I also am doing fine with 1GB of RAM (on a 3.0 GHz machine with a 7600GT).

To help matters, I use a utility called FSAutoStart to unload all but the critical items from RAM, leaving me with over 700 MB of RAM to run SH4. It is slow to start and exit as some have said, but that's not a real problem. I have all the graphics options checked except for post-processing filter.

It will be an issue if hes running vista.

I have a couple other things working in my favor as well. I have two seperate drives, with the game on one, and the OS on the other.

I have a large Virtual memory/paging file on each.

I defrag both drives probably once a day.

In my bios setup, i have the drives set to maximum speed (as opposed to 'quiet' setting).

I use a program called "end it all" before I play. It finds and stops almost all running processes in the background except the bare minimum. Even when you think there is nothing running, it finds and shuts down 27 out of 30 running processes, freeing up a lot of cpu and ram.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,697,00.asp

My X1950 Pro easily handles the graphics load, everything above helps out with the cpu processing.

I'd still rather have 2 gigs of ram though.

I will on my next rig. :|\\

BTW just another word of advice
 

I found a guy who was having problems with the ROW mod we made. Way to low FPS.

Well after going over his set up found out he was running the mother board for the speakers on his system.

I told him to get an actual sound card and use that instead and once he did it and got back to me found out the game was working a lot better.

The mother board will use your ram to run the sounds so a sound card is also a must.

I've been running on 1GB P4 3.2 Gh with an ATI 1550 512MB and getting along okay but haven't been pushing the graphics in order to enjoy the game. I also have two hard drives with the virtual memory on the unused one. However, I wondered why it took so long to get the desktop back. Thanks for the tip on "end-it-all".

1,024 megabytes is exactly one gigabyte. Just as a megabyte is 1,048,576 bytes, or 1,024 kilobytes. It's based on powers of two, not ten.

how do u do this?

you need to do this manualy
 

Right click on my computer then click on properties at the bottom. Then click on the Advanced tab at the top. The line that says Performance then "visual effect's processing and so forth" click on the settings button. Then click on the tab "Advanced" at the bottom you will see a line that says "Virtual memeory" click on change button Choose the hard drive you want to add virtual memory to then highlite the custom size circle. The inicial size can not be smaller than 2mb I have mine at 250mb but the maximum size I make the same as my physicle memory installed. After your done hit the set button then okay and you have to restart your PC for it to take effect.

I hope I did this easy enough for you to understand.

:lol: Running full speed ahead no problems on my laptop http://lowendmac.com/pb/portable.shtml








lol sorry just had to add this :know: :arrgh!: (dont have a go at me, it took me ages to find a computer with those specs! :yep: )

Im running on 1 gig of ram and it is very laggy for me.

Dell Inspiron 9300 laptop

Intel Centrino Mobile

ATI Mobility Raedon X300

18.9 gig's of ROM left

Windows XP Home Edition SP2

1 Gig of RAM

I need to upgrade I think but I do not have the money to upgrade it yet if anyone has suggestions for what I should get please tell me.

tbh its probably your graphics card causing you the issue, most players have trouble with the x600 ati so the x300 isnt going to fare that well im afraid.
also if you are serious about playing the game (or others) then id suggest getting a desktop rather than a laptop

If you can donate the money for one I am ok with that:lol:

But in the meantime I have a lot of saving of money to do.

I don't know if its the RAM or not but when I start a mission it sort of freezes when i try to:
Go to Map screen
Zoom out
Zoom in
Move map around
Go to deck
Going near land

If i'm playing music the part I'm listening to will start replaying over and over. But luckily after I do everything once it doesn't lag anymore.

It did this in SH3 but not as bad as SH4

do you have a sound card or running off the mother board?
 

I knew that about the sound card, but since mine was a little old, and I have recently upgraded the motherboard to a new one with flashy 6.1 sound and all, I gave it a try... (maybe) not surprisingly, I checked 10-12 more FPS using a 6 yr old SB Live!, always. Integrated sound is only good for "marginal" use, never for 3d multichannel sound. The CPU gets the load then, and in this kind of sims we cannot afford that!

Apart from that I agree the video card is crucial, more than RAM. But then RAM is also important, and CPU, and speedy HDs...

With a fast box you won't notice the 1-2GB difference _that_ much. I know I didn't when I finished my step-by-step upgrade (ram was last). On the other hand, with a slow box, anything you improve you will notice inmediately!

my 2 bit$...