Hi All,

 

I've just started getting dreaded out of memory errors - the strange thing is I've recently upgraded from a computer that NEVER got OOM errors.... to one much more powerful!

 

Something must be amiss here, and I was wondering if anyone could help me track the problem down.

 

I've had the problem twice now - I'm running FSX Acceleration with the following addons (Both flights were in the Flight1 Mustang, but I wont go into all the planes I have added as I know they're not involved in this when not loaded) HiMem fix is enabled....

 

REX 2.0

Radar Contact 4

UTX+GEX Europe

MyTraffic X 5.4a

TrackIR 5

UK2000 Vol 1+2+3

East Midlands Xtreme

Heathrow Xtreme

Liverpool Xtreme

VeniceX

 

Thats all for the scenery..... As far as I know other people use far more addons than this without error......

 

Anyone have any suggestions please chip in anything considered, I'm rather stumped...

 

FSX was using 3.2GB of memory in task Manager when the error came up, for reference.

 

Many thanks,

James

FSX was using 3.2GB of memory in task Manager when the error came up, for reference.

 

FSX uses about 4GB of memory and the rest is used for system resources to keep the system running. That's if you have a 64 bit OS. So to start with, what's your OS? If it's 32 bit, you will have to install the /3GB switch appropriate for your OS. You should also look in your Event Viewer to see what faulting module caused the out of memory. It could be bad video card drivers, corrupt system drivers, bad overclocking, or bad memory settings in the BIOS (freq, voltages, etc) causing the OOM (just to name a few). There are just too many possibilities and each crash has to be investigated. Check over in the CTD Forum (within this Forum) and see if you see similar circumstances and how their problem was fixed.

 

Best regards,

Jim

My system is Win7 64Bit with 16Gb of ram

 

The OOM itself wasn't reported in Event viewer but it was when running FSX... FSX just closed and an OOM error came up...

My system is Win7 64Bit with 16Gb of ram

 

Thanks. Your computer reports every event as long as you own your computer until you go in there and delete the event(s). You should have an event for the time and date you received the OOM. As I stated, FSX can only use around 4GB of memory. One cause I have seen for OOM's in FSX is the page file setting. FSX works best with virtual memory (page file) settings set at 'system managed size'. It must also be located on the same harddrive as your os and not placed, as suggested by some 'experts', on another HDD. The experts say OOM's for 64 bit systems are extremely rare but I certainly have seen a lot of people with FSX having the issue (check NickN's post on Setting Up FSX and Tuning It and look in the 64 bit OS section). You should also make sure your Microsoft Visual's 2005, 2008, and 2010 are installed and updated via Windows update. There was a change to the 2005 MSV that comes with Acceleration. NickN has a link to that change on his FSX post). MSV's are used by FSX developers to insure proper installations and make their programs work. You should also make sure Microsoft.net framework is up to date. FSX is an old program and needs versions 1 thru 4 installed as they are not backward compatible. Microsoft.net framework is used by developers to manage memory for their addons (including FSX/Acceleration)(that's just one of the many functions). Hope this helps.

 

Best regards,

Jim

Thanks for the advice Jim,

 

I've got a PF installed but on my second drive - Having an SSD as the first drive (With the OS) I wouln't want to place the PF on there. And with 16Gb of memory having it system managed would make it somewhat large, and even so, with this much memory would actually slow the whole operation down!

 

The other odd thing is my FPS have gone down significantly and I cant for the life of my figure out why... Ran diagnostics on my GFX card, Hard drive and a full Memory and CPU test report fine.All the .NET stuff is installed correctly - went through all that with a fine tuned comb the other day!

 

Interestingly I just tried rebuilding my FSX.CFG and things seem a little better - Monitoring the memory usage as I did a quick test flight with the F1 Mustang it got to 2.7GB at one point but did release the memory afterward.

Just an update - Seems that didint fix it. Even though I've not had another OOM the Mem usage is getting very high - 2.8GB after about 6 minutes seems a lot don't you think?

With the NGX, AS2012, UTX, and GEX I usually peak out around 2.8 of memory for the fsx.exe process.

Thanks Jim. I flew the NGX today for the first time and got an OOM error. Then I fired up the CS727 and it was acting weird and eventually I got the black screen. So I took a break, checked the boards later on, and came across this thread and sure enough my page file settings were not like you recommend. So I changed them and it fixed everything. Thanks much!

What is the actual error message you are getting, James?

It's not unusual to push the limits with our new hardware... I had more OOM's than ever with my new system... basically we think we've got amazing hardware and we run tons of addons at too high of settings... all on very out date software that can't take advantage of our hardware.

It's not unusual to push the limits with our new hardware... I had more OOM's than ever with my new system... basically we think we've got amazing hardware and we run tons of addons at too high of settings... all on very out date software that can't take advantage of our hardware.

 

Agree with you there, i am running a few more sceneries than my last setup and a bigger AI package (although i thought with MyTraffic x you were supposed to be able to run with more AI and have less of a performance hit?) anyways ive since changed the fsx.cfg to the usepools=0 and things actually seem alot better - plus i reduced the cloud resolution in rex which for some reson i had set at 4096......

I checked NickN's comments about managing virtual memory....here are his recommendations:

 

Click Virtual Memory

 

"et a MANUAL size page file on the Windows7 partition to 3072-3072, click SET, OK and APPLY (if applicable) do not reboot at this time, cancel any reboot request

NOTE: I DOES NOT MATTER if you have 2, 4, 6 or 8GB of memory, UNLESS your system is also a dedicated A/V, graphics production or engineering application tower, a 3072-3072 page file is MORE than enough.

If your system is used for high memory demand applications like I listed above, the page file size is based on how much you overrun your physical memory. IT IS FAR better to add more memory then use a larger page file.

HOME/GAME/FSX systems with 2GB or more will NEVER use a page file of 3072 or greater

If you have LESS than 2GB of physical memory, set the feature to SYSTEM MANAGED"

 

Bill Clark

 

 

 

Thanks. Your computer reports every event as long as you own your computer until you go in there and delete the event(s). You should have an event for the time and date you received the OOM. As I stated, FSX can only use around 4GB of memory. One cause I have seen for OOM's in FSX is the page file setting. FSX works best with virtual memory (page file) settings set at 'system managed size'. It must also be located on the same harddrive as your os and not placed, as suggested by some 'experts', on another HDD. The experts say OOM's for 64 bit systems are extremely rare but I certainly have seen a lot of people with FSX having the issue (check NickN's post on Setting Up FSX and Tuning It and look in the 64 bit OS section). You should also make sure your Microsoft Visual's 2005, 2008, and 2010 are installed and updated via Windows update. There was a change to the 2005 MSV that comes with Acceleration. NickN has a link to that change on his FSX post). MSV's are used by FSX developers to insure proper installations and make their programs work. You should also make sure Microsoft.net framework is up to date. FSX is an old program and needs versions 1 thru 4 installed as they are not backward compatible. Microsoft.net framework is used by developers to manage memory for their addons (including FSX/Acceleration)(that's just one of the many functions). Hope this helps.

 

Best regards,

Jim

I agree.. I set BP=0 and it's seemed to help out the OOM's... whether that's just a placebo or what... hehe

with all the recommendations from fsx super users it had better not be a placebo lol

 

I have all of Word Not Allowed's tweaks. It was just this once, and I'm sure I had my virtual memory set right but when I checked it wasn't. Who knows???

Unfortunately most of the info here is incorrect. You rarely get OOM errors due to RAM or virtual memory (aka paging file). The vast bulk (99.99%) of OOM errors in FSX are due to problems with the Virtual (process) address space (VAS) which in a 64-bit OS running a 32-bit app like FSX with Large Address Aware Flag set is limited to a MAXIMUM of 4Gb. Increasing the RAM and or the paging file will not affect the VAS.

The major problem is the number of complex add-ons that have to interract with FSX in its own VAS.

( Now that is not to say that other programs like REX which has its own exe file won't also use physical RAM, but the OP has oodles of RAM so that is not a problem.)

In general:

An issue with RAM and/or the PF will see a massive slow down in FSX, sometimes with an error asking you to turn down settings and eventually a total system crash the dreaded BSOD.

An issue with FSX and its VAS will result in FSX only crashing (NOT the system) and an OOM error occurring. This may NOT be recorded by the event viewer as it may NOT be a Windows problem.

 

The VAS can become fragmented or depleted by any number of occurrences and some settings in the fsx.cfg (even some BP settings can do it) may have an impact as well as add-ons that impact/interract in the FSX VAS. This is Phil Talor's take on the matter: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ptaylor/archive/2007/06/15/fsx-and-win32-process-address-space.aspx

 

In a 32-bit OS I have managed to solve a lot of OOM issues without using the /3G switch by using a Windows server hack ie altering the HeapDecommitFreeBlockThreshold, but I have had only mixed results in a 64-bit OS. So I need to research this a little more.

 

We will never solve these OOM issues if we keep implicating the hardware when it is patently obvious that OOM's are caused by the way that Windows OS allocates Process address space MAX 4GB to 32-bit apps. You can adjust the hardware till you are blue in the face but exceed or fragment the VAS and you will get an OOM error as surely as night follows day.

Regards

PeterH

VAS Deferens