[TS2014] SBHH and 32 Bit Operating Systems

[MikeJH]

Hi all
Well after weeks of trying this latest RW3 core update it is a total disaster for me.
Prior to this update I could run RW 2012 with all settings on HIGH in TSX mode and everything
including even most WCML scenario's would run OK 14 -20fps. The occasional SBHH or stutter
was either down to missing assets or where Audio Domes crossed or came close to the track.

Just before the update I purchased the Woodhead line and before I could try it the update installed,
now the only way I can get it to to load at all is to have the settings on Low/Lowest. This gives 16-19fps
but visually minus lots of scenery, still in TSX mode.

The 3GB fix will not work for me as I have a Nvidia graphics card, it loads the game and shows a frame rate
of 20-25fps but when you start to drive at some varying point, errors occur either Vertex or memory access failures.

It seems to be that the larger the onboard graphics card memory the more likely this will happen.

I have been talking to the local PC manufacturer who built my machine and the only option seems to even get back to my previous
performance was to upgrade to 64-bit OS system as the graphics card in my PC was optimised for a 64 bit DX 10 OS.
and can then make use of the full 4GB ram.

If this latest update had been a Driver Update I would have tried it and then Rolled Back to the previous, not an option with RW.
Yes I have backups but to continually have to keep revisiting them and waiting for the next crash seems a right pain in the butt.

Kind Regards
Mike

[jarmstro]

Hi all
Well after weeks of trying this latest RW3 core update it is a total disaster for me.
Prior to this update I could run RW 2012 with all settings on HIGH in TSX mode and everything
including even most WCML scenario's would run OK 14 -20fps. The occasional SBHH or stutter
was either down to missing assets or where Audio Domes crossed or came close to the track.

Just before the update I purchased the Woodhead line and before I could try it the update installed,
now the only way I can get it to to load at all is to have the settings on Low/Lowest. This gives 16-19fps
but visually minus lots of scenery, still in TSX mode.

The 3GB fix will not work for me as I have a Nvidia graphics card, it loads the game and shows a frame rate
of 20-25fps but when you start to drive at some varying point, errors occur either Vertex or memory access failures.

It seems to be that the larger the onboard graphics card memory the more likely this will happen.

I have been talking to the local PC manufacturer who built my machine and the only option seems to even get back to my previous
performance was to upgrade to 64-bit OS system as the graphics card in my PC was optimised for a 64 bit DX 10 OS.
and can then make use of the full 4GB ram.

If this latest update had been a Driver Update I would have tried it and then Rolled Back to the previous, not an option with RW.
Yes I have backups but to continually have to keep revisiting them and waiting for the next crash seems a right pain in the butt.

Kind Regards
Mike

Hi Mike. I think I need to comment on your post as you seem to be a bit confused.

1) The fact that the 3GB switch does not work for you has nothing to do with the fact that you have an NVidia Graphics Card. See 5 below.
2) The larger the ammount of VRAM you have the less likely problems will occur; and the less likely it is that you will need to use the switch.
3) Yes, undoubtedly the best option for everyone is to upgrade to Win7 64 bit if you add more RAM. But see no 5 below.
4) Win 7 64bit is not "optimised for DX10". Your graphics card alone determines whether you are able to run a DX10 or DX11 enabled game. XP, Vista, and both flavours of Win7 can all run any DirectX version subject to your card and drivers. In any case RW3 uses DX9 so this is irrelevant. RW3 cannot make use of DX10 or DX11.
5) It sounds to me like you have a hardware problem and I am not certain that your crashes will be solved by switching to Win 7 64bit alone. Try upping the voltage to you RAM chips by 0.5v and check the heat of your Graphics Card.

Cheers
John A

[peterfhayes]

Sorry wrong topic
pH

[CaptainBazza]

I tried the /3GB switch fix yesterday and all is going well. WinXP SP3 is still reporting the old figures though, on my 4GB system. However, a program that was playing during in the previous few days has once again settled down since applying the fix. I get the feeling that there is extra mem available now to the OS, despite it being in denial mode.

Thank you very much; other fixes I've seen on the net have been suspect and were not the /3GB fix.

Cheers Bazza

[MikeJH]

Hi
Thanks for your comments "jarmstro" at my age being confused or confusing is par for the course.

The comment on Nvidia graphic cards came from reading posts and discussions on quite a few forums,
where the 3GB switch has not worked fully giving memory address errors, which is what I was getting.

I also agree the larger the VRAM the better but as after the switch is applied the total RAM available including
VRAM is 3GB it would seem that a larger VRAM is somewhat counter productive in this scenario.

In the end it is now immaterial as I have upgraded to Win7Pro 64bit, adding an extra 4GB of RAM.

Everything is now working fine and I am gradually winding the settings up, at the moment I have the start screen on MEDIUM,TSX on
and the option screen set on medium. Woodhead works with 18-24fps, other smaller less complicated routes giving 40-50fps.

The PC was fully checked out at the same time with no faults found and there was no apparent reason to immediately change and
upgrade the video card, I may do this in the future.

However during a driver check I found two that needed updating,
1) the video card to the 295 series.
2) the Motherboard Nvidia Chipset which was quite a way out of date.

Kind Regards
Mike

[OboRex]

The comment on Nvidia graphic cards came from reading posts and discussions on quite a few forums,
where the 3GB switch has not worked fully giving memory address errors, which is what I was getting.

I've been trying out the 3GB switch the last few days and this has been my experience as well. In particular, the Silver Star scenario crashed every time as I approached Newark, which it doesn't do when the switch is not set. I also had similar problems to what stevee630 describes as "ripples" on the page before this one, only I think mine were worse: the Firefox display got scrambled to the point of becoming unusable. I booted up with USERVA set to 3030, 2560, and omitted completely and got the same behavior each time.

I'm running XP 32-bit with 4 GB of memory and an Nvidia 8800 GTX card (768 MB).

Pity this didn't work for me as apart from the crashes (Mrs. Lincoln) RW was actually more stable under the 3GB switch. Now I'm back to having the 2D map freeze half my sessions which is...frustrating.

Guess I should upgrade the OS instead but I'm dreading the hours and hours of software reinstalls.

Anyway, figured I should provide another data point. Appears to be no harm done.

Regards,

Rob.

[peterfhayes]

Rob
For what its worth the /3GB Userva=2560 etc modifies the Operating System and the program's process address space, and I would suspect that you have a third party driver or an app working in the background that does not like the /3GB switch - could be anti-virus, malware, email prog or anything. If you want to check if it is an app you could put the switch back in the boot ini file with thecorresponding value to your video card VRAM:
256MB /userva=3072 (ie, 3GB)
512MB /userva=2816
768MB /userva=2560
1024MB /userva=2304
Then perfrom a "clean" boot (Google to see what I mean). This clean boot stops all NON-windows apps and drivers loading and then you could run TS2012 and see if you still get the same error. If you do then its something in your system or OS that's the problem and not an external driver/app. If you don't get the error you could see waht is causing the issue by loading each of the apps/drivers one by one - if you have the time.
I have been experimenting with a registry hack (originally developed for windows server editions) and this seems to stop a lot of OOM issues in 32-bit games. If you are comfortable in editing the registry, I could supply the relevant details. It does not work in every case but it is "non-invasive" in that it does not alter the way the the OS works with 32-bit software and it can be removed easily, ie it is not permanent or residual.
Regards
PeterH

[OboRex]

PeterH:

Thanks for the suggestion. I just tried out a clean boot but RW still blew up at the same spot with 3GB enabled. On the other hand I haven't seen the Firefox errors but that may just be because with fewer services running it is less likely that programs or devices will mess up each others' memory space, if that makes any sense.

If it had worked I was all ready to blame Symantec, but I guess it's in the clear now.

As for the registry, I've messed with it before but taking things to that level starts me thinking about the OS upgrade option again.

Thanks again for your help.

Regards,

Rob.

[peterfhayes]

Rob
Thanks for the info - sorry it didn't work. I guess that your nvidia driver is up to date as there were issues with the /3GB switch in the geforce series pre 247.xx?
It still could be Symantec as the clean boot may not have shut it down completely. Unfortunately the only sure way to find out would be to remove it from your system - which again is a huge hassle.
You won't regret moving to win 7 64-bit.
Peter

[woggit]

Maybe I am being thick - but I cannot get my system to accept any such command?? If I type the instruction in the "run" window, it claims it is not associated with any file. If I try it in the 'Command prompt" window, it claims the syntax is wrong!! Any help would be appreciated. I am running Windows Vista Home Premium with 4Gb Ram.

[peterfhayes]

Woggit
For win 7 HP 32-bit only (it is pointless in 64-bit already set to 4096) you have to use the command line:
bcedit.exe/increaseuserva xxxxMegabytes (you may get away with just bcedit ie no .exe - try it first)
"Specifies the amount of memory, in megabytes, for user-mode virtual address space. This variable can have any value between 2048 (2 GB) and 3072 (3 GB) megabytes in decimal notation. Windows uses the remaining address space (4 GB minus the specified amount) as its kernel-mode address space."
See here about halfway down: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... s.85).aspx.
and http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library ... s.85).aspx.
Regards
PeterH

[woggit]

Peter - thanks for your reply. I should have said my system is 32-bit, sorry! I have tried to follow your posted links, but both come up with a blank screen and an error message!! I have tried your suggestion in the command prompt box, with the error message "bcedit is not a recognized internal or external command" - and the same error with bcedit.exe.

[markpullinger]

Hi that's because it should say bcdedit not bcedit

[woggit]

Thanks Mark!! Should have gone back to the original post for the spelling!! Had to use the command under the "Run as Administrator" option, but it accepted it!! Hope it has good effects on WCML (N) and Woodhead. I will be upgrading my old computer soon to a new Windows 7 64 bit machine. Looking forward to the machine, but not re-installing the old software. It will be a dual-boot machine with Windows XP on the other partition of the hard drive.

[peterfhayes]

sorry about the spelling - I missed that
pH