Cox crash, not enough memory.

The game crashed on me & I received a message to the effect, "City of Heroes will now close, due to lack of memory."

I'm running a quad core 2.6mhz system, 6gigs ram, 3+gigs video ram with 680+ gigs of free space on my hard drive with Vista. I'm also using DirectX 11.

Over the past couple of months I've been noticing a drop in performance the longer I stay in after logging into CoX. When I first log in the game runs very smoothly but as time passes in each game session the frame refresh rate degrades rapidly & is very choppy, especially in outdoor zones with lots of players. I can temporarily cure this by logging out & restarting the game but it's a pain to have to do this every couple of hours.

Just a hunch: The NCsoft launcher program seems to have a memory leak. Are you leaving this program running after starting City of Heroes? If yes, you might want to disable that feature. (The option can be configured under "File / Settings / After launching a game".)

10joy

I suggest you follow the instructions here:
[Guide] Asking for technical help on the forums

and post the results in this thread, so our more tech-savvy colleagues can have a look.

Thanks Archiviste, I'll do that.

Game just crashed on me again. Here's the message i got,

./piggs/texWorldCZ.pigg: Failed memory allocation (zip'd size 1115752, unzip'd size 1398492)
Read failed for file: texture_library/WORLD/city_zones/Rikti_crash/Crash_Gouge/Tank_DirtDecal.texture
-1

The game ran out of memory and must now exit.

Since it's been asked before, do you have your virtual memory set for atleast 6Gb? If you've never changed it or have no idea what that means, then the answer is yes and that's not the issue. If you Do know what that means and for some reason Do have it set below that, then make it the recomended size or greater and that Might be the problem.

Beyond that, kill anything you don't need while playing the game.

Ok, here's the info requested using the CoHhelper tool, thanks.

---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.2.0.2---

DxDiag gathered at January 10, 2012 16:48 (-07:00)
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.vistasp2_gdr.110617-0336)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Studio XPS 435MT
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Central Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 6134MB
.Net Memory Report: 4552MB out of 6134MB available
Page File: 10304MB (2075MB currently in use)
C Drive: (ST3750630AS ATA Device) 524958MB out of 699971MB (74%) free
D Drive: (ST3750630AS ATA Device) 8641MB out of 15359MB (56%) free
E Drive: (HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GH30N ATA Device) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\Windows
DirectX: DirectX 11
DirectX Diag version: 7.00.6002.18107 (64-bit version)

Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.

No problems found.

No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor's Max Resolution: (blank)
Video Device Name: ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series
Manufacturer / Chip: ATI Technologies Inc. / ATI display adapter (0x9442)
Video Memory: 3314 MB
Driver Version: 8.17.0010.1077
Driver Date: 4/20/2011 1:07:48 AM
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHD64.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5697
Driver Date: 10/6/2008 5:07:44 AM

Sound Device Description: Realtek Digital Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHD64.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5697
Driver Date: 10/6/2008 5:07:44 AM

Sound Device Description: Realtek Digital Output(Optical) (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Driver File: RTKVHD64.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5697
Driver Date: 10/6/2008 5:07:44 AM


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: 0R849J
Motherboard Version: A00
BIOS Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
BIOS Name: Default System BIOS
BIOS Version: DELL - 20081021
BIOS Release: 20081021000000.000000+000


Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1360x768
3D Resolution: 1360x768 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: Yes
Maximized: No
Screen Position: 0, 0
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: Yes


Physics Quality: None
Maximum Particles: 50000
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No


Anti-aliasing: Off
Anisotropic Filtering: 4x
Texture LOD Bias: Smooth
Water Effects: None
Bloom: 1.000 (turned off)
Depth of Field Enabled: No
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: Yes
Shader Detail: Unknown (5)


World Texture Level: Low
Character Texture Level: High
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 0.800
Entity Detail Level: 1.000
Shadows Enabled: Yes
Shadow Mode: Stencil shadows
Shadow Map Shader: Unknown (0)
Environmental Reflections: Disabled
Advanced Occlusion Settings: No
Ambient Occlusion: Off
Occlusion Strength: Off
Blur: Bilateral
Ambient Resolution: Performance


Gamma Correction: 0.490
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: Yes
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: No
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes

Audio Mode: Performance
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 0.751
Music Sound Volume: 0.502

Show Advanced Graphics Options: No
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.250
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: 1398759 bytes/second
Current Game Version: 1950.201102230015.1
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
No modifications found

I have the same computer and same video card, although I've installed a second hard drive and am running Windows 7 64-bit on it.

The video card is a 1 Gb ATI Radeon HD4850. As Hyperstrike said, it's the drivers reserving 2 Gb of system memory for buffering that is causing the reading you see for video memory.

I've been running the 11.9 drivers for a while now with no problems at all at a higher resolution (1920 x 1080) than what you have yours set to (1360 x 768). I doubt there is enough difference between Vista 64-bit and Windows 7 64-bit to change my recommendation of the driver, especially since both OS versions use the same video driver.

yeah, Catalyst 11.9 runs the 8.892.0.0 driver. Yours definitely seems a little out of date.

Thanks for all your help.

I downloaded & installed the latest drivers for my video card from ATI. Going to find out now if that cures my memory problem with CoX.

Update,

The latest ATI driver I downloaded & installed is working super and I believe cured the memory problem I was experiencing. CoX is now smooth as silk at mostly the highest graphics levels and hasn't crashed in over four hours of playing and at times in crowded areas.

My mistake in not periodically keeping my drivers up to date was not getting the current versions from ATI but relying on Windows/Control Panel/System/Device Manager to automatically search for and update the display adapter driver.

Thanks for all your help.

Getting many of the same issues..with lack of memory, or the game just locking up completely..


---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.2.0.2---
DxDiag gathered at January 14, 2012 09:58 (-05:00)
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.110622-1506)
System Manufacturer: MSI
System Model: MS-7681
BIOS: BIOS Date: 03/02/11 10:58:35 Ver: 04.06.04
Central Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600 CPU @ 3.40GHz (8 CPUs), ~3.4GHz
Memory: 16384MB
.Net Memory Report: 14770MB out of 16364MB available
Page File: 30896MB (1830MB currently in use)
C Drive: (ST31000528AS ATA Device) 887235MB out of 953766MB (93%) free
D Drive: (Optiarc DVD RW AD-7260S ATA Device) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\Windows
DirectX: DirectX 11
DirectX Diag version: 6.01.7601.17514 (64-bit version)
Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.
No problems found.
No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.
Monitor:
Monitor's Max Resolution: (blank)
Video Device Name: AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series
Manufacturer / Chip: ATI Technologies Inc. / ATI display adapter (0x6719)
Video Memory: 1756 MB
Driver Version: 8.850.0.0
Driver Date: 4/20/2011 1:07:48 AM
Driver Language: English
Sound Device Description: Speakers (High Definition Audio Device)
Driver File: HdAudio.sys
Driver Version: 6.01.7601.17514
Driver Date: 11/20/2010 5:44:23 AM
Sound Device Description: Digital Audio (S/PDIF) (High Definition Audio Device)
Driver File: HdAudio.sys
Driver Version: 6.01.7601.17514
Driver Date: 11/20/2010 5:44:23 AM
Sound Device Description: Digital Audio (S/PDIF) (High Definition Audio Device)
Driver File: HdAudio.sys
Driver Version: 6.01.7601.17514
Driver Date: 11/20/2010 5:44:23 AM

WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: MSI
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: P67A-GD65 (MS-7681)
Motherboard Version: 2.0
BIOS Manufacturer: American Megatrends Inc.
BIOS Name: BIOS Date: 03/02/11 10:58:35 Ver: 04.06.04
BIOS Version: ALASKA - 1072009
BIOS Release: 20110302000000.000000+000

Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1920x1024
3D Resolution: 1920x1024 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: No
Maximized: Yes
Screen Position: 0, 0
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: Yes

Physics Quality: High
Maximum Particles: 50000
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No

Anti-aliasing: Off
Anisotropic Filtering: 4x
Texture LOD Bias: Smooth
Water Effects: Ultra quality
Bloom: 1.000 (turned on)
Depth of Field Enabled: Yes
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: Yes
Shader Detail: High

World Texture Level: Very High
Character Texture Level: Very High
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 1.000
Entity Detail Level: 1.000
Shadows Enabled: No
Shadow Mode: Unknown (4)
Shadow Map Shader: High quality
Environmental Reflections: High quality
Advanced Occlusion Settings: No
Ambient Occlusion: High quality
Occlusion Strength: Strong
Blur: Trilateral
Ambient Resolution: Quality

Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: Yes
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: No
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes
Audio Mode: Performance
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 0.600
Music Sound Volume: 0.600
Show Advanced Graphics Options: No
Overall Graphics Quality: 1.000
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: Unknown bytes/second
Current Game Version: ?
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\NCSoft\City of Heroes
Mod files in the Data directory
No modifications found