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Tutorial TECHNICAL/MODDING TIP - Improving Performance and Stability by Making CoAS Large Address Aware

TheBlackKnight

Corsaire Flibustier
Storm Modder
Pirate Legend
All,

This is something I have been testing for a while now in my installation.
It seems to be working very well on my personal gaming system.
This has resulted in significant improvement in stability for the game over the course of the last couple of months.
I get very few generic "crashes".

BACKGROUND:

CoAS and its associated mods all use the same game engine, specifically Storm Engine 2.8.
When it was created and improved back in 2007, modern operating systems were still under development.
The current Storm Engine executable, start.exe was only coded to use 2GB of available memory in your system.
Modern operating systems such as Windows 7/8 do not have this limitation.

Several years back a developer wrote a small program that allows program executables to hex edited without understanding hexadecimal code and allow full use of available RAM memory, specifically 4GB or more.
This became highly useful for older programs and games.

I modified my CoAS executable to do this a some time back and as a result the game has gained a significant increased in stability, predominating when doing large amounts of texture swapping and long gameplay sessions, or going into battles or ports.
In essence, I don't have the problems some people report at all in my installation.

I will now provide this tool for modders and players of the game along with instructions for use, as the process is quite simple.

First though a few CAVEATS:

1) I am NOT responsible for ANY issues, if this program is used incorrectly
2) This modification should not be used with WIN XP or VISTA.
3) This modification will not improve your game framerate, as its tied to use for of memory files and hard drive usage while playing, not your graphic card.
4) This does not fix game bugs or inconsistencies in the game engine, but does reduce some types of anomalies that can occur in game such as demasting, port CTD, battle CTD, or other graphical distortions.
5) This modification will do NOTHING, if you are not using a modern operating such as WIN 7/8 or do not have more than 4GB of system RAM (in fact in long game session, it will probably cause crashing)
6) This modification has only been tested with GOF and GOF Eras, not the POTC old Storm Engine, but should be compatible if someone wants to investigate further.

That said here is how you do it:

1) Download the attached file, "Large Address Aware.zip" to your hard drive
2) Extract the single executable and place in the main game directory
3) Backup your original, "Start.exe" in a safe place
4) Run Large Address Aware.exe
5) Select "Start.exe" in the main game directory by using the directory button
6) Check the option "Allow this executable to use more than 2GB of memory"
7) Click "Save".

Start your game.
If you experience any issues, restore your original, "Start.exe" after deleting the updated executable, Large Address Aware.exe, and the created settings.sav file.

Cheers!
 

Attachments

  • Large Address Aware.zip
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Last edited:
Post has been updated further with additional details.
PM if you have any questions.
 
Just tried it in GOF2. Once the .exe is started it becomes self explanatory and easy to use. GOF2 starts and runs normally in a quick test run. More playing time needed. :dance

EDIT: Just tried it in POTC and all seems well there too. That game was using almost no memory.
 
Last edited:
EDIT: Just tried it in POTC and all seems well there too. That game was using almost no memory.
Is this the same as:
Code:
Build 14 Beta 3.1:
- Engine updated so it can handle >2gb address space by Lord_Kosmos
?
 
Oh. Well I just finished a battle that had 8 ships and a fort in it that lasted 14 game hours with no issues at all in GOF2.
 
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