Arma 3
98 ratings
How to fix 4 FPS Bug
By Mouse
This is the bug where the game slows down to 4 fps accompanied with weird graphical settings, this is a quick fix to stop it from happening! [UPDATED] to include 64bit.
   
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How to fix
EDIT: The new 64bit executable allows for more RAM. Therefore you can set system memory limit to higher than 2047. For my case i have 8GB RAM so i set the System Memory Limit to 6000MB. Unfortunately this bug still exists after update, but this solution is still working.



It's quite simple, you need to open your Arma 3 Launcher, then go to parameters.

Change System Memory Limit -> 2047

That is all! I have tried a LOT of different fixes trying to fix this bug as i had it for months, and this is what worked for me. Everyone i have told has said it has worked for them also. This does not effect performance either.

I have not received FPS bug in over a month now, and i still see people talking about it, so hopefully this guide will become popular and we can all get rid of it.


Since a few have asked me, yes it is fine to spread the word about the fix. If you want to give me credit then link this guide / my steam, but to be honest i don't really care. Just enjoy the game guys.
28 Comments
pooky Apr 26, 2023 @ 2:21pm 
It has something to do with your GPU. Whenever the bug happens, your GPU goes up to 100/100%
g-man Mar 25, 2017 @ 1:43pm 
Oh no, still an issue?! Haven't had the time to test out the 64bit release yet. Good to know another way, thanks for the tip! Which setup are you using? Intel & Nvidia here.
Mouse  [author] Mar 25, 2017 @ 10:26am 
@g-man, same issue. Game does not manage memory very well. For some people it is fixed by just using a better memory allocator (did not work for me). Then there is this method.

This fix is still required for 64bit, but you can set the system memory limit to higher. For example i have 8GB ram, i set it to 6GB instead now, and it still solves issue, i will update guide.
g-man Mar 25, 2017 @ 8:45am 
What helped me the most, was using the "jemalloc_bi" memory allocator. Haven't had an issue since.

I would advise against this setting when using the 64bit executable, because that would limit your memory back to the 32bit era. But yea better use only 2gigs of mem than having stutter :)

But to summarise it seems that is/was a memory issue, you having it fixed by limiting sysmem and as for me using a different allocator...
Vuzetastic Mar 10, 2017 @ 1:11pm 
It really does help, drops to 15 fps for 3 secs then it is fine.
Zharfenstein Mar 10, 2017 @ 8:56am 
No mods for me, and you don't need to apologize about it not being perfect :)
Mouse  [author] Mar 10, 2017 @ 2:07am 
@Zharfenstein Well i'm sorry that it doesn't work completely. I've had it ocne since making this tweak, and it went away almost instantly and didn't come back, so i'm not sure why it works for some perfectly and not others. What mod do you play out of curiosity? Maybe some mods are more prone to it.
Zharfenstein Mar 9, 2017 @ 1:50pm 
Just had it happen again even with this setting, admittedly it's rarer but it's still happening... it's highly likely because of an actual memory leak and it just takes longer to occur when the memory allocation pool is smaller... New client should be released soon so I hope that fixes it
Frautcres Mar 7, 2017 @ 2:55pm 
I'd like you to clarify to people more why this happens as you just did, because people are unaware unfortunatly.
Lior Mar 5, 2017 @ 6:26pm 
THANK YOU VERY MUCH !!!