Hello,

the Minimum system requirements for what is sold as the ' X3: Terran War Pack' on GOG.com state that:
"Graphics: 256 MB 3D DirectX 9 Compatible video card (not onboard) with Pixel Shader 1.1 support"
...but, I can tell you that 256MB of Video memory (VRAM) is not enough even for the low resolution of 1280x800pixels at rock bottom settings as I am constantly out of video memory according to the nifty (small and free) GPU-Z program and the jerkiness of the game play. Changing the graphics card is not really an option on a laptop either :-( Lowering the resolution is not tempting at all as it is so low already but it is either that or let my current game rest until I get home to my desktop again, or possibly a third choice:

Now I wonder: Does Windows 10 manage things in a way a modern operating system should and releases ALL of the VRAM to programs in full screen mode, or is it like yesteryear when one could squeeze out some more by doing things like turn Explorer off? I have no idea how to do things like that in Windows 10 though, nor what to do.

I can tell you that I got X3:TC working in Linux on a netbook with an Intel Bay Trail processor (Bay Trail processors have probably some of the weakest integrated graphic cards of the entire Intel series of its time). The performance in crowded systems was let than stellar, but it was playable.

I'm surprised you're having issues. What exactly are you using in terms of hardware? I don't think Windows 10 will help much with VRAM usage to be honest. If you have an integrated graphics board it will just tap into your system RAM, according to how its driver/firmware tells it to do that.

Increasing the amount of system RAM will help, however, in most cases. Ideal is the case where you have a dual-channel compatible memory controller but only have one memory slot populated - if you buy a second one of the same capacity you'll activate the dual channel interface and get a bandwidth boost to your graphics card also. In most cases, the amount of memory allocated to the graphics card will also increase if you add more RAM.

Ok, that's a rather old laptop :).

When I first played X3:TC it was on a desktop with a noisy and radiator-hot Radeon HD 4650 and I remember it was having sporadic performance issues even on that and the GPU was hitting temperature highs of around 85C during gameplay.

Luckily those days are long gone and on modern hardware most integrated graphic chips have enough power to run X3:TC and X3:AP smoothly :).

Maybe upgrading to Windows 10 has put more strain on the already limited resources you had - you have to remember modern operating systems are not necessarily good for playing older games, especially on older laptops. I'd keep an older operating system installed if I were you - maybe revert to Win7 or try switching to Linux if you have the time, you might be pleasantly surprised in some cases. I don't think your problem is with the video memory to be honest, but the overall rendering power of the graphics chip, which is too low - but if that's somehow also affecting performance, you might want to lower the texture and shader settings a bit and see if it's any better.

Not my computer = not up to me what OS is on it. I did suggest trying Linux mint.... to no avail.

All settings on lowest was not enough so I bit the poisonous tasting bullet and lowered the resolution a bit.

My own laptop is unfortunately much older than this one so impossible to play on and my desktop is rather stationary, like those tend to be. Bringing it with me on the plane is not a realistic option.