box will appear.‪4.‬In the System startup area, click Edit. This will open the Windows boot.ini file in Notepad.‪5.‬In the [Operating Systems] section, add the following switches to the end of the startup line that includes the /fastdetect switch: /3GB‪6.‬Save the changes and close Notepad.‪7.‬Click OK two times to close the open dialog boxes, and then restart the computer for the change to take effect.These changes are not meant for systems that have under 4Gb of system RAM nor a computer using integrated graphics as the integrated graphics shares system RAM.

TSR-JoshuaM

09-14-2011, 06:16 PM

I'll sticky this one as it does contain great information even if we, SOE, do not support the method itself.While SOE does not support making such modifications, that only means that you should consult an experienced technician and/or that you are proceeding at your own risk (although these commands should have absolutely no negative impact whatsoever).

Brigh

10-16-2011, 11:36 PM

If you play Oblivion then you are / should be aware of the <a href="http://www.ntcore.com/4gb_patch.php" target="_blank">4 GB patcher</a> that simply changes a line (can do this with CFF Explorer as well if you know / read where to change it) by a simple process internally for you.The problem with constantly changing games like EQ II (and the auto patching of Steam in the case of Steam version of Oblivion) is the auto patcher will patch it. You will need to run the auto-updater, then use the 4 GB patcher, then launch the everquest2.exe. Perhaps someone with batch file creation knowledge could make one that would do this process automatically.edit 12/8/11It seems EQ II doesn't change it now or it has been set up to use more than 2 GB as everytime I look at the header using CFF Explorer it shows it check marked as "App can handle > 2gb addressest".

Hateeternal

12-12-2011, 10:12 AM

Very very nice, thank you very much for this explanation.Reduced my reloading times for like NPCs and interiors in the GH plus log-in times for minutes.Got a question though, how can one reverse this change if one had to or wanted to? <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />regards

Caernarvon

12-12-2011, 11:01 AM

I'm about to try this myself as playing on a 4GB system under Vista 32-bit has become very problematic since AoD even after having bumped the graphics all the way down - everything was fine before AoD on High Performance. Updating to 64-bit is just not an option for me right now and no doubt many many others too.Before I go ahead and invoke it, I decided to look up how to revoke this command should my system become unstable, and the command to do go back to how things were is...bcdedit /set IncreaseUserVa 2048

Caernarvon

12-12-2011, 12:35 PM

Ok this has worked a treat for me with Windows Vista 32 bit 4GB RAM and a 512mb GeForce 9800GT, thank you so much! I am now able to bump my graphics back up to high performance, and bounce around between multiple highly decorated / populated zones time after time just as I was able to Pre GU62 / AoD without getting the critical errors / out of memory that have been coming up since AoD - thanks again!

-=Hoss=-

12-12-2011, 02:38 PM

Wouldn't just increasng the size of your virtual memory do the same thing? Or does the OS try to suck up everything beyond a certain limit?

Caernarvon

12-12-2011, 02:51 PM

<cite>-=Hoss=- wrote:</cite><blockquote>Wouldn't just increasng the size of your virtual memory do the same thing? Or does the OS try to suck up everything beyond a certain limit? </blockquote>Well I upped my virtual memory paging file size last week to around 3 times the size of my RAM, which I read elsewhere in these forums that that would help but I continuted to experience difficulties.This trick worked for me though, I haven't crashed since using it, whereas previously I was crashing every other major zone change pretty much, and that was on a lower graphics setting.

Therendil

12-12-2011, 03:12 PM

Thanks for this post! Not sure if it will help, but I am going to try it.-= Therendil =-

TSR-JoshuaM

12-12-2011, 03:17 PM

<cite>-=Hoss=- wrote:</cite><blockquote>Wouldn't just increasng the size of your virtual memory do the same thing? Or does the OS try to suck up everything beyond a certain limit? </blockquote>No, it still would not allow a single specific application to consume over 2GB of memory by itself. This switch allows an application,such as EQII, to consume more than 2GB.

Kerahzey

12-12-2011, 03:26 PM

To JoshuaM,I have Win 7 with 16 Gigs of RAM, 2.8 I7 Proccessor, ATI Video Card (newer). I lag real bad during raids. I Lag real real bad when the mages throw down that lighting effect on the ground. I am on the Bazaar server will this all change when we switch to Freeport Server ?? I have 64 Bit is there anything I can do if the new server does not help ??

TSR-JoshuaM

12-12-2011, 05:05 PM

<cite>Ormeelire@The Bazaar wrote:</cite><blockquote>To JoshuaM,I have Win 7 with 16 Gigs of RAM, 2.8 I7 Proccessor, ATI Video Card (newer). I lag real bad during raids. I Lag real real bad when the mages throw down that lighting effect on the ground. I am on the Bazaar server will this all change when we switch to Freeport Server ?? I have 64 Bit is there anything I can do if the new server does not help ??</blockquote>Post your DXDIAG info maybe we can make recommendations now. One thing I'll note right away is that you should use GPU shadows instead of CPU and disable Point LIght Shadows (CPU).

Kerahzey

12-13-2011, 02:39 AM

Wow that one setting alone helped alot, thanks alot. You want me to post that whole file dxdiag and I have two of them one for 32 bit and one for 64 bit ?? Or should I send a private mail and not clog up the forums ?? Oh ya and how do I disable Point Light Shadows, I couldn't find that. Thanks again <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" />

Imprint

12-13-2011, 12:31 PM

<cite>deadcrickets2 wrote:</cite><blockquote>On Windows XP:‪5.‬In the [Operating Systems] section, add the following switches to the end of the startup line that includes the /fastdetect switch: /3GB</blockquote> Ok I am perfectly willing to give this a go, but though this instruction probably seems clear to everyone else on the planet, to me it is confusing (and I -really- do not want to mess this up)This is what appears for me to edit in notepad:[operating systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimerAs you can see, "/fastdetect" is already in there.Do I add "/fastdetect switch: /3GB" to the end of that line? (After "/usepmtimer"?) (And leave the other /fastdetect where it is?)Or do I add "switch: /3GB" after the /fastdetect which is -already- in the line?Also the instruction refers to adding "switches", plural. But this is only one switch, right?

Brigh

12-13-2011, 12:54 PM

<cite>Imprint@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>deadcrickets2 wrote:</cite><blockquote>On Windows XP:‪5.‬In the [Operating Systems] section, add the following switches to the end of the startup line that includes the /fastdetect switch: /3GB</blockquote> Ok I am perfectly willing to give this a go, but though this instruction probably seems clear to everyone else on the planet, to me it is confusing (and I -really- do not want to mess this up)This is what appears for me to edit in notepad:[operating systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimerAs you can see, "/fastdetect" is already in there.Do I add "/fastdetect switch: /3GB" to the end of that line? (After "/usepmtimer"?) (And leave the other /fastdetect where it is?)Or do I add "switch: /3GB" after the /fastdetect which is -already- in the line?Also the instruction refers to adding "switches", plural. But this is only one switch, right?</blockquote>He is saying add /3GB in the line that includes "/fastdetect". Plural was was just a mistake obviously since only one was mentioned.

Imprint

12-13-2011, 01:02 PM

<cite>Brigh wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Imprint@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>deadcrickets2 wrote:</cite><blockquote>On Windows XP:‪5.‬In the [Operating Systems] section, add the following switches to the end of the startup line that includes the /fastdetect switch: /3GB</blockquote> Ok I am perfectly willing to give this a go, but though this instruction probably seems clear to everyone else on the planet, to me it is confusing (and I -really- do not want to mess this up)This is what appears for me to edit in notepad:[operating systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimer</blockquote>He is saying add /3GB in the line that includes "/fastdetect". Plural was was just a mistake obviously since only one was mentioned.</blockquote>Yes it seemed obvious to me as well but you have no idea how loathe I am to make assumptions when it comes to things like this. So! To make this ultra extreme ub3r|y mind numbingly clear!When I add the switch that part of the file I quoted will look like this:[operating systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /3GB /usepmtimerRight?... or will it be this?:[operating systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimer /3GB

deadcrickets2

12-13-2011, 02:40 PM

<cite>Imprint@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Brigh wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Imprint@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>deadcrickets2 wrote:</cite><blockquote>On Windows XP:‪5.‬In the [Operating Systems] section, add the following switches to the end of the startup line that includes the /fastdetect switch: /3GB</blockquote> Ok I am perfectly willing to give this a go, but though this instruction probably seems clear to everyone else on the planet, to me it is confusing (and I -really- do not want to mess this up)This is what appears for me to edit in notepad:[operating systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimer</blockquote>He is saying add /3GB in the line that includes "/fastdetect". Plural was was just a mistake obviously since only one was mentioned.</blockquote>Yes it seemed obvious to me as well but you have no idea how loathe I am to make assumptions when it comes to things like this. So! To make this ultra extreme ub3r|y mind numbingly clear!When I add the switch that part of the file I quoted will look like this:[operating systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /3GB /usepmtimerRight?... or will it be this?:[operating systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimer /3GB</blockquote>The order of the switches doesn't matter in this case. However, to eliminate chance of user error it's best to add it after the last switch. So in your case the second option is best.

Imprint

12-13-2011, 02:53 PM

<cite>deadcrickets2 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Imprint@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote>... or will it be this?:[operating systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimer /3GB</blockquote>The order of the switches doesn't matter in this case. However, to eliminate chance of user error it's best to add it after the last switch. So in your case the second option is best.</blockquote>Thank you.Do I need to do anything to the virtual memory setting? Right now I have the "initial size" and "maximum size" set to 4096 (double my physical RAM of 2GB)

TSR-JoshuaM

12-13-2011, 03:21 PM

<cite>Ormeelire@The Bazaar wrote:</cite><blockquote>Wow that one setting alone helped alot, thanks alot. You want me to post that whole file dxdiag and I have two of them one for 32 bit and one for 64 bit ?? Or should I send a private mail and not clog up the forums ?? Oh ya and how do I disable Point Light Shadows, I couldn't find that. Thanks again <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" /> </blockquote>Click the Advanced button in the display options, its also under Shadows. How big of a jump did moving to GPU shadows give ya?For the DXDIAG info, the best path is to open a support ticket with it included and just post your incident number.

deadcrickets2

12-13-2011, 05:49 PM

<cite>Imprint@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>deadcrickets2 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Imprint@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote>... or will it be this?:[operating systems]multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /usepmtimer /3GB</blockquote>The order of the switches doesn't matter in this case. However, to eliminate chance of user error it's best to add it after the last switch. So in your case the second option is best.</blockquote>Thank you.Do I need to do anything to the virtual memory setting? Right now I have the "initial size" and "maximum size" set to 4096 (double my physical RAM of 2GB)</blockquote>The page file should be controlled by the operating system. It doesn't work like in the old days when it was called a swap file. Those advocating a controlled size page file are often creating unforeseen problems in programs.

Imprint

12-14-2011, 10:47 AM

<cite>deadcrickets2 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Imprint@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote>Thank you.Do I need to do anything to the virtual memory setting? Right now I have the "initial size" and "maximum size" set to 4096 (double my physical RAM of 2GB)</blockquote>The page file should be controlled by the operating system. It doesn't work like in the old days when it was called a swap file. Those advocating a controlled size page file are often creating unforeseen problems in programs.</blockquote>Thanks again. Made all the changes and the computer is functioning. No idea yet if it took care of the critical out of memory errors.(The person who set up this soon to be ex computer made those settings in virtual memory. He is also an ex. heh.)

Kerahzey

12-14-2011, 11:58 AM

<cite>TSR-JoshuaM wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Ormeelire@The Bazaar wrote:</cite><blockquote>Wow that one setting alone helped alot, thanks alot. You want me to post that whole file dxdiag and I have two of them one for 32 bit and one for 64 bit ?? Or should I send a private mail and not clog up the forums ?? Oh ya and how do I disable Point Light Shadows, I couldn't find that. Thanks again <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" /> </blockquote>Click the Advanced button in the display options, its also under Shadows. How big of a jump did moving to GPU shadows give ya?For the DXDIAG info, the best path is to open a support ticket with it included and just post your incident number.</blockquote>I havn't measured it but my problem is taken care of the performence is awsome and also a few guildy's were helped also. I'll leave the dxdiag thing for another day if I have problems. Thanks for all your help, you rock <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Avirodar

12-15-2011, 09:15 AM

<cite>deadcrickets2 wrote:</cite><blockquote>I thought it might be a good time to do a very simplified post as to why a 32bit application such as EQ2 is limited to 2Gb on a 64bit operating system.The main idea behind a 64bit operating system is to allow a computer to use beyond 4Gb of RAM. It'd be able to use larger datasets and in theory run faster than a 32bit operating system. When you run a 32bit application such as EQ2 it is limited to the 2Gb limitation that is not automatically extended by the operating system. Therefore you can run into a situation where the game can crash due to a memory error. One way around it is to use a switch recommended by Microsoft. The way to use the switch varies based on whether you are using Windows XP or Vista/7/8. Essentially what you are making use of is called 4GT. <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc786709(WS.10).aspx" target="_blank">4GT per Microsoft</a>:"The technology called 4-gigabyte tuning (4GT), also known as application memory tuning, or the /3GB switch, is one of two technologies that increase the amount of physical memory available to user mode applications.""4GT makes more of the computer’s virtual memory available to applications by making less virtual memory available to the operating system. By enabling 4GT, applications are able to access 3 GB of virtual memory instead of the 2 GB normally allocated for user mode processes. This is a 50 percent increase in virtual memory, allowing more data to be cached and potentially significantly increasing performance."Again, per Microsoft, this is not automatically done except on the Windows 2003 server family. You have to manually enable it. There is a lot of bad information on the internet in referece to this and many other switches available on the operating system. I suggest users only follow legitimate sources, such as Microsoft itself, to determine if this is right. As always, this solution is not endorsed by SOE.How to enable the switch to avoid the memory crashes:Vista/7/8:Click on the Start menu, type in cmd.exe. Right click on cmd.exe and click Run as Administrator. Once the command window pops up type in bcdedit /set IncreaseUserVA 3072 and press enter. Restart your computer.On Windows XP:‪1.‬Right-click My Computer and select Properties. The System Properties dialog box will appear.‪2.‬Click the Advanced tab.‪3.‬In the Startup and Recovery area, click Settings. The Startup and Recovery dialog box will appear.‪4.‬In the System startup area, click Edit. This will open the Windows boot.ini file in Notepad.‪5.‬In the [Operating Systems] section, add the following switches to the end of the startup line that includes the /fastdetect switch: /3GB‪6.‬Save the changes and close Notepad.‪7.‬Click OK two times to close the open dialog boxes, and then restart the computer for the change to take effect.</blockquote>The very first line from the quote above : "why a 32bit application such as EQ2 is limited to 2Gb on a 64bit operating system."Hi. Please get your information correct. Your very first line is wrong. I run a stock standard install of Win7, 64bit version. No modifications, no fancy edits, plain defaults. Last night, my EQ2 client was using 2.8 GB of memory.2.8GB of memory is over the 2GB limit that you incorrectly claimed.Everything I have read thus far on /4GT (/3GB) from microsoft documentation, indicates your information is either useless, or potentially detrimental to anyone running a 64bit operating system.If you are not running a 32bit operating system, ignore the OP's advice. For most people, it poses more risk than benefit. If in doubt, do your own research on what /4GT is. While I am sure the OP was made with good intentions, but it is an unwise action for most users, especially if you have not done your research.I pulled this quote from one of the microsoft documents regarding /4GT"4-gigabyte tuning (4GT), also known as application memory tuning, or the /3GB switch, is a technology (only applicable to 32 bit systems) that alters the amount of virtual address space available to user mode applications."With the limited target audience for the information in the OP, and the potential for user error, I suggest this thread be unstickied, incorrect information be removed, and due warnings be provided..

deadcrickets2

12-15-2011, 10:04 AM

<cite>Avirodar@Oasis wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>deadcrickets2 wrote:</cite><blockquote></blockquote>The very first line from the quote above : "why a 32bit application such as EQ2 is limited to 2Gb on a 64bit operating system."Hi. Please get your information correct. Your very first line is wrong. I run a stock standard install of Win7, 64bit version. No modifications, no fancy edits, plain defaults. Last night, my EQ2 client was using 2.8 GB of memory.2.8GB of memory is over the 2GB limit that you incorrectly claimed.Everything I have read thus far on /4GT (/3GB) from microsoft documentation, indicates your information is either useless, or potentially detrimental to anyone running a 64bit operating system.If you are not running a 32bit operating system, ignore the OP's advice. For most people, it poses more risk than benefit. If in doubt, do your own research on what /4GT is. While I am sure the OP was made with good intentions, but it is an unwise action for most users, especially if you have not done your research.I pulled this quote from one of the microsoft documents regarding /4GT"4-gigabyte tuning (4GT), also known as application memory tuning, or the /3GB switch, is a technology (only applicable to 32 bit systems) that alters the amount of virtual address space available to user mode applications."With the limited target audience for the information in the OP, and the potential for user error, I suggest this thread be unstickied, incorrect information be removed, and due warnings be provided..</blockquote>Let's tackle this head-on. First off, <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778%28v=vs.85%29.aspx#physical_memory_limits_ windows_7" target="_blank">64bit operating systems have the same 32bit application limits as a 32bit operating system</a>. This is due to the WoW, Windows on Windows, system. According to Microsoft:"32-bit processes that run on 64-bit versions of Windows run in a 4-GB tuning model (2 GB User and 2GB Kernel)"From same article by Microsoft is this chart:<table ><tbody><tr><th>Memory type</th><th>Limit in on X86</th><th>Limit in 64-bit Windows</th></tr> <tr><td>User-mode virtual address space for each 32-bit process</td><td>2 GB Up to 3 GB with IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE and 4GT</td><td>2 GB with IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE cleared (default) 4 GB with IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE set</td></tr></tbody></table>What that means is that all processes (applications) are only able to use 2, not 4 or 5 or 16. The rest is reserved for the kernel.Secondly, from <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb613473%28v=vs.85%29.aspx" target="_blank">Microsoft in regards to using 4GT on 64bit operating systems</a>:"On 64-bit editions of Windows, 32-bit applications marked with the <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms680349%28v=vs.85%29.aspx">IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE</a> flag have 4 GB of address space available."Thirdly, when you see memory usage under Task Manager it may include page file use. Thus you could have 512Mb of RAM and have an application showing as using 1.2Gb.As for stability, Microsoft vouches for the stability of it. If you do a search you'll also find that Oracle has an article about it and they, too, vouch for it.

Avirodar

12-15-2011, 10:23 AM

Your information contradicts itself. I have not enabled any large memory awareness, I have not changed any stock, default, factory settings. My EQ2 client can, and does, use more than 2GB of memory.Unless you are trying to tell me that 2.8GB of memory is less than 2.0GB of memory, your post is wrong. That is why I have called the legitimacy and reliability of the information snippets you provide, in legitimate question.The rest of your post is meaningless snippets of an overall picture you do not fully comprehend. I have most definitely NOT enabled /4GT on my machine and I can have 2 clients of EQ2 open, each using over 2.6 GB of memory. When microsoft themselves say /4GT is only for 32 bit machines, I believe them.

deadcrickets2

12-15-2011, 11:13 AM

<cite>Avirodar@Oasis wrote:</cite><blockquote>Your information contradicts itself. I have not enabled any large memory awareness, I have not changed any stock, default, factory settings. My EQ2 client can, and does, use more than 2GB of memory.Unless you are trying to tell me that 2.8GB of memory is less than 2.0GB of memory, your post is wrong. That is why I have called the legitimacy and reliability of the information snippets you provide, in legitimate question.The rest of your post is meaningless snippets of an overall picture you do not fully comprehend. I have most definitely NOT enabled /4GT on my machine and I can have 2 clients of EQ2 open, each using over 2.6 GB of memory. When microsoft themselves say /4GT is only for 32 bit machines, I believe them.</blockquote>No, it does not contradict itself. Look at the chart, above, provided by Microsoft themselves.Secondly, you are, obviously, confused as to how memory is handled in Windows. What you are seeing when you look under Task Manager is the process working set. This total will include both the memory and address space limits plus the virtual memory stored in the page file. The memory and address space limits is what Microsoft refers to when they mention 4GT and why it has to be enabled. It also explains how you can have a larger number than 2048 in task manager and not crash. So on a 64bit system it has 4GT by default. However, it is set to 2 GB for you and 2 GB for the system. What I show in the OP is a change to make it 3 GB for you and 1 GB for the system. This prevents the page fault errors players are seeing.Whenver you start a program on Windows it will automatically allocate virtual memory space regardless of if the program actually needs it. That virtual memory will keep growing as you use the program; again, regardless of if the program still needs the information. The page file will not, however, keep a program from crashing due to a page fault when it does exceed the memory and address space limitation placed on it by the WoW32 subsystem.The only way that the memory can be kept under the limit is due to what is called 'garbage cleanup' done by the application itself. If the application has not been coded correctly you will see the memory leak that some users are seeing now.

deadcrickets2

12-15-2011, 11:24 AM

Another thing to keep in mind is how they wrote the line that you are refering to earlier that caused the confusion. It's a common error.The line you quoted is:"4-gigabyte tuning (4GT), also known as application memory tuning, or the /3GB switch, is a technology (only applicable to 32 bit systems) that alters the amount of virtual address space available to user mode applications"Let's break down that line to fully understand it. It's stating that:4-gigabyte tuning (4GT), also known as application memory tuning, is a technology that alters the amount of virtual address space available to user mode applications.This is a true statement.However, it tossed in a qualifier into the sentence that confuses people by stating that /3GB is only applicable to 32 bit systems. That, also is true. On the Vista 64, Windows 7 64 and Windows 8 64 systems they ignore those boot switches.Instead, it's done by the bcdedit.

deadcrickets2

12-15-2011, 11:42 AM

Addendum:If anyone wants a much more indepth look into the subject I would suggest the following blog entry by Mark Russinovich who works as a Tech Fellow at Microsoft:<a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/markrussinovich/archive/2008/11/17/3155406.aspx" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://blogs.technet.com/b/markruss...17/3155406.aspx</a>

Felynx

12-15-2011, 12:11 PM

Thank you for the info on this, DC. You have helped myself, and many others here. Cheers

Levatino

12-15-2011, 12:34 PM

I also would like to thank the OP. Since using 3GT I haven't had a crash in Freeport (I had hickups and I think it would have had crashed on me if I hadn't use this tech.)I want to add one thing though. I think it's adviceable if you want to add the 3GT switch you instead of adding it to your existing line in the operating systems area of the boot.ini file; you copy paste the existing line and add the switch onto that. Then if it would fail or hicks up your system you always have the first configuarion to fall back on.With copy paste the original line and adding the 3GT switch you create a secondary operating system, if it fails just load up your original operating system go back to your boot.ini and delete the copy pasted line.And if you are not sure of what to do, please first contact someone in your neighbourhood who does has knowledge about this sort of things

Avirodar

12-15-2011, 01:20 PM

<cite>deadcrickets2 wrote:</cite><blockquote>Another thing to keep in mind is how they wrote the line that you are refering to earlier that caused the confusion. It's a common error.The line you quoted is:"4-gigabyte tuning (4GT), also known as application memory tuning, or the /3GB switch, is a technology (only applicable to 32 bit systems) that alters the amount of virtual address space available to user mode applications"Let's break down that line to fully understand it. It's stating that:4-gigabyte tuning (4GT), also known as application memory tuning, is a technology that alters the amount of virtual address space available to user mode applications.This is a true statement.However, it tossed in a qualifier into the sentence that confuses people by stating that /3GB is only applicable to 32 bit systems. That, also is true. On the Vista 64, Windows 7 64 and Windows 8 64 systems they ignore those boot switches.Instead, it's done by the bcdedit.</blockquote>"4-gigabyte tuning (4GT), also known as application memory tuning, or the /3GB switch, is a technology (only applicable to 32 bit systems) that alters the amount of virtual address space available to user mode applications"Lets break it down. The quote makes it very clear that :/4GT = memory application tuning./3GB = memory application tuning./4GT = /3GBIt is all one and the same, microsofts documentation on numerous articles make it clear. Whether activated by the switch, or by bcdedit, it is the same thing. Only applicable to 32 bit systems...While you can modify different settings via bcdedit to allow "large file awareness" and increased use of virtual memory (which is of no use to gamers), this is different to physical memory and access to it. The primary benefit of /4GT to gamers, is getting more use out of a limited supply of accessible RAM on a 32bit OS.There is a reason all official posts and commentary for /4GT talk all about 32 bit operating systems. Such as:A great read : <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc786709%28WS.10%29.aspx#w2k3tr_4gt_what_suep" target="_blank">http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/...r_4gt_what_suep</a>And another : <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb613473%28v=vs.85%29.aspx" target="_blank">http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...v=vs.85%29.aspx</a>And this one makes a great statement :<a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc784475%28WS.10%29.aspx" target="_blank">http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/...28WS.10%29.aspx</a>There are few restrictions regarding the environment in which 4GT can be enabled. 4GT has the following hardware and software requirements: <ul><li > x86-based processor</li></ul>You opened thread stating that EQ2 is limited to 2GB on x64 systems unless changes are made. I have hit 2.8GB on stock default settings without crashing. So unless you are changing what you said to x64 systems having a 4GB limit, that may be a very different story, but as I have not flagged anything for image_file_large_address_aware, this does not appear to co-incide with your information.I have not changed settings in bcdedit. As I continue to read up on the fucntion, namely 4GT/3GB, I keep finding pages filled with information on how this benefits x32 Operating Systems. I can see why oracle (database architechture) would have interest in memory tweaking, even on 64 bit OS's, but they are a whole different ballpark to games, especially when dealing with data volumes.

deadcrickets2

12-15-2011, 01:25 PM

<cite>Avirodar@Oasis wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>deadcrickets2 wrote:</cite><blockquote>Another thing to keep in mind is how they wrote the line that you are refering to earlier that caused the confusion. It's a common error.The line you quoted is:"4-gigabyte tuning (4GT), also known as application memory tuning, or the /3GB switch, is a technology (only applicable to 32 bit systems) that alters the amount of virtual address space available to user mode applications"Let's break down that line to fully understand it. It's stating that:4-gigabyte tuning (4GT), also known as application memory tuning, is a technology that alters the amount of virtual address space available to user mode applications.This is a true statement.However, it tossed in a qualifier into the sentence that confuses people by stating that /3GB is only applicable to 32 bit systems. That, also is true. On the Vista 64, Windows 7 64 and Windows 8 64 systems they ignore those boot switches.Instead, it's done by the bcdedit.</blockquote>"4-gigabyte tuning (4GT), also known as application memory tuning, or the /3GB switch, is a technology (only applicable to 32 bit systems) that alters the amount of virtual address space available to user mode applications"Lets break it down. The quote makes it very clear that :/4GT = memory application tuning./3GB = memory application tuning./4GT = /3GBIt is all one and the same, microsofts documentation on numerous articles make it clear. Whether activated by the switch, or by bcdedit, it is the same thing. Only applicable to 32 bit systems...While you can modify different settings via bcdedit to allow "large file awareness" and increased use of virtual memory (which is of no use to gamers), this is different to physical memory and access to it. The primary benefit of /4GT to gamers, is getting more use out of a limited supply of accessible RAM on a 32bit OS.There is a reason all official posts and commentary for /4GT talk all about 32 bit operating systems. Such as:A great read : <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc786709%28WS.10%29.aspx#w2k3tr_4gt_what_suep" target="_blank">http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/...r_4gt_what_suep</a>And another : <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb613473%28v=vs.85%29.aspx" target="_blank">http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...v=vs.85%29.aspx</a>And this one makes a great statement :<a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc784475%28WS.10%29.aspx" target="_blank">http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/...28WS.10%29.aspx</a>There are few restrictions regarding the environment in which 4GT can be enabled. 4GT has the following hardware and software requirements: <ul><li> x86-based processor</li></ul>You opened thread stating that EQ2 is limited to 2GB on x64 systems unless changes are made. I have hit 2.8GB on stock default settings without crashing. So unless you are changing what you said to x64 systems having a 4GB limit, that may be a very different story, but as I have not flagged anything for image_file_large_address_aware, this does not appear to co-incide with your information.I have not changed settings in bcdedit. As I continue to read up on the fucntion, namely 4GT/3GB, I keep finding pages filled with information on how this benefits x32 Operating Systems. I can see why oracle (database architechture) would have interest in memory tweaking, even on 64 bit OS's, but they are a whole different ballpark to games, especially when dealing with data volumes.</blockquote>Autotune on 64bit systems is on by default. However, as per the Microsoft articles I posted above, it is set to 2/2. 2 for the application and 2 for the system. BCDEDIT Microsoft suggested changes that to 3/1. The chart in one of the prior posts, again created by Microsoft, makes it clear that by default it's 2/2 unless the application has the Large Address Aware flag coded into the executable header. At that point it'll be 4. I also explained to you how you are able to see 2.8Gb when the application limit is 2Gb. The article by the Tech Fellow at Microsoft also explains this.Yet another chart, this time from the Microsoft Performance Team:<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="549"><tbody><tr><td width="180" valign="top">Memory Type</td> <td width="178" valign="top">Limit on x86</td> <td width="189" valign="top">Limit on x64</td></tr> <tr><td width="179" valign="top">Physical Memory</td> <td width="177" valign="top">4GB 64 GB with PAE</td> <td width="191" valign="top">1 TB</td></tr> <tr><td width="178" valign="top">Kernel Virtual Address</td> <td width="177" valign="top">2 GB 1 GB with 4GT (/3GB)</td> <td width="193" valign="top">8 TB</td></tr> <tr><td width="178" valign="top">User Mode Process</td> <td width="176" valign="top">2 GB 3 GB with 4GT (/3GB)</td> <td width="195" valign="top">2 GB for 32-bit processes 4 GB for 32-bit processes with LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE 8 TB for 64-bit processes</td></tr></tbody></table><a rel="nofollow" href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/askperf/archive/2011/09/02/why-run-64-bit-windows.aspx" target="_blank">http://blogs.technet.com/b/askperf/...it-windows.aspx</a>If you have any further questions please direct them at Microsoft through the MVP program. If there is any contradiction you feel they have with their documentation they may have an answer for you.

SkunkCabbage

12-17-2011, 06:46 AM

I just read the Microsoft page at <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb613473%28v=vs.85%29.aspx" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...v=vs.85%29.aspx</a>Among the things it says is: "To enable an application to use the larger address space, set the <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms680349%28v=vs.85%29.aspx">IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE</a> flag in the image header"Can this be done in EverQuest II? If so, how? And won't the automatic "patch" that occurs undo whatever I might have done in the EQ files?

deadcrickets2

01-02-2012, 12:32 PM

<cite>SkunkCabbage wrote:</cite><blockquote>I just read the Microsoft page at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb613473%28v=vs.85%29.aspx" target="_blank">http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...v=vs.85%29.aspx</a>Among the things it says is: "To enable an application to use the larger address space, set the <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms680349%28v=vs.85%29.aspx">IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE</a> flag in the image header"Can this be done in EverQuest II? If so, how? And won't the automatic "patch" that occurs undo whatever I might have done in the EQ files?</blockquote>From my own checking the file is already set to enable this. There is more to it simply having this flag though. An update to the original post will be coming soon to explain more.

Banedon_Toran

01-02-2012, 12:56 PM

<cite>deadcrickets2 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>SkunkCabbage wrote:</cite><blockquote>I just read the Microsoft page at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb613473%28v=vs.85%29.aspx" target="_blank">http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...v=vs.85%29.aspx</a>Among the things it says is: "To enable an application to use the larger address space, set the <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms680349%28v=vs.85%29.aspx">IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE</a> flag in the image header"Can this be done in EverQuest II? If so, how? And won't the automatic "patch" that occurs undo whatever I might have done in the EQ files?</blockquote>From my own checking the file is already set to enable this. There is more to it simply having this flag though. An update to the original post will be coming soon to explain more.</blockquote> Interesting, so potentially the option of 4GB physical address space for EQ2 on 64bit systems with more than 4GB memory?

Avirodar

01-05-2012, 10:28 AM

<cite>Banedon_Toran wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>deadcrickets2 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>SkunkCabbage wrote:</cite><blockquote>I just read the Microsoft page at <a rel="nofollow" href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb613473%28v=vs.85%29.aspx" target="_blank">http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...v=vs.85%29.aspx</a>Among the things it says is: "To enable an application to use the larger address space, set the <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms680349%28v=vs.85%29.aspx">IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE</a> flag in the image header"Can this be done in EverQuest II? If so, how? And won't the automatic "patch" that occurs undo whatever I might have done in the EQ files?</blockquote>From my own checking the file is already set to enable this. There is more to it simply having this flag though. An update to the original post will be coming soon to explain more.</blockquote> Interesting, so potentially the option of 4GB physical address space for EQ2 on 64bit systems with more than 4GB memory?</blockquote>Indeed. But to work properly (in a manner that yields superior client performance), it may require SOE to code certain things to take advantage of it, beyond the image header tag.

Pashta

01-05-2012, 10:50 PM

Thank you, trying it now because I have been receiving the memory error lately. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

Alenna

01-13-2012, 05:43 PM

Yes I want to thank you also for htis information but need to know how it effects a machine with 2GB Ram which is all my AMD Athlon 64 3300+ mother board allows at least it is all that was recognized when i tried to install more(this is better then my old mother board that did not allow any more then 1Gig RAM). I am running with an ATI Radeon 9800 XT Graphics card. and until AoD expansion hit live was doing fine. since then it has been lag city and I"ve had to go down to Extreme performance instead of my usual High performance. and this last patch seems to have kicked the problem up to getting that memory error pop up, having to close the game out and request help in getting my Toon on AB out of from the teir 1 Guild hall she was trying to get in while in Extreme performanceSo all I need to know is if this fix will work with 2gig ram or am I SoL until SoE figures out what they broke.

Levatino

01-14-2012, 12:32 AM

<cite>Alenna@Guk wrote:</cite><blockquote>Yes I want to thank you also for htis information but need to know how it effects a machine with 2GB Ram which is all my AMD Athlon 64 3300+ mother board allows at least it is all that was recognized when i tried to install more(this is better then my old mother board that did not allow any more then 1Gig RAM). I am running with an ATI Radeon 9800 XT Graphics card. and until AoD expansion hit live was doing fine. since then it has been lag city and I"ve had to go down to Extreme performance instead of my usual High performance. and this last patch seems to have kicked the problem up to getting that memory error pop up, having to close the game out and request help in getting my Toon on AB out of from the teir 1 Guild hall she was trying to get in while in Extreme performanceSo all I need to know is if this fix will work with 2gig ram or am I SoL until SoE figures out what they broke.</blockquote>I also have 2 gigs of Ram physically and I can say this solution works for me. Yes I have lag, but the error is gone.The switch also takes into account the virtual memory you have set on your machine.My suggestion to you, try it out.edit: spelling mistake

Helmarf

01-14-2012, 01:03 PM

Ok i had the same problems with memory crashes but only on 2 of my chars when trying to zone in to their houses and some random crashes when zoning to guildhall. But this works very good, it looks like my system stoped consuming more memory to.Big thx <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" />

Pinuvin

01-19-2012, 03:36 PM

Suffered this for a while and tried this method and it worked great! Thanks for the soloution to one of my problems at least.

Uwkete-of-Crushbone

01-26-2012, 08:00 AM

<cite>Levatino wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Alenna@Guk wrote:</cite><blockquote>Yes I want to thank you also for htis information but need to know how it effects a machine with 2GB Ram which is all my AMD Athlon 64 3300+ mother board allows at least it is all that was recognized when i tried to install more(this is better then my old mother board that did not allow any more then 1Gig RAM). I am running with an ATI Radeon 9800 XT Graphics card. and until AoD expansion hit live was doing fine. since then it has been lag city and I"ve had to go down to Extreme performance instead of my usual High performance. and this last patch seems to have kicked the problem up to getting that memory error pop up, having to close the game out and request help in getting my Toon on AB out of from the teir 1 Guild hall she was trying to get in while in Extreme performanceSo all I need to know is if this fix will work with 2gig ram or am I SoL until SoE figures out what they broke.</blockquote>I also have 2 gigs of Ram physically and I can say this solution works for me. Yes I have lag, but the error is gone.The switch also takes into account the virtual memory you have set on your machine.My suggestion to you, try it out.edit: spelling mistake</blockquote>Ooh! Man, I hope it works for me, too, since I have very similar issues. Frankly, I have WORSE than only 2 GB of RAM, but it was never an issue until this week, on Test Server (Erollisi Day is already up there). Why, I have no idea, but here's my info:Processor: Pentium IV 3.00 GHz (Enhanced)RAM: 1.50 GB; 2.99 GHz (approx.)Graphics Card: Chaintech GeForce FX-5200 128 MB DDR VRAM (for the longest time, this and my RAM were enough to run EQ2 fairly well; no bad crashes at all until this week)Operating System: Windows XPScreen Resolution: 1024 x 768 60 HzFrames Per Second: Put it this way: I rejoice when I'm up to double-digits. This has actually decreased a little since the whole new, more complex log-in screens bit went up (including the leaving of Launchpad on [it has NEVER dropped of its own accord for me; I've always had to shut it off manually using Windows Task Manager], and the interestingly-named AwesomiumProcess.exe. When I killed those two, the Mem Usage of EverQuest2.exe went way down, until I actually got into game...or couldn't, rather, since I'd shut LaunchPad off prematurely. D'oh).I've tried adjusting various Graphics settings under Options->Advanced recently, and while it did help with my FPS, I had a limited time to enjoy it until the Critical Error messages piled up (twice in a row this week, it's been 6 error messages to 1 EQ2, and I've had to do Close Group to finally kill them all). For all I know, it's an issue with something on Test Server; when I play there, I do so with "native" characters created for the purpose. I'll just dash off to a Live server for a bit and see what happens.EDIT: Okay, this is weird. Went on Crushbone server for a couple of hours; it got a little high, Mem Usage-wise, at one point, but nothing too scary (the last time I was on Test, last night, I was on less than a half an hour before getting the bad kind of Crits). Was able to fight some annoying critters that attacked me, finished some quests, even got into our T2 Guild Hall without too many issues, though that got me into scary-ness with over 1 GB of Usage. I was going from the GH to my South Qeynos 6-room house when I got 5 of the usual 6 Critical Errors...but with only 200,000+ K Mem Usage, so I have to wonder if that has anything to do with it, or any indication that it's about to go kerphlooey. :-/UwkP.S. If this switch allocates more to EQ2 (and other large-ish programs) and less to the OS, how will this affect any anti-virus programs? If the answer is, "not at all," sign me up (if possible)! <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" /> --U.

Velenda

02-01-2012, 02:40 PM

You have got to be kidding me.Seriously.What changed inthe game between the last expac and Age of Discovery to cause this memory error? My computer hasn't changed during this time...just the game.Now the solution to this, is to mess with properties in my windows files, that I really have no intention of touching (and could potentially mess up other things in my computer). Instead of say, figuring out what the heck happned, to the program it'self, to make it cause the memory errors.I use to love this game, play it all the time, I reccomended it to everyone...but now it's broken.This is madness.

MrWolfie

02-02-2012, 08:28 AM

I have two identical machines. Both have 4GB of RAM and are running Win XP. One has the 3GB switch set, the other does not. Both show 2.75GB available (My Computer > Properties > General). Where can I check that it's working?Oh, and both machines STILL suffer out of memory crashes in EQ2.

Gadfly299

02-05-2012, 02:01 PM

Well. I enabled that nifty little comand over a month ago. All the crash and memory issues went away as soon as I rebooted. It has helped with all the games on my system in fact. So I went ahead and did it to my wife laptop and big difference there. She is a Sim3 player, and it took the game from run 10 seconds, freeze 10 seconds to smooth sailings.I would say this is a good piece of info that is well worth the time to use.

Brigh

02-05-2012, 04:40 PM

<cite>Aemm@Splitpaw wrote:</cite><blockquote>I have two identical machines. Both have 4GB of RAM and are running Win XP. One has the 3GB switch set, the other does not. Both show 2.75GB available (My Computer > Properties > General). Where can I check that it's working?Oh, and both machines STILL suffer out of memory crashes in EQ2.</blockquote>If you just have 4 GB and after starting the computer, you only have 2.75 left, that is cutting it close for the game, especially if you are going to be running a browser or other things at the same time.Check your Startup folder to see if any non-essential programs are loading to free up some RAM (quicktime, instant messengers, etc all have options to not load at startup. Use those options first before removing them from the startup folder or stopping them in the checkboxes within System Configuration.

Levatino

02-16-2012, 02:26 PM

If you are still having issues with memory you can also use a nifty program like <a href="http://www.iobit.com/gamebooster.html" target="_blank">Gamebooster</a>.When you want to run a game like Everquest 2, first run this program it will shut down unneccesary game related windows services plus also additional other programs you don't use during gaming, thus creating more memory to use for your game. If you are done gaming just press restore to get them back.

deadcrickets2

03-06-2012, 07:56 PM

<cite>Velenda wrote:</cite><blockquote>You have got to be kidding me.Seriously.What changed inthe game between the last expac and Age of Discovery to cause this memory error? My computer hasn't changed during this time...just the game.Now the solution to this, is to mess with properties in my windows files, that I really have no intention of touching (and could potentially mess up other things in my computer). Instead of say, figuring out what the heck happned, to the program it'self, to make it cause the memory errors.I use to love this game, play it all the time, I reccomended it to everyone...but now it's broken.This is madness.</blockquote>The cause of the crashes turned out not to be pure memory related as some thought. Working with two other players who commented on this thread we figured out it was due to memory pointer corruption due to the large memory flag they enabled on the executable. That is not to say that that corruption was the cause of all the crashes people have experienced. Some are truly related to memory leaks.

deadcrickets2

03-06-2012, 07:57 PM

I've got a major re-write I'm going to be putting up some time this week for this. I want to have it reviewed first so as not to catch the TSR unaware.

Vifarc

05-01-2012, 08:45 AM

That's worse with this /3GB, my browser is lagging, and EQ2 can't even launch.Without /3GB, I could enter the game (then crash).

Ritten

05-18-2012, 09:13 AM

The minimum specs are still listed as 512MB -> <a href="http://www.everquest2.com/faq#Q43" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.everquest2.com/faq#Q43</a>While it makes sense that the game needs some more memory these days, I think 2gb is quite a lot. Why do we even run into these problems?Is there a setting to more aggressively 'garbage collect' so release inactive bits of memory?

Jojo

06-24-2012, 02:02 PM

Now I was happy this workaround helped. No crashes anymore with application ran out of memory in EQ2. And now guess what? EQ1 does not like this change at all. Screen freezes as soon as someone casts something with effects.I changed this /3GB thing back and voila EQ1 works again and EQ2 crashes again..... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

deadcrickets2

06-24-2012, 03:06 PM

<cite>Ritten@Splitpaw wrote:</cite><blockquote>The minimum specs are still listed as 512MB -> <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.everquest2.com/faq#Q43" target="_blank">http://www.everquest2.com/faq#Q43</a>While it makes sense that the game needs some more memory these days, I think 2gb is quite a lot. Why do we even run into these problems?Is there a setting to more aggressively 'garbage collect' so release inactive bits of memory?</blockquote>There is but I'll have to look it back up for you. I know there is something related to /low_mem. Try doing a command search when in the game by typing in /low and press TAB.

PaRaGoN3434

08-17-2012, 12:55 PM

I did this on a Dell Insiprion 530 (Spec's below), using Windows Vista 64-bit; and my in game FPS went from 40 to 3!! how do I revert back to defaults? This has messed up everything from internet lag to any game that I've been playing. CPU 1.8GHz Intel Pentium E2160 Memory 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM Graphics 128MB Nvidia GeForce 8300 GS Hard drive 320GB, 7,200 rpm Also running a second graphics card which is a GeForce 8400 GSEDIT*** Semi-fixed this by setting the VMA to 2070; fps is back up to 15, which is at least playable; and suggestions to revert it all the way back to normal?

deadcrickets2

08-17-2012, 03:06 PM

<cite>PaRaGoN3434 wrote:</cite><blockquote>I did this on a Dell Insiprion 530 (Spec's below), using Windows Vista 64-bit; and my in game FPS went from 40 to 3!! how do I revert back to defaults? This has messed up everything from internet lag to any game that I've been playing. CPU 1.8GHz Intel Pentium E2160 Memory 2GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM Graphics 128MB Nvidia GeForce 8300 GS Hard drive 320GB, 7,200 rpm Also running a second graphics card which is a GeForce 8400 GSEDIT*** Semi-fixed this by setting the VMA to 2070; fps is back up to 15, which is at least playable; and suggestions to revert it all the way back to normal?</blockquote>The problem is you ran it on a system with only 2Gb of RAM. It's only really recommended for those with 4Gb and above. Click on the Start menu, type in cmd.exe. Right click on cmd.exe and click Run as Administrator. Once the command window pops up type in bcdedit /set IncreaseUserVA 2048 and press enter. Restart your computer.

PaRaGoN3434

08-20-2012, 02:54 AM

UPDATE** I was wrong about my computer information above, I do have 4gb of ram, I was lazy and did a generic search on my computers info, forgetting I have slight modifications. Edit** MS Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit SP2 Intel Core2duo CPU E7300@ 2.66 Ghz, 4G Ram, Running both a Nvidia 8400GS, and a Nvidia 8300GS I don't know if this also matters, but my Window Experience Index is a 3.6 lacking in performance for windows Aero (everything else is above 5.5). I have since not been able to find the source of my in game lag, everything on the computer is well maintained; and is regularly cleaned. Thinking I may have to take it into a tech specialist to find out why I'm lagging on the simplest of games now. Thanks for your help!

deadcrickets2

08-20-2012, 08:16 PM

<cite>PaRaGoN3434 wrote:</cite><blockquote>UPDATE** I was wrong about my computer information above, I do have 4gb of ram, I was lazy and did a generic search on my computers info, forgetting I have slight modifications. Edit** MS Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit SP2 Intel Core2duo CPU E7300@ 2.66 Ghz, 4G Ram, Running both a Nvidia 8400GS, and a Nvidia 8300GS I don't know if this also matters, but my Window Experience Index is a 3.6 lacking in performance for windows Aero (everything else is above 5.5). I have since not been able to find the source of my in game lag, everything on the computer is well maintained; and is regularly cleaned. Thinking I may have to take it into a tech specialist to find out why I'm lagging on the simplest of games now. Thanks for your help!</blockquote>Then it's most likely that since the video cards are using your system RAM as additional VRAM that it's essentially causing the system to run out of memory between the VRAM, system cache and the game. I suppose I should add a disclaimer in regards to that in the original post.Have you tried doing a System Restore to a point before you did the modification? Also, how much space is left on your hard drive. There may be a chance where if it's running out of RAM it's paging out to the page file on the hard drive. If there is less than 15% of space left you'll suffer even worse than simply having something in the page file (which is bad enough as it is).

PaRaGoN3434

08-20-2012, 09:15 PM

I did system restore to a point about a week earlier, it didn't change anything; I then reformatted my computer; and the problem still exists, as far as memory goes; the computer is using Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 4.00 GBTotal Physical Memory 4.00 GB ~~~~~Available Physical Memory 2.37 GB~~~~~Total Virtual Memory 8.21 GB~~~~~Available Virtual Memory 6.23 GB~~~~~Page File Space 4.29 GB<div></div><div></div><div>EDIT** Extra information regarding the system Information</div><div></div><div><div>OS Name Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium</div><div>Version 6.0.6002 Service Pack 2 Build 6002</div><div>Other OS Description Not Available</div><div>OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation</div><div>System Name PC</div><div>System Manufacturer Dell Inc.</div><div>System Model Inspiron 530</div><div>System Type x64-based PC</div><div>Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo CPU E7300 @ 2.66GHz, 2667 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)</div><div>BIOS Version/Date Dell Inc. 1.0.15, 6/20/2008</div><div>SMBIOS Version 2.5</div><div>Windows Directory C:Windows</div><div>System Directory C:Windowssystem32</div><div>Boot Device DeviceHarddiskVolume3</div><div>Locale United States</div><div>Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.0.6002.18005"</div><div>User Name PC</div><div>Time Zone Pacific Daylight Time</div></div><div></div>

deadcrickets2

08-20-2012, 11:20 PM

<cite>PaRaGoN3434 wrote:</cite><blockquote>I did system restore to a point about a week earlier, it didn't change anything; I then reformatted my computer; and the problem still exists, as far as memory goes; the computer is using Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 4.00 GBTotal Physical Memory 4.00 GB ~~~~~Available Physical Memory 2.37 GB~~~~~Total Virtual Memory 8.21 GB~~~~~Available Virtual Memory 6.23 GB~~~~~Page File Space 4.29 GB<div></div><div></div><div>EDIT** Extra information regarding the system Information</div><div></div><div><div>OS Name Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium</div><div>Version 6.0.6002 Service Pack 2 Build 6002</div><div>Other OS Description Not Available</div><div>OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation</div><div>System Name PC</div><div>System Manufacturer Dell Inc.</div><div>System Model Inspiron 530</div><div>System Type x64-based PC</div><div>Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo CPU E7300 @ 2.66GHz, 2667 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)</div><div>BIOS Version/Date Dell Inc. 1.0.15, 6/20/2008</div><div>SMBIOS Version 2.5</div><div>Windows Directory C:Windows</div><div>System Directory C:Windowssystem32</div><div>Boot Device DeviceHarddiskVolume3</div><div>Locale United States</div><div>Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.0.6002.18005"</div><div>User Name PC</div><div>Time Zone Pacific Daylight Time</div></div><div></div></blockquote>It might be something else causing it then. I would go ahead and have your system checked out. Might be as simple as the computer overheating from a clogged fan.

Kwibble

09-15-2012, 12:19 AM

I'm just curious..... Is there ANYONE out there that is still able to run this game without frequent memory crashes on a 4Gb Win XP SP3 system with a 1Gb graphics card? It's been about a year now, and I've seen many, many posts of people having issues, and no real solutions. Some folks are having success with the /3GB switch, but like many, it just slows my system to a crawl and causes EQ2 to fail to launch at all. Very frustrating... One idea that comes to mind... perhaps I should just backgrade to my 8 year old X850XT Radeon card - at least that would recover some addressable memory?

deadcrickets2

09-17-2012, 01:02 PM

<cite>Kwibble wrote:</cite><blockquote>I'm just curious..... Is there ANYONE out there that is still able to run this game without frequent memory crashes on a 4Gb Win XP SP3 system with a 1Gb graphics card? It's been about a year now, and I've seen many, many posts of people having issues, and no real solutions. Some folks are having success with the /3GB switch, but like many, it just slows my system to a crawl and causes EQ2 to fail to launch at all. Very frustrating... One idea that comes to mind... perhaps I should just backgrade to my 8 year old X850XT Radeon card - at least that would recover some addressable memory?</blockquote>If you have 4Gb you shouldn't be running a 32bit operating system. The switch outlined here is NOT for a 32bit operating system.

Kwibble

09-25-2012, 08:18 PM

<cite>deadcrickets2 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Kwibble wrote:</cite><blockquote>I'm just curious..... Is there ANYONE out there that is still able to run this game without frequent memory crashes on a 4Gb Win XP SP3 system with a 1Gb graphics card? It's been about a year now, and I've seen many, many posts of people having issues, and no real solutions. Some folks are having success with the /3GB switch, but like many, it just slows my system to a crawl and causes EQ2 to fail to launch at all. Very frustrating... One idea that comes to mind... perhaps I should just backgrade to my 8 year old X850XT Radeon card - at least that would recover some addressable memory?</blockquote>If you have 4Gb you shouldn't be running a 32bit operating system. The switch outlined here is NOT for a 32bit operating system.</blockquote>Thanks, and noted. If I could rephrase - anyone still able to run with a 2Gb Win XP SP3 system w/ 1 Gb graphics card?

deadcrickets2

09-26-2012, 12:53 PM

<cite>Kwibble wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>deadcrickets2 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Kwibble wrote:</cite><blockquote>I'm just curious..... Is there ANYONE out there that is still able to run this game without frequent memory crashes on a 4Gb Win XP SP3 system with a 1Gb graphics card? It's been about a year now, and I've seen many, many posts of people having issues, and no real solutions. Some folks are having success with the /3GB switch, but like many, it just slows my system to a crawl and causes EQ2 to fail to launch at all. Very frustrating... One idea that comes to mind... perhaps I should just backgrade to my 8 year old X850XT Radeon card - at least that would recover some addressable memory?</blockquote>If you have 4Gb you shouldn't be running a 32bit operating system. The switch outlined here is NOT for a 32bit operating system.</blockquote>Thanks, and noted. If I could rephrase - anyone still able to run with a 2Gb Win XP SP3 system w/ 1 Gb graphics card?</blockquote>That's not really recommended either. Once as you hit 1Gb of VRAM on your video card it becomes a major hindrance to performance as the memory is duplicated into system memory. Your 2Gb of system RAM is essentially 1Gb with that card.

Jacquotte

09-28-2012, 05:50 AM

running server 2008 r2 64bit, is there any process limitation for everquest2.exe that can be modified?i don't mind that eq2 uses all my 16gb of ram or even 32gb when i upgrade to what was supposed to be a ramdisk for eq2 only

deadcrickets2

09-28-2012, 09:47 AM

<cite>Jacquotte@Nagafen wrote:</cite><blockquote>running server 2008 r2 64bit, is there any process limitation for everquest2.exe that can be modified?i don't mind that eq2 uses all my 16gb of ram or even 32gb when i upgrade to what was supposed to be a ramdisk for eq2 only</blockquote>The limit is set by what kind of application it is. The game is fairly much a DirectX 9.0c 32bit client. So it includes all the limitations that come with it. 2Gb being the default for 32bit applications they code expecting that and Windows expects that which is why it crashes due to memory space corruptions, overwrites, and clashes when it exceeds it. The best we can do, currently, is set the operating system to allow it a tiny bit more space to operate in (though the game doesn't technically use it, it does help prevent crashes) and to adjust time slicing from Normal up-to Above Normal, High, or even Real Time (not recommended as Real Time). Affinity can be adjusted though it mostly ignores it.If we had a 64bit client option as World of Warcraft now does then it would be able to use however much memory is accessible to the computer. Sadly we don't, yet, have that 64bit client option to be competitive in the future. If a push can be made to have a 64bit client introduced (which wouldn't take long to code at all) we may have this option to allow it to be a sustainable game well into the next decade.

DJWolf5

10-19-2012, 05:32 AM

Deadcrickets2, a great thread here but I am confused. On the first post you explain how to use the switch on a Vista or Windows 7 system and then how to use it on an XP system and then say that it cannot be used on 32 bit computers when XP is a 32bit system only.So, I cannot use this switch or this information for my Vista 32 bit system? I have 4 Gigabytes of memory and my system uses 3 and a bit Gigs of that. So that is a definite "NO" to using your fix?While I was used to these critical memory errors once every three or four hours of play even on extreme performance, I needed the next graphics setting up to see the harvestables and the quest 'clickies' and so was getting these errors every 2 to 3 hours. However, in the last week something has changed. I get these crashes when I go to my house, when I go to the guild hall, when I zone anywhere and on raids, as other players are dropping from the server like dead flies, I pray with each pull that I won't be the one to get that "Critical Memory" error that now plagues us all.They have "fixed" something that wasn't broken and now it is, and this thread is going to see a lot more traffic unfortuantely.

deadcrickets2

10-19-2012, 08:29 AM

<cite>DJWolf5 wrote:</cite><blockquote>Deadcrickets2, a great thread here but I am confused. On the first post you explain how to use the switch on a Vista or Windows 7 system and then how to use it on an XP system and then say that it cannot be used on 32 bit computers when XP is a 32bit system only.So, I cannot use this switch or this information for my Vista 32 bit system? I have 4 Gigabytes of memory and my system uses 3 and a bit Gigs of that. So that is a definite "NO" to using your fix?While I was used to these critical memory errors once every three or four hours of play even on extreme performance, I needed the next graphics setting up to see the harvestables and the quest 'clickies' and so was getting these errors every 2 to 3 hours. However, in the last week something has changed. I get these crashes when I go to my house, when I go to the guild hall, when I zone anywhere and on raids, as other players are dropping from the server like dead flies, I pray with each pull that I won't be the one to get that "Critical Memory" error that now plagues us all.They have "fixed" something that wasn't broken and now it is, and this thread is going to see a lot more traffic unfortuantely.</blockquote>It's not that it can't be used for 32bit but that it's highly not recommended. Too often those on 32bit Windows will attempt to use it when their system is suboptimal; either using less than 4Gb of system RAM or integrated video cards or both. Not only that but the newer video cards have higher amounts of onboard RAM which further eats into available RAM.