*CRASH* The memory could not be 'read' error, for HL2 and CS:S

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So is there a final fix? One solution to fix the problem or what? Can a halflife2.Net moderator put up a Sticky post on the forums listing everything thats been tried and worked. No offence but like thay guy said earlier, I don't think we all have time to read all 30 pages of this thread.

-And everything I've tried so far has not worked.
 
FIXED IT !!!!!!!

I looked in here ....

start / control panel / performance & maintenance / adjust visual effects ...

Then click the advanced tab. For some reason memory usage was set to system cache though I never remember setting it to that. So I switch it to programs and hey presto! after a reboot I can now play HL2 without that annoying error.
wooohoooooo

You should try taking a look in that location - perhaps steam or something set it like that, who knows =/
 
I had the same problems, but i have found a totaly different fix. I went into my Bios and turned off warning temprate for the CPU, and turned increaed the cooling off the system. This error was happerning all the time and now i can play with no problems.
 
Help Help

I am having this f***ing problem too! It is giving me same message as the first poster! I dont know what to DO! I have this:

2500 Barton
9600XT Video ATI
512 Corsair 3200 RAM
MSI motherboard
Servicepack2
 
We're still here then after 33 pages, eh? * sigh *

Things i've tried so far for the advice given here (to no avail!):
* Copying the files from the bin directory into the directory above.
* Removing my Creative sound card and going back to the onboard sound.
* Changing from the latest Offical ATI drivers to the Omega drivers.
* Going back to my old Gforce 4 mx card that last week i thought i had consigned to history! (Recently forked out £170 for the ati and £105 on a new cpu, all in time to get this game.)
* Disabling AGP fast write in the Bios
* Removing all of steam and hl2 and reinstalling (Only for it to give me "cab file cannot be read" errors on the first two reinstall attempts - worked third time though).

Anyone think i should give up on this game (at least for a bit!) and just stick to playing solitaire until an official bugfix is released?

Cheers & happy half-lifeing!
 
kielhanson said:
FIXED IT !!!!!!!

I looked in here ....

start / control panel / performance & maintenance / adjust visual effects ...

Then click the advanced tab. For some reason memory usage was set to system cache though I never remember setting it to that. So I switch it to programs and hey presto! after a reboot I can now play HL2 without that annoying error.
wooohoooooo

You should try taking a look in that location - perhaps steam or something set it like that, who knows =/
Click to expand...

dont have a performance and maintenance folder.....
 
3rd Ranger Batt, yeah i thought the same.

He means the following:
* Right click on my computer --> properties (or alternatively, press windows key and pause break)
* Advanced Tab
* Performance settings
* Advanced tab (another one)
* Memory usage

Mine was already where it should be, so no joy for me.
That's another possible quick fix off the list.


As an aside, dunno if others have quoted a a valve response to CS:S errors, which seems similar to our error. Lost the link so will post here.

_______________


"Memory Could Not Be Read" Error
A number of players are seeing this error, maybe just occasionally or very persistently.
NOTE: This information is for HL1 only, not HL2 CS:Source BETA

In persistent cases, re-installing Steam and the games rarely affects this problem.

There isn't one solution to fix this problem, it seems to be different for each player and his hardware.
Here is a long thread that has been looking at this problem for a couple of months now:
http://steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=96483
This thread is full of many different reports of this error and things that may or may not affect it.

At the moment (06Aug2004), there are 11,400 Hits on Yahoo for +"Memory Could Not Be Read" (about 6,700 on google).

The Address
Note: The actual error address that failed (referenced memory at ######) is important for diagnostic purposes.

If you enter this number in your windows calculator, use scientific mode, set to HEX first, enter the number, then switch to Decimal, it's most important if the number is around 128M, 256M, 384M, 512M.

First Things First
First off, let me say that there are a number of problems that can cause this error, Hardware, Software, Games and Operating System, Network and Routers and combinations of all of these.
NOTE: There was a recent CS update that unfortunately caused a rash of memory can't be read errors, typically symptomized by a "-model" error in the game console when certain weapons were fired. This particular problem has been fixed.
This error is generated by the operating system when an application is attempting to use memory that is inaccessible and typicallyis detected by NTDLL.DLL (part of the operating system).

Tweaks and Work Arounds
One of the reasons various "tweaks" like deleting models or cfg files and gl switch settings change a few player's memory read error symptoms is because they all affect how much memory the game is using.

Think of this read error (the long-standing one, not the CS one) in an analogy.

The Glass
If you have a glass (your computer's memory) that is partly full of water (programs), but there is a small hole in the glass about 1/2 way up (usually where one memory module ends and another starts), then when you run HL it fills up memory to just below the hole ... any little change in the game that requires more memory pushes the usage above where the hole is and makes a leak (a crash).

I'm NOT saying this is a hard memory error. What I'm saying is there is some location in memory that when HL trys to use this location that something happens.

This might be caused by the motherboard and the memory timing as it switched from one bank of memory to another. Slowing down the memory timing might fix this, overclocking might make it worse.

Skin Packs
If you have hi-res models (Fusion Pack) they take up more memory then the stock models.

Video Drivers
If you run different versions of graphics drivers, they might take up more or less memory. Using D3D or Software mode instead of OpenGL might change your symptoms in game too.

ClassMenu.res File
This file is not used by any game except TF, but for some reason the game searches for it, and the searching uses up memory space. If you see error messages about this file in your logs, it does NOT mean this file is the problem.

When you add a dummy classmenu.res file, HL finds it instead of searching for it so less memory gets used during the search.

Custom.hpk Spray File
This file contains all the sprays from other players. If you have their spray already then it won't have to be downloaded to your system.

Servers also have this file and in both client and server, the file can get very large.

The more entries there are, the more memory it takes as well as the longer it takes to search for each spray.

You can safely delete this file and it will decrease your memory usage and speed up loading the game, but it will cause new sprays to download again which can cause a little lag when you first join a server.

You can set a CVAR that will keep this file from getting too large.

This CVAR is hpk_maxsize ## in either your config.cfg file or in console, the ### is the max size in megabytes. If you set this to 0, custom.hpk will not be limited in size (this is the default).

Router Firmware
If you have bad firmware in your router (Linksys/Actiotec problem) when you connect to a server the resource names for things might get scrambled (only takes one letter) and HL will search for that bogus model/sprite which ... takes more time and memory.

HL Heapsize and Zone Usage
Changing the -heapsize changes the memory usage in big chunks (MB), using -zone (for script space) changes it in KB. This is also the reason deleting some Script CFG Files might change your symptoms a little.

BOTS
There are reports that Adminmod and Realbots (Podbots too) can cause this error. As always, remove unnecessary addons when you get errors like this. Like most of these tweaks, my guess is this is just another "total memory usage" problem.

Desktop Wallpaper and Performance
Adding or removing the wallpaper on your computer changes the memory usage. Also, turning off themes and optimizing XP for performance will use less memory:
control panel > system > advanced > performance > settings > "adjust for best performance"

BIOS Caching
BIOS Caching on or off (best turned off for XP) changes how much memory in the system can get cached which can actually decrease memory demand - the work is being done in "reliable" memory L2 cache).

OPLOCK Registry
The OPLOCK registry change decreases how the operating system (XP, WIN2K) uses memory when programs use shared resources in memory as well as how it handles errors.

AGP Aperture size
Changing the AGP aperture size changes how texture memory in the graphics card maps to system memory, a smaller aperture size is actually more efficient (as long as it isn't too small).

Overclocking
Overclocking your computer and memory speeds might create a new hole or might make the hole bigger, slowing the clock speeds a little might close the hole up entirely.

Spyware and Unused XP Services
Removing spyware and unnecessary O/S Services decreases overall memory usage and gives you more margin below the problem memory area.

Delete old Prefetch Files
Deleting the old prefetch files will decrease your O/S baseline memory usage but only for a while (they will be re-created as you run different programs).

Clean your Registry
Cleaning your Registry can actually save many megabytes of memory, depending on how long it's been and how many programs you have installed / removed.

Direct-X Video / Sound Acceleration
Changing these features in DXDIAG will slightly change system memory usage and demand.

Virtual Memory Fix
There are two things you can try with adjusting your Virtual Memory.

If you have 512MB of memory or more then you can try disabling Virtual Memory completely, or you can increase the file size:

Left click on My Computer - select Properties - Go to the Advanced Tab to the right and click on it - In the performance section ;

click on advanced options - In the lower box you will see Virtual Memory.

To disable - click on "No Paging File" and the "SET".

To increase the size (400 min and 2000 Max) add in 256MB steps
and click on "SET' - the size is usually not more then 2X your physical memory.

Alternately you can click "System Managed Size" then "SET".

- You will have to reboot your system for the changes to take effect.

NOTE: It has been reported that a corrupt page file can cause this error, so be sure to try disabling your virtual memory and rebooting to see if the problem goes away.
Other Things to Check (may not be useful):
Too Many System Fonts
It's been reported that having too many fonts installed can aggravate or cause this problem, again this is not the cause but rather just shifting the O/S overhead around.

Video Codec Conflict: (Reported from Warcraft III)
If you have installed any video codec packs, such as Nimo's Codec pack, for video editing or playback please uninstall them and try the game. These codec packs, especially ones with DivX codecs, may conflict with the video codecs in the game causing the game to crash or not start properly.
Last Thing to Try
If you have a lot of custom models and other content, there is a chance you might have some offending content that is aggravating the problem.

An easy test for this is to temporarily rename the folder for your game that is having problems (counter-strike for example) and let Steam re-create a default directory and see if you have the same problem with a clean install (no custom content).

To do this, exit Steam first, then rename:
C:program Files\Steam\SteamApps\<account>\counter-strike
to
C:program Files\Steam\SteamApps\<account>\~counter-strike

The next time you run Steam and run CS it will create a totally default install which you can test with. If there is no difference, then just delete the new folder and rename the old one back.

Bottom Line: HL Really Uses Memory
HL uses more memory and demands more from your system then almost any program a typical player will run, so it's more likely to show this sort of existing problem.


But Why Did this Start Happening After an Update?
Over the years, as HL has been updated, it puts more and more demand on player's computers.

Players demand better looking models and maps and environment and features and action, and these all use memory.

The Operating system that the game is running under is also getting more feature rich (and using a lot more memory) - just look at the difference from Win95 to WinXP.

Where 64MB of memory used to be enough when HL first was released, now 256MB is pretty much the minimum.

For most computers, 256MB memory modules are the smallest that you can buy now, and motherboards are running very aggressive memory timing.

Each update of the game has been pushing the typical memory usage up, so where you might not have seen a problem before, another few MB of usage might push you over the line.

Remember, only a small percentage of all players ever see this error.

Something to Test
Here is a good test.

First, make sure you know exactly how much memory you have and what sizes the memory modules are.

You can use this little program (CPUZ):
http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Look on the second to the last tab where it shows your memory DIMMs, their size and their timing.

Then, run the task manager before you try and play HL.

Let it run for a bit and look at where your typical "PF" memory usage is (Page File). Look at the graph and see exactly where your memory DIMMs are, especially where one stops and another starts.

Then run HL to the splash screen (don't connect to a server).

Let it just sit there for a bit, then alt-tab to the taskmon and look at how much memory is being used.

Specifically look and see where this usage is relative to where your DIMMs are ending and starting.

If running HL takes you right to a crossover, then all of the changes listed above might affect if you see this problem or not.

Trojans Can Cause this Error
Virus' and Trojans are known to cause this error, the Sasser is well known for causing it as well as MSBlaster. Null memory references in random programs (accessing address 0x0000000) is a classic symptom.

Memory Tests
It's always good to run a memory test or two if you get memory errors of any kind just to make sure it isn't something easy to find.

Here are a few you can get for free:
Windows Memory Diagnostic Download Page
Memtest86
Simmtester DocMeM Memory Test Program

Just to be complete, here are some specific coding problems and symptoms that can cause this sort of error:
1. trying to access memory beyond an array boundary
2. trying to access an object through a NULL pointer
3. Null memory references in random programs (accessing address 0x0000000)
4. passing a NULL pointer to a Win32 function that expected a valid structure pointer
5. de-referencing a NULL pointer

Some Additional Web Threads on this Problem
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win2000/t1036959048
Here are three more additional things to make sure are off:
1. uncheck EAX and A3D in the Game Audio Options
2. Don't run BOTs (if you get this error)
3. delete custom.hpk and tempdecal.wad

#3 has to do with custom spray wad files (perhaps bad ones) have been reported to cause this to start happening. Both of these files are in your game directory, delete them and see if your problem still happens.
 
If find a Fix!

Please anybody If you find a fix to this please post title with FOUND FIX because there are many many many people out there having this problem. And if we can fix it then it might be a real fix that just might work for everyone. And with 33 pages of specs, problems, memory problems we need a way to tell. So thank you and for you that have HL2 working have a great time playing it while others suffer in the cruel hatred of Valve! :flame: :flame: :flame: :flame: :devil:
 
I've tried everything, with no results. I've since given up and gone back to Halo 2 and Warcraft 3.
 
omg that was a long txt.....is defagmenting like cheacking your memory
 
i went to the performace and man...... it didnt work it was already on programs
 
sigh...Doom III, Far Cry, BF Vietnam, WC3, C&C Generals and ZH, World of Warcraft, CS 1.6, all run 100% perfect...Then my number one want game doesnt work on my gamer PC doesnt want to work :(
 
im at the water hazard and the game autosaved there and it will neve ever load and now the games seems to be going slower than ever it is really choppy and im going out of my mind as everyone on this thread knows......iokashdfjks....bkaal.....blahblahbalbhalkdfj.........
 
by the way i got this far by playing with the error everytime it happened i would reload and play from that point till the next crash then repeat till i couldnt take it anymore
 
Well if it makes you feel any better, fal, You're not going crazy, just undersane.
 
I figured it out... maybe. *minor spoilers*

I was having a similar problem as the rest of you guys in this thread. Here's my situation. Bought the game retail, unlocked it and played it fine all the way to Black Mesa East. Well after Alyx says lets go play with the grav gun or whatever there's a loading section where it autosaves and what-not. Here's where I get the "The instruction at "0x241f8977" referenced memory at "0x01b6f5c0". The memory could not be "read". error. After trying all of these different things... memory timings.. deleting the .gcfs, setting the heapsize, turning off my page file... and none working. I started playing with the console. Well the map that I was on is d1_eli_01, and the one it was crashing on is d1_eli_02. So I did a search in the Valve folder for d1_eli_02 and deleted the files that came up. One being a .cache file and the other a .manifest file both in the soundcache folder. I then went to the HL2 validation page here: Validate HL2 . It apparently redownloaded the files or unpacked em or something and I haven't had a problem since. Try it out and report back. G'luck.
 
i deleted all steam games and steam itself, installed SP2, got the ati 4.12 drivers, and got new nForce drivers from nvidia, reinstalled, updated, validated files; havent crashed since
 
yeah getting this crap too
brand new comp too
game runs fine on my old one
weird crap...
 
3rd Ranger Batt said:
dont have a performance and maintenance folder.....
Click to expand...

maKe sure you aren't in classic view of the control panel. It's under system properties anyway, where your paging file stuff is.
 
New ATI Catalyst 4.12beta drivers out, lads!

Check my other thread in this forum.
 
Can somebody zip and send me all the files in soundcache? I have a very bad connection, so I just cannot validate and download with valve content server, it took me 5 days to finish online validating and I'm not going to spend more 5 days to validate it again! If you can then I'll share to all the others who cannot use steam like me.
 
and plz split them apart, avoiding accident during the upload thank you
 
ive tried all drivers ive been able to find, none of them has helped sh*t.. well, theres not much more to do than to kill myself i guess. goodbye everyone.
 
Dammit...my brother's comp is getting read errors.
Fresh install of everything n' all ;(...still no fix from valve ? :(
 
its a bizzare problem affecting all sorts of people really... hard to centre on it i guess.
they'll fix it eventually... heh... god knows when. sucks for us i guess.
 
well, ive had fortunate luck lately - once i got past the canals, my crashing has pretty much stopped. Ive played twice now for 2 hours or so and no crash.

Turning off the auto save by renaming the autosave files in the SAVE folder has helped a lot with annoying stuttering. The canals were evil for me...
 
YAY

Well, my bro's mobo has 2 ram slots, all I did was swap the ram sticks around, and it worked :D, lol
 
hey ,, I just revalidated my files but i'm still getting the same stupid error over and over ,, but it's just like it doesn't do enything when I click te download the revalidation ,, This small screen appears for about 2 sec and poof it's gon ,, and I think it hasen't changed a thing ,, so if anyone was succesfull whit revalidating could he pleazzzzzzze upload those files ,, like checkmate asked,,
 
How about some HL2 support, please?

We have waited so long for this release and now you (Sierra) gives us this!

I am experiencing several of the common problems one can read about in this forum - most annoing is sertenly the "cant read"-crap. Posted a thread about this Yesterday at 11:47 PM (no replies though).

For me everything (except some soundproblems) whent fine until I got though the canal (at the 6:th or 7:th load). Before this point I could save, load and play the game. After this crash I cant load the game from any previous save. Sometimes the game doesnt even load to the main menu.

P4 2.8
MSI 865-Neo2 PE
Onboard Realtek-sound
512 (2x256 paired) Corsair memory
Seagate SATA-disk
MSI FX Geforce 5900 XT
Win XP -SP2
(AVG antivirus)
 
I HAVE THE FIX :cheers:

READ MY EARLIER THREAD ITS ON PAGE 1 OR 2 IT SAIS FOUND FIX READ IT !!!!! :cheers: :) :p ;) :naughty:
 
NADA!! this doesn't work ether! I dont think those 2 are the only ones that are bad ,, I'm at chapter 13 beleve it or not,, and I still get the error every 30 min ,, I'm not very patient so if they don't release a good patch soon ,, they schouldn't even bother.
 
I just fixed my issue. YAY! I'm finally past the freakin level I couldn't get past since last Tuesday when the game came out. Anyway, I went to SteamApps\userid\half-life 2\hl2\maps\soundcache and deleted the files for the map that was giving me:

The instruction at "0x241f8977" referenced memory at "0x00e9f5c0". The memory could not be "read".

I had to delete d1_canals_10.cache and d1_canals_10.manifest. I then started the game up, loaded the save for d1_canals_9, and proceeded to load into canals_10. What a day!

This may only work for me, but I hope it works for others with the memory crash. If you need to know what level you are currently on, open up the console and type status.
 
deleting sourcemodels.gcf(?) and redownloading that part fixed the error for me.
 
im gonna try reinstalling halflife2 so i was just wondering what are all the files i need to delete in the steamapps directory to get rid of it fully?
 
Wow, ive read just about all of these posts, and nothing has helped. I am starting to hate this game, I say we form a strike on Valve.
 
I think you're going for 'boycott' and, ehh... a little harsh, ya reckon? Besides, they've already got your retailer's money. What's it matter now?

I'm pissed too, but I'm not about to start writing angry letters or construct voodoo dolls or santoria idols of Valve employees.

[Addin'] I totally understand where you're at. I was there the day it came out because I sat down expecting a polished game without any game-busting errors. I went a little nuts when the error popped up and then I saw the huge-ass thread at [H] about it. Now, I'm just glad it's not my hardware and I'll wait for an update.

Besides... it's not like HL2 is the only thing in life.

Bitching about not being able to play HL2 is. =P
 
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