[Dual processor] Crashing during or after battle? Solution Found!

[potatodude]

You'll find this trick works well with many of the older games that are very unstable on multicore systems. Actually, this even helps with newer games that are based on older graphics engines such as L4D.

[bovi]

This is going into the frequent issues and solutions, thanks a lot!

[jirisys]

I tried it, it reduces it almost to a 90%, but (maybe it's my useless computer) it keeps crashing, though rarely, it really helps.

I recommend you set afinnity to your secondary or unused core; I tried setting it on the Core 0, then leaking ensued... (my house can't handle rain very well), and RTW-Alex crashed.

~Jirisys ()

[potatodude]

Hi there! Your friendly resident Potato here again with a small update to this tip.

For those of us who suffer from memory leaks (i.e. nearly ALL of us) the symptoms of which are more and more evident the longer one plays without a restart; longer and longer waits between end turns, more and more choppiness when you scroll from one side of the map to the other on the campaign map, increasing choppiness during battles.

The following thought may have crossed your mind "But brother Potato, isn't this happening because the computer is working much harder to calculate the increasing levels of change throughout the playthrough?"

The answer is a suprising "No. It is just working stupidly"

R:TW itself on all .exes with the latest patches still suffer from memory leaks. What is supposed to happen is that after intense CPU and memory usage (i.e. battles) the game is supposed to ease back onto the campaign map and 'release' the memory, ready for the next big battle. However, as it stands, the implemented way that R:TW does this is inefficient and not all of the memory used during the battles is 'released'.

The way to delay the onset of a slowdown is actually very counter-intuitive.

You will need to do the following:

1. Follow my steps from my original guide from 1 - 6
2. Instead of choosing "Set Affinity" from the drop down box, choose "Set Priority"

The next step is the counter-intuitive part

3. Set the priority as "Low".

"Err.. What?"

What this effectively does is slows the rate of RAM usage of R:TW. Thereby slowing the rate of which memory is 'leaked'.

Even on quite powerful machines, EB will eventually slow down due to the memory leak. It may be more noticable for some than others and it may happen quicker for some than others depending on variations in hardware, the amount and speed of the RAM, the speed of the hard drive, other processes going on... etc. (Although if you possess a truly powerful machine then you may not notice anything at all during your play session, if that is the case then this tip does not apply to you).

This tip is a balancing act really, it is like driving a car at top speed and having the tank last half the distance vs driving a car at a more moderate speed and having your fuel last twice as long.

[Kleitos]

read your report over your discovery ´bout 3 weeks ago and since then following your solution noticed every battle and every CTD.

just great! - thank you very much for this.

since then i had 60 battles and in not one of em i had a CTD after ending the battle. ..well i made no notes before - but CTD´s by ending the battle happened from time to time - frequent enough.

(only some CTD´s since then by loading a save or ending the turn - but that doesent bother anyway)

compared to before - that´s just great!

wonder that this game goes so well with only one CPU - actually i bought a new computer (core 2quad 2,5GHz and 3,25RAM) last year because of this game - discovered this great RTW Modification ´bout one year ago and it wasnt actually playable with my old computer. ..now with only one CPU with this one it runs perfectly.

[nightraider6]

Thank you potatodude, no CTD for my NapoleonTW any more