Tracking memory usage

[kazade]

I'm fast running out of memory when running my game engine, anyone have any tips on how to track where it's going?

I've started using malloc_stats but I don't really understand the output...

[lerabot]

Check this topic from not too long ago, there's also some good link further down.
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=104322

Just keep in mind that if you,re freeing texture of PVR related stuff you need to use pvr_mem_free().
Since you work with -lgl (right?), glDeleteTexture() will work as well.

You can use pvr_mem_available() to track your PVR memory aswell.

You might have looked into this already but that's where I had my memory issue a week ago.

[bogglez]

Do you mean VRAM or RAM usage?

For VRAM it's really important that you use texture compression and palettes as much as possible, this should help: http://dcemulation.org/?title=Texture_F ... compressed

[kazade]

I haven't got as far as filling up VRAM yet

Pretty sure it's RAM I'm running out of. My application is pretty heavy anyway (2.5M) then if I'm reading malloc_stats() right (I'm probably not!) it seems like glKosInit() eats a bunch of RAM, and then my game engine loads some mesh data and runs out... but I need to understand where all the memory is going between glKosInit and the crash.

I tried the example in your link @lerabot but I couldn't get it to compile (undefined reference to __end??). I just need a function to tell me roughly how much memory is left and then I can probably figure out what's going wrong.

[111]

I just need a function to tell me roughly how much memory is left and then I can probably figure out what's going wrong.

copypaste from my framework (based on that openbor code):

Code: Select all

/*////////////////////////////////////////////*/
#include <malloc.h>



static unsigned long systemRam = 0x00000000;
static unsigned long elfOffset = 0x00000000;
static unsigned long stackSize = 0x00000000;



extern unsigned long end;
extern unsigned long start;

#define _end end
#define _start start



void set_system_ram()
{
   systemRam = 0x8d000000 - 0x8c000000;
   elfOffset = 0x8c000000;

   stackSize = (int)&_end - (int)&_start + ((int)&_start - elfOffset);
}

unsigned long get_system_ram()
{
   return systemRam;
}


unsigned long get_free_ram()
{
    struct mallinfo mi = mallinfo();
    return systemRam - (mi.usmblks + stackSize);
}




void print_ram_stats()
{
	float sys_ram, free_ram, used_ram;
	sys_ram = (float)get_system_ram() / (float)(1024*1024);
	free_ram = (float)get_free_ram() / (float)(1024*1024);
	used_ram = (sys_ram - free_ram);
	
	printf("\n---------\nRAM stats (MB):\nTotal: %.2f, Free: %.2f, Used: %.2f\n---------\n", sys_ram, free_ram, used_ram);
}

than you have to call set_system_ram() once somewhere at the beginning of your program.
Works fine for me.

also, as I said before, don't bother using KGL, it's too much trouble than it worth it. PVR api is not that much hard to use anyway.

[kazade]

Thanks that worked!

I do prefer using libGL as my engine is cross-platform and I can more easily test the GL1 renderer if I keep it compatible. However, it does seem that libGL uses a lot of RAM:

Code: Select all

Free RAM: 11329540 (/simulant/simulant/utils/memory.cpp:45)
pvr: enabling vertical scaling for non-VGA
OpenGL initialized (/simulant/simulant/kos_window.cpp:42)
Free RAM: 5562372 (/simulant/simulant/utils/memory.cpp:45)

I'll take a look and see if I can come up with a patch to reduce the memory usage.

[bogglez]

KGL allocates vertex buffers into which it will write polygons before sending them off to the GPU. Maybe you want to change their size?