Memory leak

[bunchy]

Hello all,

 

John was helping me over at Avsim and suggested I jump over here.

 

Hey Stuart, for more support you can head over to X-Pilot, we have a dedicated SkyMAXX support thread there.  I am not trying to steer AVSIM users but as to properly support the product

 

As far as the pauses with changing weather conditions, we are working on smoothing out these transitions as we speak. Our clouds are procedurally drawn and regenerate differently each time, and we found a few things to help drastically speed up the regeneration.   Keep your eyes open for another update in the future....

 

The algorithm we use for cloud generation will create massive cloud structures and they may intersect with the ground from time to time, you can  adjust the Max and Min cloud sizes in the UI to combat this......

 

We haven't seen any kind of memory leakage with SkyMAXX at all, as a matter of fact it runs much lighter then default, after the 1.1 update, if X-Plane crashes post your log.txt over at X-Pilot so we can look at it.  It may be something specific to your system....

 

-John

 

So, to follow up, John, I've set the cloud max and min size to half way, so now everything is set midway.

I've attached my xplane log file for you to take a look at.

 

The Windows memory warning occurs when flying the Carenado B58 but has only occurred after the skyMAXX install.

 

Let me know if you find anything in the log.

 

Thanks

 

StuLog.txt

[JohnMAXX]

Cool thanks for stopping in,  I myself don't see anything out of the ordinary in your log.txt 

 

Have you had a crash in X-Plane?  Or just high memory usage in windows?  

[bunchy]

No Xplane crash, Just high memory usage in windows.

 

If I click cancel, the warning disappears for a few minutes before coming back. In process explorer it is reporting 73% RAM usage.

 

In Xplane , I have texture res set to extreme and that reports 1.3 gig of 2 gig used, so there is some overhead in both system RAM and VRAM.

 

I have 8gig of system RAM and it's the first time I've seen this error.

 

I removed everything out of my plugin folder but realised I need SASL for the Carenado B58, Gizmo64 and Silverlining for skymaxx, so apart from XUIPC, there's nothing I can remove.

 

Any thoughts most welcome.

 

Stu

[sqrt(-1)]

SASL for the Carenado does NOT belong in X-Plane's plugin folder.  It should remain in the plugin folder for the aircraft itself.

[JohnMAXX]

I set AI to fly the aircraft and have been at it for an hour with no changes from startup. Definitely take a look at your plugins folder and make sure it is cleaned up..... 

[bunchy]

I'll carry on testing.

 

The SASL folder within the plugin folder appeared there after the carenado install. It wasn't placed manually.

 

Stu

[Cameron]

I'll carry on testing.

The SASL folder within the plugin folder appeared there after the carenado install. It wasn't placed manually.

Stu

It should definitely not be in your resources/plugins folder! SASL is not programmed to be a global plugin.

[sqrt(-1)]

I'll carry on testing.

 

The SASL folder within the plugin folder appeared there after the carenado install. It wasn't placed manually.

 

Stu

 

Not likely...

 

I have nearly every Carenado model available for X-Plane.  Not a single one of them installed its SASL folder in X-Plane's main plugin folder.  This is because they are merely unzipped and typically placed in the General Aviation subfolder in the Aircraft folder of X-Plane.  There is no installation program for Carenado aircraft, much less an automated placement of the SASL folder somewhere where it shouldn't be.

 

The B58 is part of my collection.

Edited December 8, 2013 by SqrtOfNegOne

[bunchy]

Thanks for this advice, all.

 

I have removed the SASL folder from the global plugin folder and made sure it just appears in the aircraft folder concerned.

 

I reduced texture resolution to very high.

 

Took the B58 on a test flight from EGPF Glasgow to EGLC London City.

 

I ran in windowed mode so I could see system RAM usage on the flight.

 

VRAM was around 668MB at beginning of flight fluctuating between that and 700MB.

System RAM kept on creeping up through the flight, from a start point of 48% used to approaching London of 68% used.

 

I call this progress, as in previous test flights it had run out of system RAM long before this point.

 

So while I was excited I may just complete this flight, I suddenly see the screen lock up.

I had to ctrl-alt-del to get out and was confronted with the message attached.

 

 

My Nvidia drivers are 331.65.

 

When all is said and done, this has only started to happen after the skyMAXX install.

There is either something wrong with the plugin or it has damaged my install somehow.

 

I've attached my latest xplane log also.

 

Log.txt

 

 

[sqrt(-1)]

This looks more like a GPU driver issue to me than anything else.

 

When, and more importantly how, did you install the 331.65 driver?  And what was your previous driver version?

Edited December 8, 2013 by SqrtOfNegOne

[bunchy]

I installed the driver using the clean install method, as per Nick Needhams advice in his FSX bible.

 

I can say this driver has never caused any issues since install with either FSX or Xplane.

 

I installed SkyMAXX last night and have not completed a flight successfully since. This is the fulcrum point of the trouble.

 

I bet if I uninstall SKymaxx, I will have no trouble with system memory usage or these driver crashes.

 

The only thing changed on my system is skymaxx and the Gizmo 64 plugins.

 

How do I uninstall sky maxx properly and reinstate the default cloud textures?

Do I just uninstall through programs and features or is there another way.?

 

Thanks for your support.

 

Stu

[sqrt(-1)]

Well, if SkyMaxx appears to be the culprit, standard diagnostic technique would dictate to test your system without it.

 

Use the SkyMaxx uninstaller to remove it.  Then, to be sure that X-Plane is in a known state, run the X-Plane updater to be sure that any textures or other files are properly restored.

 

 

EDIT:  How were the Gizmo64 plugin(s) installed?  Was it with the SkyMaxx install and/or a Gizmo-driven aircraft?

(There should be only one Gizmo installation in the X-Plane plugins folder.)

Edited December 8, 2013 by SqrtOfNegOne

[Cameron]

How do I uninstall sky maxx properly and reinstate the default cloud textures?
Do I just uninstall through programs and features or is there another way.?

 

1. Go to your X-Plane/X-Aviation folder and run the uninstaller

 

2. Run the X-Plane update utility that Laminar ships to restore default clouds

[bunchy]

This looks more like a GPU driver issue to me than anything else.

 

When, and more importantly how, did you install the 331.65 driver?  And what was your previous driver version?

SqrtOfNegOne

 

I did some digging on the Nvidia site and found 331.65 only supported OpenGL 4.3.

It looks like XP10.25 is OGL 4.4.

 

I have since updated my driver to 331.82 which now supports OGL 4.4.

 

I am sad to report that although it's cured that OGL error, I'm no further forward with the out of memory issue with SkyMaxx.

 

When I run in a default cloud config and I monitor system RAM usage it increases and decreases as the flight progresses.

For instance, the test flight I'm using from EGPF to EGLC, RAM usage starts at 36%, enroute abeam Manchester rises to 49% and abeam Birmingham 54%.

 

In the less congested areas between cities the RAM usage falls back to 43-47%. Bottom line is, that I can complete the flight because RAM is being used and released.

 

When Skymaxx is running along with Gizmo 64, for the same flight, I see RAM usage start at 52% and climb throughout the flight until approaching London when Windows warns me I am running out memory and to close programs. I believe the memory is not being released by SkyMaxx and/or Gizmo64.

 

At least for now that is the only info I have from my testing.

 

I have 8GIG of RAM, by the way, and the flight is approx 1.5 hours duration.

Test aircraft: Carenado B58 64bit.

Real weather used during testing.

 

Thanks for your continued support

 

Stu

[sqrt(-1)]

I did some digging on the Nvidia site and found 331.65 only supported OpenGL 4.3.

It looks like XP10.25 is OGL 4.4.

 

I have since updated my driver to 331.82 which now supports OGL 4.4.

 

I am sad to report that although it's cured that OGL error, I'm no further forward with the out of memory issue with SkyMaxx.

 

 

One of my machines with a GTX 680 is still running X-Plane with 314.22 with no issues whatsoever.  I'm not so sure X-Plane is using all the latest extensions yet.

 

As for the SkyMAXX/Gizmo problem that remains, I will have to step aside for JohnMAXX, BenRussell or Cameron to assist you.  They are the experts for these products.

 

Sorry, I'm just a regular user...

[FloB]

Did you test a plane without SASL? I remember that older versions of SASL had a mermory leak under certain circumstances. The baron 64 bit should be updated, though. But you never know...

 

Flo

Edited December 10, 2013 by FloB

[JohnMAXX]

I cannot duplicate the issue myself, I'm still trying......

 

I also have a few aircraft that use Gizmo and SASL and I have been using them during these long term tests.....

[bunchy]

Did you test a plane without SASL? I remember that older versions of SASL had a mermory leak under certain circumstances. The baron 64 bit should be updated, though. But you never know...

 

Flo

Hi Flo,

 

I haven't tried that but the Carenado B58 works fine with default clouds.

In fact, it works with SkyMAXX fine, provided my flights are under 1 hour.

 

I have done some serious long distance flights (long distance for the B58) without issues prior to SkyMAXX.

 

On a relatively short flight within the UK, I run out of system memory if I use SkyMAXX.

 

Here's a screen of my XP rendering settings (clouds at 40% due to not using SkyMAXX at the moment)

 

 

Other information is that I use V2 mesh.

 

Thanks for chipping in, I really want to fix this.

 

Stu

[bunchy]

I cannot duplicate the issue myself, I'm still trying......

 

I also have a few aircraft that use Gizmo and SASL and I have been using them during these long term tests.....

 

Thanks, John.

 

It's a mystery to me.

 

I don't know if you have the Carenado B58 to test but this is my flightplan I've been using to test with real weather:

 

EGPF NGY-DCS-LAKEY-CALDA-CROFT-BARTN-LOVEL-LISTO-HON-FINMA-HEMEL-LAM EGLC.

 

On my decent into EGLC, somewhere between HEMEL and LAM is where I tend to run out sys RAM.

 

Thanks and good hunting

 

Stu

[Cameron]

Stu,

 

I think step 1 here is going to require you to fly a flight without a SASL enabled plugin aircraft just to see if that's where we need to be looking. Please fly your same routing with a default aircraft. Thus far none of us have been able to duplicate this, and no other customers are writing in such complaints, so this seems pretty isolated at the moment and we're going to need all the help we can get from you.

[robert1967]

oops posted in wrong thread

Edited December 28, 2013 by robert1967

[Ben Russell]

I did some quick investigating on My Mac last night and it looks like I can see a slow memory leak...

 

Like, 1 megabyte every 5 minutes or so..... slow, but definitely something to check on.

 

Sorry for letting this one slip through. I will investigate further and keep the thread updated.

[arb65912]

Ben, is it going to manifest on longer flights, correct?

 

My flights very relatively short, around an hour and I did not see anything strange.

 

Cheers, AJ 

[Ben Russell]

Correct.

 

 

The leak I've seen is quite slow... this thread is the only mention of it I've seen... it's strange that it creates such a strong problem for "bunchy".

[arb65912]

Thanks Ben. Cheers, AJ.