FH2 Crash when map change!

[DLFReporter]

Great Job Abaddon!

[Yustax]

I changed to Windows 7 64 and Im still getting this goddamn problem! It's getting hell of annoying and Im getting very angry. And yet, it continues to happen. WHat could the problem?

[gavrant]

So if you play FH2 on a system that is running a 32 bit version of Windows (XP, Vista, 7) and you don't want to sacrifice on the "looks" of the game, ... change to a 64bit OS.

I wonder how switching to 64 bit OS will help 32 bit game. As I understand, 32 bit processes (programs) have 2GB memory limit. Run them on 64, 128 or 16384 bit OS, they still won't be able to use anything above 2GB per process. You need special, 64 bit, version of Battlefield 2 to get all benefits of 64 bit OS. Does this 64 bit version exist?

[gavrant]

I changed to Windows 7 64 and Im still getting this goddamn problem!

One of the links, posted by Abaddon, led me here:
http://www.realitymod.com/forum/f358-software-operating-systems/51859-i-found-fix-memory-dll-error-vista-32-64-bit-users.html

Looks like a cure both for 32 and 64 bit Vistas and 7s. I will try it next weekend.

[gavrant]

Finally, I've got time to test tricks from the link posted by Abaddon. These tricks are:

• Make BF2.exe use more than 2 GB of memory;
• For 32 bit Windows: allow OS to allocate for programs up to 3 GB of memory (default limit is 2 GB).

As I understand, the first trick is not needed because FH2 does not run BF2.exe, only ForgottenHope2.exe. ForgottenHope2.exe can use more than 2 GB by default.

The second trick for Windows 7 and Vista is better described here: http://alteraforum.org/forum/showthread.php?t=28119, with some basics and step by step instructions.

My configuration is:
OS - Windows 7 Pro 32 bit.
Memory - 4 GB (AFAIK, the amount of memory is important only for performance, Windows can allocate more than amount of physical memory installed).

I played three online sessions:

• 6 rounds (25-40 players)
• 4 rounds (25-40 players)
• 9 rounds (>50 players)

Result: not a single CTD. Previously FH2 had crashed or hanged on loading 3rd or 4th map.

I think the second trick should be included in User Manual (http://ifihada.com/~jbp/fh2pub/usermanual/).

[NL|Abaddon|NL]

^ Sticky please.

Good work Gavrant. Your help is really appreciated.

[Ahonen]

I'm pretty sure these CTD's during map changing only happen on 32bit operating system setups. I used to have them as well when I still played on a 32bit setup. These systems simply run out of physical memory during the loading process. This is not only caused by FH2 itself (playing FH2 on "max/high" settings takes up faaarrrr(!) more physical memory than running vanilla BF2 on similar settings - some FH2 maps can take up to 2.2Gbytes on full 64p servers - this is due to better textures, bigger maps, more different vehicles driving around at the same time etc.), but these memory issues are worsened by the way BF2 handles memory in general due to bad design.

Normally a game stores files (data - textures etc.) in the RAM and clears these files after they are not needed anymore, for instance if you change from one map to another, freeing up available RAM space. This doesn't happen in BF2. During switching of maps in BF2/FH2 new files get being added to the RAM before the old, unneeded files are being removed. This will very often cause 32 bit operation systems to simply run out of physical memory (RAM) - the game can't dump any files anymore in the RAM - before the map is being loaded as 32 bit OS machines can only allocate up to 2 Gbytes.     

I haven't tried them myself but there seem to be some workarounds around this memory issue on the net. You can try them at your own risk:

http://merk.clannow.com/forum/page/1/m/654690/viewthread/579618-pr-ctd-memory-issue

http://www.realitymod.com/forum/f370-pr-tech-archives/52607-crashing-desktop-2.html

The most easy way to reduce the memory load in BF2/FH2 is to set your ingame video settings to ''medium'' or even "low" settings - low/no dynamic shadows, med or low textures. 

So if you play FH2 on a system that is running a 32 bit version of Windows (XP, Vista, 7) and you don't want to sacrifice on the "looks" of the game, fiddle around with some settings, or change to a 64bit OS than you are just plain out of luck for the time being. However the dev team is still hard at work trying to reduce the overal memory load of all its content in order to tackle this problem.

I've been playing on a 32bit system at max settings for years and never crashed on map loading in FH2, nor did I ever suffer from low framerate.
Only thing I fiddled with was force GPU AA.

2 Gbs of RAM are more than enough for FH2.

[gavrant]

Thank you, Abaddon, for kind words.

After some playing I found that my frequent crashes in the middle of Totalize and Villers are also gone, as well as dramatic FPS drops in some places on Villers . Whew, what a relief, now FH2 runs flawlessly!