Can't Get In

[Bartimus]

Hello,
     I recently downloaded this game, and now I\'m unable to play it.  The game gets to a point where the black box in the bottom right says \"Initializing World\" or something like that.  After like 3 minutes, the screen closes automatically, and it goes back to the normal computer screen, but everything is blue instead of showing our selected theme.
     From looking through these forums, I assume it\'s cause I don\'t have enough RAM( only 128 ).  Is there anyway I can increase RAM without buying something?

[Moogie]

You can\'t get any more RAM without getting... more RAM. I\'m sure there\'s something you can do with your swap file, but I\'m not sure about the limits of that, and it\'s only useful as a RAM replacement if you have a superfast harddrive.

RAM is very cheap these days anyway, so it\'ll be worth it. You\'ll get alot more use out of your PC with some hardware capable of making it run, rather than crawl.

[Bartimus]

Thanks.   You wouldn\'t happen to have any idea where I might by some of this hardware, would you? (Yeah, I\'m pretty computer illiterate)  Or do I have to order it off the internet?

    And how do I get into the swap file?

[Moogie]

You can usually purchase sticks of RAM from any store selling computer equipment. The only thing you need to make sure of is that the stuff you buy is the same type as what you\'re already using. And, if you don\'t know how to, I wouldn\'t recommend installing it yourself. You can order it off the Internet, and might even find a better bargain online, but I don\'t know of any sites I could recommend.

About the swap file... that\'s a rather technical thing to fiddle with, to be honest. I can\'t remember the exact steps you need to take to get to the right menu, nor the correct values you need to enter once you get there... you can\'t just make it any size you want, you see. If I find anything helpful on Google, I\'ll edit my post here to include the URL for you.

[Shadowfalcon]

In a way, you can get more RAM without buying more RAM.

The first thing you should do is close any startup programs and TSR\'s. Things like Messenger service, Kazzaa, Realplayer (*shudders*), that stupid WinZip utility that does nothing, those sorts of things.

If you\'re running Windows 2000 or XP, you can disable any services that arent required to run windows. (I think there are three that are needed, and a few more if you want networking, one for sound.

You can also disable any hardware you dont use through the device manager, like COM ports, Serial ports, game/MIDI ports, that will free up more ram.

Not using a background image frees up some RAM, as well as setting the graphics quality to a minimum (for XP only).

Finally, if you\'re really desperate for more free RAM, you can close the shell (explorer.exe). That will free about another 15 megs or so. You can still run any other program if you do this, but you will have to open them using the Run command. (WindowsKey + r)

My laptop only has 128mb, and doing these things, ive gotton windows XP to use less than 30mb. BUT, you dont sound like the most computer literate person in the world (no offense) so I would reccomend you find a person who knows how to do these things, and ask them about it.

Edit: the best thing to do though, would be to take it to your local computer store, and tell them you want more ram. (At least 512mb if you wanna play PS.)

[Bartimus]

Dang.  That was a fast reply.  Thanks for the help.  I\'m gonna go back to tryin\' to get in now.  I\'m not givin\' up.