Out of Memory Problem

[CoolPilot06]

Hello, I know this has been discussed forever (forgive me, I'm not a computer expert) and realize this is a common problem. However, I keep getting the infamous "Out of memory" crash-to-desktop error. I have a:

Dell Inspiron 1720, Vista 32-bit, 3 GB RAM, GeForce 8600M GT, 2.4 Ghz Intel Duo.

I installed SP1+2

I downloaded the Microsoft fix located here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940105

After all that, I still get the error. I noticed many people have been editing files, but like I said I am not an expert...so is there an "easy" fix out there for this problem? (Other than not having my FSX display settings maxed). Thanks in advance!

[n4gix]

After all that, I still get the error. I noticed many people have been editing files, but like I said I am not an expert...so is there an "easy" fix out there for this problem? (Other than not having my FSX display settings maxed). Thanks in advance!

The short answer is no, you can not have your cake and eat it too!

Either turn down some slider settings or suffer the consequences...

BTW, in case it's still not clear, the "OOM error" has absolutely nothing to do with physical memory in your computer.

What it does have everything with which to do is "virtual address space" and how Windows manages it. Those are two completely seperate issues.

FSX is coded to use only contiguous 1MB chunks of "virtual addresss," so if it cannot find any to use...

...FSX go B O O M ! ! !

[skypilot]

Yup Boom.

[petermaxkoller]

Try to reduce your memory to 2GB and see if it works!!

For me the out of memory has gone reducing to 2 GB!

Peter

[CoolPilot06]

Thank you all for your input. I honestly have no idea how I would take out a GB of RAM (not to mention - I do other things on my computer than just use FSX and would like that extra gig in there). I turned down some of the settings (against my will as I have good fps when it is working) and so far it's okay. I'm just worried when the new version of Squawkbox comes out...I hope I dont have this problem still.

[monica6211]

I have had the out of memory problem several times, but each time I was able to pinpoint the cause. I have added lots of scenery files and downloaded lots of AI traffic files ( and have created some traffic files of my own). I have found that 99% of the out of memory errors I got ended up being caused by bad AI traffic files. If the files call for aircraft which have missing textures, or a corrupt model, or any other issue related to a bad aircraft, or missing aircraft, I would get these errors. When I remove the suspected traffic file, my memory errors would go away too. I'm sure other people have other causes for their out of memory errors, but mine is something you can look into as well. By the way, I CAN (and do) have ALL of my slideres all the way to the right and can fly for hours without any memory errors, so I don't really think the sliders have much to do with your problem, but it may.

Happy Flying,
Monica Duerr

[CoolPilot06]

Monica I have also noticed that as well - under the display window, then traffic tab, when I increase AI airline and GA traffic I run into a problem. It seems to appear only when I'm using a lot of AI traffic.

[monica6211]

It's not the amount of AI traffic I use that causes mine, it's which particular aircraft that is trying to load that causes my problems. Each time I've been able to troubleshoot it down to a particular traffic file, then down to a specific aircraft. That aircraft would end up having a missing texture or two, or a missing .air file (the traffic file knows to look for the aircraft with the aircraft.cfg, but the .air file wasn't there, so the plane would not load) or a missing mdl file. Traffic files which try to load incomplete aircraft will cause out of memory problems.

Happy Flying,
Monica