"Insufficient memory" & "CTD" - workaround

[MadBoris]

Madboris: will you clarify whether we need to do the workaround again after the new patch. I have vista 64 so I just need to worry about step two. I checked the steam folder and both the empire.exe and the original empire.exe which i renamed original are there. Did the patch overwrite the modded exe? If I do have to do it again, should I keep the "original" .exe or just replace that with the new exe. created by the patch. In otherwords, should I have three exe files 1) the modded post patch, 2) the original post patch and 3) the original pre patch, or do I just need the first 2.

Yes. Normally each patch will need to be reapplied. To quote myself:

3) Future updates should not be affected, but infact, will likely replace your large address aware executable. We should try future updates without this workaround to see if CA fixes the issue somehow. But don't be surprised if the crash issue comes back after updates because the exe has been reset to not being large address aware. Then you will need to make the new exe large address aware again and use it. Don't use the previous altered exe after updates.

Stupidly I just copied the modded exe I had already creaded from a few days ago and didnt modify the new patched exe file. Now Empire crashes just before the intro......

If you tried to reuse the old altered empire.exe and now no longer have the brand new patched one anymore. Then delete the empire.exe in your game folder and use the steam feature to verify file cache and that should re-download the latest empire.exe from steam.

[MadBoris]

I have followed the directions to my knowledge but i cannot get the 3gb enabler for empire to work. I coped what i think the empire.exe is (the "E" icon in the empire total war folder) into the 3gb enabler folder. When i run the enabler is tells me to press any key to continue which i do. some text appears but i cannot read it as the enabler quits immediately.

Well it's getting an error for some reason. It may have to do with where you extracted the zip file. Desktop is usually a good place. Make sure you copied the "Empire" from the game folder to the extracted folder. Also you may want to try right clicking on startme.bat and choose "run as administrator".

[MadBoris]

I have the following boot.ini file:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Can you please tell where and how to make the changes?
For the explorer changes - I dl and extracted your folder: Do I copy the folder or which file?

I am sorry for these probably obvious question - but this is my first time.

Thank you.

The new boot.ini will look like this:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="3GB workaround" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /3GB /USERVA=2500

As for the other question reread the instructions in the first post, which is a requirement for anyone doing this, and explain what you don't understand.

[MadBoris]

FYI,

There is another quick patch today being released on STEAM as hotfixes from yesterdays patch.

So be aware you will likely have to reapply the Large Address Aware header again.

If you are ever unsure on the state of the empire.exe in the game folder, just copy it to the "3GB enabler for Empire" folder (overwriting the one in there if it exists).
Then run startme.bat and use the "V" option to verify, then look at the header and see if it says "Application can handle large (>2GB) addresses".
If it does you are fine, go play.
If it doesn't, then use the "A" option to enable it and copy it back to your game folder.

[Fridericus Rex]

Boris - you mean "2500"
Please clarify.

Thank for your help so far.

[MadBoris]

I just wanted to say I appreciate all the kind words, rep, and even the proposal to "climb Buckingham Palace butt nekkid with " + rep for Boris "" was quite appreciated. LOL

While I have been constantly reading and watching I have been busy and posting all the time wasn't doable. Thx for others helping out in that regard.

If I missed any questions from days back or people still have specific issues (regarding this workaround and the specific crash it addresses) ask away.

Thanks again for all the kind words and feedback folks.
CA has made some official statements regarding the issue on their boards, but many of you already knew what was going on for almost 2 weeks now, as well as thx to Jerome letting us know the "official" Large Address executable is in testing.
http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic/51420?page=1

[MadBoris]

Boris - you mean "2500"
Please clarify.

Thank for your help so far.

oops sorry, got cut off. Yes 2500. Will edit and fix.

[Fridericus Rex]

I handled the Boot.ini.

Downloaded and extracted your folder to desktop.
Went to c: and found "empire total war" folder - however, where is the exe which I suppose to copy to the downloaded folder?

Sorry, for all these questions.

[MadBoris]

I handled the Boot.ini.

Downloaded and extracted your folder to desktop.
Went to c: and found "empire total war" folder - however, where is the exe which I suppose to copy to the downloaded folder?

Sorry, for all these questions.

In the instructions it says where-
* Now in explorer go to your "c:\program files\steam\steamapps\common\empire total war" folder.
* Copy the Empire.exe to the "3GB enabler for Empire" folder you just extracted, that I provided you.

Are you saying it's not there?
Maybe it's not showing the .exe, it may just be called Empire if you don't see extensions.
By default Microsoft hides extensions, because it's too much for us to handle , so that is likely the issue.

[Fridericus Rex]

Please excuse an old man, but I can not see the .exe.
When I right click on the "empire total war" folder, the game files appear.
My question is - how to get the exe? You are right there is no exe.

In the empire total war folder there are 14.8 GB of data - do I have to copy that entire folder?

[ashesh]

Since last update of 25 march im getting more CTD than before, is someone experiencing this issue or its just me ?

I will try uninstalling empire and making a fresh install since I modified a lot of files with mods and stuff, I have already done the verify but its still crashing too much

[MadBoris]

Since last update of 25 march im getting more CTD than before, is someone experiencing this issue or its just me ?

I will try uninstalling empire and making a fresh install since I modified a lot of files with mods and stuff, I have already done the verify but its still crashing too much

There's plenty of people experiencing more/different crashes from the recent 3-25 patch.
See here - http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic/51588 and report your issues.

[Saborucci]

i think i got it to work the issue i believe was due to not extracting the file to desktop. thanks for the help MadBoris! and my i add i was impressed by your thorough explanation of the issue in your original post.

[MadBoris]

i think i got it to work the issue i believe was due to not extracting the file to desktop. thanks for the help MadBoris! and my i add i was impressed by your thorough explanation of the issue in your original post.

Yeah, you bring up a good point, so for reference I wanna handle a couple issues people may run into there.

Vista handles zipped files as compressed folders with a very similar folder icon. This was a bad design issue on their part because people try and utilize the files in a compressed state. People absolutely need to extract the compressed zip before executing the files inside of it, otherwise there is several errors you may see.

Secondly, where you extract can be important. If it's placed in a folder where the parent inherits permissions to the sub folders then you may run into permission issues in actually writing the header information to the exe, so an error may show up there too. Desktop is usually fine.

[Firestorm]

This worked great! I applied this workaround after the 3/25 patch and haven't had a CTD since. The quick patch that was released today (3/26) doesn't seemed to have effected the Empire executable. I checked it after the update and it still had the "Application can handle large (>2GB) addresses" line. Played it for 5 hours tonight and it still didn't give a CTD.

Thank You MadBoris! You saved the game for me.

My PC Specs:

Q6600 Overclocked to 3 GHz
6 GB RAM
Overclocked Nvidia 8800GT
Vista Ultimate 64-bit

[Brusilov]

I ended up reinstalling ETW after the patch the other day (it takes less than an hour using the discs I bought off Amazon). I started to play and I got the 'insufficient memory' CTD. I applied this fix and I've managed to play ETW for about 6 hours straight without any problem - this was about a dozen field battles and one naval battle (I was playing Austria).

So, the combinaiton of this fix and the beta 185.20 drivers for my GTX280s in SLI mode means that I am a happy bunny.

[Jihada]

I reinstalled this after the last patch but first crash after a battle just now at 1715. Playing on ultra the game runs smoothly but still crashes.

[Rorarii]

Looks like we're getting tooo big for our britches! Big apps don't fit into 32 anymore.

Thankfully when the next TW roles around, everyone should have 64 bit systems .. and at least 4G mem ... or a console!

PC's will never die! (even though developers want them too!)

R

[Syntax]

NO MORE!!! _ Thank you so much for that nice "walk around" it works perfect - no more Memory crash! - finally can play because of all the amazing modders here at the forum

[mobucks]

is this the same as downloading explorer suite and making the empire.exe use >2gb of memory? I had found that fix on the RTW forums in this site, like 5 mins before finding this.

@ Jihada:

Turn off sound, and see if you still get CTD after battle, thats what fixed that issue for me, it is a CA patch issue.