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Support => Terragen Support => Topic started by: rcallicotte on June 20, 2007, 08:40:22 AM

Title: Memory?
Post by: rcallicotte on June 20, 2007, 08:40:22 AM
I have 8 heightfields (no borders crossing over or touching) and 5 populations of objects.  5 of the heightfields are loaded and 3 are created by generating.  I needed to lower the count per object population due to the memory flooding and causing TGD to explode.   ;D  Nice job, you say?  Yes.  And now I still am able to blow it up with the memory staying around 1/4 of my RAM (around 625M).  So, I don't think it's the memory now and I don't get the common "memory is conflicting" error.  I have no source lights (only the sun) and the heightfields have all positive displacements from 3000 to 5000.

Any ideas?

The sun is at 5 degrees on the horizon and I've set it low to about 1 or 1.5 in strength.
Title: Re: Memory?
Post by: Oshyan on June 20, 2007, 01:37:11 PM
You didn't explain exactly what the problem is. Does the scene crash when you attempt to render it? Does this occur at any resolution and detail you attempt? Are you using reflection, heavy displacement, or other demanding features?

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Memory?
Post by: rcallicotte on June 21, 2007, 09:38:42 AM
Yes, it crashes.  Without any specific error.  The error wants to send the results to Microsoft and I'm holding back for now.  :)

This occurs at any resolution.  Detail is too low to be a major problem -
Detail - .65
GI Sample - 1
GI Detail - 1
Surface GI is on

No reflection.  I was using heavy displacement, but no longer.  The only displacement I have now is for the heightfields and it isn't above 3000.  I think the most demanding thing is having so many heightfields, but I'm not sure about that.  I've since moved to something else, but would happily try anything or forward the TGD.  But, the 5 heightfields I am loading are rather large in size.  Maybe they're the problem, due to some gymnastics I'm trying with one in particular, which is a volcano I created in Bryce and exported through Terragen .9.   
Title: Re: Memory?
Post by: Oshyan on June 21, 2007, 02:17:06 PM
Can you try without GI Surface Details on? When you attempt to render and you reported the memory use, are you just viewing it in Task Manager in the Mem Usage column? Have you also watched the amount of Available Memory (under the Physical Memory section on the Performance Tab)? The memory usage reported for a given application is not always comprehensive.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Memory?
Post by: rcallicotte on June 21, 2007, 02:23:08 PM
I'll check back with these details.

Quote from: Oshyan on June 21, 2007, 02:17:06 PM
Can you try without GI Surface Details on? When you attempt to render and you reported the memory use, are you just viewing it in Task Manager in the Mem Usage column? Have you also watched the amount of Available Memory (under the Physical Memory section on the Performance Tab)? The memory usage reported for a given application is not always comprehensive.

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Memory?
Post by: rcallicotte on June 22, 2007, 08:04:13 AM
Oshyan, I had the same problems with the GI Surface Details off. 

I watched the memory in Task Manager under Mem Usage.  The only respect I give to that is if it is growing and this was growing especially fast when I tried using large amounts in my populations.  I watched it grow quickly from 600K to over 1G in almost an instant - this was just before it crashed.   Now, since I have changed the amount of populations, the memory stays pretty consistently at around 500K to 600K.  I can check the other memory settings later.  I do have lots of hard-drive space and 2G of RAM.  I doubt my machine is too weak in memory.

What should I check for?
Title: Re: Memory?
Post by: Oshyan on June 22, 2007, 02:46:29 PM
If the memory spikes just before it crashes then it's likely running out of available memory allocations, whether it appears that your memory is "full" or not. It will need a large contiguous chunk to allocate for certain portions of the scene and it may simply be unavailable by the time it tries to use it. It can help to reboot right before attempting such a render as this effectively "defragments" memory, but beyond that you probably just need to reduce memory usage by simplifying the scene.

How big are the 8 heightfields you're using (in pixels, e.g. 2048x2048)? Knowing this we can determine at least how much they are contributing to the memory load. You also mentioned populations in the plural. Are you using multiple populations and if so of what object and how many instances?

- Oshyan
Title: Re: Memory?
Post by: bigben on June 22, 2007, 07:45:07 PM
If you have lots of objects you could resort to 2d billboard objects for those further from the camera. This will dramatically cut down the memory usage.  I have 2Gb of RAM but my limit seems to be around 1.25Gb after a fresh reboot.
Title: Re: Memory?
Post by: rcallicotte on June 23, 2007, 07:03:52 AM
Without checking each one, I'd say 4 of these are from TERs that are 4097X4097.