Game crashes at 2.1 to 2.2 gb of useage

Since issue 18 came out I've noticed the game crashing after a few hours of play. When I checked the resources in use when the game crashed (Using Windows Task Manager) the Ram being used was 2gb, so I added an extra gb (taking it to 3gb), however I still get the same crash at between 2.1 and 2.2 gb of useage. This is total page file useage and will include other things running in the background (normally just Paragonwiki and team speak).

My Wifes machine (which is a different build to mine) hits the same issue at the same point, her machine has 3gb too.

Is anyone else getting this and has anyone got a fix?

Both machines are running XP with service pack 3.

CoH is a 32-bit program. Most operating systems (even 64-bit ones) will only allow 32-bit programs to utilize about 2gb of memory. At that point, it crashes. It doesn't matter how much physical memory you have in your computer. You can still run the game if you only had 1g of ram, or even 512mb, but it'd be much slower as the system will use your hard drive for the extra memory instead of the ram.

As for a "fix", there might be some tricks to tweak your OS, but somebody else would have to answer with that. I never messed around with it myself. Other than that, we can only hope that the CoH Devs come up with a way to manage the memory usage better. It likes to hold onto tons of information that it never really uses (information about people you've teamed with, zones you've been in, chat, contents of windows you've opened, and other info). I mean.. it does actually use some of it later, but it's not like it would drop our overall performance to just load it again when it's actually needed instead of hoarding it all "just in case".

People have been complaining about memory usage for quite some time, and have crashed in the past with as little as 1.5g reliably. Each issue release brings more game content and more things the game apparently loads and saves. I've seen my average CoH memory usage (after "hours of play") go from 900mb when I started playing in 2006, to the 1.6g I see today. Eventually, my client reaches about 1.9g and crashes as well.

Something you might be able to do in the meantime: /unloadgfx$$clearchat
That should free up a little bit of memory (sometimes VERY little), but if you really want to make sure your memory usage doesn't cause you to crash is simply to check on it once in a while. When it gets to about 1.7g or so, you might consider closing your client and opening a fresh one.