What is up with this game's RAM usage?

[Bloodhawk]

Even running the game in extremely low memory mode--the option specifically designed for people with pleb RAM--this game is consistently making using all of my RAM. I have 8 gigs, which is not by any means a large amount of RAM, but it is more than sufficient for any other game I've ever played, and apparently isn't even enough for this game even when using the launch option titled "Extremely Low Memory."

What gives? This never used to be a problem, and it's even gotten worse with the most recent big update.

[Toasty]

The more the game needs to load the more ram it will use.

It is set to prioritise VRAM from your gpu first, then when this is used up it moves to physical RAM and then onto SSD/HDD.

You think every creature moving will use live data, with the bigger maps such as ragnarok it can have to load thousands of dinos.

If you have the same/less than 2GB VRAM and 8GB ram and no SSD you will run into issues on games like this. Arma a large open world game had the same issues.

[Boomer]

Ive never had it use more than 4. When launching a dedicated server it never used more than 4 either, except that one time where it ate 9gb before they put out a quick fix a couple days ago.

[[FuFo] Mortucus]

Originally posted by N Corbin (UK):

The more the game needs to load the more ram it will use.

It is set to prioritise VRAM from your gpu first, then when this is used up it moves to physical RAM and then onto SSD/HDD.

You think every creature moving will use live data, with the bigger maps such as ragnarok it can have to load thousands of dinos.

If you have the same/less than 2GB VRAM and 8GB ram and no SSD you will run into issues on games like this. Arma a large open world game had the same issues.

its not set to run v ram first as my 8 gig 1070 gtx msi z only used 4 to 5gig vram out of 8 the game has a memmory leak and has for about 1 year

[Nutcutt3r]

With 8gb you have none left to leak

[S1mplicity]

This game runs similar to GTA5, Ark for me has my comp using in total about 10-12Gb of memory with no launch, actually I find GTA 5 uses more and takes my virtual memory up to about 16Gb while it's at it.

[Spawn of Fenrir]

Originally posted by Boomer:

Ive never had it use more than 4. When launching a dedicated server it never used more than 4 either, except that one time where it ate 9gb before they put out a quick fix a couple days ago.

What tool are you using to monitor your RAM usage?
MSI Afterburner has shown me that at times RAM usage has spiked as high as 18GB.... that doesn't necessarily mean it's actually using that much though, it may simply be reserving it.... but 4GB seems extremely low for the client, and not at all even close to what most of us have experienced.

[nunyrdambizness]

Originally posted by N Corbin (UK):

The more the game needs to load the more ram it will use.

It is set to prioritise VRAM from your gpu first, then when this is used up it moves to physical RAM and then onto SSD/HDD.

You think every creature moving will use live data, with the bigger maps such as ragnarok it can have to load thousands of dinos.

If you have the same/less than 2GB VRAM and 8GB ram and no SSD you will run into issues on games like this. Arma a large open world game had the same issues.

It doesn't load all the contents of the entire map, ever. It load the basic map, yes, but only the elements of a few grids around you. And it swaps out old grids for new grids as you move around the map. All other dinos on the map are in stasis when no one is there to see them.

[Toasty]

You are right numy, but when other users are in other areas the "stasis" stops around them too.

It depends what the OP is doing (SP, non-dedicated host etc), others have stated and are correct. There are memory leak/spike issues.

8GB (is this ddr 3/4, what MHz is it?) of mid-tier ram for modern gaming is the minimum for most larger titles, more so due to a lack of compression/optimisation I find.

Without being "that guy" sadly it's a case of time to upgrade your hardware if you want to enjoy the full experience.

[gamertaboo]

I've seen other people report similar problems before, and it used to be fairly simple. Just turn the slider for Sky Effects down ingame and it shouldn't use as much. Now some people turn it all the way off, I was able to play the game with only 8GB with Sky effects on about halfway or so.

Anyways, try that and see if it helps.

[S1mplicity]

I turn it off all the way because if I turn it up the graphics driver crashes and thats always been the case for me , even when I changed my graphics card.
Low memory mode doesn't seem to work very well I put it on to see how well it works but it still takes my system up to 9GB better than the usual 10-12GB, to be honest I don't see any signs of memory leak this game uses less memory and virual memory than GTA5.
The game itself only uses 5-6.5Gb in normal mode and this goes up and down as I play as does the virtual memory allocation, it does seem to allocate extra memory maybe for caching as my system when not running ark is only at 2.9Gb. This is all with sky effects at lowest.
Hard drive usage does spike up to 100mb/s on odd occasions when moving arroung but generally stays around 1-3.5.mb/s.
I'm starting to think this game really needs 16Gb.
Obviously I do have enough memory so my tests may be a little scewed.

[Bloodhawk]

Originally posted by gamertaboo:

I've seen other people report similar problems before, and it used to be fairly simple. Just turn the slider for Sky Effects down ingame and it shouldn't use as much. Now some people turn it all the way off, I was able to play the game with only 8GB with Sky effects on about halfway or so.

Anyways, try that and see if it helps.

Thanks, I'll try that.

Originally posted by S1mplicity:

I turn it off all the way because if I turn it up the graphics driver crashes and thats always been the case for me , even when I changed my graphics card.
Low memory mode doesn't seem to work very well I put it on to see how well it works but it still takes my system up to 9GB better than the usual 10-12GB, to be honest I don't see any signs of memory leak this game uses less memory and virual memory than GTA5.
The game itself only uses 5-6.5Gb in normal mode and this goes up and down as I play as does the virtual memory allocation, it does seem to allocate extra memory maybe for caching as my system when not running ark is only at 2.9Gb. This is all with sky effects at lowest.
Hard drive usage does spike up to 100mb/s on odd occasions when moving arroung but generally stays around 1-3.5.mb/s.
I'm starting to think this game really needs 16Gb.
Obviously I do have enough memory so my tests may be a little scewed.

Extremely Low Memory mode gives me much better performance. I can actually get 60 FPS in that mode. It doesn't seem to affect RAM usage at all though, which should be the entire point.

I can play GTA5 with no problems at all on my PC. I get 60 FPS at 1080p at max settings (minus the advanced graphics settings) and I have never come close to capping out my RAM in that game. In my case, Ark is using more RAM than GTA5 ever has.