Big problems with computer memory while rendering

[J-G]

I have a few renderings to do, but after over populating them with RPC plants (and counting the fact that the building was complex to begin with) I am having a hard time producing the renderings. For small selections it works great, but anytime that I go for an overall view I get a warning that my computer memory is running low while rendering and then it stops.

What are my options? I have 1gig of ram and a 3gig Pentium 4. What are ideal settings for the computer's virtual memory, and would changing this help me? I don't have a second internal hard drive, but I do have a firewire drive, and I am wondering if I could use this as extra space while rendering. I have played with the rendering settings, but with no luck. Besides I wouldn't be happy with a low res rendering even if I could make it work since these will be used for a presentation.

Any help, including specific settings would really be appreciated.

Here are two samples of successful peice renderings, but everything stops when I try to do the whole thing.

[beegee]

Are you sure the render is freezing and not processing away without much appearing to happen ?

Try cutting down the reflection and transparency bounces ( say 2 )to see if that makes a difference. No soft shadows either.

Try one at a setting like "good". Select backface culling and view culling, and try a region raytrace selecting a box around the whole model. Set DPI at 150.

Your RAM and chip are fine, I doubt that can be the problem.

As a last resort, try putting the RPC people and the plants on worksets and turning them off. Render the view without them. Render another view with just that on and combine the two in photohop.

[LRaiz]

Jon,

Take a look at the size of your pagefile. Total virtual memory available to running programs is limited to the sum of RAM and pagefile. If your pagefile is less then 1 GB then you may want to bump it up. When rendering does not fit into RAM and needs to do a lot of swapping using pagefile the performance is likely to go down but you might be able to finish the process without getting low virtual memory warnings.

You can access the pagefile settings from Control Panel | System.

Leonid

[Steve_Stafford]

In addition to the others comments;

Make sure you are using a crop region. Next use a scope box that frames your view.

Anything that won't be in your view, get rid of it or turn it off and/or make sure it's outside your scope box. Depending on how far you are from the model consider whether the material maps will truly "read" or can you substitute a simpler material? I know it sounds degrading, but in reality you can't see blades of grass right?

Next take a look at each material, some grass materials have been more trouble than others. Try your render with simple materials and iterate with more satisfying ones to see which one(s) bogs things down. Also try the render without a group of objects, namely the trees for example and see how the Revit performs without them.

Finally, start with very low res and work your way up and gauge how the performance is. You may not need as fine a resolution as you think. Unless you're mounting it on a 4x8 sheet of plywood. :D

[J-G]

Thank you all for the help. I tried the settings Beegee suggested, but I get the same memory error. Once I get that rendering does stop - not just slow. I will try the scope box and simpler materials. I have a lot of room on the hard drive and I set the page file to the max, but it still seems to bog down. I think all of the materials (all images) and RPCs are just taking up too much memory. I wanted to keep the fancy materials because they look really nice 8) but I may not have that option.

[LRaiz]

Standard 32 bit Windows Operating System imposes a 2 GB limit on total virtual memory available to a single program. Are you using Windows XP? If you are then there exists a way to reconfigure it to about 2.7 GB.

LR

[J-G]

yes I am using windows XP. Getting some extra memory would be great. Do you have a link or an easy explaination? Thank you for your help.

[LRaiz]

The /3GB switch can be added to the boot.ini file
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;833721

[Steve_Stafford]

Fwiw, a couple of "geek" sites mentioned that this boot.ini tweak is not compatible with service pack 1 and 1a for XP. It's supposed to be fixed in sp2.

[beegee]

Windows XP fails to start with /3GB switch enabled with Service Pack 1
This issue can affect the FireGL graphics board series configured under Windows XP with Service Pack 1 installed.

With either the /3GB or the /USERVA with the /3GB switch enabled, Windows may fail to start. It has also been reported that an error message may appear indicating one of the registry hives is corrupted.

Some users have also reported that the system will crash or blue screen before the FireGL driver is loaded. A memory error may also follow.

Systems without Service Pack 1 are not affected.

A patch is available from Microsoft which will resolve this issue. For more information, please refer to Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 328269.

This is a separate patch for users with Service Pack 1 installed only. This fix will be incorporated in future Service Pack updates for Windows XP.

INFO-BASE# 4126

KEYWORDS: FIREGL for WORKSTATION WINDOWS XP /3GB SERVICE PACK 1 FAIL



Windows XP SP1 May Not Start with the /3GB or /USERVA Switch
Applies To
This article was previously published under Q328269
SYMPTOMS
If you upgrade your computer to Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) and you are using the /3GB switch or the /USERVA switch with the /3GB switch, Windows may not start. You may also receive an error message that states that one of the registry hives is corrupted.
CAUSE
This issue occurs because Ntldr incorrectly puts part of the registry in memory when Windows is starting. This causes the registry to be unreadable by the kernel later in the startup process. When this occurs, the startup process is stopped and you receive the error message.
RESOLUTION
A supported fix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Apply it only to computers that are experiencing this specific problem. This fix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Windows XP service pack that contains this fix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the fix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS



And here's how...


Before adding the 3GB switch though it is important to note that the switch is very picky, and requires that every device and driver on your system be fully WinXP compatible in order to work at all. If anything in the system is not compatible, Windows will not load at all when restarting with the 3GB switch activated. The only way to then remove the switch from the Boot.ini file so that Windows can load is to either mount the drive in another system and manually change the boot.ini file, or reformat the drive and re-install Windows. Both solutions are far from ideal.

To safely add the 3GB switch we recommend adding a second instance of the OS in the boot.ini, and add the /3GB switch to that second version.


----- default boot.ini without 3GB Switch -----

This is what a default boot.ini file will look like. (This may differ from system to system.)

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Pro"


----- updated boot.ini with 3GB Switch -----

This is what the updated version should look like. Notice the /3GB that has been added to the second instance of the OS line.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Pro"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Pro with /3GB" /3GB


Once you have updated your boot.ini file accordingly and have saved the changes, simply restart your system for the changes to take affect. When your system reboots you will be given the option to choose either the standard Windows XP version or the 3GB switch enabled Windows XP version. If you choose the 3GB version and it fails to allow Windows to properly load, just restart your system and you will be given the two options once again, where you can then choose the standard Windows XP version to load. Either way, if it works or doesn't, you can then remove whatever line you don't need in the boot.ini file.


Please note: The 3GB switch is only compatible with the following versions of Microsoft Windows.

- Windows XP Professional (and greater)
- Windows Server 2003
- Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
- Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition
- Windows 2000 Advanced Server
- Windows 2000 Datacenter Server
- Windows NT Server 4.0, Enterprise Edition

For a more detailed explanation of the 3GB switch and usage please visit the following page on the Microsoft website.

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hwdev/platform/server/PAE/PAEmem.mspx

[Scott D Davis]

Take notice!!!


If anything in the system is not compatible, Windows will not load at all when restarting with the 3GB switch activated. The only way to then remove the switch from the Boot.ini file so that Windows can load is to either mount the drive in another system and manually change the boot.ini file, or reformat the drive and re-install Windows. Both solutions are far from ideal.

EDIT: The fix for this is posted above. <beegee>

[J-G]

Thank you for the help. I added the switch and it works great. It helped me, becasue although my resolution is not where I want it I have been able to produce some renderings. Before it just refused. It is nice to see the computer finally work at the rendering without stopping itself due to lack of memory.

Thank you again.

http://www.zoogdesign.com/forums/phpBB2/download.php?id=2322

[beegee]

Just a little weekend retreat shack eh Jon ?

Glad to see you're getting some good results.

[J-G]

Yeah just your typical three bedroom 2 bath ;-).

[PeterJ]

Is the place under attack or is that a power line heading in from top left?

[J-G]

Its under attack. The walls of the chimney had to be mitered - that removed the odd line