Possible fix for the "3 FPS Drop" Issue

[bis_iceman 7384]

There is a potential progress on the issue some players are experiencing (drastic performance drops which only a game restart fixes). We have reports from some players that an updated version of a memory allocator fixes these drops. Since the version is still very fresh and the changes to it are of a major character, we would like to ask you, the community, to hep us participate on the test.

 

Those who are experiencing the issue, please download the allocator through the link provided below and follow the steps:

1. Download the memory allocator here
2. Make sure you are on the Main Branch and are not using the -mod=malloc start-up parameter
3. Replace your current tbb4malloc_bi.dll with the new one in your Arma 3 Steam folder
   • Here's how to do it:
     • • Find your Arma 3 Steam folder (ideally, it should be something like:C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Arma 3\Dll)
       • Copy over the tbb4malloc_bi.dll and confirm rewriting the old tbb4malloc_bi.dll file
       • You're good to go 

4. Run the game as usual
5. Report as a reply to this thread whether there has been an improvement

To revert back to the default allocator, simply verify your game data via Steam.

 

Please post a reply to this comment saying whether the allocator helped you or not. Also, we're interested in any other issues possibly caused by it (were not happening on the old one but are happening on this one). Based on the results and our further internal testing, we will consider deploying the fix in one of the next updates.

 

Thank you to everybody participating!

 

EDIT: The test has ended. Unfortunately, the solution has not proven to be effective. Thanks everybody for the participation.

[ineptaphid 6413]

Ooohh! Great to see this-hopefully it will stop all of the "3 fps drops,Help!" threads that keep opening on the forum :) I am still intermittently affected by this issue, so I'll give this a try today. Thanks iceman

[fn_Quiksilver 1636]

Excellent, thanks for your time spent looking into it and working on a solution. I'll report back in a few days.

[viZhual 0]

Thank you!  This problem has been happening to me for awhile now.  It's quite sudden and usually while I'm flying or in a firefight!

[John511 12]

I've never experienced the 3FPS bug, after using the new malloc, i have gotten it in every game so far.

 

Windows 7

GTX 970

4770k

[CNutter 24]

Had good luck so far, better FPS and no crashes as of yet... I'll report back if anything happens. Does BI still want crash logs (rpt, dumps, etc?) if we crash?

Edit: Just played about 4.5 hours without the FPS bug or crashing, and even with slightly higher FPS. While I was using the new malloc, I forgot to switch from the profiling build to the main branch if that makes any difference. The next time I play I'll be sure to switch back to main and test that.

 

I've never experienced the 3FPS bug, after using the new malloc, i have gotten it in every game so far.

 

Windows 7

GTX 970

4770k

Oh joy :(
Was hoping this'd be the one

[smiley_ie 7]

Much better experience so far less stutter and over all more fps will do more testing but its a lot smoother  :)

[DeeJai 2]

No joy for me

after a couple of hours, received the frame drop, with a rapid correction, followed by an almost instant frame drop soon afterwards.

 

Running

64bit - Win 10

16G Ram

2 x GTX 980,

i7 4790

[alky_lee 279]

I tried this out last night. Might have to rename it to the 9FPS bug as that was the lowest it went, and didn't last as long as normal or happen as often. More testing tonight hopefully.

 

W7 64bit

4GB Ram

GTX950

i5 750 o/c to 3,8GHz

[sammael 366]

+3 FPS with this malloc)

[kridian 33]

Worked for me. (3 hrs. on 50 player mp co-op)

• The audio effects from HE shells and explosions still cause frame hiccups.
• After playing for sometime, when I respawn at base, certain objects don't load their "LOD 0" and textures are solid color. They fully appear correct about 8-10 seconds later. These objects are the concrete barriers and the ammo crate.

--Edit--

Spoke too soon. Got the 3fps glitch after about 3+ hours - when ArmA.exe uses 3,700+ mb.

I can tell when it's going to happen, when I start seeing the trees flicker on and off.

[tilahunted 2]

There is a potential progress on the issue some players are experiencing (drastic performance drops which only a game restart fixes). We have reports from some players that an updated version of a memory allocator fixes these drops. Since the version is still very fresh and the changes to it are of a major character, we would like to ask you, the community, to hep us participate on the test.

 

Those who are experiencing the issue, please download the allocator through the link provided below and follow the steps:

1. Download the memory allocator here
2. Make sure you are on the Main Branch and are not using the -mod=malloc start-up parameter
3. Replace your current tbb4malloc_bi.dll with the new one in your Arma 3 Steam folder
   • Here's how to do it:
     • • Find your Arma 3 Steam folder (ideally, it should be something like:C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Arma 3\Dll)
       • Copy over the tbb4malloc_bi.dll and confirm rewriting the old tbb4malloc_bi.dll file
       • You're good to go 

4. Run the game as usual
5. Report as a reply to this thread whether there has been an improvement

To revert back to the default allocator, simply verify your game data via Steam.

 

Please post a reply to this comment saying whether the allocator helped you or not. Also, we're interested in any other issues possibly caused by it (were not happening on the old one but are happening on this one). Based on the results and our further internal testing, we will consider deploying the fix in one of the next updates.

 

Thank you to everybody participating!

Unfortunately I am still getting the unableto_init_dxgi error when I crash

[CNutter 24]

Was able to play 7.5 hours without crashing just now, 90% of that was on a server with >30 players.
Not good for my health, but neato for testing.

 

Crash happened while I was respawning, interestingly there was no frame drop before the crash. Again, higher FPS than usual for most of the session. The new malloc is definitely an improvement, even if I did crash.
The basic.rpt says it was 0x0000DEAD, but when the game crashed I got a DX 11 popup that said 0x000out_of_memory or something like that.

 

Link to the crash zip

 

It seems that the crash is fixed for some of us who had the FPS bug, but it's just started happening for people that weren't getting it before. Such fun...

[ineptaphid 6413]

but when the game crashed I got a DX 11 popup that said 0x000out_of_memory or something like that.

 

 

Was it this? 

0xC0000005 - ACCESS_VIOLATION

 

Because I have been getting this crash almost every day in SP on stable for several weeks now.

[CNutter 24]

0xC0000005 - ACCESS_VIOLATION

Nah, it definitely said out of memory, wish I had capped it in Shadowplay but I forgot

[ineptaphid 6413]

Nah, it definitely said out of memory, wish I had capped it in Shadowplay but I forgot

Here-check this list.It should be on it .

[KakalacKidA 1]

Made it through roughly 3 hours with no FPS drop/crash. Hopeful that this might be it!

[Mirko Italia 0]

hi all . i have to select this  malloc in the parameter section of arma  launcher after i have put it in the folder?

[basstard 32]

Unfortunately this new allocator doesn't fix the 3FPS drop issue for me.

 

From my perspective, I thought this bug was related to a memory leak as sometimes before the game crash, Windows tells me to close Arma 3 because the system is running out of memory. FYI, I disabled the swap file (pagefile.sys) because I have a SSD as system drive.

[Greenfist 1863]

FYI, I disabled the swap file (pagefile.sys) because I have a SSD as system drive.

Don't do that! Arma doesn't like it one bit. Just put the page file on some other drive.

[Mirko Italia 0]

no one can aswer to my question ? :)

[kridian 33]

hi all . i have to select this  malloc in the parameter section of arma  launcher after i have put it in the folder?

Yes. Check the box in the Launcher.

Just make sure you overwrote the existing tbb4malloc_bi.dll.

[rebelvg 281]

Is this bug somehow related to this thing?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dirrj8czjuln204/zdwfqu.webm?dl=0

This was recorded in February 2016 by a member of our community, happened after a few hours of gameplay.

We encountered this every now and then later. Stopped happening a few month back, maybe it was kinda fixed or we didn't play long enough to encounter it again.

[smiley_ie 7]

note: there is newer version of the allocator https://www.dropbox.com/s/0t7j9bzv9hyou7c/Tbb4malloc_2017u1_13th_october.7z?dl=0

from https://forums.bistudio.com/topic/160288-arma-3-stable-server-164-performance-binary-feedback/page-86?p=3104080#entry3104080

Played Anoy world 40 players ran very well for me 40- 60 fps @ night seems very smooth this was tanoa lots of lodS at the start which seemed to smooth out but tanoa runs worse than Altis so far so good.

[Robert Pease 12]

Yeah, I just tried it out, and it stalled it for a bit, but it eventually fell through. My computer is a bit older but still over the minimum requirements to play. 

What's weird is that when I play with my mil-sim, it doesn't happen. So far only when I play on a public server