Making a -memrestrict value

[Regor245]

I know this is dumb but..

 

I think this is the way how it works.

 

Ok Example:

 

I have 256mb of Vram and 2GB of ram, but about 1.7 GB is usable

 

 

256 x 1700 x 1700 = 739840000

 

Vram x Ram x Ram

 

(i thought it was Vram x Resolution x Resolution... but it's not)

 

When i've tried that value, It fixes my popping textures problem.

 

Currently using "256 x 1024 x 1024 = 268435456" - game runs better and less Ram usage.

 

There is no texture popping when i was using patch 1.0.4.0, but when i've upgraded to 1.0.7.0. it started..

___________

I've tried this value

 

256 x 640 x 640 = 104857600

 

Game becomes worse. Textures Popping so bad.

 

 

Quote from Rockstar Toronto

 

 

Basically -memrestrict is telling the game how much video memory your system has available.  At startup we query the OS for this value but as some of you may have noticed the number can vary even though you are obviously not changing your video card everytime you play the game.

 

Once the game exceeds the amount of video memory available, the Os finds it from somewhere else (system memory) and eventually this causes fragmentation and the game throws up an RESC10 error because the OS can't find anymore free memory.  The tricky part is that every OS behaves differently, and thats before you factor in other .dll's and drivers that also make requests from this memory pool which will be different from user to user.

 

Using -memrestrict explicitly tells the game how much video memory to use.  The math is to take the desired meg number and multiply it by 1024 twice.  So if we wanted to declare 600 megs of VRAM:

 

600 x 1024 x 1024 = 629145600

 

you would enter the commandline "-memrestrict -629145600"

 

Lowering this number increases stability of the game by capping the video memory, but there will come a point where there isn't enough memory to draw everything required by the game which is when you see "popping".

 

___________

 

EDIT:

 

Just ignore this thread/post. But i think i'm doing it right.

 

feel free to post if i'm wrong.

Edited March 12, 2012 by Regor245

[mkey82]

If you have 1000MB VRAM you're supposed to use 1000x1024x1024x0.8, something like that.

[Exxon]

If you have 1000MB VRAM you're supposed to use 1000x1024x1024x0.8, something like that.

May I ask, where is that 0.8 for?

[Regor245]

Thanks, i get it now. except the "0.8" thingy

[mkey82]

Well, I expected that question

 

Basically, it's an arbitrary value because, in a general case, you'll want to "limit" the available amount of memory to a value lower then the actually available. This should only serve as a starting value, you will always want to test with lower/higher numbers. On one end you should get more popup and more stable performance, on the other more details and lag caused by loading textures. The trick is to hit a sweet spot in the middle.

Edited March 13, 2012 by mkey82

[Regor245]

Ok thanks again, I'll try it later.

Edited March 13, 2012 by Regor245

[SNAKE DOC]

 

Ok thanks again, I'll try it later.

Why do you multiply it by 256? It's 1024 and it's not related to how much RAM or VRAM you have.

 

You multiply it by 1024 (1MB) twice because the memrestrict value is in bytes.

 

Edit: Nice ninja-edit.

[Regor245]

 

Ok thanks again, I'll try it later.

Why do you multiply it by 256? It's 1024 and it's not related to how much RAM or VRAM you have.

 

You multiply it by 1024 (1MB) twice because the memrestrict value is in bytes.

 

Edit: Nice ninja-edit.

LOL ! yes i saw you we're reading this topic when i decided to edit it, because i did it wrong.

 

anyways, i thought 1024 is 1GB/1024mb

 

I think i got it now.

 

 

i've tried 256 x 1024 x 1024 x 0.85 = 228170137.6... works fine i guess.

 

 

 

just give me an example value if it's wrong again.

Edited March 14, 2012 by Regor245

[mkey82]

Like I said, the best option is to test, increments something like this

 

200000000

230000000

250000000

280000000

310000000

[fenderjaguar]

Have you guys ever even looked at how much VRAM is actually being used? This (1.0.7.0) is with a 1GB card, -norestrictions and everything maxed out including very high shadows. The game claimed it was going to use 1.2GB of VRAM and ended using around 800MB in reality:

 

http://i42.tinypic.com/280jmdd.png

 

And for anyone who thinks using nearly all the VRAM is bad, it's not. "-availablevidmem 3.0" results in using nearly all the VRAM (and more system memory) being used by GTA 4, a bit like Crysis 2, Witcher 2 and Battlefield 3 do, without any configs. None of these games stutter or hitch when they do this.

[lydianduck]

I assume the "-availablevidmem 3.0" command has to be used in conjunction with "norestrictions" right?

[fenderjaguar]

 

I assume the "-availablevidmem 3.0" command has to be used in conjunction with "norestrictions" right?

I used both, but I don't think it necessarily has to matter. If you use the "-availablevidmem 3.0" command, then in the graphics options, you'll see 3GB listed, instead of how much hard VRAM you really do have.

 

"norestrictions" was just a way of unlocking ALL the highest settings on a 1GB card (and observing how much memory actually got used, instead of believing that the game really did 'know' how much it was going to use). But for me, "-availablevidmem 3.0" was more a way of making the game use more of the memory that you had (board memory and video card memory), even if I was using lower settings. For example, in real gaming I don't put any of the settings on 'very high' like I did for that graph, I put them all on 'high'. I turn night shadows off. And I have the draw distances at 40. And at these settings it used about 800, whereas without "-availablevidmem 3.0" command, it would use around 600MB with the same settings. Unused VRAM, up to about 950MB on a 1GB card, is wasted VRAM imo.

 

Also, process explorer never reported any usage of this so called "GPU system memory". I believe that these games differenciate between VRAM and board RAM, but the VRAM never overspilled into the board memory. The used mother board memory maybe some kind of other purpose, but I know that even if loading from the board memory to the VRAM, it must be faster than loading from the hard drive to the VRAM? So why people are so scared of using lots of it?

 

Hell, I've never even seen any game using more than 9xxMB on the VRAM and 2GB on the board RAM. These 32 bit games are large address aware, right? That means it still has 1GB to spare....

[lydianduck]

Well, in my case I do need to use "norestrictions" since my gpu has 1.5GB VRAM and anything above "availablevidmem 2.2" locks the settings for me, but thanks for the info, I'll give it a try, maybe I can reduce some of the stuttering I have. (even if fraps reports constant 60 fps).

[mkey82]

Well, where fenderjaguar fails miserably is at realizing not every system acts the same when forcing settings.

[fenderjaguar]

Well, where fenderjaguar fails miserably is at realizing not every system acts the same when forcing settings.

I never said "every system acts the same when forcing settings".

 

There is no need calling me "miserable failure".

[lydianduck]

haha, well I do appreciate the advice, however it made no noticeably difference for me unfortunately.

[fenderjaguar]

haha, well I do appreciate the advice, however it made no noticeably difference for me unfortunately.

So it is the higher graphics settings are locked out, that is your problem?

[lydianduck]

It went something like this:

 

"availablevidmem 2.2" -> "norestrictions" was not needed, but stuttering was still present.

 

"availablevidmem 2.5" -> had to use norestrictions but stuttering persisted.

 

"availablevidmem 3.0" -> used norestrictions, but for some reason it showed only 300mb or so of total vram available in the graphics menu; I think the game cannot use that much vram.

[lydianduck]

My stuttering is not the result of badly utilized video ram apparently, it seems more like a frame buffer issue, if I play with vsync on + fraps, in specific parts of the city it'll go up to 61 frames and the game will stutter, it seems like it can't cap the framerate properly and this generates stuttering. Pretty weird.

[luceberg]

I use the commandline -reservedapp 0, which in my case prevents stuttering. Worth a try maybe...

[fenderjaguar]

My stuttering is not the result of badly utilized video ram apparently, it seems more like a frame buffer issue, if I play with vsync on + fraps, in specific parts of the city it'll go up to 61 frames and the game will stutter, it seems like it can't cap the framerate properly and this generates stuttering. Pretty weird.

I'd cap the frame rate at 50 fps with dxtory.

[lydianduck]

Yes, you can also do it with the commandline "-refreshrate 50" (contrary to what the readme file says it's not necessary to use -frameLimit 1 but you need vsync enabled either way) but it still goes to 51 and im back to square one, but im gonna give dxtory a try, maybe it can help.

 

 

 

I use the commandline -reservedapp 0, which in my case prevents stuttering. Worth a try maybe...

 

Im using Patch #4 though, so I do not have that command.

[luceberg]

I don't think it matters which patch you have to use that commandline.

[lydianduck]

Thanks for the response; I just mentioned it cause if you add the commandline "-help" to get the entire list of commands "-reservedapp 0" is not there, but im gonna give it a try right now!

[luceberg]

Thanks for info on the "-help" commandline. It is possible that "reservedapp 0" is a hidden command, as it will cause a crash in windows vista or 7 32bit.

[lydianduck]

No problem, unfortunately, "-reservedapp 0" made no discernible difference for me.

[mkey82]

There is no need calling me "miserable failure".

I never called you a failure, only your generalization.

[T-ru]

Example for the best memrestrict value:

If you have 1gb (1024mb) video memory, and the game use only 500 like this 500/1024, you must do this:

500x1024x1024=524288000 this is will remove or reduce popping or blurry textures.

[Addi Django]

i used memrestrict with other commands in commandline.txt and it worked for some time, no pop-ins or anything, but after a few hours of play, textures of buildings and streets completely disappear and don't come back. i guess after a while whole memory is used so there is no space to load textures. so i deleted all commands from .txt and only left memrestrict, and increased number. i took number of MBs used by game (800, i have 1GB VRAM) and multiplied it by 1024 two times. like T-ru explained. that is only line in my comandline.txt now, and game is very stable. no trace of any pop-ins or stuttering or slowdowns. i had problem only with pop-ins, so other two were not problem before. game is smooth 100% for now, so i will see what happens after a while.

[Addi Django]

all problems gone with installing win7 64-bit and adding 4GB more of ddr3 1600MHz RAM (now 8GB of the mentioned RAM). little, almost unnoticable stuttering when EVERYTHING maxed out to the top. finally.