Seriously, no memory leak fix yet?

[meowlo]

I forgot to restart the game between missions just now, and an hour into the second mission. Memory usage was over 24 gigs and... the game ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ crashed. So, that was a wasted hour of setting everything up as perfectly as possible.

Like. seriously, come on Arkane. I've given you every ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ chance in the world with this game because of your legacy (Dishonered series and Prey are some of the best games ever made, period).

I have 32 gigs of ram, it's installed on a non-boot terrabyte Samsung Pro latest-gen Ryzen mobo (so yes it's gen 4), 32 gigs of 3600 cl16 ram in a dual stick configuration, a page file set to 2.5x that by windows, and a freakin' 3090 RTX wtih 24 gigs of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ VRAM.

I recently decided, after giving on this game months ago, to replay it because of the new patch. I noticed the mmemory leak was still an issue -- RTSS was showing nearly 20 gigs of ram usage by the end of each mission, so the only way around this crash the further you get into the game is to restart between each mission.

Today I forgot to. And lost an hour of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ progress, where I made no mistakes (didn't even blow myself up or press the wrong ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ button on on anything), something that is difficult to do in a game that does NOT for saving during missions.

What gives? Fix the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ memory leak crashes or AT LEAST add a save function. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, is it really that difficult? I know Arkane's not actually reading this and I'm just venting into thin air, but the game's a year from launch, and it's still... not fun, because of ♥♥♥♥ like this. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

Thanks for coming to my frustrated ted talk/rant y'all.

[Laicus]

I read several posts with such a problem, and as far as I remember, in all cases the complainers had GPUs with a large amount of VRAM (12+ GB), and I had a theory that the problem arises because the game is trying to use the amount of RAM that is a multiple of the amount of VRAM, for example, 2x. When with 12 GB of VRAM, it turns out that the game will need 24 GB of free RAM, and with 24 GB of VRAM, 48 GB of RAM. Maybe this is nonsense, but I play on a GPU with 4 GB of VRAM, the game swears about lack of memory, but I can play for several hours without a break, going through all the locations several times, and there are no crashes or fps drops. I played for more than 100 hours with low/medium settings and high textures, only the very first version of the game crashed, and only when my laptop had 8 GB of RAM, after I increased the RAM to 32 GB, for almost 100 hours, not a single crash occurred, the game is mega stable. I think the problem is incorrect reservation of RAM for temporary storage of data from VRAM. While there are only two solutions - play on a GPU with a small amount of VRAM or increase RAM to 64 GB.)
And yes, the support for the game is just terrible, even many indie companies support their games much better, and Arkane just doesn't care about the buyers of their games, it's outrageous. They released a useless photo mode so that players would create a lot of beautiful advertising screenshots for them, but in 8 months they did not fix at least the most important shortcomings of the game and practically did not improve it. This is lawlessness!)

[shivars]

hmm, as someone else with 32Gb RAM and a 24Gb RTX 3090... ...that comment about multiples of VRAM is believable enough for me to try to find some way to try and avoid that.

Like seriously, with this game's Save mechanic (i.e. none)... ...crashes just make it totally not worth playing. Which is a shame because I love(d) it. I'd love to love it again, but only if it won't bloody crash.

[meowlo]

As long as you remember to quit Deathloop and restart it between each mission, you SHOULD be fine.

But if you forget... well, as later missions get more complex, you run the risk of running out of vram before even completing a SINGLE mission.

I've also noticed most of the VRAM usage increases dramatically every time a mission is loaded, and the further you progress into the game, the worse it gets. For example near the end of the game, even on a fresh reboot, MEM use goes from about 4 gigs in menu to almost 22 gigs the moment a mission is loaded. Whereas the first few missions only see a bump of about 3 or 4 gigs of use between missions -- but even early game, that doesn't go down between missions.

Ugh... Arkane, what the ♥♥♥♥. A ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ YEAR after launch, and the game is still broken. I've tested lower settings, reinstalled everything, tried the game on multiple PC's (like my girlfriend and my brother's, and according to RTSS readings the problem remains regardless of hardware) -- nothing ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ works. There is NO fix for this problem. I'm normally never this forgiving with games, but this is the same studio that made the dishonred series and prey -- so what the ♥♥♥♥ happened? Maybe I'll put it in French so the devs understand a better:

Arkane, va ta faire foutre. Nique Deathloop, c'est une piece de merde qui devrait etre jetter a poubelle.

A le meme temps c'est vraiment triste parce'que Je SAIS que ton studio peut faire mieux. Mais c'est evidiment que tu t'ten fous desourmais. Alors, Arkane, qu'est-ce qu'ill se passe?? Sigh... Tant ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ pis.

[Laicus]

Originally posted by Akorn1987:

There is NO fix for this problem.

Many do not have this problem at all, so it's about a certain software / hardware, respectively, a temporary fix will be getting rid of this software / hardware.
After the first patch, the game began to work stably even on very weak and old hardware (people wrote that they played without problems on GTX 960 and GTX 1050 Ti).
You should try to find out the cause of the problem, optimize and check different system settings, disable unnecessary services, programs.
I have disabled almost everything I don't need. After booting, Win 10 with all programs takes less than 2 GB of RAM, a minimum of services are running in the background, and there are no third-party programs in autorun, except drivers. During the game, only Steam works without an overlay. I play with High textures, there are no stutters, no crashes, no fps drops, even after passing several locations.
There is a solution, you just haven't found it yet.

[Quillithe]

Originally posted by Laicus:

Originally posted by Akorn1987:

There is NO fix for this problem.

Many do not have this problem at all, so it's about a certain software / hardware, respectively, a temporary fix will be getting rid of this software / hardware.
After the first patch, the game began to work stably even on very weak and old hardware (people wrote that they played without problems on GTX 960 and GTX 1050 Ti).

Can confirm, I played the game even before the first patch with a GTX 970 and 8gb ram with exactly 1 crash the entire time.

[killbydemons]

I'd just like to chime in as someone else with a 24 gig vram + 32 gigs of system memory PC, also crashing consistently after 1, or max 2 missions. At which point, exactly as OP laid out, GPU memory usage climbs until the game crashes. All of the video settings are at max/ray tracing enabled, and I use DLSS. I've tried with and without dlss, and with/without a 60fps cap. These are the only concessions I'm willing to make. IMO the game runs and looks amazing, and is otherwise rock solid besides this dumb vram leak. Reminds me of the issues with arkham knight at launch which spoiled an otherwise (opinion) incredible game.

I would like to be clear that the issue is vram usage, NOT system memory (ram). I actually collected some data on system vs video memory usage for my own curiosity before finding this thread. While vram did as described, system memory use by the game remained somewhat stable. While vram use had ballooned to over 21 gigs by 40 minutes of my run, the amount of space taken up in system memory had only climbed from 9.6 to 10.9 gigs.

Also my page file size is set to 7 gigs.

[meowlo]

Originally posted by killbydemons:

I'd just like to chime in as someone else with a 24 gig vram + 32 gigs of system memory PC, also crashing consistently after 1, or max 2 missions. At which point, exactly as OP laid out, GPU memory usage climbs until the game crashes. All of the video settings are at max/ray tracing enabled, and I use DLSS. I've tried with and without dlss, and with/without a 60fps cap. These are the only concessions I'm willing to make. IMO the game runs and looks amazing, and is otherwise rock solid besides this dumb vram leak. Reminds me of the issues with arkham knight at launch which spoiled an otherwise (opinion) incredible game.

I would like to be clear that the issue is vram usage, NOT system memory (ram). I actually collected some data on system vs video memory usage for my own curiosity before finding this thread. While vram did as described, system memory use by the game remained somewhat stable. While vram use had ballooned to over 21 gigs by 40 minutes of my run, the amount of space taken up in system memory had only climbed from 9.6 to 10.9 gigs.

Also my page file size is set to 7 gigs.

Yeah I should have been more clear. Under RTSS I have VRAM usage just reading as MEM in the overlay, but yeah, the VRAM usage by the end of the game (after you've completed all the leads and given instructions how to kill everyone in 4 missions), becomes obscene. The last loop of the game, each mission goes from about 3 gigs in the the menu to almost 20 gigs by the time the mission loads. If you attempt to load the next mission without restarting the game, performance drops DRAMATICALLY and somehow VRAM usage spikes above the 24 gigs in my GPU. Typically it crashes within a few minutes after that.

But if I restart the game? The mission loads just fine -- typically at about 20 gigs of use by the time I launch the mission, but better than if I hadn't restarted Deathloop -- performance is rock solid, and in-game the VRAM usage doesn't really creep up very much, so I have zero problems finishing without issue. Just gotta remember to quit and reopen the map -- otherwise I'll be choosing my loadout with VRAM sitting at 23 gigs, whereas if I restart, I'm back at 4 gigs again. So... yeah. My GF has 10GB card (3080FE) in her desktop, a 2060 (6GB) in her laptop, I have a 3090 in my Desktop (23 gigs), and lastly my friend has a 12GB 3080 ti. Across all of those systems, the same thing happens with VRAM usage proportionally creeping up until it crashes your GPU. There's no clearing of VRAM between missions and complex missions STILL nearly max out every GPU's VRAM over time -- at least the one's I tried. So it doesn't matter if you 6gb of VRAM or 24, Deathloop will eat it all regardless.

Why is this? I have no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ idea. I have an SSD (4th gen 980 pro) and a 3600 cl16 dual stick 32 gig ram kit -- so why on earth isn't the game taking advantage of those options for quickly accessing data that DOESN'T require DDR6X VRam speeds? I get the feeling even if I had 100 gigs of Vram Deathloop would try to just use all of it. Now, I'm not super familiar with game design and please correct me if I'm talking out my ass or I'm not comprehending what's going on, but to me, that seems like an egregiously mismanaged use of system resources and I can't think of many other games off the top of my head that work that way. Like, might as well ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ install the game on your video card's VRAM at that point, right? It makes little sense to me. But I digress, and I don't know enough about the technical aspects of game design to do more than speculate on the root cause. All I can do is observe its presence.

So for others that aren't experiencing this issue, I'm extremely curious how this is possible. As I've said before, I have a friend who also started playing this game again with the latest patch, I live with my GF who has this problem on her laptop and desktop (laptop with a 2060, desktop with a 3080 10gb FE) so I tested the game on all of the devices I had access to, my buddy did as well, and we saw the SAME vram buildup between missions, the same pattern of early-game buildup between missions of VRAM use, the same lack of refresh between missions and the same proportional increase in use as the game progressed. So, this problem is reproducible (at least on a 6GB, 10GB, 12GB, and 24 GIG card) and measurable (the VRAM creep seems proprotional to the amount available, like I said, but maxing it out happens regardless).

If anyone has been able to actually avoid the memory leak, I really want to know what components you're using, and what RTSS says about the game's use of your system resources, VRAM, as well as clock speed, GPU usage, CPU usage, etc.

[Laicus]

Originally posted by Akorn1987:

VRAM usage by the end of the game (after you've completed all the leads and given instructions how to kill everyone in 4 missions), becomes obscene.

So it only happens at the end of the game? I have completed almost all the tasks, but I have stopped moving along the plot, as I am waiting for an update that improves balance, AI and increases difficulty. Therefore, I cannot check the stability at the very end of the game, but it will be very strange if there are any leaks, because so far there have been none at all.
By the way, I have a rather weak and not the latest laptop with i5-10300H and GTX 1650 Ti, the game occupies no more than 11 GB of RAM.

[Karavela]

I have the same issue as OP with my config and a 3090 RTX. I have to either restart my pc or restart the game to solve it. This is not the first time I am seeing this , I had the same issue for Days Gone in PC but after 3 hours. With Deathloop, it can happen after one hour...

[Freiya]

Originally posted by Akorn1987:

So for others that aren't experiencing this issue, I'm extremely curious how this is possible. As I've said before, I have a friend who also started playing this game again with the latest patch, I live with my GF who has this problem on her laptop and desktop (laptop with a 2060, desktop with a 3080 10gb FE) so I tested the game on all of the devices I had access to, my buddy did as well, and we saw the SAME vram buildup between missions, the same pattern of early-game buildup between missions of VRAM use, the same lack of refresh between missions and the same proportional increase in use as the game progressed. So, this problem is reproducible (at least on a 6GB, 10GB, 12GB, and 24 GIG card) and measurable (the VRAM creep seems proprotional to the amount available, like I said, but maxing it out happens regardless).

Weird, I don't have any issue on my side for now with an i5-11600K + RTX 3080 + 32gb RAM with the latest Nvidia driver 512.77. I have DLSS (quality) at 1440p with a mix of very high and ultra settings + performance raytracing. My framerate is limited at 141 FPS max in Nvidia's Control Panel (and 144 in Deathloop).

I played/changed maps and the VRAM usage seems normal and always remains at around 90-95% of the 10gb, on my side the game seems to dynamically update the memory to avoid going too high. GPU usage is between 40-95% depending on the location (most often it's around 60-70%), CPU usage is between 35 and 50%.

Do you crash if you don't really play and keep launching a mission after another (launch a mission, turn around to leave, launch another mission, leave, etc) ?

[shivars]

>Weird, I don't have any issue on my side for now with an i5-11600K + RTX 3080

hmm, this would further support the issue that the crashing mainly happens just when there is loads of VRAM (i.e. 3090 24Gb).

/me wonders if there is a tool to disable some of the VRAM.... ...will have to check that out to see if it helps. It would at least prove the cause (and provide a workaround)

[Pekmez Pita]

Do yourself a favor and uninstall this buggy, piece of ♥♥♥♥ PC port.

They're not fixing a damn thing. They won't even remove Denuvo let alone address the multiple, game breaking issues that are present on PC as well the console version. From hard to soft locks.

You honestly expect them to fix something as glaring as a memory leak?!

P.S.
I got a 1070 TI and this ♥♥♥♥ happens to me too. It's got nothing to do with your VRAM amount.

It's a lazy ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ port. That's why. Not the first nor the last but it was certainly my last Arakane title.

[Vexing Sphincter]

Originally posted by Akorn1987:

Yeah I should have been more clear. Under RTSS I have VRAM usage just reading as MEM in the overlay, but yeah, the VRAM usage by the end of the game (after you've completed all the leads and given instructions how to kill everyone in 4 missions), becomes obscene. The last loop of the game, each mission goes from about 3 gigs in the the menu to almost 20 gigs by the time the mission loads. If you attempt to load the next mission without restarting the game, performance drops DRAMATICALLY and somehow VRAM usage spikes above the 24 gigs in my GPU. Typically it crashes within a few minutes after that.

But if I restart the game? The mission loads just fine -- typically at about 20 gigs of use by the time I launch the mission, but better than if I hadn't restarted Deathloop -- performance is rock solid, and in-game the VRAM usage doesn't really creep up very much, so I have zero problems finishing without issue. Just gotta remember to quit and reopen the map -- otherwise I'll be choosing my loadout with VRAM sitting at 23 gigs, whereas if I restart, I'm back at 4 gigs again. So... yeah. My GF has 10GB card (3080FE) in her desktop, a 2060 (6GB) in her laptop, I have a 3090 in my Desktop (23 gigs), and lastly my friend has a 12GB 3080 ti. Across all of those systems, the same thing happens with VRAM usage proportionally creeping up until it crashes your GPU. There's no clearing of VRAM between missions and complex missions STILL nearly max out every GPU's VRAM over time -- at least the one's I tried. So it doesn't matter if you 6gb of VRAM or 24, Deathloop will eat it all regardless.

Why is this? I have no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ idea. I have an SSD (4th gen 980 pro) and a 3600 cl16 dual stick 32 gig ram kit -- so why on earth isn't the game taking advantage of those options for quickly accessing data that DOESN'T require DDR6X VRam speeds? I get the feeling even if I had 100 gigs of Vram Deathloop would try to just use all of it. Now, I'm not super familiar with game design and please correct me if I'm talking out my ass or I'm not comprehending what's going on, but to me, that seems like an egregiously mismanaged use of system resources and I can't think of many other games off the top of my head that work that way. Like, might as well ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ install the game on your video card's VRAM at that point, right? It makes little sense to me. But I digress, and I don't know enough about the technical aspects of game design to do more than speculate on the root cause. All I can do is observe its presence.

So for others that aren't experiencing this issue, I'm extremely curious how this is possible. As I've said before, I have a friend who also started playing this game again with the latest patch, I live with my GF who has this problem on her laptop and desktop (laptop with a 2060, desktop with a 3080 10gb FE) so I tested the game on all of the devices I had access to, my buddy did as well, and we saw the SAME vram buildup between missions, the same pattern of early-game buildup between missions of VRAM use, the same lack of refresh between missions and the same proportional increase in use as the game progressed. So, this problem is reproducible (at least on a 6GB, 10GB, 12GB, and 24 GIG card) and measurable (the VRAM creep seems proprotional to the amount available, like I said, but maxing it out happens regardless).

If anyone has been able to actually avoid the memory leak, I really want to know what components you're using, and what RTSS says about the game's use of your system resources, VRAM, as well as clock speed, GPU usage, CPU usage, etc.

I tend to see this complaint in a lot of games I've played and it's always 3090 owners but not any other Nvidia or Radeon users. Logically it doesn't make sense that having more VRAM would be an issue so I suspect it might be a driver problem or maybe even an issue with the VRAM being too hot and causing memory errors (since it's the only GPU with VRAM also on the back of the card).

That said I can only comment on my experience. I think I'm at a similar point in the game to you and I do see performance regression in the form of sporadic frame dips but I haven't seen a crash yet in the 30+ hours of playtime on my 6900XT.

[KriKitBoNeZ]

I have had the memory leak crash over and over. With 16 GB of ram and a 3080. This happened when I had a 980 TI, as well. I haven't been able to finish the game due to this.

[Laicus]

Originally posted by KriKitBoNeZ:

I have had the memory leak crash over and over. With 16 GB of ram and a 3080. This happened when I had a 980 TI, as well. I haven't been able to finish the game due to this.

If you can, install 32 GB of RAM and test the game.