Half Life 2: The memory could not be read

[M0T]

The famous error has returned.

I couldn't play Half Life 2 for over a year until I could afford a new pc because of this error, and I thought I had left it behind.

Today I finally got round to playing episode 2 and the game crashes after the valve movie with the memory could not be read error.

I have tried adding things to the start up of the game, closing all open programs, reinstalling drivers, clearing my cache, downloading all game files again, deleting config files but I have got nowhere (system is stock).

I am tearing my hair out, all other source games work perfectly, does anyone have any idea what I could try?

 

[MrMacca]

Did a little search into the problem and a lot of other people are experiencing it. Here are a few methods used that fixed the problem for some but not all.
Not sure what you have tried regarding the startup shortcuts, but I will paste them here for you to give them a try:

Here is the fix:

First location:

Right click your Half Life 2 icon on your desktop (the one you would normally double-click to launch the game). Then click Properties. Click the Shortcut Tab. In the line labeled Target, you will see something like this, depending on where you put the program when you installed it:

"C:\Program Files\Steam\Steam.exe" -applaunch 22

Copy and paste the following AFTER the above line:

+mat_forcehardwaresync 0 +snd_async_prefetch_priority 1

Be sure there is a space between -applaunch 22 and +mat

Click save and you are ready to go.

Second location:

From the Steam Play Games Menu, right click on Half Life 2. Choose Properties, then click Launch Options. Paste the following in the box.

+mat_forcehardwaresync 0 +snd_async_prefetch_priority 1

Click Ok and you are ready to go.

So here is what I did to FIX the problem:
1) Right mouse click on my computer->Properties->Advanced
2) Performance Options -> Virtual Memory
3) I changed my virtual memory page size to have an initial size of like 550Mb and a max size of 1024Mb. In short, I upped the virtual memory page file size, and then I was able to play the game.

CLICK PROPERTIES OF THE ICON U USE FOR RUNNING THE GAME. CLICK SHORTCUT TAB... IN THE TARGET ADD "-steam +mat_forcehardwaresync 0 +snd_async_prefetch_priority 1” WITHOUT QUOTES AT THE END INSTEAD OF JUST "-steam" "

Also, remove your windows temp files and have a clean installation.
It worked for me,

Run the game in a window instead of full screen and try and save and see if it still crashes. I'm finding posts similar to yours and that seemed to be the solution posted by Valve. And if it does save then it is (or might be) an issue with your vid card sharing system memory.

Hope something there allows you to sort it.

 

[M0T]

I did all of those to no avail, but I have fixed it now. It didn't like the lastfm service, even though it wasn't in the task bar. I removed it from start up and now I can play the game.

 

[KNiVES]

Your computer needs to attend literary lessons.

 

[Haggisman]

I was having this error a lot, but only in a single level. I got the impression it was a texture bug or so, because I only got it when looking at a few specific places , finally managed to get past it by crouching and looking at the floor =P