Low memory issues when playing Overwatch


  1. Posts : 4
    Windows 10
       #1

    Low memory issues when playing Overwatch


    Hi,

    This issue has occurred whenever I play Overwatch. It can occur when I have only played for 10 minutes or it may not appear until after many hours of playing.

    I have 8GB of RAM and the most I have seen Overwatch use via task manager is 2GB. I usually have at least 40% (so a little over 3GB) of free memory when this issue occurs.

    A message pops up saying that Windows is low on memory and needs to close some applications; it always wants to close Overwatch. I will usually cancel out of this message and continue playing, and this works for awhile, but eventually the game will crash. I have recently tried shutting down all other programs when this happens to be able to continue playing, and this sometimes works. But regardless, this shouldn't be happening. I have plenty of free memory left. Not sure of what to do to fix this. This is really the only high intensive game I play, so I haven't tested it out with other games.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 3,257
    Windows 10 Pro
       #2

    Windows has several kinds of memory, some of which can get used up when you still have a lot of available free memory otherwise.

    These are called Resource Heaps, and they apply to things like Window, file, bitmap, etc.. Handles, as well as kernel paged and non-paged memory.

    It sounds like one of your resource heaps is being exhausted, and it's not easy to know which one without having some experience in this. One thing to look for is to open up task manager, and check on the Performance tab whether your Non-paged pool memory is very large (larger than a few hundred MB). That would indicate a device driver leak of some kind.

    Also, make sure that you have enough disk space on your C: drive for the page and swap files. Even though you have free memory, these files still get used for various purposes. If your disk is full or almost full, this can cause the problem you mention.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 430
    Win 10
       #3

    there has been talk on the overwatch forums of the game having a memory leak on high settings , ultra seems unaffected , not sure if this is proven however , if your memory use isnt going up over time then this isnt the case and if your usage is fine when playing ie its 40% and windows is reporting low memory incorrectly thyen it may be a pagefile issue , what about trying a clean boot then playing? use a program like msi afterburner to monitor your physical ram usage ingame , also as has been mentioned low disk space can cause this although usually windows will reserve space for your pagefile . You didnt change your pagefile size for any reason no?
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 4
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Mystere said:
    Windows has several kinds of memory, some of which can get used up when you still have a lot of available free memory otherwise.

    These are called Resource Heaps, and they apply to things like Window, file, bitmap, etc.. Handles, as well as kernel paged and non-paged memory.

    It sounds like one of your resource heaps is being exhausted, and it's not easy to know which one without having some experience in this. One thing to look for is to open up task manager, and check on the Performance tab whether your Non-paged pool memory is very large (larger than a few hundred MB). That would indicate a device driver leak of some kind.

    Also, make sure that you have enough disk space on your C: drive for the page and swap files. Even though you have free memory, these files still get used for various purposes. If your disk is full or almost full, this can cause the problem you mention.
    My non-paged pool memory was 195MB, and it looks like I do have drivers that are not up to date. I'm not into paying for a tool to update my drivers though. I'll manually do it.

    I have plenty of disk space free.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 3,257
    Windows 10 Pro
       #5

    lkirchner021 said:
    My non-paged pool memory was 195MB, and it looks like I do have drivers that are not up to date. I'm not into paying for a tool to update my drivers though. I'll manually do it.

    I have plenty of disk space free.
    The other issues is likely that Overwatch is a 32 bit application, which means it can address at most 4GB of memory, even if you have 16GB on your 64 bit system. The app is still 32 bit and subject to 32 bit memory limitations.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 430
    Win 10
       #6

    Mystere said:
    The other issues is likely that Overwatch is a 32 bit application, which means it can address at most 4GB of memory, even if you have 16GB on your 64 bit system. The app is still 32 bit and subject to 32 bit memory limitations.
    well no overwatch is 64 bit only it doesnt support 32 bit doubt it will even run on a 32bit or even install
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 430
    Win 10
       #7

    lkirchner021 said:
    My non-paged pool memory was 195MB, and it looks like I do have drivers that are not up to date. I'm not into paying for a tool to update my drivers though. I'll manually do it.

    I have plenty of disk space free.
    its not a driver problem , look on the official forums loads have the same issue (some have solved it with a missing windows update so check that) Game crash due to low memory - Overwatch Forums
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 3,257
    Windows 10 Pro
       #8

    I didn't realize they were making 64 bit games. Shows how long it's been since I was a gamer.. lol
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 4
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #9

    Archie123 said:
    its not a driver problem , look on the official forums loads have the same issue (some have solved it with a missing windows update so check that) Game crash due to low memory - Overwatch Forums
    Well I am on Windows 10, so it's not like I can ever miss an update. I looked at those forums, and they have not helped. This still goes on, someone said it was an issue with the high settings on the game and that ultra actually worked better. This didn't help either.

    Any other suggestions, it is really annoying.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 4
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       #10

    Archie123 said:
    well no overwatch is 64 bit only it doesnt support 32 bit doubt it will even run on a 32bit or even install
    The game uses at max about 2 GB of memory for me.
      My Computer


 

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