[SOLVED] Memory leak/crash on Intel Iris Xe Graphics machines

[StepS]

We are aware of a problem affecting some machines running Intel Iris Xe Graphics.

SUMMARY

An Intel driver update was released recently which leads to excessive memory usage, followed by a crash, when running a game of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on machines with Intel Iris Xe Graphics cards. As far as we are aware, the issue has also impacted several other unrelated programs and games. If you have installed a Graphics Driver with release date between June and October 2022, there is a high chance that you are affected.

SOLUTIONS

Update 2022/11/28:
Intel has resolved the problem in the specialized "Intel® Arc™ & Iris® Xe" branch of their graphics driver. Please make sure to update your graphics drivers to 31.0.101.3802 or newer - available through the official Intel website[www.intel.com]. You can confirm your driver version by going to Win+X -> Device Manager -> Display adapters -> Intel Graphics -> "Driver" tab.

It is worth noting that the generic "Intel Graphics" driver has been discontinued (and its last version is the one with the bug), so you DO need to switch to the "Intel® Arc™ & Iris® Xe Graphics" branch of the driver now. (follow the link above, and check that your CPU/GPU is in the list of supported hardware)

If you are unable to update to the latest version, you may also try downgrading the driver to a version from May 2022 (30.0.101.1994), although this is no longer recommended.

[76561198965343234]

same issue. Game crashes few mins into a multiplayer game since the patch.

[FE_ag]

Messaggio originale di daniblabec:

same issue. Game crashes few mins into a multiplayer game since the patch.

Hi daniblabec,

Thank you for your comment. Do you only experience crashes in multiplayer? Could you please elaborate on that (only when you join, when you host or always)? Which graphic card do you use?

[Doctor Teo]

OP is cursed, is only explanation.

[DID JAMB]

Messaggio originale di Samzehboy:

Update, I reverted the Intel IGP Graphics Driver to the version of May 26th, 2022 and this seems to run the game stable again.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19344/732078/intel-graphics-windows-dch-drivers.html -> download the igfx_win_101.1994.exe -> install -> reboot
Could someone confirm this?

this workaround seems to work for me but my system is wanting to update to latest firmware again....

[eagles10718]

is there an ETA or status with this fix? Can someone please explain how it is being tracked? The issue as now been around for weeks...

[Jason_T13]

Messaggio originale di eagles10718:

is there an ETA or status with this fix? Can someone please explain how it is being tracked? The issue as now been around for weeks...

Agreed. The game is not usable in it's current form due to this issue. I would love to be able to play it again.

[Cursed With Knowledge]

Have the same problem since latest update, every time it is a 4 v 4 multiplayer match (4 human vs 4 AI). All 4 human players played for months and years before this update and only like 1 or 2 crushes happened before.

Usually it is around 1hr and 20 mins of gaming time (at normal speed), then suddenly everything freeze and crash. Even we tried to restart using the auto-saved file, still does not work. Only way it works is to change the host and restart with the auto-saved file, which it can start with AI simply not moving. Tried to verify the file on Steam and even re-install, still does not work

[Lamtd]

Messaggio originale di Samzehboy:

Update, I reverted the Intel IGP Graphics Driver to the version of May 26th, 2022 and this seems to run the game stable again.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19344/732078/intel-graphics-windows-dch-drivers.html -> download the igfx_win_101.1994.exe -> install -> reboot
Could someone confirm this?

That did the trick, thanks a lot for this!

At least now we can enjoy the game while we wait for a patch that will definitely fix the issue. :) Though maybe we should raise the issue on Intel's forum?

[kombajner4o]

Memory Leak leading to crashes.

Hi all, tried numerous things, nothings works.

First, I noticed that people from China have also reported a similar issue, but since I do not understand Chinese, I prefer to post it here since I have quite a bit of information to share.
(Link to Chinese discussion: https://steamcommunity.com/app/813780/discussions/2/3448087385666276788/ )

The memory leak happens in all scenarios both single player (skirmish) and multiplayer (unranked, have not played ranked). It is recent, it was not happening before the last patch or patches.

Here is the game version number: 101.102.1156.0 (#66692) 9368025

It is frame rate dependent the bigger the frame limit the faster it reaches to around 19 gigabytes of memory which is around 2-3 gigabytes normal CPU memory and the limit for the virtual memory of the XE Intel integrated graphics is 16 gigabytes, so when around 18 - 19 is reached the game slows down and finally crashes.

I immediately tried to update the graphics driver, nothing from the manufacturer of the laptop (Dell) was available, so I clean installed the latest available Intel driver directly from their website, the issue still persisted. Nothing in Windows Update also. Nothing from verifying the game in Steam.
As a second attempt I disabled all mods, the issue did not disappear, unfortunately.
Next I enabled the "beta" with more error/event logging, but not any meaningful logs were recorded during and after the crashes, and no memory dump was also done.

Here is a google drive link to the a screenshot:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dLZydy5xm0V99t8ForlJteHTh9kZmTWo/view?usp=sharing

Here is a link for the DxDiag, at the end there is something resembling crash logs.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IqbE_pHhwSRHtWz0p5tEsM0W4qNyWDRR/view?usp=sharing

After all this, I started playing with the graphics settings of the game, nothing helped, every graphics feature was disabled and the issue still persisted.

Next thing, which I believe is important was to try and lower the graphics resolution. Now when I did this the issue was still present, but the memory trickle overtime was in a way smaller amounts and therefore the game was available for more time.

As a very last attempt at solving this, was to try and completely disable the graphics device from the Device Manager.
After doing this the issue however did not disappear with the Software renderer, the resolution was very low and no graphics features present, but you could still see this little and very insignificant trickle over time which increased the memory more and more, so if in the begging of the game (it happens only in an actual game, not in the Main Menu) the game starts with x amount of megabytes on lowest settings and then slowly increased overtime to x + 400/600/800/1000 and so on, but ONLY when the window was NOT minimized or behind other windows and you played the game meaning interacting with the scrolling at least.

I hope all this information helps the devs. My suspicions here is that it could be a memory leak on the graphics back-end of the game.

[kombajner4o]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1U5Gan8eQSAHzANJKU-TU7jPhCfZrMeVy/view?usp=sharing

C:\Users\YourUser\AppData\Local\%LOCALAPPDATA%\CrashDumps
This is a link to all the crash dumps recorded in the mentionded location.
Forgot about these :).

[kombajner4o]

One more update after installing the Intel driver from https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19344/732078/intel-graphics-windows-dch-drivers.html . Like suggested in another thread. The issue for now with crashing is gone, but the problem with the leak is still visible, because in 2v2 or 4v4. You could still see the memory jumping to 12 gigabytes which is insane and then suddenly being cleared to like 3-4 gigabytes, so yeah the issue is still there, but Intel probably covered it with some special clear from time to time.

[FE_ag]

Messaggio originale di Cursed With Knowledge:

Have the same problem since latest update, every time it is a 4 v 4 multiplayer match (4 human vs 4 AI). All 4 human players played for months and years before this update and only like 1 or 2 crushes happened before.

Usually it is around 1hr and 20 mins of gaming time (at normal speed), then suddenly everything freeze and crash. Even we tried to restart using the auto-saved file, still does not work. Only way it works is to change the host and restart with the auto-saved file, which it can start with AI simply not moving. Tried to verify the file on Steam and even re-install, still does not work

Hi Cursed With Knowledge,

Thank you for your report. Does the game only crash for you in multiplayer 4v4? What graphics card do you have? Is this only an issue since the last update?

There are a few steps to try and solve the issue quickly:

1. Verify your files in the Steam Library -> Age of Empires II -> Right click -> Properties -> Local files -> Verify.

2. Disable your mods and restart the game after that.

3. Update your graphic drivers and check for pending Windows updates.

4. See if checking or unchecking the V-Sync checkbox in the Options improves your performance. Modifying the FPS Limit and making it closer to your monitor could help too.

5. Close as many programs as possible before starting the game.

6. Disable Enhanced Graphics.

7. Add the whole game folder to your antivirus exception list. C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\AoE2DE is the default

Please comment again if the issue persists after these steps. Thank you!

[Cursed With Knowledge]

Hi, the game right now only crash in multiplayer 4v4. My graphics card is Nvidia Geforce RTX 2060. And yes, this only happens since last update, previously may happened once or twice in last few years, but the reason was mainly due to the sudden disconnection to the Internet.

My friend and me have tried to re-install, verify on Steam, and turn off the anti-virus software or so, will try to do some others you have suggested here alongside with testing on some other match setting (like 3v3 or higher population limit) over the weekends, will come back with the result, thanks

[birds]

Same issue here. I have tried the seven steps, but the issue remains the same in multiplayer as well as single-player. The game seems to consume all the RAM, then starts writing to disk, then crashes shortly afterwards. For me this usually happens when going up to feudal.

[FE_ag]

Messaggio originale di Chilamacho:

Same issue here. I have tried the seven steps, but the issue remains the same in multiplayer as well as single-player. The game seems to consume all the RAM, then starts writing to disk, then crashes shortly afterwards. For me this usually happens when going up to feudal.

Hi Chilamacho,

Thank you for your comment. Could you please share which graphic card you have?

If you have an Intel Iris XE graphics card, I recommend the same as the user Samzehboy above: try reverting your graphic driver to the version of May 26th, 2022. Go to
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19344/732078/intel-graphics-windows-dch-drivers.html > Download and install the igfx_win_101.1994.exe > Reboot