CTD at 3.1GB

[viking]

Some key posts on this and related threads (experts feel free to note any errors or insights):

• Post #11
• Post #27
• Post #40 (this is where the 500/430 ratio seems to have originated.)
• Post #66
• Post#278
• Post #313
• Post #1 (adjacent thread: Caution about memory optimisers)
• Post #64 (adjacent thread: Caution about memory optimisers)
• Post #68 (adjacent thread: Caution about memory optimisers)
• Post #70 (adjacent thread: Caution about memory optimisers)

Wiki article (draft)

 

Thanks,

STEP

 

OP follows

---

First of all I wanted to thank you all for the great work you have done with STEP. Skyrim is the first game I installed on this computer and you guys have made it an AMAZING game. That being said, I have an issue that I hope you can help me solve.

 

My setup:

Vanilla Skyrim

gtx670 w/ 4GB @1080p w/ latest driver

16GB Memory

3770K at about 4GHz

Windows 8 64bit

ENB 149

Ultra settings

Highest available texture/quality

Mod Organizer

Step 2.2.1 + Skyrim Revisited + others

 

I have noticed a post here and there saying that Skyrim can't really address more than about 3.1GB of memory without issues. This seems to jive with my experience, meaning I CTD every time my memory hits that mark, but I couldn't really find anything definitive on the topic. The issue with googling the topic is the pre 1.3 skyrim that couldn't address more than 2gb of memory.

 

My mod list is mostly based on STEP which is why I came here for help, with about ten mods added onto the end (Interesting NPCs, Detailed Cities, Economics, COT, and a couple others). The reason I haven't included my mod list is that it doesn't seem to matter. As long as I keep the memory usage below 3GB I can have pretty much any combination of mods.

 

What I have tried so far (in no particular order):

• resetting ini files
• removing enb
• not using attklt
• only using a new game
• removing all mods and adding one by one until issue crops up
• running as admin
• watching the papyrus log - it seems relatively clean, no obvious errors right before CTD

Yes, I can run STEP just fine without any issues, but I also never get near 3GB of memory. I have tracked VRAM usage as well and have seen a max of 2.7GB/4GB.

 

As an example of where I might run into issues: I start a new character with Alternate Start. I start with Breezehome. Run out of Whiterun, past the Brewry, up the hill to the bandits. Enter the cave (watching memory usage with Elys MemInfo), and it dies right after I see 3GB. I have this same issue not using AS, sitting through the intro, and then running over to whiterun.

 

I'm sorry if this post is all over the place. I have spent more than a week trying to solve this issue, and the only solution I have found is to reduce memory usage. I have got to the point where I can exchange two texture packs and get into the cave without a CTD, but with both I get a CTD. I didn't even think texture packs should even affect CTDs, but I'm relatively new to Skyrim on the PC, so I could be wrong. I also found I could get a bit further with ENB turned off, but would still crash once I got above 3GB of memory. Finally, if I reload a game after a CTD, I can play just fine...until I reach 3GB of memory.

 

I really hope you guys can help. I more than willing to try anything at this point, besides just disabling all of the mods.

[Neovalen]

Can't expect a miracle overnight :)

[Aiyen]

Think he is also very surprised about the fact that he did not see any issues, but everybody else is. This version would most likely not have been released if he was seeing what everyone else seems to. But it also seems to only affect non vanilla textures.. but that is again a massive drawback! But we can hope he figures it out in time!

[exploiteddna]

Think he is also very surprised about the fact that he did not see any issues but everybody else is. This version would most likely not have been released if he was seeing what everyone else seems to. But it also seems to only affect non vanilla textures.. but that is again a massive drawback! But we can hope he figures it out in time!

lol yeah, since using non-vanilla textures is the primary reason for the increased memory usage.. so if we use only vanilla textures, we wont even get near 3.1gb and thus we wont need his 'fix'

[kkunderwood]

I am a retired software engineer with over 40 years of experience. Until I stumbled onto this thread from a post on the Nexus, I had wondered about these CTDs. I have been running the Skyrim Performance Monitor for a week now and had two CTDs, one at 3.067GB of RAM and the other at 3.104GB. However, I have noticed that there would be sudden unexpected drops in the amount of allocated RAM for no apparent reason that leads me to believe that this a memory garbage collection issue. As a test I saved when I had at least 2.5GB of RAM then reloaded the save and found that substantially less RAM was being allocated on the order of 600MB. Since .NET is being used in Skyrim, memory will be released whenever the garbage collector decides to do so. This is not a good approach for a real-time game like Skyrim especially since .NET provides the capability to dispose of allocated resources under program control instead of at the whim of the garbage collector.

 

I am running on an MSi GT780DXR gaming laptop with an NVIDIA GTX570M GPU. This hardware has 16GB of RAM, so I locked the system and driver software in memory and disabled paging. I also replaced the two 750GB HDD running raid-0 with two 1TB hydrid SSHD running raid-1. The GPU typically runs at 100% while the CPU coasts at less than 50%. 

[Gyro]

I am a retired software engineer with over 40 years of experience. Until I stumbled onto this thread from a post on the Nexus, I had wondered about these CTDs. I have been running the Skyrim Performance Monitor for a week now and had two CTDs, one at 3.067GB of RAM and the other at 3.104GB. However, I have noticed that there would be sudden unexpected drops in the amount of allocated RAM for no apparent reason that leads me to believe that this a memory garbage collection issue. As a test I saved when I had at least 2.5GB of RAM then reloaded the save and found that substantially less RAM was being allocated on the order of 600MB. Since .NET is being used in Skyrim, memory will be released whenever the garbage collector decides to do so. This is not a good approach for a real-time game like Skyrim especially since .NET provides the capability to dispose of allocated resources under program control instead of at the whim of the garbage collector.

 

I am running on an MSi GT780DXR gaming laptop with an NVIDIA GTX570M GPU. This hardware has 16GB of RAM, so I locked the system and driver software in memory and disabled paging. I also replaced the two 750GB HDD running raid-0 with two 1TB hydrid SSHD running raid-1. The GPU typically runs at 100% while the CPU coasts at less than 50%. 

I don't suppose the possibility of it being a .NET issue would open up new avenues for possible fixes as well?

[kkunderwood]

I am a retired software engineer with over 40 years of experience. Until I stumbled onto this thread from a post on the Nexus, I had wondered about these CTDs. I have been running the Skyrim Performance Monitor for a week now and had two CTDs, one at 3.067GB of RAM and the other at 3.104GB. However, I have noticed that there would be sudden unexpected drops in the amount of allocated RAM for no apparent reason that leads me to believe that this a memory garbage collection issue. As a test I saved when I had at least 2.5GB of RAM then reloaded the save and found that substantially less RAM was being allocated on the order of 600MB. Since .NET is being used in Skyrim, memory will be released whenever the garbage collector decides to do so. This is not a good approach for a real-time game like Skyrim especially since .NET provides the capability to dispose of allocated resources under program control instead of at the whim of the garbage collector.

 

I am running on an MSi GT780DXR gaming laptop with an NVIDIA GTX570M GPU. This hardware has 16GB of RAM, so I locked the system and driver software in memory and disabled paging. I also replaced the two 750GB HDD running raid-0 with two 1TB hydrid SSHD running raid-1. The GPU typically runs at 100% while the CPU coasts at less than 50%. 

I don't suppose the possibility of it being a .NET issue would open up new avenues for possible fixes as well?

This is not a .NET issue! C++ depends upon explicit release of resources which would result in memory leaks if you didn't play by the rules. Java and .NET use garbage collection which will eventually recover resources, but asynchronously on a separate thread from the program. If Skyrim is quickly adding resources such as HD graphics before the garbage collector gets around to releasing deallocated resources, Skyrim can run out of memory.

[torminater]

There is no way to tell the garbage collector to flush tge data in shorter intervals through a .net script or sth?

[torminater]

OK, my full feedback which was actually for the ENB forums, but unfortunately that annoying spam filter wouldn't let me use any computer terminology words, since it didn't recognize they were english...

 

Hey, reporting back.

I've tried the new version you uploaded:

- no more black or purple textures, supposedly that's fixed!

- with skse borderless window I get screen tearing even though vertical syncronization is forced in SkyrimPrefs.ini and enbseries.ini... Even putting down the frames per second limit to 32 doesn't help. Fullscreen mode has no obvious screen tearing though.

- I get a lot more stuttering (most likely vram stuttering) than with my current enb (version 1.68 and realvision enb A full).

- As you can see on my Performance Graphs, the ENB 1.92 without any changes to the files is a lot choppier than the 1.68 with Realvision ENB(Option A FULL - RealVision ENB maximum settings and effects, optimized for Climates of Tamriel 3.1, Realistic Lighting Overhaul 4.0.7. SMAA + EdgeAA + Lumasharpen + Depth of Field), which uses all sorts of effects. Maybe it would even out, if all those effects were added. Still I got frames per second drops to 18 and I hope it won't result in a freeze or crash should I use a lot of extra effects.

 

 

ENB 1.68 RealVision ENB

 

 

ENB 1.92 Memfix:

 

 

Apart from that: My VRAM is now of some use at least! xD Also RAM is incredibly low. Awesome. If the FPS drops and stuttering could be somehow eliminated, how much could one mod this game then???

 

All this done on a Windows 7 64-bit operating system with a GTX 680 Phantom 4 GB graphic card and a i7-2600k CPU clocked at 3.4 GHz.

 

 

[exploiteddna]

hmmm.. not looking so good, friend

[phazer11]

Actually it does look promising. Aiyen have you tried tweaking boris's new files?

[exploiteddna]

maybe we have different idea of what's good. Me personally, I wouldve liked to see it not be so choppy compared to 168. But yunno, to each their own :D

 

Edit: are you using the enb_reference.esp file and the associated BSA?? I would assume not, but you never know

[Aiyen]

Ofc. I am phazer11 :)

 

Yet I have kinda stopped again since there are new fixes every few hours it seems.

Most of the texture issues are gone now, however the performance is really taking a hit, so I doubt it is even worth it in the end.

[exploiteddna]

my sentiments exactly

[torminater]

Maybe for a SLI 4GB rig this enb would be a possibility...

[DanimalTwo]

Ofc. I am phazer11 :)

 

Yet I have kinda stopped again since there are new fixes every few hours it seems.

Most of the texture issues are gone now, however the performance is really taking a hit, so I doubt it is even worth it in the end.

I think it is too soon to tell if this is worthwhile. I know Boris is looking for people to help debug and your are a good candidate. Around these parts you seem to be the expert with regard to ENB. Of coarse I do not want to volunteer you. He seems to be doing it in real time, thus the many updates.