47 posts

I just took a look at memory usage and VGHD's commit count is
734,192K. That is quite large. I quit VGHD and restarted it. The commit count is now 17032K. Is there a memory leak in the application?

I believe this could be related to the size and length of the current animation loaded. The software loads the whole clip into memory before starting to display it. Maybe this is what you see.

Then again... if the memory keep filling up there's probably a leek somewhere...

I am keeping my eye on it. It starts at 17K, jumps to 177K with just one animation and then came down to 143K. I also turned off the scteensaver for now in case it's the aggravating factor. 700K would be one large animation. The only reason I am concerned is that when you get to 2GB it will be out of memory, 1.5GB if the application uses .NET (unless it's a 64 bit app?).

It could be to do with how much of the video stream has to be buffered into memory, virtual or actual. I have a gig memory on motherboard and graphics and VG almost never goes above 90,000K...

The only leak I can confirm is leak of system resources (handles) not memory. It occurs on my two PCs - leak of about 0.3% of windows system resources for every animation played. I have never seen before memory leak.

My total RAM is 12GB. The video card has 512MB.

So far, I haven't seen it grow past 200,000K. It does vary with the animation and goes up and down. It probably would read the entire animation into memory to feed it into the DirectShow graph. I assuming they use DirectShow API because VGHD crashed initially in a MPEG2 Directshow video filter. That problem has not reoccurred. It could a bad animation file that VGHD hasn't hit again.

Keep watching it. I'll turn the screensaver back on later to see if that is the root cause.

Looks like screensaver mode is leaking the memory. Given the other problems with screensaver mode (freezes), I will stop using it.

Can anyone confirm leaks of system resources (via DHeapMon tool)?

I don't see leaks of system resources... it can play animations all day long without having problems.

There is one memory related problem that I have seen twice in the last two days. When you use the play now button it sometimes crashes the app. Sometimes when it restarts there is a huge spike in memory associated with vghd.

The system uses 400K to 650K with vghd running. Sometimes when VGHD starts it hits 1417K and only stops there because I only have 1422K. Out of memory messages, then odd things, then it dies usually. The next restart is fine.

In my case, the memory growth was definitely due to the screensaver. I stopped using it and VGHD is staying reasonably small.

@mvpsome
I confirm the Desktop Heap Issue.
I have the same problems. If I let the VirtuaGirl program running all day long, my system resources will be full and I won't be able to right-click or open new explorer windows.

Each time you maximize and minimize the virtuagirl, it raise the windows system resources by 0.3% or 0.2% and when it hits 99%, you have to close the program and restart it to bring it back to normal.

check the screenshot made with DHeapMon tool.

MVPsome & gevaqypi,

What are your system specs & O/S name & versions please. You may have posted them elsewhere but we need there here as well.

2vg4us,

Probably a wise call given the other issues you are having with it.

My Specs are:
Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Quad CPU
Q6600 @ 2.40GHz
4Go RAM
Windows XP Pro
Graphic Card: ATI Radeon HD 3850

That happens on my two PCs:
- Desktop: Opteron X4, 2GB RAM, WinXP Pro SP3, NVIDIA 8600
- Laptop: Intel Pentium 4M, 512 RAM, WinXP Pro SP2, dont know the video right now.

Actually I dont use my laptop to play VGHD, becuase with the new video format the FPS of the shows drop drastic :) , but I am using it just for test of VGHD, like that one.

Interesting part is that the both PCs are "developer" PCs - with lot of developer tools - so there is little chance of some strange relation with some developer tool. As hardware both PCs are completely different. I never tried to install VGHD to test heap leaks on clean PC, but can do it tomorrow.

I was reported that problem 4-5 months ago, but it is still there. I am developer and know how hard is to find such problems, but when I was reported for first time - it was the version change were that problem raised, so it will be easy to find what developers changed.

I suppose that most of the users are not using VGHD like me - started all the time, not restarting my PC for months, and these little leaks are noticeable in long term. Probably most of users are shut down theirs PCs at the end of the day and they dont see that problem. But.... if some non-technical user get into that problem - I am sure VGHD will be the last thing he/she will suspect. Because when system resources are at >95% the whole Windows is stop to responding little by little - cant open menus, dialog windows dont show, etc.

can only confirm that i have to reboost my pc much more often as before the new release.

Never thought the problem would be vghd.

LuckyRene, that problem is from several months, not from the last version. If I am remembering right that problem comes when there was change in video format, but I can be wrong... can look for my old emails, when I sent my email report to Rex, but definitely that is old bug. Also before that leak - the old versions (4-5 months ago) have such leak too, but in much less scale - only about 0.1% or less.

Found it - my first report is on "Wed Apr 22, 2009 03:01 pm" - which version were released back then - in that version problem raised noticeable for me.

MVPsome; thanks for the info but in my case the problem with much more re-starts of the the pc is since download the new release of vghd.

However, i store all files at an extern hdd and so i wonder or it's really vghd what is responsable for that issue.

I guess it's not just me then. I was trying to diagnose this problem the other day when I left my computer running all night and nothing worked properly. No right-click, programs wouldn't start, etc. The only thing I did different was leave vghd running as I usually run my PC for days on end with no problem.

CarpeSangrea, the symptoms you described are exactly how it works when Windows is running out of system resources. The bad thing is that size of that desktop heap is fixed for all windows versions (till XP/2003, dont know the 'new' versions) and that size doesn't depend on how "powerful" your system is, it doesn't matter if you have only 512MB RAM or for example 8GB of RAM, in any case you will run out of resources after about 200-250 played shows without restart of VGHD. That number depends on how many other programs you are running... for me that number is much less :( - about 100-150 shows, because I constantly running a lot of programs simultaneously.

I found a solution that worked for me...

If you have a lot of applications open one thing you might notice is that Windows -- even XP -- will reach a point where no more windows can be opened. For me, IE hits this point after about 40-50 windows. Depending on what else you have running, you may be able to open more or less.

Usually this is not a problem, but if you find yourself running into this limit the workaround is to increase the Desktop Heap. To do this, edit the following key in the registry:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\SubSystems]
Windows="%SystemRoot%\system32\csrss.exe ObjectDirectory=\Windows SharedSection=1024,3072,512 Windows=On SubSystemType=Windows ServerDll=basesrv,1 ServerDll=winsrv:UserServerDllInitialization,3 ServerDll=winsrv:ConServerDllInitialization,2 ProfileControl=Off MaxRequestThreads=16"

and change 3072 to a larger value such as 4096. Always use caution when editing your registry;

gevaqypi, yes, that is the only one solution and I am using it not because of the VGHD, but because of my other programs, I am running so much heavy programs, that sometimes even without VGHD I get out of system resources.

BUT, please guys dont try this at home ;) .... that registry value is one of easiest way to mess up your windows. You have to take care every time you edit Windows Registry, but with that key (as many others) be extremely careful or very bad things will happen ;). I personally killed one Windows with just typo error in that key :)

BTW, hope that Totem will take in mind that problem now after it is confirmed from many of you guys. Previous time they haven't pay much attention to that nasty bug.

Any feedback from Totem on that problem?

Give it time mvpsome,

Totem are aware that some people have cpu or memory issues, but its not a commmon issue across the board.

They always try and minimise the memory & CPU usage, but there are many issues on individual machines that come into play.

I for one am not having a problem on my XP Pro machine with 4 Gb of Ram, but I did notice that in the current windows session, it did have a really high peak, but since then all OK.

So optimising for some may mean degrading the performance for others.

Cartref, you mean that you dont have leaks of desktop heap resources (I dont mean memory leaks or CPU usage)?

I just made few more test on complete clean Windows installation with new user account and watching trailers only and the problem is still there. It definitely doesn't depend on what software I have installed on my PC, because it is the same with clean Windows.

So, Cartref - I am 99% sure that this problem is for all users, not just me or others confirmed it here.

Its just that when that bug get to be noticeable (i.e. making some visual things - like other programs cant run, menus cant display, dialog boxes don't show) - the last program every user will suspect is VGHD. And because there is no other way to bring your Windows to life again except restarting ... every user will just restart it blaming Bill Gates for that scrappy Windows (I am blaming him too, but for other reasons :) ).

(cont.)

So, Cartref - you and everyone can reproduce it too, even without that tool Desktop Heap Monitor. You just have to be very patient and to click about 500 times on VGHD icon - to start about 250 shows...
1. Click on V icon to enable it, wait the show to begin.
2. Click on V icon to disable it.
3. Go back to step 1

You dont have to wait whole show to play, you just have to wait to begin the show.

And after about 250 shows played - your Windows will be dead ;) .

If you run in first play as much programs as you have installed (like MS office programs, Adobe and other heavy programs), just to low the free system resources - you will save clicks on V icon.

The same errors. The problem sometimes comes so unexpectedly (break a connection to the internet). More often with start of the computer or with start from the sleep mode.

In the old version of VGHD is only comes the message that is there a error and is will ending the program. After a restart (only) VGHD there not a problem and not problems in the system.

The new version will have sometimes the same problem after a restart from Win XP.

@mvpsome

I've been using VGHD all morning and without it being active I'm still back to 17152K on my 32 bit Vista machine so I'm guessing this is an OS specific problem, not an everybody problem.

sira543, consumption of Desktop Heap resource is not visible. Memory consumption is something completely different. Also if you do not play shows - VGHD do not leak Desktop Heap resources.

I agree with mvpsome...

The problem is from the VirtuaGirl software not from the user computer...

It's a major problem for people who let their computer running for days without restarting.

Yep, and I dont know why there is not any reaction (I dont count the answer "we will look at that problem" on my first report) from the Team since I first reported that back in April. That is half year since reporting that serious leak. And I mean it when I say serious, I am developer with 15+ years experience and I know what that leak means. If the user is out of luck - after using VGHD software the only way to bring his Windows back to life is "hard reset" - and that can really damage any Windows or additional software installation.

hello, i can confirm the program bloc after several use of V or play the show.

when i made my last card set, i test all shows with the 2 last nudity option and after long time the program stop and quit. but i always the hand for restarts the program or reboot the computer.

the problem here and is not the fault of the programmeur, but the conception of mémory, and for the moment i never see a programmeur free him memory after a procédure. all programmeur !!!!

take this exemple with photoshop, open several time and you have the same thing, the systeme also no free the memory, i hope the systeme seven made this free mémory, but is always good to dream.

in any case, the user must restarts one time by day. not only for VGHD but for all program used.
of course all who have only one giga or 2 giga of mémory have very quick problem.

i have 4 giga and after all my computer work, my computer is break !!!! when i work montage video or picture, sometime i must reboot before the end of the day

alerte :) , I will say it again - that Desktop Heap leak is nothing in common with memory leaks. And any resource leak is a leak, doesnt matter is it a memory, or handles or whatever - always it is programmer fault! And that is the simple true.

The easiest way for people to duplicate this problem would simply be to have the playback frequency set to "continuously" and let VGHD run overnight. While memory usage would remain consistent, the DESKTOP HEAP LEAK would make the machine essentially unusable.

It would be nice if Totem would acknowledge this as a problem that needs to be fixed.

CarpeSangrea, thats right and I am waiting for such acknowledge since April. Because before that version I was stay started VGHD for weeks, but now have to restart is at least twice a day. Looks like Totem doesn't run for so long VGHD :)

We're aware of that problem and are working on it. It seems Windows is leaking ressources when you open and close too many videos and we do that a lot. We'll keep you posted here, thanks for all the tests and screenshots, they really help.

@Totemrex24 Thank you for the reply. I'll look forward to seeing any updates you come up with on the subject.

@mvpsome,

Sorry for not reply earlier, but have been otherwise engaged.

Whilst Totemrex has acknowledged the problem and that should stop any further debate, let me say that the description that you made on the 15th matches what has been happening in my situation. Its just that I am running so many apps, that I assumed that the overall usage was the issue.

I think as I have said elsewhere a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.....

@cartref Jesus christ dude...overkill?

When I read your messages, the memory problem is not only due to VGHD because many users are still using Windows XP who manages memory very badly.
Now I use Windows 7 and I have no memory problems as you can tell...

I just got it!

fixed!

thanks to you all for your input! :)))

Ty @regi3008 ;-) have a good day and funrious.

Great :) , will wait for it.... to stop restart my VGHD twice a day :)

I guess the important question, is when will the fix be released?

Any rough ideas? In alpha? In beta?

Well... to me that question is not so important - I live with (and hurt by)that bug in last 6 months, so I can live one or two more ;)