"football manager 2010 running dangerously low on memory"

I try to load my game and half way through loading this message pops up it then asks me to quit and free up some memory please tell em theres a way round this ?

delete some memory!

now why would i want to do that, when i'm looking to free some up ?

Its a really annoying thing, the least they could do is save the game before it quits

stop any unneeded programs and processes. Try increasing your virtual memory. You could also stop windows auto updating

:edit: Windows update thing

Ok i've done that, i've even tried the recommended 'game booster' but still the same, i dont understand this i have plenty of free memory remaining !

what are your sys specs?

I don't know, where do i find it ? the thing is as i've played fm on this laptop since it came out and i've recently had the thing wiped so its not like theres hundreds of games and crap etc clogging it up and i've had like three saves before each very far in, we're talking 2040 etc but i'm only in 2012 on this save so i don't understand at all. oh, and i'm rubbish with computer stuff ha !

If you are on Windows 7 go to Control Panel -> System and Security -> System.

If you're not (you can do this if you are on Windows 7 as well) go to Start->Run and type in box "dxdiag" without the quotes. Then hit return.

If your system has been wiped the settings my have changed in its set up. Try increasing your virtual memory and see if that helps.

For the sys specs you can right click my Comp and go to properties on xp.

processor : intel® celeron® CPU 540 @ 1.86GHz 1.87GHz

Memory (RAM) : 1.00 GB

system type : 32-bit operating system

I'm assuming at least part of that is what i'm looking for?

What OS are you on? Vista or before?

If you are on Vista or 7 I think that is the minimum requirement in terms of memory anyway.

Try what Jedaye suggested above.

1.00 GB of Ram is not a lot.

You should invest in some new Ram.

I recently updated from 2 GB of Ram to 4 GB and I tell you, I don't know what I was doing with only 2.

You have very little Ram. Anything over XP will kill your system just running the OS.

i'm on vista . isn't RAM expensive, i'm a student with a part time job so probably not happening anytime soon if it is.

not really depending on what you are looking for, The real problem is it being a lap top, Desk top pcs are much easier to upgrade. What is your lap top model number/make and I will have a look to see what ram it uses.

You should still try the virtual mem increase.

I am also pretty sure Vista wants at least 2 gigs to run well.....if thats only the 64bit or not I have not checked.

I've went in to my virtual memory bit... i don't know what to put into the initial size and maximum size ? under it it says minimum allowed 16mb recommended 1434 mb currently allocated 1256 mb

you've got me there mate, haven't a clue all i could tell you is its a fujitsu seimens .

BTW thanks everyone for taking the time to help.

but the thing is, it's been running fine for the last eight months since i've played fm 10 so i don't understand why it's not now ?

try increasing it in 500s. Try fm.....increase.....If it gets no betters after the Highest value you can set let me know.

Hey I know how tough life can be with out FM!

As I said earlier - Wiping the PC would have changed some things, Unless this has happened since the re-installing I can understand it. Even then...The longer a game goes the more processing power/ VM it needs to stay stable. I have only ever had this problem related to my VM size.

I know how stupid i must sound but what am i increasing in 500s ?

I've went in to my virtual memory bit... i don't know what to put into the initial size and maximum size ? under it it says minimum allowed 16mb recommended 1434 mb currently allocated 1256 mb

Increase from 1256 to 1434 - then start trying more. you might want to drop it down to 100 increase tbh as I do not know your system.

I know how stupid i must sound but what am i increasing in 500s ?

The virtual memory. Make it 500 bigger than it previously was and check to see if FM works then.

By the way have you the 10.3.0 patch?

yep, i'm all patched up .

i'm increasing my RAM thingy... whats the highest i should put in ? i'm soooo bad with computer things

i mean the virtual mempory thingy.

The highest you can put in is the highest it says. Increase it gradually e.g. by 500 and then check the game. If it does not work then increase it again. Keep doing this until the game works or you cannot increase it anymore. Let us know how you get on.

First an example of typical RAM stick prices, which are easy enough to replace even on a laptop. It's processors and graphics cards which get tricky.

Second Vista is a real memory hog. If you want the computer for anything other than looking pretty you need about 2GB of RAM with Vista. If you can't get the extra memory, your best bet is to try to downgrade to XP which will run on half the RAM of Vista.

Third 1GB is the bare bones RAM neccessary to run the game, so any sort of big save is going to cause problems RAM wise.

What else uses RAM, anything i can delete ?

Every running program or process on the computer uses RAM. As you used Game Booster, that should have closed all unnecessary background processes.

After using Game Booster and closing all open applications (other than the game of course) there should be nothing much else using much RAM other than the OS.

To be sure, after doing the above, hit Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open task manager and click the process tab. How many processes are listed and are there any ones using a lot of memory?

but the thing is, it's been running fine for the last eight months since i've played fm 10 so i don't understand why it's not now ?

The longer the game goes on, the more memory it needs. I had exactly the same problem with 2gb when it got to a certain point before the patch.

What else uses RAM, anything i can delete ?

I just took a screenie of my computer's task manager with only Firefox running:

Of all the programs running only firefox.exe can be safely shut down. If you're unsure about an .exe google it.

Sorry about the bad sizing, didn't crop in paint.

Right amazingly patient and generally nice people... just keep upping it by 500 each time still no joy, so i decided to try the second version like the backup which was last saved only a few hours before the main version and thats working, could it be just the save ?

Right amazingly patient and generally nice people... just keep upping it by 500 each time still no joy, so i decided to try the second version like the backup which was last saved only a few hours before the main version and thats working, could it be just the save ?

Well if that works, then it would indicate so which is a bit strange. Post back if you get problems with that save.

I will do... genuinely can't thank you all enough for your patience with my novice computer skills and for taking the time to help me !

I will do... genuinely can't thank you all enough for your patience with my novice computer skills and for taking the time to help me !

No problem. Glad to help.

Right amazingly patient and generally nice people... just keep upping it by 500 each time still no joy, so i decided to try the second version like the backup which was last saved only a few hours before the main version and thats working, could it be just the save ?

Could be. I vaguely remember an issue like this whereby no matter how much memory (physical and/or virtual) was available the game would crash with the low memory warning. It might also be that the path is a;ready chosen and your backup might do the same, but there is only one way to find out.

What I would try, out of curiosity, is to load up the save again, open up Task Manager and wait for the 'low memory crash'. If it does then look in the Performance Tab to see if Peak exceeds Limit under the Commit Charge heading.

Also set Task Manager to Options > Always on Top

Go to the Processes tab

Click View > Select Columns

Make sure Memory Usage and Virtual Memory Size are ticked

Then just spam the space bar in FM to keep on continuing until it crashes while keeping an eye on the Virtual Memory and Memory Usage values. If you click the CPU column (or the Memory Usage column depending on what you have running) it should keep fm.exe at the top. It might be hitting a point where it just starts 'leaking' memory or it might be something dodgy with FM reading the values, either way watching those values will reveal it one way or the other

It will also let you know if buying more RAM will make any difference before actually making an expenditure but theoretically with a large enough hard drive you should be able to bump up the Paging File such that FM does not run out of memory at all (although it would slow down considerably).

EDIT: Just had a quick search and one potential solution is to go into Preferences and untick Enable Data Collection. Some have reported that this helped.

EDIT: Just had a quick search and one potential solution is to go into Preferences and untick Enable Data Collection. Some have reported that this helped.

Had the same problem a while ago, the game kept crushing after a few minutes or an hour, had to keep saving constantly. Then I unchecked "enable data collection" and checked "use 'user data' folder for temporary files" (the game is installed on non-system partition with much more space). Not sure what of these two helped, but the game is now stable as a rock. Really - never crashed since.

Ok I just started getting this message saturday morning. I have had bigger saves, I have had longer saves, I regularly clean out old saves. 2gig RAM. 2gb Processor. I dont even get to the load game screen. This is a bit poo so unless it is an easy fix I am gonna wait till fm11 is released.

'user data' folder for temporary files" - checking that will use temp files to be stored on c:\documents and settings\username\.... where OS temp files are, in that drive has heavy fragmentation, use own folded on non-system partition, or even on empty partition if you have

p.s. set swap file to be 1,5 to 2 times * RAM/you have installed

i'm on vista . isn't RAM expensive, i'm a student with a part time job so probably not happening anytime soon if it is.

Wow, who sold you a lap top/pc with vista and 1gig of ram? Who ever it was had absolutely no idea what they were doing or didn't care and ripped you off and you should maybe pay them a visit and get it sorted.

You need more ram I'm afraid, 1gig of ram just will not cut it on any other OS apart from xp. You could get 2gig of ram for £20 or more so it's not that expensive but putting it into a laptop is nothing like putting it into a pc and I wouldn't have a clue where to start.