Skyrim TES.exe 3.1gb memory ceiling issue

[far327]

Why not to run with unsafe memory hack and borderless window mode? The best solution against all issues for Titan.

What is the unsafe memory hack?

@OhKay and --JawZ-- - thanks for the advice guys. Once I go back to the latest skyrim update, I'll play around with ENB boost.

[Nightasy]

I was under the impression that the VideoMemorySizeMb was calculated by taking Ram + VRam - 2048 but the max setting was 10240. Is this not the case?

@Jawz - You have a GTX 670 4G? I run a GTX 680 4G, what's your [Memory] settings?

[far327]

After testing on 1.3.10 I've concluded that LAA patch is enabled. Using taskmanager to monitor memory, it appears that CTDs occur with TESV.exe when it raches 3.1 to 3.2gb of RAM.
When monitoring with VMMap. The same CTD on TESV.exe occurs around 4.1 to 4.2gb of ram.

Boris is right about task manager reporting incorrect math on the RAM usage for an application. It must not include some sort of RAM allocation reserve in its calculation where as VMMap is much more detailed in how a program utilizes memory resources.

I will test out the latest Skyrim update, but since I encountered the same memory ceiling when I used task manager to monitor (3.1gb to 3.2gb) I'm under the assumption that LAA is enabled on the latest patch. Since I was using the latest and greatest ENB version with all the bells and whistles turned on, it makes sense that I would hit the executables RAM limit (technically 4.2gb) due to the added effects using more RAM. Downsampling with high res textures really adds up quick. Looks like I just have to settle for a balance between these three.

I don't think my Titan card is a culprit to any crashing issues. I will play around with ENB boost and find the proper balance for Titan and post my results here.


Thanks for everyone's advice and help on this.

[--JawZ--]

Nightasy;
Same as OhKay except for using 3986mb instead of 4096. Though these are default values I tend to set whenever I generate new .ini files, which is quite often. I haven't done any proper testing to find the "sweet spot" for my setup since ENB v0.209.

Some rgaphs using different memory settings, these where with v0.209
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/wuz4fw ... 20settings

[ENBSeries]

far327

What is the unsafe memory hack?

EnableUnsafeMemoryHacks, when enabled it use video memory at max without saving textures and geometry to system memory (not enbhost.exe also), so no delays of any kind to load textures. It's unsafe, because alt+tab in full screen mode not work (that's why enable borderless window in enblocal.ini) and if video memory filled up completely, performance will drop to zero and game may stop working. But skyrim have own resource manager which seems remove data from video memory to exclude such situations.

Nightasy
That math i used for my own videocard and from info by some users, but it's wrong. Shared video memory for systems with >8 gb ram is limited much more, so better to get it's amount from some tools or driver control panel.

[far327]

Just would like to report back after testing ENBboost. I started using Opethfeldt 7.3 beta. I decided to try out his memory settings. I increased the
VideoMemorySizeMb to 6144gb. I never experienced any crashing after 2 days of play through and with the full package of Texture Combiner installed. I also had downsampling maxed at 3840x2160 and even pushed my shadows up to 8192. Granted my FPS was below 25, but I just wanted to stress test everything.

I'm kicking myself for doubting ENBboost. Its an absolute must have for Skyrim!


Thank you very much for creating this for us Boris!

[lmstearn]

Hi Boris,

I've tried this great mod, it really helps. Before your mod was installed, CTDs occurred around the 2gb RAM mark.

Some posters on the TESNexus echo recommend http://www.iparadigm.org/pages/pnenb/ENBoost.html to set the [Memory] tweaks for the three main varieties of GPU. Do you support this?

For example, for this puny 1gb AMD HD 7770, the following settings are recommended, rather than the defaults which are all set to "false."

ReduceSystemMemoryUsage=true
DisableDriverMemoryManager=true
DisablePreloadToVRAM=true

Hooking Skyrim on 8gb RAM through Process Lasso on cores 2,2,3. Core 0 reserved for system.
Regarding the setting of ReservedMemorySizeMb = 256, there was an occasion of ~5 secs of stutter followed by a CTD.
Could have been a Windows background task, which would impact on I/O as running game on WD 500 Black Caviar HDD (no SSD). What do you think? Leave it on 256?

Regarding the settings for VideoMemorySizeMb, found this as quoted from this site previously:

"VideoMemorySizeMb=vram+ram-2048. If it fail, then VideoMemorySizeMb=vram. If it fail, VideoMemorySizeMb=vram-vram/20. If it fail, VideoMemorySizeMb=vram-vram/10" Does a certain brand of GPU prefer a particular formula moreso than a different brand of GPU?

For example, someone posted they tried a value between (vram+ram-2048) and (vram)- such as (vram + 1024) and it worked.
Do you know of any tech sites e.g. guru3D that have this kind of information regarding VideoMemorySizeMb?

Also using UGridsToLoad=7: do you think this would use almost twice as much of VideoMemorySizeMb: 7 X 7 =49 as opposed to UGridsToLoad=5 : 5 X 5 =25? Can one use smaller values of uGridDistantcount e.g. 20 to decrease VideoMemorySizeMb usage as well?

skyliner390 in TESNexus had an excellent post http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/ ... try9774184 that many subscribers wish to have stickied to http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/38649/?. Although it is not as in depth as your valuable comments on the description page, it would seem to provide "extra help" to many.

[ENBSeries]

I can't say anything, because users almost always run something on background (even web browsers now use video memory), amd and nvidia drivers act very different, OS differ, cpu type (intel/amd), changes in skyrimprefs.ini and skyrim.ini, mods installed. Too much variations to use something specific for all cases, but the #1 issue are game multithreading bugs which happen randomly from all decribed above cases. Don't waste much time and simply experiment which setting are fine to you.

DisablePreloadToVRAM - this var only for safety purposes to thouse users who don't have much memory (both ram and vram) or if some area won't load. I'm getting nervious when using this var set to true, game lagging when objects loading.

Regarding VideoMemorySizeMb, my math VideoMemorySizeMb=vram+ram-2048 work only for me or those users who have up to 6-8 gb of ram, valid value is amount of shared video memory (driver control panel show it or some tools), but depending from all things i wrote above you need to set value starting from real video memory size minus some small value for other processes, f.e. -128 mb.

UGridsToLoad is the thing you don't need to modify to not have issues. Amount of video memory used depends only from location and mods installed, in some places even UGridsToLoad=11 give very little increase in video memory size, but in some areas (cities f.e.) with huge amount of objects and various textures for them you will run out of video memory, so with ENBoost enabled it will be very slow performance to push and pop data from/to enbhost.exe.

[lmstearn]

Thanks Boris,
I'll get onto the AMD forums to see if they know anything about shared video memory: will let you know if they have anything interesting to say.

[Duredel]

First off, I love love love what you've been able to accomplish with the ENBoost memory management. Using enbhost.exe as a sort of "swap file" for memory to keep Skyrim from popping was ingenious!

However, I've reached an impasse with my current setup. If I play with ReduceSystemMemoryUsage=false the gameplay is smooth as glass with FPS ranging between 40-60 fps with no hitching whatsoever. The problem is the memory usage is bordering 3gb moments after starting a new game and it will surely CTD within the first 5-10 minutes. If I play with ReduceSystemMemoryUsage=true I can play for hours without issue since Skyrim never gets about 800mb or so. However, the hitching and so bad that FPS will drop to 3-4 fps whenever things get busy, like during combat.

When looking at the performance logs it appears that the GPU utilization is handicapped while using ReduceSystemMemoryUsage=true and I can only assume this is occurring because the CPU is tied up with all the memory swapping that's going on at the same time that high GPU utilization is required.

The tesv.exe process will average about 20% without ENBoost and about 25% with ENBoost but enbhost.exe always shows an average of 0%.

This is running on an i7 3.4ghz with a GTX780M 4GB and 32GB RAM (not that this matters at all).

My question is, are there any additional settings for memory management in enblocal.ini that I can use to control how aggressive the memory swapping is or control when to control the swapping? Like maybe set a limit on how much memory to swap out to enbhost.exe or watch the GPU utilization and DON'T try to swap when it's above a certain threshold?

Thanks!