Possible Memory Problem Lead

[Oktober12th]

I havent been having the memory/CPU/closing issues that other people have been having but I did notice something that might be a lead to its cause.

I noticed earlier when I closed the pop-up that said I got a new Mark that it did that Windows thing were it refreshes/redraws the desktop. Its a quick black flash and all the icon go blank and reload. This whole thing is super fast, like a total of about 1/4 of a second. I have been paying more attention to it today and it just did it again only this time it actually crashed a different program that I had open in the background.

The pop-ups from other sources, at least prior to the patch, never caused the flash and certainly never crashed anything. Has anybody else noticed this? It might help track down the bigger issue that some people have been having.

[Segan]

Assuming it has something to do with the screen refresh, as you suggested, there would have to be something in addition to popups that cause it. I say this because when I had the near-crash memory leak issue, no popups had occurred.

[Oktober12th]

I noticed it happening for the first time yesterday but I didn't associate it with the game. Today I noticed the flash happened right when I clicked and since then it has done it about 5 times (only crashed out the other program once though).

Even if the refresh doesn't happen on your end it could still be the same thing. The refresh may just be a way my computer handles it as opposed to yours with the leak - a difference in graphics card or similar. Everybody seems to be getting different problems which appears to be making the issue hard to find.

But since my issue happens exactly when that window is closed and the problem started right when that system was added to the game a connection is possible.

[Segan]

I have an untested theory that it may be related to cloud saving or online connection. I normally play while not signed in. I also normally keep the game on for days at a time. But for the last few days I was connected to the cloud. And it's only in the last few days I've started noticing issues.

The only other things I can think of that I've changed prior to the near crash was that I became active with farming (something I'd ignored until a few days ago), and of course any changes made during the last game update.

I'm currently monitoring my system's memory usage (It started and has consistently hovered around ~330MB for the last two hours). I'll come back later to post how my memory usage has changed. (I will be disconnected from the cloud for this test.)

[Oktober12th]

As far as I am aware I haven't had any changes to my system in the last few weeks - other than the game update - and I always have cloud/online turned on.

My game stays at a really stable 242-246mb of memory and a CPU usage of 2.5-5.0%. But I will try and check if anything spikes next time Im working on Summoning stuff.

[Segan]

After 5 hours of infrequent monitoring,
6:00 PM - 329 MB
6:06 PM - 316 MB
6:29 PM - 320 MB
7:16 PM - 323 MB
8:20 PM - 340 MB
10:14 PM - 358 MB
10:41 PM - 362 MB
11:00 PM - 368 MB

This is while being disconnected from the cloud. My activities were mostly limited to mining, farming, fighting, and visiting the bank.

I suspect the issue is related to items not being properly garbage collected after they're removed from the screen. In particular, I have "Show Item Notifications" enabled. I wonder if the items that appear on screen leave fragments in memory.

Edit: I might be wrong about this theory. I'm not seeing enough 'obvious' evidence that a sudden spam of item notifications is affecting memory.

I'll leave my settings as they are an see if this trend continues.

[🥀🆉🅰🆃🆃🅸🚯🤕]

my game is on since the update. no restart so far.
my ram usage is. 120mb
cpu usage max ~2% normal ~1%
gpu usage 1,5% - 2,2%

no lags or something so far. also no drop luck.... but this is something else ^^

[Segan]

I changed several settings to try to reduce the amount of ram the game was using and let the game run overnight. Over a 6 hour period, the amount of ram being used still increased by about ~75MB. That's a little over 12MB per hour.

If it were money instead of memory, I'd be making minimum wage.

[Oktober12th]

One thing I never mentioned when I said I am always online; I also never turn off the game. It just runs open 24/7 outside of the occasional system restart.

---

So I checked my memory when I woke up and the game was using a little more than last night - right around 260-265. I had gained 7 Salamander Marks overnight. [Sidenote: 7 out of 12k Tablets! I kind of figured I would have gotten a few more.] I closed the pop-ups slowly and 2 of them cause the flash effect I mentioned before.

After I was done my game is using about 625mg and holding steady. When I look at the sub-processes the game process itself is still using the same amount of memory as before but now one of the other nwjs processes is cruising at 360mg when it wasn't just a few minutes ago.

I may have been wrong earlier when I said I wasn't having the memory problem, I just might have enough memory that I didn't notice it. My total RAM is 64gb (but I also have a pretty zippy videocard and processor) - how much memory does your system have Segan?

Edit: I forgot to add... The CPU usage on the main process is the same as before but the usage on the newer high-memory process jumped to about 16% - so thats about 3-4 times the whole game was last night.

[Segan]

I have 16 gigs of ram.

New observation: For the last several hours I was runecrafting (instead of my normal habit of mining or fighting). And over the last 6 hours, my ram usage only increased by 10 MB.

If that isn't a fluke, then I suspect the current idle activity has a significant effect on the memory leak. When mining, it increased by 75 MB over 6 hours. When runecrafting, it increased by 10 MB over 6 hours. (My mining rate is down to 1.3 seconds per, focused on Adamantite with gem gloves equipped = 2 items gained every 1.3 seconds, minus downtime. (I also had 98 mastery and the cool rock pet.) Whereas runecrafting gives 1 item every 2 seconds.)

[Oktober12th]

I have been running Melvor and grinding Summoning all of today. I come back to the game and close the Mark windows about every 90m or so. Each time the main process is using just a little bit more memory, usually only a few more megs, and the secondary process is unchanged from the last time I closed windows.

I then close a few Mark windows and recheck the processes and the single subprocess mentioned before has jumped up in memory and CPU usage and remains at these higher numbers till the next time I check - every single time. That process alone is currently using 440mg of memory and 21% CPU. There are three other nwjs subprocesses running that are each using an insignificant amount of memory and CPU, about 2-4mg and 0%.

If it happened occasionally or had any variation in it I could see where they might just be coincidence, but it is the same result from the same action each time.

I have no idea if it is the act of closing the windows themselves or some recalculation or redraw that the program performs on closing but there has to be some correlation. I know I can turn off the notifications, but since my system can handle the extra memory load I want to keep them going to see if I can learn anything to help out the people that have systems that can't.

With the single crash I have had, the many crashes other have reported, the memory issues people have mentioned and even the BSOD (which are easy caused by memory violations) I can only assume something isnt be unloaded properly.

[Segan]

For the last hour and a half I've only been mining. The ram usage hasn't risen at all.

Previously, when I was forging, the ram usage rose at a rate of close to 10 MB per minute.

[Oktober12th]

I restarted the game about 5 hours ago. Since then I have been in combat, Runcrafting, Mining, Cooking and making potions. My game stared at 242-246mb just like the other night and is currently just slightly higher than that by 1-2mb. In those 5 hours I haven't gotten a single popup from Summoning or anything else.

[Malcs]

Does the point about being offline and not having memory issues still hold true?

If so, could this relate to the Steam API? This kind of issue does not occur via the browser IIRC, and it only associated with the Steam Client. I've always thought the Steam API may be causing some kind of memory leak, either by the way I have integrated it or how the NWJS Steam API integration is implemented.

[Segan]

I've been disconnected from the cloud since the first time my game nearly crashed (which happened before I started posting to this thread). So all the memory issues I've had since aren't related to the online saves.

[Oktober12th]

I am always online and my program is always open 24/7.

My memory problems don't seem as severe as some others but I do have them. Although, outside of the crash to the other program I mentioned in the original post, I havent had any crashes or troubles shutting down. I do have a lot of spare memory though so that may be helping.

Edit: Is there anything special you want us to be looking for/reporting? We have mainly talked about memory and CPU but would any other info help?