More Awesome Than You!

I know this is not a strictly Sims-related problem, so I'd understand if this thread gets wiped out.

I haven't been able to play Sims for a few days now. Whenever I try to open up the game, it says that 'virtual memory' is low, and that it is entering a process of increasing virtual memory. It's nearing Christmas time, so I don't want to bother the guy that helps me with my computer.

This happens when I enter other commands as well; just about any command. Any tips you guys can give me? I still have about 10GB free hardspace. No other programmes are running when I try to play the game. I quit all applications from the taskbar besides explorer and task manager, so where is all the memory going to?

Any help appreciated.

(http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/crapola/eweneedrams.jpg)

Alternatively, right click on My Computer, select Properties. Go to Advanced, then Performance. Then find the Virtual Memory option and knock it up a notch. BAM!

Also, this would be a good time to Defrag.

Also, kill explorer as well. Explorer is a huge memory hog. Kill it before playing.

I've had a similar problem since BV. Suddenly 2GB of RAM isn't enough.

http://www.compusa.com/products/products.asp?N=200126&Cn=Computer_Upgrades_Memory_Upgrades

Hello, Dr Keith:

Some time ago, someone shared with us a nice little program that I am now using.  It is called Cacheman.  I have the free download and it works wonderfully for me.  You might give it a try.  It recovers from the paging system in real time, helps with all programs and shows me in the task bar just how much it is recovering and converting to free RAM. 

http://www.cacheman.com-about.com/ (http://www.cacheman.com-about.com/)

If I've gotten the wrong site, would someone kindly correct me?  Thanks so very much, and my best to you.

Hey, Sara, can you tell me what I do to kill Explorer? I tried once via task mgr, but I apparently ended the wrong process, because it wiped out everything, leaving only my wallpaper, and I had to reboot to access anything.

I would like to know how to do this also, it's a real resource hog.

Actually you don't have to reboot, just select file --> new task, and type explorer, everything should come back ;)

No, that's what it's supposed to do. Just start the game up and before it gets running, kill Explorer via task manager. The desktop leaving is correct. I always had to do this on my old piece of shit computer. I still do it to give a better boost to my MMO's. Like CrystalClear said, With Task Manager open, you click new task, type in Explorer.exe and back it comes. I usually close out explorer and leave firefox running, that way if I need to look something up I can just tab out of my game and back.

You could also change your virtual memory paging file to be static instead of dynamic. This means that it will be one size all the time instead of getting bigger and smaller "as needed". I think that windows doesn't really handle this process very well, so I made mine a lot bigger and I made it static. You can follow the very simple directions (with pictures) at Paladin's website (http://www.simwardrobe.com/), just click "tutorials" and then "Windows XP Game Optimization Tips" and scroll down until you see "Tip #5: Change your paging file to be permanent and the correct size." Paladin explains in clear and easy to understand language what the paging file does and why changing to a static paging file is a good idea.

Open Task Manager. Select explorer.exe and kill it.

Select File-->New Task and browse to find your game icon (probably you have this on the desktop) and run it. The game will start.

When done playing, exit the game, access Task Manager again (CTRL-ALT-DEL will bring it up) and select File-->New Task and type explorer. Your desktop will come back and everything will be back to normal.

Thank you very much, LadyLiberty, for your kind message. And her spelling and grammar is even correct, too.

I'll have a look at Cacheman after my computer has been clean and bugfree for a while. I downloaded DAEMON the other day and my computer completely crashed, which is making me a bit weary, being a bit ignorant on computer programmes and when they're dangerous or not.

Thank you, infinitely awesome people, for all of the suggestions. My computer is up and running, and I now habitually delete the explorer.exe function right before gameplay.

My friend also gave me a registry cleaner, and I'm guessing that it works, too. Game is up and running!