How to Fix Out of Memory Errors and How to Utilize Multiple CPUs/Multi-core CPUs

[kaleras]

Out of Memory Errors

I've noticed, as have many others, that if you set Texture Resolution to 0 (highest quality setting) you tend to get Out of memory errors. This happens no matter how much memory you have on your system. So I went on a mission to diagnose the problem and I'm happy to say that I believe I've found the solution.

First things first, you're going to need to setup a pirates_local.ini file if you haven't already done so. The easiest way to do this is to simply copy and paste your pirates.ini file and rename the copy to pirates_local.ini. You may not need to type .ini depending on how your system is setup.

Now that you have a pirates_local.ini file, you want to go through it and find the ClientInfoManager section. In this section you will find a value named maxMemUsage with default value of 1500000000. This is where the problem starts. That value only allows PotBS to use ~1.4GB of memory maximum, but apparently the game needs more than that when using high texture quality. What you need to do is increase this value. I recommend doubling it to 3000000000 if you have ~2.8GB of memory free for the game to use. However, you could probably get by with less. Be sure to save your changes.

And that's it. You'll need to restart the game for this to take effect.

You can find more information about the pirates_local.ini file here: http://www.burningsea.com/wiki/index...ates_local.ini


Utilize Multiple CPUs/Multi-core CPUs

Many of us nowadays have multi-core CPUs, but PotBS by default only takes advantage of 1 core/CPU. I've found an easy way to change this.

What you'll need to do is similar to what you did with the pirates_local.ini file except this time you'll need an alchemy_local.ini file. Copy and paste your alchemy.ini file and rename the copy to alchemy_local.ini. Again, you may not need to type .ini depending on how your system is setup.

Now that you have an alchemy_local.ini file, you're going to want to search through it for the GFX section. In this section you will find a value named multiThreaded with a default value of false. Change this value to true and save the changes.

That's all there is to it! Restart the game for changes to take effect. Prepare to enjoy a better performing PotBS. =)


Conclusion

I hope these fixes have helped some of you out. Please let me know if you run into any problems or have any questions.

Thank you for reading. Take care.

SS Kaleras of Antigua
Sea Serpents

[DerHuhnTeufel]

Even though I don't have these issues, I really appreciate someone doing this kind of debugging. Thank you.

[MultiDoc]

Thank you for taking the time to debug this, I haven't had a memory leak error for more than a year and just recently got one again

I'll try your suggestions and see if it helps some.

Do you think dual core cpu's will benefit too from you suggestion about multithreading ?

[Squailfish]

Thank you, I shall give it a try.

[kaleras]

No problem. I hope it works for you guys. I'll probably be posting more things like this soon.

@MultiDoc - I run dual core myself, and I have definitely noticed a difference. While PotBS doesn't seem to be a very CPU intensive game, allowing the second core to help with processing should effectively double the game's potential processing power. Spreading the load between both cores will also help with running other applications at the same time. So, yes, dual core will definitely benefit from multithreading.

[CJFlint]

This is a really good and interesting subject. I had an older cpu for a long time 2.4 ghz 4gb of ram, 1gb vid card which ran potbs fine outside boarding combat which was laggy. That one crashed, she served proudly and layed to rest with honors LOL. Then I got a new one, 6 core 3.5 ghz, 12 gig ram and 4gb dual sli vid card. I ran potbs with the same settings, I would get booted and the memory error regularly. I found this really strange. I played around with some of the video settings, slightly lowered a few things and then it worked good again. I was using a wirless router at the time. When I bought a usb netgear stick for "gaming" it improved allot.

Then I moved, and got cable 6mg per second cable direct. Now I can run max settings and dual box no problem. My conclusion is this game heavly rellys on conectivity more then anything. You can have a really beefy CPU, but if you dont have good bandwith, its going to hurt the game. This applys to AVCOM lag, getting booted and game lag in general. People may not aggree but I think the out of memory issue are cuased by internet bandwith, the reason for this is posibly the game cant refresh fast enough. Remember, you are logging on to a "Server", not your own CPU, It is an "Online" MMO after all. Basicly your CPU is talking back and forth to a POTBS server many miles away, the better conection you have the better it can do that. Ever sence I started using allot faster internet conection, no more errors.

[kaleras]

Originally Posted by CJFlint This is a really good and interesting subject. I had an older cpu for a long time 2.4 ghz 4gb of ram, 1gb vid card which ran potbs fine outside boarding comabt which was laggy. That one crashed. Then I got a new one, 6 core 3.5 ghz, 12 gig ram and 4gb dual sli vid card. I ran potbs with the same settings, I would get booted and the memory error regularly. I found this really strange. I played around with some of the video settings, slightly lowered a few things and then it worked good again. I was using a wirless router at the time. When I bought a usb netgear stick for "gaming" it improved allot. Then I moved, and got cable 6mg per second cable direct. Now I can run max settings and dual box no problem. My conclusion is this game heavly rellys on conectivity more then anything. You can have a really beefy CPU, but if you dont have good bandwith, its going to hurt the game. This applys to AVCOM lag, getting booted and game lag. People may not aggree but I think the out of memory issue are cuased by internet bandwith, the reason for this is posibly the game cant refresh fast enough. Remember, you are logging on to a "Server", not your own CPU, It is an "Online" MMO after all. Basicly your CPU is talking back and forth to a POTBS server many miles away. Ever sence I started using allot faster internet conection, no more errors.

I disagree. I see no reason for the network connection to cause out of memory errors. It could possibly happen if they are sending messages for you to load/unload data and you are simply not receiving them properly and the game ends up keeping too much data loaded in memory. Which leads me to what my configuration changes actually do.

The default configuration lets the game use a maximum of ~1.4GB. If the game tries to load more than that, it will throw an out of memory error. After the configuration changes, I have seen the game use around 1.6GB, which would have had me crashed out long ago if I hadn't made the changes. When you make the changes to configuration, you are telling the game's engine that it can now use a maximum of ~2.8GB. That's why when the game went over the ~1.4GB limit by 0.2GB, it did not throw an out of memory error.

That said, I can also say that I've made no changes to my machine or network connection, but I am no longer getting the out of memory messages while running max settings. Before I made the changes, I sometimes couldn't play for something like 30 minutes before crashing with out of memory. This usually happens when I go to several different ports, thus having a lot of data loaded in memory and not unloaded when I leave the ports. Also, I've been testing this and have had my character logged in for close to 24 hours now, entered many different ports, and have had no out of memory errors at all. I'm not even getting any slow down. The game is running as if I just started it.

[CJFlint]

Well explian to me why when I increased to 6mb per second, no more errors. My CPU doesnt have low memory issue, I have 12 gigs. Yet I got that error. The only thing it didnt have is decent internet conection. You have to remember this game isnt just your CPU, your cpu is only part of it. Your speed in which you connect to the POTBS server is exstreamly important to this games performance, thats all there is to it.

[MultiDoc]

Originally Posted by kaleras No problem. I hope it works for you guys. I'll probably be posting more things like this soon.

Thanks and looking forward to your tweaks

[CJFlint]

Get a 6mg per second internet conection no neeed for tweaks. You can run max settings, on a reasonably decent cpu. This whole dicussion it really amazes me that no one is talking about internet conection speed. I mean you do realize that this game talks back and forth to the POTBS server ALLOT. And speed in which it does that has a huge impact on game preformance right?

Allot of smart multi player gamers no about a thing called "pinging". Its basicly beating people with lower bandwith, just off of one party having faster reaction time then another party. For the slow pace of Ship Com this can not be explioted as much, but AVCOM I'd say so.