TF2: Engine Error: Out of memory?

[awesome7438]

Since the "Tough Break" update, whenever I am playing Team Fortress 2 and join a server, sometimes straight away and sometimes far into the game, it crashes and says "Engine Error: Out of Memory", although I have more than enough free space. I have lowered some graphics settings, although this still happens after a while. Recently it's stopped giving me the "out of memory" error and just crashing and returning to my desktop. Does anyone have any potential fixes?

Cheers,
3thanite

[d-fens]

I am pleased to report that "sort by players" actually finally sorts by players on mac, but I also get this error message ALL THE TIME in the least few days. Like 100%.

2013 macbook pro driving external 24" display.

[Maskedrussian]

Lol nice Mac

[awesome7438]

Originally posted by Maskedrussian:

Lol nice Mac

It's not my fault I'm poor. Mac is all some people including me can afford.

[Maskedrussian]

I can't afford Mac

[awesome7438]

Originally posted by Maskedrussian:

I can't afford Mac

Yes, but a certain Mac. I use a very ♥♥♥♥♥♥ Mac.

[Maskedrussian]

All macs are ♥♥♥♥ for price

[MOJO_NSGod]

Same issue here. What's happening is that the game engine runs up its RAM usage to around 2.2 GB, and then craps out.

Note that most Valve games and the Steam app itself are 32bit processes, even if you have a 64bit Mac (as most of us do). Generally, in OS X, 32bit processes are limited to around 2 GB to 3.6 GB of RAM usage. I'm not sure if the game is actually out of memory, or if it's some sort of self-imposed internal limit that it doesn't want to go over. (I say this because I have seen some 32bit processes able to use over the 2.2 GB limit the game seems to run up against).

Note also that this will generally only be a problem for those of us running at higher resolutions, and the higher your resolution, the more likely you are to encounter a problem. The biggest contributing factor seems to be Texture Quality. Since the update, I can no longer run at the "recommended quality" level of "High", but must settle for Medium. So, basically, try turning down texture quality and model quality.

I'm using a Mac Pro with GeForce GTX 285 running at 1920 x 1200.

I never used to have this problem, like a year or so ago. The RAM usage also doesn't seem to be as high when playing in Windows with same card and settings.

I really wish Valve had designed their Mac implementation with 64bit in mind from the get-go, and this kind of thing would not be a problem. But most game dylibs and Steam itself all are linked against the Carbon UI framework (Carbon.framework), and use Carbon UI for their UI, so I don't see 64bit coming any time soon. (Though, I'd offer to do it if Valve would hire me).

[awesome7438]

Originally posted by MOJO_NSGod:

Same issue here. What's happening is that the game engine runs up its RAM usage to around 2.2 GB, and then craps out.

Note that most Valve games and the Steam app itself are 32bit processes, even if you have a 64bit Mac (as most of us do). Generally, in OS X, 32bit processes are limited to around 2 GB to 3.6 GB of RAM usage. I'm not sure if the game is actually out of memory, or if it's some sort of self-imposed internal limit that it doesn't want to go over. (I say this because I have seen some 32bit processes able to use over the 2.2 GB limit the game seems to run up against).

Note also that this will generally only be a problem for those of us running at higher resolutions, and the higher your resolution, the more likely you are to encounter a problem. The biggest contributing factor seems to be Texture Quality. Since the update, I can no longer run at the "recommended quality" level of "High", but must settle for Medium. So, basically, try turning down texture quality and model quality.

I'm using a Mac Pro with GeForce GTX 285 running at 1920 x 1200.

I never used to have this problem, like a year or so ago. The RAM usage also doesn't seem to be as high when playing in Windows with same card and settings.

I really wish Valve had designed their Mac implementation with 64bit in mind from the get-go, and this kind of thing would not be a problem. But most game dylibs and Steam itself all are linked against the Carbon UI framework (Carbon.framework), and use Carbon UI for their UI, so I don't see 64bit coming any time soon. (Though, I'd offer to do it if Valve would hire me).

Thanks a lot, I've lowered a few settings now and it's been working decently.