Author Topic: Memory usage?  (Read 4145 times)

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On a whim, I checked my memory usage, and I was pulling about 580MB before starting the game, then I paused and checked after I'd been playing for a while and usage was at about 1.6G!  That's ok for me, since I have 2GB, but I'm thinking about a friend that only has 1GB, would they be able to run this?  All the details were maxed, 16x AA and AF, and I had MediaVPS going, so I figure it shouldn't be too hard to trim memory usage, the only question is what exactly should I cut back?  I know all that AA and AF isn't necessary, but my laptop can tank it I had it on.  Would 2x AA and 8x AF lower usage enough, or should we run it without MediaVPS?

 

Offline Shade

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If you are using mv_adveffects.vp, that is a massive memory hog and should definitely be the first thing to go when cutting back. The rest of the mediavps should be less of a problem.
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Are you sure it's all RAM that's being used?  Your pagefile (aka virtual memory) usage should be able to take care of that.
Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made
Were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade
To write the love of God above, would drain the ocean dry
Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky!

 
I did everything jr2 said in this thread, I just looked and didn't see what you mentioned, are there multiple names for things?

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,48525.0.html

 
Mine runs at 896 MB of RAM fine, and I'm running Vista too.

I sure earned it, didn't I?  :P

 

Offline taylor

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Although that are 100% stable, give one of my Xt builds a try.  They are based on 3.6.9 (ie, the stable code branch) so they should be compatible with all current mods, pilot files, etc.  The newer Xt builds are not network compatible with other builds though, the last few Xt builds use a newer version of FS2NetD.

But, work was done to cut down on memory usage.  So, it's something to try out if you need it.  Grab them from here: http://icculus.org/~taylor/fso/willrobinson.  You may or may not want the newest one, avoid the one right before the newest, the 2 previous to that should be pretty stable, but the 2 previous to those aren't all that stable and have some graphical problems.

 

Offline jr2

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I think you'll be alright... alot of stuff get loaded & dumped to the pagefile.  Is there a way to artificially limit your RAM?  If so, I'll drop mine down to 512 MB for you & check it out... It should still run, albeit slower.  Heck, I've had 3.6.7 running on a 500 MHz AMD K6-2 + 256 MB PC133 RAM, with a PCI BFG 5500 OC 256.. slow as heck, but it ran.

 

Offline Turey

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I'm running fine on 768MB RAM.
Creator of the FreeSpace Open Installer.
"Calm. The ****. Down." -Taristin
why would an SCP error be considered as news? :wtf: *smacks Cobra*It's a feature.

 
I set it up for him last night, set all the details and AA to max, but didn't load MediaVPS, and he didn't seem to have a problem for the hour or so he played with it, I'll check when I see him next, but it seems that's all that was needed.  Even without MediaVPS he and his brother were impressed, as I was, with the game.  You all have done a really good job of keeping the game updated over the years.

 

Offline jr2

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Y'know, it wouldn't hurt to run the mediavps... if it's too slow, turn it off.  If not, then you're golden.  I'd rather run mediavps with an option or two (AA) turned down a bit than run without them.

 
Well, we're talking about a farm boy that had never (as far as I know) seen a video game until college, so I don't think he'll care, but I'll pass it on.

 

Offline x1v9a2

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I've been experiencing massive failures due to my memory, I can say that.  I use a p4 pentium with 1.8 MHz, but only 384 mg of ram.  I have it at the lowest resolution using no vp modifications... just baseline freespace2 installed via the open installer.

About 10 minutes into the game, it will freeze (well, slow down, move a little, then freeze).  I thought it was graphics, but recently I've noticed it freezes even when staring into space.. not ship exploding or anything.  This time, I noticed that the installer mentions there are some memory leaks, and as the game crashes again, I notice a "low memory" icon.

I think that's confirmation that there's some serious memory leaking going on.  It doesn't affect those with gigs of memory, but for those of us "just passing by", unless I finish the mission reeeeeealy quick, my computer freezes.

 

Offline taylor

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I think that's confirmation that there's some serious memory leaking going on.  It doesn't affect those with gigs of memory, but for those of us "just passing by", unless I finish the mission reeeeeealy quick, my computer freezes.
There are no leaks, it just needs a LOT of memory for all of the graphics involved.  Of course, if you aren't using any MediaVPs, then something else is going on.  FSO uses more memory at launch than retail FS2 did, but over time it uses less.  That's because retail FS2 had a bunch of memory leaks in it (up to 100megs over the course of a campaign, if played straight through) and those have been fixed in FSO.

Grab one of my Xt builds though, the memory requirements have been cut in half in those, even if you aren't using MediaVPs.  They have various other issues that vary in seriousness between the builds, but the memory usage should be far more sane for you at the very least.

 

Offline jr2

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I've been experiencing massive failures due to my memory, I can say that.  I use a p4 pentium with 1.8 MHz, but only 384 mg of ram.  I have it at the lowest resolution using no vp modifications... just baseline freespace2 installed via the open installer.

About 10 minutes into the game, it will freeze (well, slow down, move a little, then freeze).  I thought it was graphics, but recently I've noticed it freezes even when staring into space.. not ship exploding or anything.  This time, I noticed that the installer mentions there are some memory leaks, and as the game crashes again, I notice a "low memory" icon.

I think that's confirmation that there's some serious memory leaking going on.  It doesn't affect those with gigs of memory, but for those of us "just passing by", unless I finish the mission reeeeeealy quick, my computer freezes.

Umm, you are using OpenGL, correct?

 

Offline x1v9a2

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I was using d3d.  That might have been the problem.
I downloaded the newest drivers for my card (a silly intel graphics controller, not much but good enough), so as to get the newest support for OpenGL.

The same thing happened on OpenGL, but not as quickly (that is, the eventual freezing of the game, usually after looking at a big explosion but sometimes not).  The thing with OpenGL is that there are a few glitches during gameplay.  There are streak lines whenever something is targeted.  The game does run better, but there are streak lines.

But, let me tinker with it.  I don't mean my problems to be the forum's problems (though if you have a solution for the streaking whilst using OpenGL, I'd be glad to hear it).  I'll fiddle with the settings some and see if I can't work something out.  If I can't work something out, then I'll be back.

 

Offline jr2

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Intel Graphics Cards are known to have problems with FSO... sometimes, these problems, ironically enough, are solved by using D3D.  Yah, play with it & try to find a solution.  You might want to see how D3D works now that you have the latest drivers.

 

Offline x1v9a2

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Yeah, I think my graphics processor just stinks.  It seems it wasn't a memory problem, but certain images.  Pictures of a ship exploding seem to fry my computer, or the asteroid/icine as it breaks up in mission 2, and certain ships when I see the blue of a capital ship's engines. 

When I use OpenGL, and go to the tech room place, the computer freezes when I click on Hercules mark 1.  When I use d3d, I'm okay on the Hercules, but as mentioned above, it freezes if I see certain things. 

So, I didn't have a memory problem.  Just a stinky graphics processor that can't handle specific animations.  I might lay off freespace2 until I can get a new computer.

 

Offline jr2

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Why not just get a new GFX card?  What kinda compy you got?  Half-decent GFX cards aren't that expensive.

 

Offline x1v9a2

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Yeah, that sounds good too.  As soon as I get settled on my new job, I might just do that.  Thanks for all y'alls help.