Swapfiles/Virtual Memory (W98)

[Y0SHiB0Y]

I get the following error when I load a lot in a certain game:

"Error allocating virtual memory. Make sure you have at least 120 MB free disk swapfile space."

Using the Windows System Monitor, I've seen that my Swapfile size is just below 256 MB. Is this some special number that Swap file cannot exceed? Or does the default Windows management of virtual memory just set this as a maximum even when it says No Maximum? Please help me shed some light on how I can improve my situation. Thanks.

[Nana]

YOSHiBOY,

Try this article:

<a target="_blank" href=http://www.rojakpot.com/Speed_Demonz/Swapfile_Optimization/Swapfile_Optimization_01.htm>Swapfile Optimization Guide</a>. Make sure you carry on to the rest of the article by clicking on Next at the bottom of the page.

Nana /images/forums/icons/smile.gif

[Paul S]

Check and see how much free space there is on your HDD. Your description makes it sound that this game loads a lot on the swap file and you are almost out of disk space.

Have a look and see how much space you have left.

<font color=green>Paul</font color=green>

[BertImmenschuh]

In the Virtual Memory part of Performance, you can do 3 things, let Windows manage Virtual Memory, set it yourself with a Max and Min which will never change [I use 2.5 times the physical RAM on Win9x but then I have the drive space for it], or disable it entirely.

With at least 64MB RAM, I usually disable it, re-boot and run Disk Defragmenter. When that is done, I reset Virtual Memory to a fixed size. This procedure ensures the swapfile is in one contiguous chunk on the drive. It also moves it from C:\Windows to C:\.

One other point, some programs require the amount of free space they specify to be contiguous, or unfragmented.

[Y0SHiB0Y]

Thanks for your help, everyone. I'm trying out the semi-permanent swap file, and I'll try out putting the swap on the outer tracks of the hard drive to see if that helps.

Info:
I have 7.80 GB free in my swapfile drive. My Win386.swp is 260 MB. I have 256 MB of RAM. My CPU is a 1.2 GHz AMD Athlon.