Does Fallout 4 use more than 4GB of RAM?

[SP1]

Playing Fallout 4 with high settings with Ultra texture quality seems to use about 3gb-3.5gb. Problem is if theres way too many explosions (cars,vertibirds) it will always seem to crash for me when it starts to hit that 4GB ram ceiling, especially on the city area or having too many NPCs fighting.

I have a GTX1650 and 16GB of RAM. Only graphics mod Ive installed is Vivid fallout and Insignificant object remover

[Elbmek]

I am on 16GB with an RTX 2070 Geforce - no problem with explosions. I do get an occasional crash to desktop. But when reloaded it starts at same place

[Ceejay]

The game does not have a 4gb limit.

[=EGC= kansasterry]

I have had the statistics display from my GPU software show well over 4gb of ram used it might depend of course on what graphics settings are used and the number of mods installed.

[Ceejay]

Originally posted by =EGC= kansasterry:

I have had the statistics display from my GPU software show well over 4gb of ram used it might depend of course on what graphics settings are used and the number of mods installed.

Just to be clear, Vram on a gpu and system Ram are two different things.

[=EGC= kansasterry]

Originally posted by Ceejay:

Originally posted by =EGC= kansasterry:

I have had the statistics display from my GPU software show well over 4gb of ram used it might depend of course on what graphics settings are used and the number of mods installed.

Just to be clear, Vram on a gpu and system Ram are two different things.

the amd metrics overlay displays both vram and ram usage. Both vary during gameplay currantly when located just south of starlight drive my system indicates it is using vram 1959 mb and ram 8.5 GB. There is also available (at least in windows 10) system ram that can be utilized as if it was vram.

For example under system, display, advanced display settings, display adapter properties for my system I see

Total available graphics memory 18418 mb
Dedicated video memory 2048 mb
Shared system memory 16370 mb

This is what the system reports available to programs and many times I have seen the ram usage in the metrics display reach 11 or 12 GB if I have played for several hours.

[Ceejay]

Yes but the op was specifically asking about ram usage.

As to your shared memory, kind of. Really you should not aim to run out of vram as while the game will share your system ram you will essentially kill your performance, the shared memory is essentially there to stop you crashing when you run out of vram etc, but it is much much slower than vram. You should never rely on shared graphics memory for gaming.

[=EGC= kansasterry]

Originally posted by Ceejay:

Yes but the op was specifically asking about ram usage.

As to your shared memory, kind of. Really you should not aim to run out of vram as while the game will share your system ram you will essentially kill your performance, the shared memory is essentially there to stop you crashing when you run out of vram etc, but it is much much slower than vram. You should never rely on shared graphics memory for gaming.

of course I was just stating what it showed. The Ram usage is what I was talking about it generally goes over 8g it once showed 12G after four hours of playing the game.

The vram though fluctuating stayed within the 2G of dedicated video memory as I adjusted the graphics settings over time to keep it there for the reasons you already stated.

[Lucifer69]

Fallout 4 used to be hard limited to about 3,5 GB of RAM usage. I haven't paid attention to it since I'm a user with 32 GB (even when the game released, I had 16 GB so I still didn't care).

[Ceejay]

Originally posted by Lucifer69:

Fallout 4 used to be hard limited to about 3,5 GB of RAM usage. I haven't paid attention to it since I'm a user with 32 GB (even when the game released, I had 16 GB so I still didn't care).

Skyrim did, so did fallout 3 and NV, however 4 was built with a modified 64bit engine, its never had the limit, that is why they used the engine for Skyrim SE, to get over the limits of the 32bit version of the engine.

[Lucifer69]

Originally posted by Ceejay:

Originally posted by Lucifer69:

Fallout 4 used to be hard limited to about 3,5 GB of RAM usage. I haven't paid attention to it since I'm a user with 32 GB (even when the game released, I had 16 GB so I still didn't care).

Skyrim did, so did fallout 3 and NV, however 4 was built with a modified 64bit engine, its never had the limit, that is why they used the engine for Skyrim SE, to get over the limits of the 32bit version of the engine.

Incorrect. It may be a 64 bit engine but the game is still limited to 3,5 GB of RAM. Just confirmed it now, still only uses about 3,5 for me (6,9 GB total usage from OS and background apps at the time).

The game used to crash if it went over 3,5 GB (memory leaks and other issues). Apparently that was patched out some time ago. At most, you'll see about 4 GB of usage. Modded may change this requirement, but I doubt it...

Edit: It's possible the game might consume more at certain points, but even in downtown and heavily modded it didn't break 4 GB. Skyrim SE is no different. It stays under 4 GB as well for me.

[Ceejay]

It might use less than 4gb, I did not say it did not, but the engine can handle more. A game only uses the amount of ram it needs, just because it can handle more, does not mean its going to use it.

[Lucifer69]

And I'm saying prove that it is capable of using more. You can't since it's hard coded not to break 4 GB. Just because it is 64 bit doesn't mean it was built to actually make use of it.

[=EGC= kansasterry]

Originally posted by Lucifer69:

And I'm saying prove that it is capable of using more. You can't since it's hard coded not to break 4 GB. Just because it is 64 bit doesn't mean it was built to actually make use of it.

The Ram usage BY THE GAME generally goes over 8g when I play it once showed 12G after four hours of playing the game. Based on the metrics overlay from the AMD software that displays VRAM, RAM, usage among other statistics like tempeture etc.

The more mods one has installed the higher the RAM usage. The higher the graphics settings the higher the VRAM usage.

Now if one plays an game without mods sets the graphics low or med and restarts it every hour or two they probabbly will not see usage over 4GB

[Lucifer69]

Sigh... AMD metric is not valid. The game can and will use over 4 GB of graphics memory but it is hard limited to 4 GB of system memory. There is a difference.

[Ceejay]

He was talking about system ram usage. He was simply saying that amd metrics displays other things like vram, temperatures etc.