I discussed with Snek the other day about this when I tried to solve why my game constantly crashed with the SnekyGraphics mod installed (or just when playing/editing a super-complex adventure like Those Who Remain by Error/Metalblaze), and she basically said that the game ran out of memory.
You see, normally Spore is limited to only using about 2GB of RAM, as it was made during a time when 32-bit programs and computers were still a thing. 32-bit systems like Windows XP and earlier could only hold about 4GB of RAM in total, and anything bigger would just crash the whole system. So, Spore is still today kind of limited by this factor, but it can be migitated somewhat by applying a certain, generic patch.
The 4GB Patch by NTCore is an interesting program, in that it basically tells Spore that "hey, you can use any sort of memory you like now, don't worry about the system", "flips" some sort of "switch", and then allows Spore to utilize 4GB of memory in total. This just means that the game's memory limit is basically doubled, but as it was originally designed for 2GB of usage at max, there is a lot more of leeway in terms of adding more detail into the game itself. It also means you can also more reliably play some of the more complex adventures like Salvation, Motel of Melora or Become What They See, or even modded adventures like Chrysalis; Start-Up by Miikka64 (A really gorgeous adventure in my opinion, you also need to play it!) without crashing, or even with graphics mods and ReShade shaders installed as well!
Anyway, the following will now be a tutorial as on how you can also apply the 4GB patch into Spore: Galactic Adventures as well.
TUTORIAL:
- Download the 4GB Patch from NTCore from this address: https://ntcore.com/?page_id=371
- Extract the contents of the zip file anywhere you like (although extracting to desktop or within Spore's files is not recommended).
- Click the 4gb_patch.exe file in order to start the application.
- Within the Explorer interface that opens, go to wherever you installed Spore into (Origin Games\Spore Galactic Adventures for Origin, Steam\Steamapps\common\Spore for Steam, etc.) and locate SporeApp.exe within the SporebinEP1 folder (SporeApp_ModAPIfix.exe for Origin with ModAPI Launcher Kit installed).
- This window should pop up, telling you if you were successful. In most cases it should work, but it might be recommended to close Spore first before attempting to apply this patch.
- It might also help to set Spore's graphics cache to the maximum allowed within the in-game settings, but that needs a bit more research as well.