I keep getting out of memory error

[Testlund]

I get this error in version 2.42.9 but I got it in a previous version too, I think it was 2.42.8c.

Oh, and you'll se the clumping behavior in this sim too.

[EricL]

The 'clumping' of the veggies is due to the moving shapes sweeping fixed veggies as described here.  Thsi behaviour is by design.

If you want to avoid this, either unfix your veggies or fix your shapes.  If you would like to see something different happen, please feel free to put your suggestion forward as to what the result should be when a moving shape meets a fixed veggie.

I'm running the sim in the IDE now to try and find the memory leak.  We will see if I can catch it...

[Testlund]

I'm still getting the out of memory error, this time in version 2.42.9e. It happens within a few hours or after a couple of days running. A nasty bug. I hope you will find it, Eric.  

[EricL]

I'll let it run in the IDE for the next 48 hours and see if I can catch it....

[Testlund]

It's been a few days now so I guess you didn't find the bug. For me it keeps crashing, then I load the latest autosave, then it runs for a few hours or more, then it crashes again.   Pisses me off. Maybe I should try running it on my new computer instead, in case it is something with my old computer that has trouble handling the new stuff you've put into your latest buddy drops. A shame. It ran so fine until 2.42.9a or b I think.   I guess I will have to go back to those drops instead.

[Numsgil]

Sounds like its some peculiarity with the way the Visual Basic runtime libraries are interacting with your computer, especially since it doesn't seem to happen to other people more than once in a blue moon.

By chance, how much RAM are you running on your computer?  Maybe it really is a running out of memory issue.

[Testlund]

I have 512 MB on that computer and 1.3 GHz AMD processor. I've been thinking too if it could be some physical memory leak, because once I got a popup when it crashed, telling me it couldn't write to a certain memory address. To make sure my memory hadn't got broken I ran a test with Memtest86+, but it didn't show any errors. I'm going to give the same sim a try on my new computer later tonight.

[EricL]

I've seen this once, but have not managed to tcatch it in the IDE even after running Testlund's sim for several days.  I suspect shapes, since his sim has shapes.

[EricL]

I just did a code inspection on all the shapes code.   About the only thing I found was a couple of const's declared *inside* the shape collision detection function.  I suppose it's possible VB doesn't deallocate constants in some cases, such as when a function is forcably exited.  Anyway, I got rid of them for 2.42.9g.  Maybe it will make a difference.

[Testlund]

Ok, I happend to mension the wrong versions wich was stable. DB ran stable for me in version 2.42.8a or b I think. That's what I meant. So maybe there was some change you made to the shapes code after that. Also I ran the sim with drifting shapes, slowest speed and shapes absorb shots checked. Don't know the importance of that, but that doesn't get saved in the sim. It will be interesting to check out your next drop to see if it makes any difference.

[EricL]

I made a change in 2.42.9g which might have addressed the out of memory problem.

Please be sure to let me know if you encounter this issue in 2.42.9g (or beyond) or have run long enough on 2.42.9g (or beyond) to feel confident the problem is no longer there.  Thanks.

[Numsgil]

A thought occurs to me.  If you're autosaving simulations, what you might actually be getting is an out of Hard Drive space error.  Sim files can quickly exceed 60 or 70 megabytes.  100 autosaves can take up gigabytes of space, so this is a very real danger.