How to fix some out of memory crashing problemes

[jseleniu]

<p>This is a hint that I have given to lots of players in the game, and it has helped the to solve out memory crashing problems.</p><p>If you are running a 32-bit system (x86), and have more than 3gb of Ram in your computer, there is a switch in Vista, that you can enable, to make EQ2 be able to use this memory.</p><p>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><h3>Solution</h3><p>To enable the 3GB switch on Windows Vista™</p><ol><li>Right-click Command Prompt in the Accessories program group of the Start menu. Click Run as Administrator. </li><li>At the command prompt, enter <strong>"bcdedit /set IncreaseUserVa 3072"</strong> </li><li>Restart the computer.</li></ol><p>I f you change your mind, you can turn if off again:</p><p>To turn off the 3GB switch</p><ol><li>Right-click on Command Prompt in the Accessories program group of the Start menu. Click Run as Administrator. </li><li>At the command prompt, enter <strong>"bcdedit /deletevalue IncreaseUserVa"</strong> </li><li>Restart the computer.</li></ol><p>For more information on the 3GB switch, refer to the following Microsoft MSDN article:</p><p><a href="http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms791558.aspx">http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/li...y/ms791558.aspx</a></p><p>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>If you are running 64-bit, you don't need this, because EQ2 already has access to all your memory.</p><p>If you are running Windows XP, I think you can get the samme effect, by enabling /3GB in boot.ini, but I have not testet this my self.</p>

[Bekkr]

<p>I think you should read that article you linked a bit more carefully.  Some tidbits:</p><p>The <strong>/3GB</strong> parameter is supported on Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000. (not supported in Vista)</p><p>To take advantage of the 3 GB available to user-mode programs, the program must be linked with the <strong>/LARGEADDRESSAWARE</strong> option. (is EQ2 even linked with this option?)</p><p>On Windows XP, some drivers, especially video adapter drivers with onboard RAM, cannot run with the <strong>/3GB</strong> parameter because they require more address space than the 1 GB kernel address space permits. (this would be many people playing EQ2, as it refers to graphics cards with lots of onboard memory - this memory needs to be addressed, and so takes some of the 4GB address space used by the OS - hence the 32bit OS's 3.2-ish GB RAM limit)</p><p>The 3GB switch is, in my opinion, almost never a good idea.  Even when it IS useful, gaming is not one of these scenarios.</p>

[jseleniu]

<p><cite>Bekkr wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I think you should read that article you linked a bit more carefully.  Some tidbits:</p><p>The <strong>/3GB</strong> parameter is supported on Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000. (not supported in Vista)</p><p>To take advantage of the 3 GB available to user-mode programs, the program must be linked with the <strong>/LARGEADDRESSAWARE</strong> option. (is EQ2 even linked with this option?)</p><p>On Windows XP, some drivers, especially video adapter drivers with onboard RAM, cannot run with the <strong>/3GB</strong> parameter because they require more address space than the 1 GB kernel address space permits. (this would be many people playing EQ2, as it refers to graphics cards with lots of onboard memory - this memory needs to be addressed, and so takes some of the 4GB address space used by the OS - hence the 32bit OS's 3.2-ish GB RAM limit)</p><p>The 3GB switch is, in my opinion, almost never a good idea.  Even when it IS useful, gaming is not one of these scenarios.</p></blockquote><p>Hi.</p><p>I have to say that you are wrong. This is very usefull in EverQuest 2, and has helped a lot of people eliminiate most of their crashes in EQ2.</p><p>You are right that /3gb is only supported on 2000, 2003 and XP, but I explained how the command works in Vista, where you have to use bcdedit instead. So Vista has a similar command.</p><p>EQ2 is Largeaddressaware. They introduced this in spring 2008. It was posted in the update notes.</p><p>The problem with a 32bit program on 32bit operating system, is that the program is not allowed to use more than 2GB of Ram. When EQ2 crosses the 2GB limit, it crashes, with the out of memory message. When you enable the /3gb switch (or use bcdedit in Vista) a program witch are compiled with /Largeaddressaware parameter is allowed to use more than 2GB.</p><p>So my conclusion is that if you have problems with "out of memory" crashes. Try this parameter. You have nothing to loose by testing it, I have even included instructions on how to reset the option.</p><p>The people who have tried it has been very gratefull, and none of them has turned the parameter of.</p><p>Of course a better solution is to upgrade to a 64bit Operating System, where you don't need to use this command at all.</p>

[Vengence277]

<p>I will thank you, for me it worked like a charm, I havent crashed since i did this. Up to that point i was crashing every 5-10 minutes...VERY frustrating.</p><p>I have tested out other games and apps and have not found a down side to this command/fix yet.</p><p>Thank you</p>

[Wingrider01]

<p><cite>jseleniu wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Bekkr wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I think you should read that article you linked a bit more carefully.  Some tidbits:</p><p>The <strong>/3GB</strong> parameter is supported on Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000. (not supported in Vista)</p><p>To take advantage of the 3 GB available to user-mode programs, the program must be linked with the <strong>/LARGEADDRESSAWARE</strong> option. (is EQ2 even linked with this option?)</p><p>On Windows XP, some drivers, especially video adapter drivers with onboard RAM, cannot run with the <strong>/3GB</strong> parameter because they require more address space than the 1 GB kernel address space permits. (this would be many people playing EQ2, as it refers to graphics cards with lots of onboard memory - this memory needs to be addressed, and so takes some of the 4GB address space used by the OS - hence the 32bit OS's 3.2-ish GB RAM limit)</p><p>The 3GB switch is, in my opinion, almost never a good idea.  Even when it IS useful, gaming is not one of these scenarios.</p></blockquote><p>Hi.</p><p>I have to say that you are wrong. This is very usefull in EverQuest 2, and has helped a lot of people eliminiate most of their crashes in EQ2.</p><p>You are right that /3gb is only supported on 2000, 2003 and XP, but I explained how the command works in Vista, where you have to use bcdedit instead. So Vista has a similar command.</p><p>EQ2 is Largeaddressaware. They introduced this in spring 2008. It was posted in the update notes.</p><p>The problem with a 32bit program on 32bit operating system, is that the program is not allowed to use more than 2GB of Ram. When EQ2 crosses the 2GB limit, it crashes, with the out of memory message. When you enable the /3gb switch (or use bcdedit in Vista) a program witch are compiled with /Largeaddressaware parameter is allowed to use more than 2GB.</p><p>So my conclusion is that if you have problems with "out of memory" crashes. Try this parameter. You have nothing to loose by testing it, I have even included instructions on how to reset the option.</p><p>The people who have tried it has been very gratefull, and none of them has turned the parameter of.</p><p>Of course a better solution is to upgrade to a 64bit Operating System, where you don't need to use this command at all.</p></blockquote><p>can you supply a link to that patch message that show it is large address aware? Do not recall this ever being mentioned at all, add to the fact that if it was it would not be crashing when ittries to allocate memory over the 2GB limit. There was a series of threads that explained how to end user patch the executeable to allow it to be largeaddressaware, but there were responses from SOE people that this was a bannable offense.</p><p>The switcheswill work for some configurations, for other configurations it can cause the system to be non-bootable and a recovery will need to be done to get to be able to reset the error - so end users are cautioned to be careful when using it and to verify you have a valid backup.</p>

[Deathheart]

<p>thanks for this also... i have yet to have a crash out of eq2 after 6 hours of being logged in..</p><p>was flawless yesterday...</p><p>Bow</p>

[jseleniu]

<p><cite>Wingrider01 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>jseleniu wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Bekkr wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I think you should read that article you linked a bit more carefully.  Some tidbits:</p><p>The <strong>/3GB</strong> parameter is supported on Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000. (not supported in Vista)</p><p>To take advantage of the 3 GB available to user-mode programs, the program must be linked with the <strong>/LARGEADDRESSAWARE</strong> option. (is EQ2 even linked with this option?)</p><p>On Windows XP, some drivers, especially video adapter drivers with onboard RAM, cannot run with the <strong>/3GB</strong> parameter because they require more address space than the 1 GB kernel address space permits. (this would be many people playing EQ2, as it refers to graphics cards with lots of onboard memory - this memory needs to be addressed, and so takes some of the 4GB address space used by the OS - hence the 32bit OS's 3.2-ish GB RAM limit)</p><p>The 3GB switch is, in my opinion, almost never a good idea.  Even when it IS useful, gaming is not one of these scenarios.</p></blockquote><p>Hi.</p><p>I have to say that you are wrong. This is very usefull in EverQuest 2, and has helped a lot of people eliminiate most of their crashes in EQ2.</p><p>You are right that /3gb is only supported on 2000, 2003 and XP, but I explained how the command works in Vista, where you have to use bcdedit instead. So Vista has a similar command.</p><p>EQ2 is Largeaddressaware. They introduced this in spring 2008. It was posted in the update notes.</p><p>The problem with a 32bit program on 32bit operating system, is that the program is not allowed to use more than 2GB of Ram. When EQ2 crosses the 2GB limit, it crashes, with the out of memory message. When you enable the /3gb switch (or use bcdedit in Vista) a program witch are compiled with /Largeaddressaware parameter is allowed to use more than 2GB.</p><p>So my conclusion is that if you have problems with "out of memory" crashes. Try this parameter. You have nothing to loose by testing it, I have even included instructions on how to reset the option.</p><p>The people who have tried it has been very gratefull, and none of them has turned the parameter of.</p><p>Of course a better solution is to upgrade to a 64bit Operating System, where you don't need to use this command at all.</p></blockquote><p>can you supply a link to that patch message that show it is large address aware? Do not recall this ever being mentioned at all, add to the fact that if it was it would not be crashing when ittries to allocate memory over the 2GB limit. There was a series of threads that explained how to end user patch the executeable to allow it to be largeaddressaware, but there were responses from SOE people that this was a bannable offense.</p><p>The switcheswill work for some configurations, for other configurations it can cause the system to be non-bootable and a recovery will need to be done to get to be able to reset the error - so end users are cautioned to be careful when using it and to verify you have a valid backup.</p></blockquote><p>Hi.</p><p>After some searching I found the info here: <a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=414136">http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=414136</a> (Game Update #44: Tuesday April 8th, 2008</p><p>"The client is Large Address Aware, meaning that you are much less likely to run out of memory if you have 3GB or more of RAM and are running either the 64-bit versions of Windows or have modified your boot.ini to support 3GB user address space"</p><p>I have been runing with this parameter since june'08, and can only say good things about it. It has made the came playable for a lot of people.</p><p>I got into the memory problem, when I upgraded my monitor and graphics card. When I startet running the game with more graphics details and higher resoulution I got frequent crashes. The parameter helped me, and alot of friends.</p><p>It looks like the latest GU increased the memory usage, so more peoples are hitting the 2GB limit. After reading the messages in this thread, it looks like the parameter change is working. </p>

[Wingrider01]

<p><cite>jseleniu wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Wingrider01 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>jseleniu wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Bekkr wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I think you should read that article you linked a bit more carefully.  Some tidbits:</p><p>The <strong>/3GB</strong> parameter is supported on Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000. (not supported in Vista)</p><p>To take advantage of the 3 GB available to user-mode programs, the program must be linked with the <strong>/LARGEADDRESSAWARE</strong> option. (is EQ2 even linked with this option?)</p><p>On Windows XP, some drivers, especially video adapter drivers with onboard RAM, cannot run with the <strong>/3GB</strong> parameter because they require more address space than the 1 GB kernel address space permits. (this would be many people playing EQ2, as it refers to graphics cards with lots of onboard memory - this memory needs to be addressed, and so takes some of the 4GB address space used by the OS - hence the 32bit OS's 3.2-ish GB RAM limit)</p><p>The 3GB switch is, in my opinion, almost never a good idea.  Even when it IS useful, gaming is not one of these scenarios.</p></blockquote><p>Hi.</p><p>I have to say that you are wrong. This is very usefull in EverQuest 2, and has helped a lot of people eliminiate most of their crashes in EQ2.</p><p>You are right that /3gb is only supported on 2000, 2003 and XP, but I explained how the command works in Vista, where you have to use bcdedit instead. So Vista has a similar command.</p><p>EQ2 is Largeaddressaware. They introduced this in spring 2008. It was posted in the update notes.</p><p>The problem with a 32bit program on 32bit operating system, is that the program is not allowed to use more than 2GB of Ram. When EQ2 crosses the 2GB limit, it crashes, with the out of memory message. When you enable the /3gb switch (or use bcdedit in Vista) a program witch are compiled with /Largeaddressaware parameter is allowed to use more than 2GB.</p><p>So my conclusion is that if you have problems with "out of memory" crashes. Try this parameter. You have nothing to loose by testing it, I have even included instructions on how to reset the option.</p><p>The people who have tried it has been very gratefull, and none of them has turned the parameter of.</p><p>Of course a better solution is to upgrade to a 64bit Operating System, where you don't need to use this command at all.</p></blockquote><p>can you supply a link to that patch message that show it is large address aware? Do not recall this ever being mentioned at all, add to the fact that if it was it would not be crashing when ittries to allocate memory over the 2GB limit. There was a series of threads that explained how to end user patch the executeable to allow it to be largeaddressaware, but there were responses from SOE people that this was a bannable offense.</p><p>The switcheswill work for some configurations, for other configurations it can cause the system to be non-bootable and a recovery will need to be done to get to be able to reset the error - so end users are cautioned to be careful when using it and to verify you have a valid backup.</p></blockquote><p>Hi.</p><p>After some searching I found the info here: <a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=414136">http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=414136</a> (Game Update #44: Tuesday April 8th, 2008</p><p>"The client is Large Address Aware, meaning that you are much less likely to run out of memory if you have 3GB or more of RAM and are running either the 64-bit versions of Windows or have modified your boot.ini to support 3GB user address space"</p><p>I have been runing with this parameter since june'08, and can only say good things about it. It has made the came playable for a lot of people.</p><p>I got into the memory problem, when I upgraded my monitor and graphics card. When I startet running the game with more graphics details and higher resoulution I got frequent crashes. The parameter helped me, and alot of friends.</p><p>It looks like the latest GU increased the memory usage, so more peoples are hitting the 2GB limit. After reading the messages in this thread, it looks like the parameter change is working. </p></blockquote><p>according to the dump files the maxmemory is set to 2048, (if I am reading the crashlog correctly) currently have 4 GB in this box (W7 Ultimate 32 bit  The video card has 1792MB (Nvidia 295GTX 191.07 drivers) onboard. The system crashes, from what I can gather from MS seems it is already set although no one I talk to will come out and say it<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> This is built 7600 of W7 the RTM version.</p><p>Going to restore a clean Vista 32 bit image to a spare hard drive and see if it occurs on that configuration - exact same hardware, different OS, with and without the switches, although it does mention in that set of patch notes that you need to have those switches set for it to function correctly.</p>

[Deveryn]

<p>I'm trying this out on Win 7. I have 3gb of RAM and so far, I'm having no problems. Here's hoping I don't have to come back and edit this. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>