I'm not sure "memory dumps" is the right term, but here's what I'm referring to. As you can see by my signature, I have a pretty decent computer and fly with the FS9 sliders maxed out. Even so, as an example, when I fly coast-to-coast using a payware aircraft such as LDS or PMDG, - day turns to night, weather and clouds are constantly changing enroute, doing numerous view changes (from 2D, to outside, to VC and back and forth), make changes to the FMC while enroute, input the STAR, on-and-on, a lot of things have taken a toll on the memory. Back with 32-bit XP, I would pause the sim at some point and run a program called MemTurbo that cleared out the memory that had "piled up" - and then unpause FS9 and continued along with the memory once again freed. Now, with Win 7-64, MemTurbo isn't an option. I use GameBooster before starting the sim, but without some sort of memory clearing or "dump", the sim can bog down after 4 or 5 hours of flying - especially in the last phases of flight such as flying a STAR over city lights into a payware airport like KATL or KLAX. Has anyone a suggestion on how to clear or free up some of my memory while actually flying? Any thoughts sure would help. Thanks.

I'm not sure "memory dumps" is the right term, but here's what I'm referring to. As you can see by my signature, I have a pretty decent computer and fly with the FS9 sliders maxed out. Even so, as an example, when I fly coast-to-coast using a payware aircraft such as LDS or PMDG, - day turns to night, weather and clouds are constantly changing enroute, doing numerous view changes (from 2D, to outside, to VC and back and forth), make changes to the FMC while enroute, input the STAR, on-and-on, a lot of things have taken a toll on the memory. Back with 32-bit XP, I would pause the sim at some point and run a program called MemTurbo that cleared out the memory that had "piled up" - and then unpause FS9 and continued along with the memory once again freed. Now, with Win 7-64, MemTurbo isn't an option. I use GameBooster before starting the sim, but without some sort of memory clearing or "dump", the sim can bog down after 4 or 5 hours of flying - especially in the last phases of flight such as flying a STAR over city lights into a payware airport like KATL or KLAX. Has anyone a suggestion on how to clear or free up some of my memory while actually flying? Any thoughts sure would help. Thanks.

I didnt even know that was possible.That is a great question and I would also like to know if this is do able with win 7.

I'm not sure "memory dumps" is the right term, but here's what I'm referring to. As you can see by my signature, I have a pretty decent computer and fly with the FS9 sliders maxed out. Even so, as an example, when I fly coast-to-coast using a payware aircraft such as LDS or PMDG, - day turns to night, weather and clouds are constantly changing enroute, doing numerous view changes (from 2D, to outside, to VC and back and forth), make changes to the FMC while enroute, input the STAR, on-and-on, a lot of things have taken a toll on the memory. Back with 32-bit XP, I would pause the sim at some point and run a program called MemTurbo that cleared out the memory that had "piled up" - and then unpause FS9 and continued along with the memory once again freed. Now, with Win 7-64, MemTurbo isn't an option. I use GameBooster before starting the sim, but without some sort of memory clearing or "dump", the sim can bog down after 4 or 5 hours of flying - especially in the last phases of flight such as flying a STAR over city lights into a payware airport like KATL or KLAX. Has anyone a suggestion on how to clear or free up some of my memory while actually flying? Any thoughts sure would help. Thanks.

You're running a 64 bit machine. That will address much more memory than 32 bit, and would solve that problem. Why not add more memory, unless it's a money thing.

This is also a bit of a thorny question. I spent ages a couple of years ago looking at forums (by no means only FS forums) researching just what programmes like MemTurbo actually do. The inescapable conclusion was that these programmes do not work as they at first appear - they all grab back memory rather indiscriminately and the overall effect is generally far worse than if they weren't used at all. I removed mine from my system after some unhappy experiences (FS often froze up after using them, for instance).The problem with the scenario you give as an example (one I am only too familiar with!) is that it is only the file fs9.exe that is hogging all the memory (as can be seen from Task Manager, let alone more advanced monitors such as Process Explorer et al). Software like MemTurbo will not really do what is required - that is, haul back memory that has been used up by FS9.exe but is no longer in use, but leave other processes alone: it grabs memory from wherever it can (including system processes). I dare you say that the utility worked for you: you don't mention it causing you any problems in FS9, and I suppose that if at the end of the day it prevents an OoM crash as you near your destination, that's good. I am sorry that by this stage I cannot give details of all that I discovered, but the overwhelming message from Windows tech forums like 'Experts Exchange' (as opposed to Flightsim forums, though some of those as well) was don't use this kind of software, it does more harm than good. There's a lot of stuff out there if you Google it. But of course, as with everything, AYOR...One other small tip. I have an LCD monitor of RAM available on my FS9 machine. It's very useful as I get an indication of when an OoM crash may be about to occur. If you choose 'Save Flight' (semi-colon) and then click 'Cancel' when the window appears, this can give you back up to 10% (more sometimes) of your free RAM. Not sure why (maybe the black screen??): if you don't have a RAM/system resources monitor on your machine, you won't in effect see any difference, but it definitely works, especially the first time you do it (subsequent attempts gain less and less). You could of course look at the resources in Task Manager before and after if you are sceptical!!That said, if anyone knows of a way to get RAM back from FS9.exe (or FSX.exe come to that), that would be great - but I never found a way.Martin :-).. yes, just saw last post (..sound of trumpets) - in a 64-bit system this isn't an issue

I dare you say that the utility worked for you: you don't mention it causing you any problems in FS9, and I suppose that if at the end of the day it prevents an OoM crash as you near your destination, that's good.

What I would do, specifically, was to run MemTurbo - but not fully to completion before I would stop it. That seemed to clear things up. But yes, I did have crashes when I let it run to completion while FS9 was running. As for more RAM - I'm using 6Gb now and don't think more would be the answer to the problem. Am I wrong?In any event, this is good information and hopefully others will provide their thoughts as well. Thanks again. :(

Software like MemTurbo will not really do what is required - that is, haul back memory that has been used up by FS9.exe but is no longer in use, but leave other processes alone: it grabs memory from wherever it can (including system processes). That said, if anyone knows of a way to get RAM back from FS9.exe (or FSX.exe come to that), that would be great - but I never found a way... yes, just saw last post (..sound of trumpets) - in a 64-bit system this isn't an issue

You've never found a way to get back that FS RAM only, because RAM is Random Access Memory. It accesses memory addresses randomly, so it stands to reason that you cannot target which memory addresses to clear, and that's when you run into problems. You would need a completely different type of memory to do specifically what it is you want to do, and that is just not how the consumer PC's work...not now, not ever. It's also why these snake oil programs are not widely used by people...they just don't work. I would heed the advice given by my counterparts over at EE and stay away from these programs. Google How RAM Works to get a good understanding of how it interacts with your system, and the different types available. I hope this helps.

I'm using 6Gb now and don't think more would be the answer to the problem. Am I wrong?

Have a look at this http://support.microsoft.com/kb/294418

6GBs of RAM is ample for FS, in anybody's book!! I run mostly fine on 2GBs. It is well documented that adding physical RAM doesn't address Out of Memory crashes to FS9. There are ways of tweaking the FS9.exe file and adding code to the boot.ini file ("3GB switches"), as most will know. But if you are in a 64bit environment, that is irrelevant. In any case, with XP 32-bit, I found adding 3 GB switches and/or a tweaked fs9.exe file made all my scenery permanently very blurred, so I gave up. Others have had no such problems.. You could search "3GB switch" in AVSIM forums for details - there are pages and pages of threads.The only way to get RAM back from FS9 (not ideal this!), but is a last resort when I see a crash imminent (usually when RAM is down to less than 10% remaining) and I really do want to finish my flight, is to save the flight, shut down FS9 and reload it. You can be 50% RAM better off. (Pretty high-tec solution, no?). Some addon a/c will not reload the panel state of course, in which case it's not worth attempting.. otherwise just saving the flight and cancelling, as I indicated above, can help a good deal - usually gets me to the gate OK (as long as I don't keep switching from cockpit to spot view).MartinBTW a corrupted or fragmented Page File is said to cause problems too - I use SysInternals little programme PageDefrag to defragment my page file every reboot..

I don't see how that could help much if at all. What I understand the theory is that the program requests memory that can't be swapped out, so it must be in RAM. The idea then is most process memory that is swappable would be swapped out, leaving a big chunk of RAM "unused" hence ready for FS. The problem with this is that AFAIK, Win XP and esp Vista/W7 do not just leave RAM unused. They have their own allocation called the system cache, and I think as soon as that program ends, the system cache will grab the now-vacated RAM. I suppose the system cache might not need to be written out if the OS needs the RAM for FS, so that would save an I/O op but my gut feel is you wouldn't see a significant difference. scott s..

It accesses memory addresses randomly, so it stands to reason that you cannot target which memory addresses to clear, and that's when you run into problems.

As far as I know, random in this instance simple means the addresses may be called in any order, ie: randomly(fast) rather than sequentually (slow). It is still possible to know which addresses in memory are used by an app.Dave

Hi Scott. You say "I don't see how that could help much if at all" but I am not clear what you are referring to. What is the 'that' there? Martin :-)

This thread may also be of interest to anyone getting 'out of memory' crashes:http://www.forum.aerosoft.com/index.php?showtopic=19147Martin

Hi Scott. You say "I don't see how that could help much if at all" but I am not clear what you are referring to. What is the 'that' there? Martin :-)

What I meant, is having most RAM marked as "unused" doesn't mean it will stay unused until FS requests it, so the benefit may not be as great as might be thought.What I didn't discuss is the related idea that having "contiguous RAM" available provides some advantage, and I can't see why that would be, though maybe some one can point out how that would work. scott s..

I'm not sure "memory dumps" is the right term, but here's what I'm referring to. As you can see by my signature, I have a pretty decent computer and fly with the FS9 sliders maxed out. Even so, as an example, when I fly coast-to-coast using a payware aircraft such as LDS or PMDG, - day turns to night, weather and clouds are constantly changing enroute, doing numerous view changes (from 2D, to outside, to VC and back and forth), make changes to the FMC while enroute, input the STAR, on-and-on, a lot of things have taken a toll on the memory. Back with 32-bit XP, I would pause the sim at some point and run a program called MemTurbo that cleared out the memory that had "piled up" - and then unpause FS9 and continued along with the memory once again freed. Now, with Win 7-64, MemTurbo isn't an option. I use GameBooster before starting the sim, but without some sort of memory clearing or "dump", the sim can bog down after 4 or 5 hours of flying - especially in the last phases of flight such as flying a STAR over city lights into a payware airport like KATL or KLAX. Has anyone a suggestion on how to clear or free up some of my memory while actually flying? Any thoughts sure would help. Thanks.

I run a very similar setup with the same payware a/c and have had no problems at all with long flights to complex payware airports. It sounds to me as though you have not patched FS9 to be 'large address aware' and thus allow it to use more memory. The use of a memory clean up tool is not needed or recommended with the patched exe.DJ