Windows running low on memory then crashing since beta

[Valken 622]

I've been playing mostly coop on larger servers ~ 20-30 players. I had no issues with the alpha lite, then upgraded to the beta.

Mission files:

co40 AW Invade & Annex 2.87.4 BETA.Stratis.pbo

co52 AW Invade & Annex 2.86 REVIVE + BETA.Stratis.pbo

Since the beta went live, I've been experiencing "windows running low on memory" warnings in the middle of the game. Then after 3-5 of these warnings, my screen goes black and eventually either hangs or I have to ALT-TAB out or ALT-TAB-DELETE then run task manager to kill the ARMA3 process. It shows it using ~ 1.4-1.5 GB of ram that time.

It occurs mostly from moving close to targets or larger group of players but I should have enough ram to cache everything.

Windows 7 Pro 64

i5-760 @ 4 GHZ

16 GB ram

6950 CFX

3 GB free HD for swap space but my monitoring software says its using ~ 500 MB.

I've been testing by launching ARMA 3 off the HD with the full 16 GB available or splitting 8GB RAM / 8 GB for RAMDISK (makes the map transitions smoother) but both exhibit the same issues.

I assume ARMA3 is not 64bit aware.

Any ideas or tests I can do to remedy this?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sscg2gornq92bfn/arma3_2013-06-27_19-46-21.rpt

https://www.dropbox.com/s/q98w1f5j6r3scfd/arma3_2013-06-27_19-28-53.rpt

https://www.dropbox.com/s/bb1wcb9sef8a9oe/arma3_2013-06-27_19-28-53.bidmp

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vnmycxvh5v4kj48/arma3_2013-06-27_19-46-21.bidmp

edit --- checking swap file usage... will update.

Edited June 27, 2013 by Valken

[ozzbik 71]

Arma and Windows do use all your memory if needed. Low on memory could mean that your pagefile is too small. Is it set to Windows managed?

Check with the Windows resource manager what is using most memory.

[doveman 7]

I've been having similar problems with A2 http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?157618-Weird-memory-usage-not-using-RAM-running-out-of-RAM

Windows just seems weird, as Task Manager shows plenty of free RAM but it still crashes or throws up low memory errors.

[Valken 622]

Just play a couple of more rounds and still the same issue even when I let windows manage its own swap file. It automatically setup a 1 GB file with up to 600 MB in use then spread up to 1.5 GB but at 50% usage.

I think there is a memory leak in either some drivers or something related to ARMA 3. I will need to test other games to see if occurs here.

New RPT files

https://www.dropbox.com/s/giq3caixpwkm3ug/arma3_2013-06-27_21-32-08.rpt

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3zhmazvp1ja8ybv/arma3_2013-06-27_21-58-56.rpt

[doveman 7]

If there's a leak resulting in all the RAM being used and causing the crashes wouldn't Task Manager show there was no free RAM left available?

[linkinx 1]

If there's a leak resulting in all the RAM being used and causing the crashes wouldn't Task Manager show there was no free RAM left available?

Yes, you might also want to get Process Explorer, is a little more in depth and shows a lot more info.

[Valken 622]

I'm using ALL CPU METER on my desktop so I can monitor the status when I ALT TAB out.

16 GB total ram.

ARMA 3 uses up to 1.5 GB of actual ram per task manager

8 GB in use by ramdisk

5 GB in use by windows and ARMA 3

~ 2-3 GB free actual ram

Swap file ~ 1.5 GB at up to 800 MB in use (no other background task than steam, arma 3 and the desktop gadgets.)

Yet Windows keeps telling me I am running out of memory and to close the current process (ARMA 3).

I will try to install process explorer and see how my usage goes.

[RuecanOnRails 10]

You're pagefile is far too small.

Set your Pagefile to 8192mb (half your total ram) and the problem SHOULD disappear.

You might also see better performance using an SSD over Ramdisk.

Early Alpha while testing I found a few situations where SSD performance beat ramdisk due to windows always making use of pagefile and otherwise crashing when pagefile was too low or non-existent.

[Lowe 10]

I have the exact same issue since the Beta. Never had any problems at all with the Alpha or previous ArmA games, but I'm getting Windows memory warnings after about 5 mins play and the game eventually crashes - single and multiplayer.

My page file is set to a completely separate drive (500gb) and is Windows managed.

[RuecanOnRails 10]

I have the exact same issue since the Beta. Never had any problems at all with the Alpha or previous ArmA games, but I'm getting Windows memory warnings after about 5 mins play and the game eventually crashes - single and multiplayer.

My page file is set to a completely separate drive (500gb) and is Windows managed.

Try setting the min and max memory size to same as your total amount of ram. The pagefile is used to quickly dump files in your ram to hdd allowing other programs to take advantage of needed ram. Keeping the pagefile same same size as your ram should allow windows the ability to fully dump your ram to pagefile and free up extra resources. Microsoft recommends 1.5x total ram, but seems a little much when ram these days are upwards of 32gb.

Another advantage you get when you set the min and max of your pagefile manually is that it will reduce a lot of extra reads and writes as windows constantly changes the file size.

Are you running any malloc or maxmem parameters?

If you're telling Arma to allocate more ram than it's defaulted could be the issue. If there is a slight memory leak (I haven't noticed one) then setting a maxmem= and malloc= you can possibly prevent it from trying to request extra resources and mitigate the memory leak.

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/Arma2:_Startup_Parameters

[doveman 7]

You can use Resource Monitor (open via Task Manager - Performance tab) and under Disk see which processes are using the pagefile.

You can also use http://processhacker.sourceforge.net/ and click Tool->Page Files to see how much data is being stored in the page file.

[doveman 7]

Whilst these are my findings with Arma2OA, they're relevant as they show that Windows uses and requires the pagefile, despite plenty of free RAM being available.

With the ArmA2OA 8GB RAMdisk loaded and ArmA2 running, Resource Monitor shows:

11851MB In Use

875MB Modified

1720MB Standby

1884MB Free

Available 3602MB

Cached 2592MB

Total 16348MB

Installed 16384MB

and Process Hacker shows that the pagefile usage is 1.84GB (around 450MB before mounting the RAMdisk and launching Arma2OA).

So clearly Windows is paging something out unnecessarily. It may not be ArmA, but instead some other stuff that Windows think is less important but nonetheless it doesn't appear to be needed.

Shortly after typing the above though, I alt-tabbed back to Arma2OA and it took ages to unpause so it seems likely Windows had paged some of the game files out. Shortly after that, I got a Windows warning saying that I was low on memory and asking me to close Arma2OA, so it appears Windows had decided it wanted to page out even more than my 2GB pagefile would allow. Once I closed Arma2OA, pagefile usage dropped back down to 564MB.

[RuecanOnRails 10]

If you use Process Monitor http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

You can set it up to monitor your pagefile for any reads/writes. It can record 10 minutes of *everything* that happens. Set it up, run arma, play for several minutes then quit. Stop process monitor and export the data to a spreadsheet and combine the results. You will be able to see which files were read/written the most back and forth between pagefile and storage drive.

I used process monitor originally to analyze which files arma used most for certain missions. so I could use a ramdisk effectively for some situations without transferring the entire game to ramdisk.

[Colonel-ONeill 11]

If you have enough memory on board you can try to disable your page file!

The size the page file must be at least 1 1/2 times of your physical memory!

It is better to have your swap file on a separate partition!

some has reported performance increase by installing the game onto the main drive

Edited July 1, 2013 by Colonel-ONeill

[doveman 7]

If you have enough memory on board you can try to disable your page file!

The size the page file must be at least 1 1/2 times of your physical memory!

It is better to have your swap file on a separate partition!

some has reported performance increase by installing the game onto the main drive

As my testing above shows, even when there's plenty of free RAM Windows insists on using the pagefile unnecessarily. I did try disabling the pagefile before and it just caused Windows to throw a fit and say there was insufficient free RAM so I don't recommend trying that.

The pagefile doesn't need to be 1.5x your physical RAM either. When I had it set to System Managed, it created a fixed 16GB pagefile, which matches my 16GB RAM but it only needs to be as big as required. For me, 2GB was too small as Windows filled that up whilst playing Arma2, despite having 3.5GB RAM available but 3 or 4GB might be OK. I'll test with those and see how I get on.

[Lowe 10]

I tried changing to a fixed pagefile on a different drive yesterday. I set it to 6gb (I have 4gb RAM) and didn't experience a single crash throughout an home brew editor mission that has a lot of objects and AI fighting it out. So, initial impressions are good that this is a fix - but need to try out multiplayer to rule it out though.