FO4 can't reach 4GB system ram usage without crashing. Crashing at 3.5 even when there's plenty more available

[fftfan]

I have been troubleshooting crashes that occur when building using Sim Settlements and it has become apparent that it occurs at a specific point which is when the game's RAM usage reaches about 3.5GB. I've tried going in-game windowed with Task Manager visible and the crash always occurs just after the game's RAM usage reaches 3.4GB.

 

Is there any way to allow the game to use more RAM?

[SirTwist]

What mod manager are you using? Knowing that may help. There could be a mod conflict causing problems. Also, use F4SE.

[fftfan]

I do have F4SE & use NMM

[JimmyRJump]

 

Is there any way to allow the game to use more RAM?

Try ENBoost. It allows the game to fool itself and see system RAM as video RAM. Just don't set it higher than two to three GB of your total RAM for operating system and background operations purposes.

 

Also check Bilago's FO4 Configuration Tool for easy tweaks and easy start-up of the game through F4SE

[fftfan]

 

 

Is there any way to allow the game to use more RAM?

Try ENBoost. It allows the game to fool itself and see system RAM as video RAM. Just don't set it higher than two to three GB of your total RAM for operating system and background operations purposes.

 

Also check Bilago's FO4 Configuration Tool for easy tweaks and easy start-up of the game through F4SE

 

Wow thanks this seems like it might have done the trick. Now instead of crashing I do see some slowdown although I suppose that's to be expected with only 8GB system RAM. I passed over the mod previously as I do not plan to run an ENB Preset as 4K is quite demanding and the game looks pretty good already.

[JimmyRJump]

 

 

 

Is there any way to allow the game to use more RAM?

Try ENBoost. It allows the game to fool itself and see system RAM as video RAM. Just don't set it higher than two to three GB of your total RAM for operating system and background operations purposes.

 

Also check Bilago's FO4 Configuration Tool for easy tweaks and easy start-up of the game through F4SE

 

Wow thanks this seems like it might have done the trick. Now instead of crashing I do see some slowdown although I suppose that's to be expected with only 8GB system RAM. I passed over the mod previously as I do not plan to run an ENB Preset as 4K is quite demanding and the game looks pretty good already.

 

You're more than welcome :smile:

 

ENBoost and ENB presets are two completely different things, by the way.

 

Keep in mind that FO4 is very badly optimised concerning RAM use. A year ago the game had spikes of over 10GB of overall memory use. It's been since May 2017 that I've played FO4 and I don't know if a newer version has been released meanwhile and if so, if that update has addressed the RAM issues or not.

 

But seeing you still have areas (probably in Downtown Boston and when doing the Freedom Trail, among other places) where the game slows a bit, I'd say the issue is still there...

[jones177]

Hi

 

Fallout 4 is the game that made me go 16gb ram over 8.

 

Your GTX 1080s vram can spike & if you don't have enough ram to support it "CTD". I had lots of issues with 6gb vram on my GTX 980ti with 8gb ram playing at 4k.

 

At 4k resolution I use 4.7 vram average but spike to 6.8(GTX 1080 ti) in some areas & that is without terrain textures. I use over 4gb ram every time I play the game.

 

With lots of mods CPU temperatures can get really high especially if you are using "enhanced multi core performance" that is set to default on some performance motherboards(ASUS). That along with XMP being enabled can be a big deal with this game if you are using a stock cooler.

 

I had to replace my Intel cooler for a Noctua NH-D15 & I don't even overclock. Adding mods to this game can raise the CPU temperature more than 15 degrees C. The increase for me has been over time & has only become an issue now. When my game freezes I am usually in build mode & the only thing spiking is the CPU temps.

 

I use Fallout Performance Monitor to check temps. https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/1762/?

MSI Afterburner does not seem to like the game.

Later

[JimmyRJump]

 

...()...I use over 4gb ram every time I play the game...()...

 

...()...MSI Afterburner does not seem to like the game...()...

I use over 4GB V-RAM everytime too and I play at 1080x1920. I have 16GB of system RAM but had only 3GB of V-RAM on my then AMD MSI R7970 Lightning. The game crashed on me all the time, even with ENBoost in use. In August 2016, I bought an AMD MSI RX470 GamingX 8GB GPU and had no more crashes in FO4 ever since... Went for the RX470 as that particular model had performances close/equal to the stock RX480.

 

I've been using MSI AfterBurner for seventeen years, also on FO4 since November 2015 (to monitor CPU & GPU temps & use and RAM & V-RAM use on the dislay of my G-19 keyboard), without a glitch. I however never used the added app called RivaTunerStatisticServer. That's the one that usually causes the problems because it stays in touch with its home server all the time.

 

Been only starting to use the latter when I started on Mass Effect: Andromeda (for RivaTuner's one key screenshot possibility) and noticed it makes the game stutter at irregular intervals.

[fftfan]

One question about the ENBoost, is there any way to use that together with Load Accelerator? They both use d3d11.dll. Only thing the Load Accelerator does is disable V Sync and uncap FPS while in loading screens which speeds up loading(Apparently load times are linked to FPS).

I use over 4GB V-RAM everytime too and I play at 1080x1920. I have 16GB of system RAM but had only 3GB of V-RAM on my then AMD MSI R7970 Lightning. The game crashed on me all the time, even with ENBoost in use. In August 2016, I bought an AMD MSI RX470 GamingX 8GB GPU and had no more crashes in FO4 ever since... Went for the RX470 as that particular model had performances close/equal to the stock RX480.

I've been using MSI AfterBurner for seventeen years, also on FO4 since November 2015 (to monitor CPU & GPU temps & use and RAM & V-RAM use on the dislay of my G-19 keyboard), without a glitch. I however never used the added app called RivaTunerStatisticServer. That's the one that usually causes the problems because it stays in touch with its home server all the time.

Been only starting to use the latter when I started on Mass Effect: Andromeda (for RivaTuner's one key screenshot possibility) and noticed it makes the game stutter at irregular intervals.

I was also stlll experiencing crashes at 1080p, I tried running 1080p and reducing settings just for stability when building. Regular combat/questing/etc was usually fine on 4K.

Hi

Fallout 4 is the game that made me go 16gb ram over 8.

Your GTX 1080s vram can spike & if you don't have enough ram to support it "CTD". I had lots of issues with 6gb vram on my GTX 980ti with 8gb ram playing at 4k.

At 4k resolution I use 4.7 vram average but spike to 6.8(GTX 1080 ti) in some areas & that is without terrain textures. I use over 4gb ram every time I play the game.

With lots of mods CPU temperatures can get really high especially if you are using "enhanced multi core performance" that is set to default on some performance motherboards(ASUS). That along with XMP being enabled can be a big deal with this game if you are using a stock cooler.

I had to replace my Intel cooler for a Noctua NH-D15 & I don't even overclock. Adding mods to this game can raise the CPU temperature more than 15 degrees C. The increase for me has been over time & has only become an issue now. When my game freezes I am usually in build mode & the only thing spiking is the CPU temps.

I use Fallout Performance Monitor to check temps. https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/1762/?

I am planning to just buy a new RAM kit when finances allow. I've read that using different RAM modules which may have differences in speed or timings can be troublesome therefore not worth it IMO so I'll just buy a brand new one and just sell my existing 1 8GB module.

Would buying a 16GB module help significantly enough or should I consider buying 32GB? Should I consider something faster or is 3200mhz good?

I also vaguely remember from a discussion(I was googling either about this RAM issue or possibly something else) somebody claiming that Quad Channel RAM strongly improves performance in Fallout 4 but I'm not sure if I'd want to do this since I assume I'd more or less have to go 32GB with 4x8GB modules, I hear 4GB modules don't work well so it's apparently a bad idea to use 4x4GB modules. 32GB is expensive but if it'll let things run butter smooth it'd possibly be worth it.

I'm going to try out that Fallout Performance Monitor, I don't think my CPU was overheating since I'm just using the locked i7-7700 as I never planned to do a CPU OC. I figure by the time this CPU is generally insufficient the higher CPU core counts will be standard for gaming, there will be probably be stuff like 6 core 12 thread i5s so it'll be necessary buy a 6/9 core CPU.

Hi

Fallout 4 is the game that made me go 16gb ram over 8.

Your GTX 1080s vram can spike & if you don't have enough ram to support it "CTD". I had lots of issues with 6gb vram on my GTX 980ti with 8gb ram playing at 4k.

I am inexperienced with PC Hardware so I just wanted to ask clarification on this part. Could this mean the GTX 1080's 8GB VRAM can be insufficient for Fallout 4? Or is the VRAM also potentially constrained by system RAM like in this case with a single 8GB module, meaning the usable amount for the graphics card will be less due to Windows and other PC programs? General use typically adds up to about 2.5-3GB RAM or can be more depending, some things like Youtube or some Nexus mod pages can make it use more.

So would that mean the GTX 1080 VRAM in this case could be limited to less than 5GB ?

 

I think that would explain a lot as of course the game is going to be using RAM not related to the graphics card so if the GPU is sharing this ~5GB pool it's

[JimmyRJump]

RAM speed isn't as important as some might let you think. I am using 4x4GB Kingston HyperX (KHX) DDR3 at its stock 1600MHz speed. I can make these sticks run at 2321MHz (2322 and they overheat) for days on end and I will gain one to two frames per second in whatever game. I started using Kingston in 2000 because at the time Kingston was the only RAM manufacturer who still made everything, including their chips, themselves and also assembled everything themselves. Nowadays they also use Infineon and Samsung chips, but I stick with the brand anyway.

 

RAM timings can be important, but they can be set manually in the BIOS of the motherboard; just like RAM speeds.

 

If and when you buy new RAM, buy at least a set of two or four sticks to take advantage of the dual channel and/or quad channel speed gain as your system will see the two or four sticks as one as long as they are in corresponding slots (like slot 0 and 2 or slot 1 and 3 for dual channel and 0, 2, 4 & 6 or 1, 3, 5 & 7 for quad channel). Strange enough, two/four sticks are faster than just the one. 16GB should largely suffice, but 32GB don't hurt. A speed of 3200MHz for RAM is fast enough. Want to go faster? Hey, why not? I myself have a budget that fits on a stamp so I don't bother with very high RAM speeds at a premium price just to gain a couple of frames per second. It's fun when doing a lot of benchmarks, sure, but it also tends to make my wallet want to migrate...

 

When buying multiple sticks, buy a set that comes in a certified box to make sure you have sticks that were manufactured at the same time so there's no differences between the sticks. Separate sticks of RAM which were manufactured on different dates sometimes don't like to co-operate as well. Doesn't happen often, but it happens.

 

Even though FO4 is supposed to be a 64-bits game, it doesn't take advantage of the fact that 64-bits allows more than an overall use of 4GB of RAM compared to a 32-bits system which is limited to that overall use of 4GB, because the game's engine is still 32-bits. This means that the game, under normal circumstances won't go over the 4GB threshold and won't even reach that 4GB. That's where ENBoost comes in and takes away the limitation of the game.

 

You don't have to use Load Accelerator because V-Sync and FPS cap/uncap can be set in the game's .ini file.