Patch 5 create some heavy memory leak and how to solve the problem

[Faiaria]

My playtime after patch 5 has been hellish because of some massive lags. It is almost unplayable. I used to be able to run the game at ultra settings smoothly without any problem whatsoever, but not anymore. So I set out to find why. After digging around in this forum, I found the nice little tool call Fight Memory Leak, suggested by some nice people. (To that person: Thank you so much!)

After trying quite a few things out with the tool suggested, I think we can safely conclude that there is some memory leak and They are massive. The game generates 12k GB of "standby list and system working set" memory in just 20 minutes of playing.

Here is the whole process:

- First, I did a clean uninstall, deleted the Larian folder and all. And reinstalled after that.
- Then I restarted my computer to clear any running program and used Fight Memory Leak program to purge any standby data.
- After that I loaded one of my old save in act 3. The save has minimum mods, just some extra presets since it was quite old.
- Then I ran around for a few minute, portaled to Lower City Center since it is nortoriously a heavy weight area.
- And lastly, I tried loading, reloading the same save a few time.

Here is what I found:
- The game generates about 0.5 MB of Standby data per second.
- The game generates a subtential amount of Standby data each time you enter a new area.
- The game doesn't generates new standby data each time you load. Unless the save is from another playthrough or another area.
- After you quit the game. The standby memories are never released. If you start the game up again, it will create new standby data and eats up your RAM.

Now I can play the game smoothly again if I just check with the tool every 30 minutes or so and purge all those generated data. But that shouldn't be what I had to do. If anyone can raise some voice to the developers, please do. I really like the game and would like to continue playing it without the unnecessary side trick.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Faiaria:

Patch 5 create some heavy memory leak and how to solve the problem
My playtime after patch 5 has been hellish because of some massive lags. It is almost unplayable. I used to be able to run the game at ultra settings smoothly without any problem whatsoever, but not anymore. So I set out to find why. After digging around in this forum, I found the nice little tool call Fight Memory Leak, suggested by some nice people. (To that person: Thank you so much!)

After trying quite a few things out with the tool suggested, I think we can safely conclude that there is some memory leak and They are massive. The game generates 12k GB of "standby list and system working set" memory in just 20 minutes of playing.

Here is the whole process:

- First, I did a clean uninstall, deleted the Larian folder and all. And reinstalled after that.
- Then I restarted my computer to clear any running program and used Fight Memory Leak program to purge any standby data.
- After that I loaded one of my old save in act 3. The save has minimum mods, just some extra presets since it was quite old.
- Then I ran around for a few minute, portaled to Lower City Center since it is nortoriously a heavy weight area.
- And lastly, I tried loading, reloading the same save a few time.

Here is what I found:
- The game generates about 0.5 MB of Standby data per second.
- The game generates a subtential amount of Standby data each time you enter a new area.
- The game generates doesn't generates new standby data each time you load. Unless the save is from another playthrough or another area.
- After you quit the game. The standby memories are never released. If you start the game up again, it will create new standby data and eats up your RAM.

Now I can play the game smoothly again if I just check with the tool every 30 minutes or so and purge all those generated data. But that shouldn't be what I had to do. If anyone can raise some voice to the developers, please do. I really like the game and would like to continue playing it without the unnecessary side trick.

That sounds very, very, very bad.

I have stopped noticing it because of the tool. My tip: use it as suggested as an autostart tool in the background and have the autopurge activated. That way you do not need to deal with it manually every X minutes and you can focus on your game (regardless if its Baldur's Gate 3 or another, it works with every memory leaking game).

The default values are pretty okay for everyone who meet Baldur's Gate 3 requirements for recommended settings. So just hit the start button in the app, allow it to start at logon, minimised and automonitoring, and you can - thank goodness - mostly forget about it.

About the issue in general I recommend every player who is affected to send their feedback directly to Larian Studios. They might want to know some details, such as OS, background apps, hardware specifics - if you send them your DxDiag report alongside your feedback it can help them to improve any related issues in the future, hopefully.

You can give them your feedback (alongside your savegame and DxDiag report)

via email [e-mail]

or

via online form https://larian.com/support/baldur-s-gate-3#modal

With your feedback there is a chance that Larian Studios can identify more and more what might cause the issue and address those.

[Faiaria]

I will send them email straight away. Again, thank you for suggesting the tool.

[Ironwu]

Originally posted by Faiaria:

I will send them email straight away. Again, thank you for suggesting the tool.

None of this is valid unless you are playing on a 100% clean system with zero Mods ever installed.

I am not saying that it does not happen on a clean system (which I run), but you gave no information on the specific file name(s) or locations, so no way to check your findings.

[Faiaria]

Originally posted by Ironwu:

Originally posted by Faiaria:

I will send them email straight away. Again, thank you for suggesting the tool.

None of this is valid unless you are playing on a 100% clean system with zero Mods ever installed.

I am not saying that it does not happen on a clean system (which I run), but you gave no information on the specific file name(s) or locations, so no way to check your findings.

When I have time tomorrow, I'll try again with a clean new game, 0 mods. But I really don't think the mods have anything with it since the save has just 3 mods which gives new preset, hair and hair colors.
I have no knowleage to how the system works or where to find the definitive evidences. So I'll just do what I can. Hopefully, they will help the studio in some ways.

[Ironwu]

Originally posted by Faiaria:

Originally posted by Ironwu:

None of this is valid unless you are playing on a 100% clean system with zero Mods ever installed.

I am not saying that it does not happen on a clean system (which I run), but you gave no information on the specific file name(s) or locations, so no way to check your findings.

When I have time tomorrow, I'll try again with a clean new game, 0 mods. But I really don't think the mods have anything with it since the save has just 3 mods which gives new preset, hair and hair colors.
I have no knowleage to how the system works or where to find the definitive evidences. So I'll just do what I can. Hopefully, they will help the studio in some ways.

If you are going doe a really clean install, you need to:

* Find the Story directory in AppData\Local\Larian Studios and copy out your save files.
* Turn BG3 Cloud Saves OFF (and leave them OFF)
* Uninstall BG3
* Delete the entire Larian Studios directory in AppData\Local
* Reinstall BG3
* Test for the memory leak on a brand new Campaign

Could you please tell me the file names and locations for this 'Standby Data', please? I have a save at the Act 3 Stem point and another Campaign in Act 1 I can test this on.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Faiaria:

Originally posted by Ironwu:

None of this is valid unless you are playing on a 100% clean system with zero Mods ever installed.

I am not saying that it does not happen on a clean system (which I run), but you gave no information on the specific file name(s) or locations, so no way to check your findings.

When I have time tomorrow, I'll try again with a clean new game, 0 mods. But I really don't think the mods have anything with it since the save has just 3 mods which gives new preset, hair and hair colors.
I have no knowleage to how the system works or where to find the definitive evidences. So I'll just do what I can. Hopefully, they will help the studio in some ways.

The feedback you have written is fine, and I consider it as valid.

Ironwu is not wrong about their statement with mods. However the indicators are too strong towards "this issue exists regardless of mods". For some more or less. Because of that "for some" it is important to find out what makes your PC special, or what not. Hence the details needed in regards of OS etc.

Also, you have understood the tool absolutely correctly.

I have not explained it further in the guide, but in older threads. A lot of people misunderstand used RAM vs. standby RAM. And memory leak issues are caused by standby RAM which are not released. So people often confuse seeing "only e.g. 60% RAM is used" they think 40% is still available while it is actually on standby.

You got everything right in your post. That is enough for evidence from a user. Anything else is best left to the professional debuggers who have specialised PCs and tools to analyse that. Which they should do thanks to your feedback you submit to Larian Studios.

Feel free to let us know when you get around it, if there is any significant change with the issue without mods. Even that would be an interesting thing to know.

I have read of some mods which cause lots of memory leak issue. But I thought they are long gone because of the issues they created. If you really just use ~ texture replacements for e.g. Tavs hairsaloon or head presets ~ those should indeed not affect the memory like that.

[Ironwu]

Originally posted by アンジェル:

Originally posted by Faiaria:

When I have time tomorrow, I'll try again with a clean new game, 0 mods. But I really don't think the mods have anything with it since the save has just 3 mods which gives new preset, hair and hair colors.
I have no knowleage to how the system works or where to find the definitive evidences. So I'll just do what I can. Hopefully, they will help the studio in some ways.

The feedback you have written is fine, and I consider it as valid.

Ironwu is not wrong about their statement with mods. However the indicators are too strong towards "this issue exists regardless of mods". For some more or less. Because of that "for some" it is important to find out what makes your PC special, or what not. Hence the details needed in regards of OS etc.

Also, you have understood the tool absolutely correctly.

I have not explained it further in the guide, but in older threads. A lot of people misunderstand used RAM vs. standby RAM. And memory leak issues are caused by standby RAM which are not released. So people often confuse seeing "only e.g. 60% RAM is used" they think 40% is still available while it is actually on standby.

You got everything right in your post. That is enough for evidence from a user. Anything else is best left to the professional debuggers who have specialised PCs and tools to analyse that. Which they should do thanks to your feedback you submit to Larian Studios. :MHRISE_OK:

Feel free to let us know when you get around it, if there is any significant change with the issue without mods. Even that would be an interesting thing to know.

I have read of some mods which cause lots of memory leak issue. But I thought they are long gone because of the issues they created. If you really just use ~ texture replacements for e.g. Tavs hairsaloon or head presets ~ those should indeed not affect the memory like that.

So, are we talking here about an allocated section of RAM and not a file? Where is the 'Standby RAM' name coming from? The analysis tool?

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Ironwu:

Originally posted by アンジェル:

The feedback you have written is fine, and I consider it as valid.

Ironwu is not wrong about their statement with mods. However the indicators are too strong towards "this issue exists regardless of mods". For some more or less. Because of that "for some" it is important to find out what makes your PC special, or what not. Hence the details needed in regards of OS etc.

Also, you have understood the tool absolutely correctly.

I have not explained it further in the guide, but in older threads. A lot of people misunderstand used RAM vs. standby RAM. And memory leak issues are caused by standby RAM which are not released. So people often confuse seeing "only e.g. 60% RAM is used" they think 40% is still available while it is actually on standby.

You got everything right in your post. That is enough for evidence from a user. Anything else is best left to the professional debuggers who have specialised PCs and tools to analyse that. Which they should do thanks to your feedback you submit to Larian Studios.

Feel free to let us know when you get around it, if there is any significant change with the issue without mods. Even that would be an interesting thing to know.

I have read of some mods which cause lots of memory leak issue. But I thought they are long gone because of the issues they created. If you really just use ~ texture replacements for e.g. Tavs hairsaloon or head presets ~ those should indeed not affect the memory like that.

So, are we talking here about an allocated section of RAM and not a file? Where is the 'Standby RAM' name coming from? The analysis tool?

Mhm. I have linked the tool in this guide with a screenshot for reference
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3031161135
I have not found the standby RAM indicator natively in Windows. So the tool is a great help to analyse and counter memory leak issues which occur definitely with Baldur's Gate 3 and many other games. Back then, before I knew of the tool, I restarted e.g. Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous every two hours to counter the issue.

The more RAM someone has in their PC, the less visible the issue is / becomesd only visible after a long runtime.

Rule of thumb to check for memory leak: have a set of fixed apps open. If the standby memory only keeps growing without you ever adding additional apps/tabs in browser, then there is a memory leak.

[Ironwu]

Originally posted by アンジェル:

Originally posted by Ironwu:

So, are we talking here about an allocated section of RAM and not a file? Where is the 'Standby RAM' name coming from? The analysis tool?

Mhm. I have linked the tool in this guide with a screenshot for reference
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3031161135
I have not found the standby RAM indicator natively in Windows. So the tool is a great help to analyse and counter memory leak issues which occur definitely with Baldur's Gate 3 and many other games. Back then, before I knew of the tool, I restarted e.g. Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous every two hours to counter the issue.

The more RAM someone has in their PC, the less visible the issue is / becomesd only visible after a long runtime.

Rule of thumb to check for memory leak: have a set of fixed apps open. If the standby memory only keeps growing without you ever adding additional apps/tabs in browser, then there is a memory leak.

Thanks. ;)

[Ironwu]

Where can this "standby list and system working set" RAM allocation be seen? I cannot find it in Task Manager data or with the RamMap utility.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Ironwu:

Where can this "standby list and system working set" RAM allocation be seen? I cannot find it in Task Manager data or with the RamMap utility.

I cannot tell. It should be visible via Windows' resource monitor, but I have not been able to find it like a list which shows you which causes how much on standby. But yeah, via the resource monitor you can find the same information as via the standby list cleaner.

[Ironwu]

Originally posted by アンジェル:

Originally posted by Ironwu:

Where can this "standby list and system working set" RAM allocation be seen? I cannot find it in Task Manager data or with the RamMap utility.

I cannot tell. It should be visible via Windows' resource monitor, but I have not been able to find it like a list which shows you which causes how much on standby. But yeah, via the resource monitor you can find the same information as via the standby list cleaner.

Ok. I guess it will have to be up to the OP to provide additional information. In any case, I typically play for 2 to 3 hours at a time and I save both Quick and Manual, a lot. I have not seen this sort of delay in game. So, I don't know. I have also never used Mods in my BG3 time.

Thanks for the info. :)

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Ironwu:

Originally posted by アンジェル:

I cannot tell. It should be visible via Windows' resource monitor, but I have not been able to find it like a list which shows you which causes how much on standby. But yeah, via the resource monitor you can find the same information as via the standby list cleaner.

Ok. I guess it will have to be up to the OP to provide additional information. In any case, I typically play for 2 to 3 hours at a time and I save both Quick and Manual, a lot. I have not seen this sort of delay in game. So, I don't know. I have also never used Mods in my BG3 time.

Thanks for the info. :)

Happy to share, especially with you - as you are commonly sharing kindly all kind of assist to fellow players.

On a note about the saving: memory leak issue is not related to making savegames. It is simply a "byproduct" when a game runs, it reserves a certain amount of memory to display certain processes and such. Normally, when there is no memory leak, once the process is done the memory will be released again. This kind of issue is due to an error in the processing by an app, failing to release that memory.

Google Chrome e.g. used to be known for causing similar issues, due to its behaviour of reserving RAM for every tab. Only recently they added additional failsaves to counter the behaviour of users who keep dozens and dozens of tabs open.

The lower the amount of total RAM, the more likely one would notice such issues. However, as you wrote correctly: most players play a ... limited amount of time. So they would not run into the issue to begin with unless they really have little RAM ~ talking about 16 GB circa ~ or it is actually caused by something else than the game (discord for example can be surprising when you use certain experimental features).

Oops... I disgressed despite I just wanted to clarify: memory leak =/= savegames

[Ironwu]

Originally posted by アンジェル:

Originally posted by Ironwu:

Ok. I guess it will have to be up to the OP to provide additional information. In any case, I typically play for 2 to 3 hours at a time and I save both Quick and Manual, a lot. I have not seen this sort of delay in game. So, I don't know. I have also never used Mods in my BG3 time.

Thanks for the info. :)

Happy to share, especially with you - as you are commonly sharing kindly all kind of assist to fellow players. :lis_alex:

On a note about the saving: memory leak issue is not related to making savegames. It is simply a "byproduct" when a game runs, it reserves a certain amount of memory to display certain processes and such. Normally, when there is no memory leak, once the process is done the memory will be released again. This kind of issue is due to an error in the processing by an app, failing to release that memory.

Google Chrome e.g. used to be known for causing similar issues, due to its behaviour of reserving RAM for every tab. Only recently they added additional failsaves to counter the behaviour of users who keep dozens and dozens of tabs open.

The lower the amount of total RAM, the more likely one would notice such issues. However, as you wrote correctly: most players play a ... limited amount of time. So they would not run into the issue to begin with unless they really have little RAM ~ talking about 16 GB circa ~ or it is actually caused by something else than the game (discord for example can be surprising when you use certain experimental features).

Oops... I disgressed despite I just wanted to clarify: memory leak =/= savegames

No problem. :) I only fixed on that as that was what the OP seemed to be indicating.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Ironwu:

No problem. :) I only fixed on that as that was what the OP seemed to be indicating.

Ah, I see the misunderstanding!
There is a difference between making a save and loading a save. To reuse that example with the browser: image when loading a save, and the memory from before did not get released correctly, it is like having another tab open in the browser with "the same content".

Like when I open Steam twice in my browser: one tab uses 105 MB, the other 112 MB

It would be correct, considering the same content, if it uses the memory only once. And a memory leak is like that: as if the browser fails to recognises such and fails to close a tab. Until the app itself gets restarted. That should clarify the misunderstanding about the savegame matter you mentioned.