question about p3d memory and cfg tweaks

[luvtofly]

There are a few questions that I would like to ask about p3d. I was reading the manual that lockheed martin has and they mention some tweaks that we had in fsx. Would like to know if anybody are useing any of these tweaks? Second qeustion If I add 8 more gigs of memory would that help OOM. The reason I ask Is I have a few out of memory crashes a couple of times. I have my computer overclocked at 3.7. I know that My 760 gtx card is a little weak, but with the prices of a new card being so hi, I just can't afford a different card. I really like p3d and don't want to give it up and go back to fsx. If anybody have any suggestion, I am all ears. thanks for all your help. Jim

[MarcE]

Jim

Since P3Dv4 Lockheed Martin has jumped over to a 64bit memory system. This means that it can use 2^64bytes of memory, which is ridiculously high. So if you have 8GB of RAM P3D can use everthing that is remaining, if you have 16GB, 32... it doesn‘t actually matter, a 64bit program has access to the complete memory. But your windows has to be in 64bit structure too. You can check this in the control panel -> system.

OOMs are a thing of the past as long as there is enough physical memory.

[luvtofly]

thanks Marce. If I read you right I would better off getting 64 gigs of ram?, the reason I ask Is I have windows 10 64 bit system I like to listen to music when I sim. It relaxes me. I think I am still going to get 16 gigs , It can't hurt. and see if it helps. The last crash that I had is I was listening to some music. Thanks again MarcE

[WB_FlashOver]

First off sir, you are mentioning P3D but not which version. If you are having OOM's then you must be using P3Dv3 or lower. Second, the amount of physical memory is not the issue (usually) when it comes to OOM's. 32bit programs, FSX & P3D versions 1-3 all run in 32bit platform, no matter whether you have a 64bit OS or not. In FSX my system would crash when I got over 2.8-3GB memory committed to the sim even though I have 16GB physical memory installed. You could have 128GB of installed memory and you will still have OOM's in FSX and P3Dv1-3.

If you are getting OOM's in P3Dv4.x then you having some other issue. None of the tweaks are needed in the config file for P3Dv4.x to run smoothly. There are tweaks that can improve visual effects, performance, etc for P3Dv4 config but they are not needed.

Cheers
Roger

[Tutmeister]

Yes Roger is correct, the first thing we need to know is which version of p3d.
If you had 64bit windows and p3d v4 then it will make use of all your ram. 64GB of ram is a waste of money though. The sweet spot for p3d is probably 16GB, 32 as a max because it just doesn't use that much due to the way it loads scenery. Xplane would need more ram in max settings because it preloads a scenery tile at a time but you don't need it for p3d.
Win 10 home is limited to 128GB and pro to 512GB. Neither of which you will need to worry about in a home pc as you just can't fit that much in there!
Instead of buying ram consider p3d v4 and a 64bit windows(I'd be surprised if you weren't already 64 bit though) if you don't have it.
Chris

[luvtofly]

Sorry guys for not letting you know which p3d I have, that is what happens when you don't preview your message. I have P3DV4. I just installed it last week, along with the Bo. P3d runs very smooth, with the set up that I have. I only had two ooms. I was listening to music and had Plan G running in the background. I am going out today and purchase 16 gigs of memory. I have 8 gigs corsair vengeance ram. I really appreciate your help. I don't post very much here because I can usually find what I am looking for by checking In to A2A everyday. I had my computer built about 4 year ago.
Thanks for all your help.
Here are my computer specs
Mother board P8z77-v
cpu i5_3570k overclocked at 3.7
Corsair ddr3 8gigs
N vidia 760 gtx
Water cooled corsair 100
800watt power supply

[MarcE]

Jim,

no, you don't need 64GB. I'm no IT guy and I have no clue of mathematical expressions in english so please don't take me too technical, but 64bit system means that the system can adress 2^64 (2 to the 64?) bytes of RAM storage. this is a number with 20 figures..

Below the line this means we don't have to worry about any OOMs anymore. But this has a few requirements:

- the windows version has to be 64bit, too.
- your simulator has to be in 64bit, today that's XP11 and P3Dv4. As the others said every older simulator has a 32bit architecture which limits its capability to store data to 4GB, no matter how much you actually have.
- obviously, you also need the physical storage, but no need of 64GB.. 16 is absolutely fine, if you want to fly future FSL or PMDG products together with some heavy scenery you might want to go higher.. I have 32 and it's never been filled up. Normally I use 12-14GB in really heavy scenery and weather with the FSL A319. A2A addons are much easier on the system.

I am going out today and purchase 16 gigs of memory.

good choice, you won't regret it.