OMG Memory Hog! Causing PC Crashes! Why? Help!

[KillerGin]

Here's a series of screen shots, where one can plainly see the memory use increasing as the Actor goes from Map to Map (House to House...)


All I do is walk to a house, enter, walk around then out and on to the next one. The memory rises; it had climbed a bit more still after the last pic, the crash occurred with a bit more memory use than that.



My PC is a rather modest HP8200, i5, with 12 Gb, running Windows 10 64-bit. To me, it looks as if the memory rises to close to the 32-bit limit (4 Gb...), so I suspect some strange handling of graphics. Perhaps Render Texture memory is not fully recovered.


Maybe there'll be a patch or something in the next MV update, I don't know.


Perhaps this is the reason the Android Build is so laggy and unplayable (memory issues)


Look at the amount of memory MV is using in each picture.... WOW!

 

[Shaz]

What version are you running?  Have you updated MV and your project to 1.3.1 correctly?

 

[KillerGin]

I have the STEAM version of MV (updates itself, yes I created a new project and took the updated files that I needed out of the project).


Yes, I am pretty sure that I have.


From memory, I remembered doing the following:


1) Replacing index.html


2) Replacing the entire "js" folder besides the following: plugins.js and the plugins folder.


and I think that was it, all the js files say 1.3.1 and the pixi file says 4.0.0...

 

[Rukiri]

I can confirm this, I'm not at home "electrical work being done/utilities shut off atm" and using the PC where I am now... pretty old.


MV used to be lightweight, now seems to eat memory like chrome. 


On my home PC I have an abundance of memory so that was never a problem and I could afford the leak, but where I am now the PC has 4GB so no.. I can't.


The PC doesn't crash but MV is using excessive amounts of memory... more than what the program should.

 

[Zalerinian]

To be honest, I've used MV with a few different projects that I've worked on, and none of them have had issues as severe as this at any time. I can clearly see you're using plugins in your game based on the screenshots you provided. My only assumption at this point is that something has gone pretty horrifically wrong. Incompatible plugins causing way more memory to be consumed than intended? Misconfiguration of a large plugin? A released plugin that's just plain broken? There are a lot of possible reasons you're having this issue, but I'm not suspecting that the base RPG Maker MV program is to blame.


I would like to be able to help, however due to a bug in the version of chrome packaged with MV, my idea is not a viable option.

 

[KillerGin]

What do you mean a bug in the version of chrome packaged with MV? What bug related to Chrome?

 

[Leon Kennedy]

@KillerGinLooking at your game thread you have a TON of features which is usually a good thing however some plugins just don't work well with others even if it doesn't push you to an error screen and it all adds up. So that is one of the first things you can look into is either trying to get them to work better together, making sure the order of plugins you have them in is correct. Try a test off turning off each one and seeing if it has any effect overall.


At least for me rpg maker doesn't like to play well with others too and it makes the engine use more memory so I'd also advise having as few background stuff running as possible if it is becoming a lag issue for you.

 

[Andar]

There is another topic on the board (sorry, I don't have the link) where one user caught what seems to be the last default memory leak in RMMV, and it was said that that fix would be included into 1.3.2.


However, someone else testing it also showed that there are memory leaks in some plugins, and those can't be solved by Degica, they have to be solved by the plugin creator.


No one can tell where which parts of a memory leak really come from, so there is no way to tell if the next update (whenever it comes, I don't know) will solve all your memory issues - but it should remove the default ones (which also means anything remaining after that will be very difficult to locate in your plugins).

 

[KillerGin]

Actually, I am hoping that I updated to 1.3.1 before the Beta2 1.3.1 update, which I hope will help explain the awful memory problems that some PC users are experiencing. I just updated Killer Gin again, this time I definitely have the 1.3.1 Beta2 update.


I just downloaded the android build on my phone (from my official Killer Gin website) it seems to run smoother, however there are sound issues, sigh. The Android builds sounds keep lagging, then the game crashes... fun.


I am not experiencing these huge memory issues on my PC or Mac. However, I do know certain people are experiencing this problem. The explanation above and the pictures are from a tester. I have a crappy i3 4gig Ram laptop I play Killer Gin on and I have no problems, the game runs great.


As far as plugins are concerned, I am very careful with which ones I use. I primarily only use Yanfly's (All in correct order), a mini-map plugin and Gameus Quest plugin, thats basically it. 

 

[Dad3353]

This thread is concurrent with this one ...


MV 1.3 Memory Leak ...


The leak described in both threads occurs, on some 64-bit PC's (although I'm not sure if that's relevant...), independently of the use of plugins. The 'work-around' plugin given in the thread above works for some Projects (my simple ones, with no plugins, for instance...), but does little in some other Projects using many plugins. Here's hoping that an early release of another MV update resolves the issue, and that a manner can be found to allow plugin concepteurs to render their creations free of this leak, too. Meanwhile, patience would be in order, perhaps, while the Experts prepare the next phase..?

 

[Andar]

@Dad3353 memory leaks that happen from plugins are there because one or more plugins create a memory leak and have nothing to do with a memory leak created by the engine.


Which means that when games without plugins have no memory leaks, then the engine is bug-free.


If you add plugins and then there are memory  leaks again, that means that the plugins themselves are bugged, and there is nothing MV or Degica can do to solve bugs in the plugins.

 

[Dad3353]

@Andar...


Why the angst..? I understand that Degica are not responsible for buggy plugins, and have never suggested otherwise. I would suggest, however, that it's in the interests of all to have the maximum information available to all in order to continue to create great games using this great platform. If anyone has an answer to these issues, whatever the causes, solutions are welcome, I would hope. No-one is attacking or accusing Degica that I'm aware of; we're merely indicating a problem needing a solution. Peace; no malice intended. 

 

[Andar]

There is no "angst" - but your post could be read as if you expect an official update to solve the memory leaks caused by plugins. And that is technically impossible.


But a lot of the user here (especially those who have no background in programming to understand what memory leaks are) would probably have misread that in this way and then whined "but Degica promised to solve all memory leaks".

 

[Dad3353]

Thanks for the clarification, and apologies if my posts could be misconstrued. If there's (in a future when such things become known...) any way to inform developers as to how to avoid these issues, I'm sure that would be very welcome by all, though.

 

[Andar]

Oh, there are already ways to prevent memory leaks - and have been for decades. Unfortunately you need to really understand what you're doing to prevent them, and it requires that no one messes with the resulting code without keeping exactly the same principles in exactly the same way. And even then it's not easy, but extra work.


And a lot of the plugin programmers in the community simply aren't up to that level - they're mostly self-learned programmers, and without someone pointing you in the correct direction (like done in a professional education on programming), the hobby-programmers simply won't know how they cause memory leaks - especially since most interpreted languages today have garbage collectors that hide and clear small memory leaks before they become noticable.


And you can't expect someone to suddenly learn memory management after he had that task solved by garbage collection for years and only now moves on to data sizes where automatic garbage collection simply can't work.


(and no, please don't ask why the japanese programmer didn't do it right in the original engine. I'm pretty sure I guessed correctly why, and it is even understandable from that viewpoint even if it did bite Degica in the back on the international release)

 

[KillerGin]

@Dad3353

I see you found my forum post. Thats just me trying to get the word out there about the MASSIVE memory leak. I thought the more voices concerning this problem the better. I'm sorry, I didn't see your post, I apologize.

 As far as plugins are concerned, in the build you are playing (and experiencing the INSANE leak), I basically only use Yanfly's plugins (in correct order), a mini map plugin, and Gameus Game journal plugin, thats it.
 


I barely use any parallaxes at all (maybe a small one as a simple background once) and all my pictures and graphics in general are insanely small. I even optimized the RTP graphics they give me to be 70% smaller. I have a decent sized game and it weighs in at 247MB, the "www" folder is 165MB.



In an attempt to fix this issue, I again tried to update the engine to 1.3.1 beta2 just in case I might have 1.3.1 beta1 update. (I am just hoping, I may already have the latest version of the engine.). The new (possibly updated) version of Killer Gin is uploaded to the website (www.killergin.com), it includes a few nice little updates (it includes a tiny time window plugin that I created, that displays time at all times, OMG now they are going to blame my tiny window plugin that simply displays 1 icon and a couple numbers, lol, of course this was not included in your build that already has the massive leaks.)

If there are no changes then I can only hope 1.3.2 contains the fix I am so desperately hoping for.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate all the hard work and effort everyone has been doing to get these problems fixed. I LOVE MV and I only wish to continue to support and use the wonderful little engine.

 

[Zalerinian]

What do you mean a bug in the version of chrome packaged with MV? What bug related to Chrome?

you can generate a memory snapshot of your game to see what memory is being used where. In normal circumstances, you can save and load such reports as well, however due to a bug in the chromium implementation, saving of such reports is disabled. The best you could do would be to try to understand the report yourself, or post a lot of screenshots to show the whole thing so that we can try to identify what type of object is consuming the most memory.

 

[Leon Kennedy]

I barely use any parallaxes at all (maybe a small one as a simple background once) and all my pictures and graphics in general are insanely small. I even optimized the RTP graphics they give me to be 70% smaller. I have a decent sized game and it weighs in at 247MB, the "www" folder is 165MB.

if what you say is true than my game that has about 30+ plugins mostly all from different people in a room with 7 enemies and 16 different lights should be pushing more memory than yours is.





I'm still using 1.2.0 in the midst of these problems and my game is double the size of your game and I don't push 600k. Ever. Maybe a "downgrade" would help you out for the time being unless there is something on 1.3.1 you absolutely can't live without.

 

[KillerGin]

lol You make a compelling case to revert back to 1.2.0 lol. Do you use Yanfly's scripts?


This shouldn't even be a decision in the first place, sad I am considering it! I really hope 1.3.2 includes the memory fix that I so desperately need. 


The HUGE memory leak does not happen on all computers, I believe someone pointed out this is a rendering problem on some 64 bit machines and they are working on a fix. The above pics are from a tester. I do not experience these problems on my PC and Mac (or maybe I don't notice?) however since I plan to sell the game commercially, I am worried about my customers. lol.

 

[Leon Kennedy]

lol You make a compelling case to revert back to 1.2.0 lol. Do you use Yanfly's scripts?


This shouldn't even be a decision in the first place, sad I am considering it! I really hope 1.3.2 includes the memory fix that I so desperately need. 


The HUGE memory leak does not happen on all computers, I believe someone pointed out this is a rendering problem on some 64 bit machines and they are working on a fix. The above pics are from a tester. I do not experience these problems on my PC and Mac (or maybe I don't notice?) however since I plan to sell the game commercially, I am worried about my customers. lol.

Hmm well I'm using 64 bit here as well windows 7, your computer outpowers mine in every way you have way more memory and your i5 vs my 2008 radeon 2600 HD is no match yours is like 5x better though we are both running stuff you could run with a 32 mb video card so it's meh. I know 1.2.0 has it's own problems and that's why they ultimately moved on but it's seemed pretty solid to me I just find it odd how your problem here doesn't even really seem to be very connected to the parallax problem as much as just lag in general.