RAM limit CTDs?

[elenhil]

I seem to be encountering RAM-related CTDs (if such thing exists). With VRAM-related CTDs being the prevalent subject of discussions, I was unable to find sufficient info on my particular subject.

 

I'm running Skyrim on a 8Gb x64 Win7 system, so I thought RAM shouldn't be a problem. I am, however, limited by 1 Gb VRAM. Skyrim Performance Monitor shows I get RAM consumption jumping to aroung 2,4 Gb prior to the crashes, so I figured it must be the cause. There is ENBoost thrown into the mix, mind you. I expect by its very design it must be directly involved in RAM issues.

 

Any ideas or, at least, general guidance on lowering RAM footprint? 

[deathneko11]

Optimize your textures. Downgrade any high resolution textures, stick to 512 and 1k textures. ESPECIALLY in exterior cells. With limited VRam, less is more when it comes to eye candy versus performance.

 

If you are still having issues then try running the game without any texture mods installed.

 

In the long run though? upgrade your gpu. 2GB cards and + are getting fair cheap nowadays.

[elenhil]

Just to make sure: you're saying downgrading texture replacers would bring down my RAM (not merely VRAM) usage?

[deathneko11]

I'm not saying you will see a drastic change in actual Ram performance, but generally the less that has to be loaded into a program the smaller the hit on any of your pc resources. Seeing as you only have 1GB vram though, these are still some options you should consider in increasing your performance and stability. Unfortunately you are very limited to what sort of visual enhancements you can add to your game with only 1GB vram.

[elenhil]

All right. What about the fundamental question, then - is there really a RAM limit issue with Skyrim, in parallel with the VRAM one? And, if so, how might EMBoost affect it (isn't it specifically aimed at 'freeing' VRAM by using more RAM)?

[Aiyen]

CTD´s due to memory happens because you run into the hardcoded limit of the game (search for 3.1Gb limit and you will get lots of posts info etc.).

 

Since textures are also stored in memory as well as video memory then reducing textures is the most simple way to make the issue go away. Since high resolution textures take up the majority of the memory used by the game.

 

Using ENBoost allows you to get around this by making an additional process that the game can store data in. Giving another 4Gb to play with more or less. However VRAM does play into how much you can get away with... up til 4Gb since that is the limit of DirectX 9. How effective ENBoost is on your machine I cant tell. It needs to be setup for every machine, and it also depends on your entire rig.

 

Hope that helps.