Not enough VRAM? (Note: This is not for SC4)

[Goldfish4209 9]

I was playing Civ 4 and suddenly it minimized to desktop. Except this time desktop was in 4 bit color and 800x600. I have it set to 1k x 0.75k, 32 bit color. The popup said that I didn't have enough VRAM, which is odd because I have 256 MB of VRAM. Then it gave me a file to look for, I don't remember which one. I reset the graphics settings, but now my desktop is broken. The background image is gray, and I can't get my image back. So what happened?

Specs:

P4 516 2.93 Ghz

1Gb RAM, 2x256, 1x 512

Geforce 5500FX, 256 MB VRAM

Sound Blaster Audigy 4.

And here's a screenie for what it looked like:

Thanks.

[hawkpride147 1]

you don't have enough virtual ram...i have 4GB of virtual ram...that is 4096MB.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Agreed. But I am moving this to Off Topic where it belongs.

[Goldfish4209 9]

I have 3072 MB of virtual RAM. That's 3 times the amount of physical RAM I have.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Well, it wouldn't hurt to put it up to 4GB, then would it.  CIV is a huge memory hog.  If you were running one of the biggest maps, you still might not fit.

[Goldfish4209 9]

Well my max is at 4096. Are you saying that I need 4096 as max?

[ExiL3 10]

Just try it out, you can put 5000 too, though it will limit you at 4096, since that is the max of XP and Vista.

You might want to check out which background programs, or services that ran while you were playing.

If you experience errors like these, try to disable some of the programs that are running in the background like Anti Virus, or anti spy etc...

It could also be something with you having a removable disk inserted...?

take care,

[Goldfish4209 9]

Huh. I did have a thumb drive in and antivirus on, but this has never happened even when neither of those were true...