Error: memory was low, running with reduced textures

frankendreadz

after a short time, I get this error, it seems Co no longer recognize my card memory capacity
This has been happening for about a year now, and I have not seen this issue addressed or solutions given
I seen a link which says that graphic memory is now capped to 800mb? is this true?
before anyone says this, all my drivers are up to date and this issue only seems to happen in CO and not in STO
So this tells mes that the issue is with CO, not my system
so I would appreciate any work-arounds ( ie something I could edit in config settings, console commands,etc
I also like to point out I was able to run this game with setting at max with no performance issues since beta
Hoping for a prompt reply or at least this issue being scrutinize on the test server as a hot fix (removing the graphic cap maybe?)
TiA and best regards
frankendreads

deadman20

Hey, at least you're not crashing. Anyway, to save on memory, there are a couple of commands and options you could use.

Check your Video Card option under Troubleshooting
-The game has two rendering modes, Dx9 and Dx11Beta. If your card is capable, always use the highest Directx version available. If you choose to poke here, always restart the game fully.

/renderscale (0~1)
-You can insert a value between 0 and 1 to change the ratio of pixels rendered against your actual resolution. 1 is the usual value, rendering the game to the resolution you've got it set at a 1:1 ratio. There's an option called "Half-Resolution" which basically sets the value to 0.5 instead and is a quick option. Visually, the screen becomes blurry as the game renders less. If you're using Half-Resolution already, then this probably won't do you much more good, but if not, try 0.7 or 0.8. The result at those two values is what I feel to be a very nice aesthetic blur. Putting in a value higher than 1 is ill-advised.

Turn Anti-aliasing Off
-Typically at higher resolutions, this feature isn't as necessary. You can get away without it. However, I will say it does go rather well with the /renderscale tip when active.

Dynamic Lighting Off
-This feature is rather niche and can save you a bit of memory if you turn it off. It's used on a lot of powers, but I find it something I could live without if I needed more memory.

Display Mode
-Many people run the game under Fullscreen. That's perfectly fine. However, I have come to feel that my game and PC's performance is much better when run under Windowed Maximized instead. This may make a huge difference on my end, although results may vary on yours. Bonus point here for being really great when you want or need to alt-tab to another window as it doesn't force-minimize like Fullscreen does.

Those are just a few things I typically recommend. It helps most people. I'll still get freezes and crashes every so often after long play sessions. I would recommend just restarting the game every once in a while to let the computer catch back up.​​

frankendreadz

thanks for your response on this
your suggestions are great and most of them I have already done or tried, but the issue is with the memory restricted to 800meg max, for some reason
no explanation has been given why this was done ( been about a year now) and it is this which is playing havoc on my displays
I used to run everything on max setting easily before and for many years with only the 2d resolution issue, causing my system to crash from time to time
I will look at the render-scale command, as that is something I haven't tried
thanks once again

deadman20

I wouldn't put it past CO to start becoming incompatible with things. That seems to be a common theme as of late. You can open up the GamePrefs file and edit it to force a video memory limit, although if the game can't read it automatically, that may not be what you want to force onto it, in case something's busted somewhere. Make a backup before you poke it with a stick.

The path to the file is as follows:
[Install Directory of Champions Online]/Champions Online/Live/Localdata

Sometimes CO will be installed in another folder named Champions Online that would also house your other Cryptic games. Why the parent folder defaults to being called Champions Online, I have no idea. But anyway, you can open up the GamePrefs file with Notepad++ and find this line " PrefEntry SystemSpecs.videoMemory ". That line will tell you how much the game is reading from your card. If your memory limit ingame is set to Auto, it'll default to the highest amount of memory it can handle. You can change the value and save the file. That should be what you need. Although the memory will always read in megabytes, not gigabytes. A 1gb card would be 1024mb. If you've got a higher value, I'm pretty sure I don't have to teach math.

Hope that will fix that for you, but if things get worse, do use the backup. Better to play with a limit than to break something and be unable to play at all.​​

frankendreadz

thanks once again
just checked that file and it is set to my maximum
I did notice that switching off AA off did improve my performance (the hogging of memory took a lot longer , therefore the reduced textures message didn't appear after a few minutes, or even after swapping instances several times)
I must also point out I compared those same settings with the ones in STO, specifically those pertaining to graphics and performance..... As previously stated I do not suffer this problem with STO, only with CO, within the last year or so
everything in STO is set to max and I sued to have the same in CO
I am also using the DX11 beta version (wtf is it still beta, been years like that)
somehow I think that max setting is being overridden or that there is yet another graphical memory error at work
(remember when the wolves/coyote in the desert were the cause of a graphical memory leak???)

frankendreadz

an update
When set to "auto", the memory issue happened immediately (it usually occurs in MC near defender)
when set to "1024+" does not occur for several hours

deadman20

Glad to hear that everything has been helping. One final thing I could recommend you to use is to have the program run in compatibility mode for Windows XP SP2. You're going to see a lot of visual options disappear doing this. Sadly, I do not know if I could ever find an absolute solution to stop the memory issues as the game continues to age. The best we can hope for is to mitigate or delay the problems until we get some "under the hood" updates to the game's engine.

If you find yourself absolutely idle in CO, I would recommend just restarting the game during that downtime. A lot of these problems crop up during longer play sessions. We all seem to experience the memory issues differently. Some will have the quality of their game tank, others will see their game freeze or crash. In any case, I hope this all helps you keep playing to your heart's content.​​

frankendreadz

well it now randomly occurs, sometimes for hour or so, other times in seconds, whether with a lot of players around or not
here is also something strange... it has not occurred on the test server!
and the settings are a lot higher than on live (my old live settings)
this is driving me nuts and not a peep from devs or support
Tried to ask on test about if this was going to be addressed....message was removed!!!