I made a similar post in which I explain how to use the 3Gb patch and also wave file conversion. It has helped me a lot, but only if it's really properly configured.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=212510

Btw, it is a fact that LAA can solve crashes. I can definitely reproduce crashes with SHIII and LSH5.1 that were definitely gone when LAA was setup correctly.

Some people here have no use for 50% more RAM, because they already have superior computers. Fine. But please, please don't tell us that because YOU never have problems with the game, NO ONE ELSE must have problems with it. If YOU don't have problems you're just not adding enough stuff to the game, m'kay?

What many, if not 99% of you, fail to realize is the amount of memory on your video card actually plays a huge role (and can be detrimental to system stability). Why? It's called memory mapping. Those of you with video cards that have more memory than system memory or the ratio of system memory to video memory is < 2:1 will always be on the verge of having problems with most games.

See here for more reading: http://www.oempcworld.com/support/4GB_RAM.htm

Point is medium to high-end video card with lots of on-board memory is VERY bad for run-of-the-mill system with 32 bit OS.

For playing games like these you need 64 bit OS and at least 16GB of RAM if you have a medium to high-end video card with large amounts of onboard RAM.

There are many other factors that can 'increase' the memory mapped size for the video card. The resolution you have set in the game is a contributing factor. If you seem to be crashing in games try lowering the resolution and detail items. This will then lower the amount of mapped memory from the video card.

In today's age it just isn't right to be running a 32 bit OS when 64bit processors are so cheap and readily available. Most games, even today, are compiled as a 32 bit app. Thus the most they can theoretically access is 2^32 or 4GB. Running a 64bit OS and large amounts of system RAM (>8GB) allows the OS flexibility in memory management. Majority of the time most apps fail or CTD because they asked for a memory allocation and it was denied or they were accessing a null pointer.

For the user who said his game was crashing when Windows reports that total system memory used was ~1.65GB this makes total sense. A 32 bit OS (Windows for instance) only allows 2GB per process. I wouldn't take that 2GB per process literally either - it's more like 1.7-2.0GB. The game tried to allocate additional memory. As it was near or at it's max limit it returned a null pointer for that allocation. Game crashed on null pointer. You can get windows (32 bit) to allocate 3GB per process with a switch set - once again in real life it's not actually 3GB - it's more like 90-100% of that.

How the application was compiled also makes a huge difference. Like I said most games are still compiled as 32bit apps.

I'm pleased to hear the game runs so well on Windows 7 64 bit because that is going to be my next OS. But is there really a benefit of running a 64 bit OS if - as you point out - most programs are compiled as 32 bit apps?

The OS is the heart and soul. Why restrict the OS to a theoretical 4GB memory limit (2^32) instead of 16 exabytes (2^64)? With much more memory available to the OS it has much more flexibility in what it can do.

With my current system it would make no difference then, because I have "just" 4Gb RAM. Core 2 Duo E8400, 1GB Video RAM and from what I can tell I can run all games that I need at decent frame rates. My next system will certainly have over 8Gb, so a 64 bit OS will be a must, but not right now.

Also don't forget that many people cannot upgrade for gaming, because they do work related stuff on their computers. When I upgrade I will probably need new versions of many developer tools, it's going to set off a whole domino chain of changes.

Windows 64 bit has a technology called Windows on Windows (WoW64). This allows 32 bit apps to run on the 64 bit OS. The only 'problems' I had when I moved to 64 bit were drivers. I had to find 64 bit drivers for most everything that is installed. All my current applications and programs ran fine on the 64 bit version of windows. If you can find/upgrade to applications that are native to 64bit that would be best because they will run 'faster' due to Windows not having to invoke WoW for compatibility.

For those applications that, for some reason or another, just will not run on Windows 64 bit they have included what they call XP mode (in the more advanced versions of Windows 64 bit). It's basically an XP virtual machine running for those apps.

That's one thing to look out for, various flavors of win 7 have different limits, like home doesn't have the xp mode and the max memory differs. Just be sure to do your research.

FWIW, I have home and I'm fine with no xp mode. 32 bit programs seem to run fine.

I have configured and installed applications on computers with Windows 7. The XP mode solves many problems, but not all. There were massive issues when applications used to store data under C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\.. (XP), now that data ends up in AppData\Roaming\ (W7 and up). Now imagine a badly tested client application that assesses data with a fixed path and you have a situation where migration is not at all trivial.

Another example, many programs that used to be in C:\Programs now go to C:\Programs (x86), simply because otherwise W7 locks the rights to write into their own files, even writing a value into a simple <myApp>.ini would fail.

There are reason not everyone will update from XP for many years. Some still use software like AutoCAD 2000, that costs thousands of dollars, with parallel port dongles, and so on :) Personally I hope to make the switch this year, but I can't without careful preparation ..

Also, what TG626 said: Windows Home Editions have no XP compatibility mode

I think what some forget is that the game doesn't need all my 8 gigs of ram nor does it need a high end video card with 6 on board gigs of ram either.

I have had more trouble with modern games than this old hound.

To play some modern games I have actually had to dumb down my CPU in order for it to run because the game becomes unstable in multi-core processing.

I'm glad I keep oranges around.