Video and System memory

[Dragon]

How can I bring the video mem usage up and lower the system mem #'s?

[Krusty]

1) It doesn't work that way

2) The video memory use is bugged. DX doesn't report it accurately

5) three sir,

3) the memory is used for different things in different places. You can't use RAM to render textures that the VRAM normally does.

[BaldEagl]

I don't think you can but that screen shot does look odd.  My old Sopwith Camel machine that I use now normally reports ~2/3-3/4 of both video and system memory in use (64 meg VRAM and 568 meg RAM available).  Use numbers are usually ~42 megs VRAM and ~410 megs RAM (graphics sliders set down) @ ~25 FPS.

[Bruv119]

mine reads something like  120mb used 640 available, whilst tinkering with crazy amounts of AA and v-sync off the highest amount of video ram i managed to use was 320mb.

Use about 600-700 system memory of 2 gig.

Questions;

Are you using any Anti-aliasing settings outside of game?
Running the hi-res pack?
What resolution do you have the game in and what level of textures?  512, 256? etc?
Are you pre-loading anything ?
Sliders maxed? terrain detail/distance?

[Krusty]

It doesn't matter what settings you use, the readout itself is bugged. It will NOT tell you how much video RAM is being used. Don't even look at it.

[Bruv119]

care to explain that one in a little more detail Krusty?

Looking at his enlarged screenshot in the other thread something clearly isn't right. 

7mb used is NOT normal 

[Dragon]

mine reads something like  120mb used 640 available, whilst tinkering with crazy amounts of AA and v-sync off the highest amount of video ram i managed to use was 320mb.

Use about 600-700 system memory of 2 gig.

Questions;

Are you using any Anti-aliasing settings outside of game?
set for 4x, overiding games - should this be changed to let the game control it?
Running the hi-res pack?
yes
What resolution do you have the game in and what level of textures?  512, 256? etc?
1680 x 1050 which is native, 1024
Are you pre-loading anything ?
no
Sliders maxed? terrain detail/distance? sliders almost all the way to left, more detail and @ 2.5 miles for ground detail

E6750 2.66
2 gig ram
Vista home Premium
GeForce 8600GT 256

[Bruv119]

thats odd then how come it shows 1057mb vid memory if you only have a 8600GT?

All them other settings you have listed seem right why it would only show 7mb used though is new to me.  It must use more than that if you have everything like you say.

[Dragon]

 

Yeah, I don't understand it either.

[Krusty]

It doesn't matter what it says. What it says is in-use will never be accurate. DirectX itself is what tells the game this info, and DirectX itself does not accurately report this info (from what I read there's no way it can tell this to begin with).

As for the "total" value, does he have SLI? That counts both cards if memory serves. Also it could just be a DX conflict with a new card, some sort of "hypermemory" where it uses system RAM, or who knows what.

Overall, if you can't trust the 7mb (and you can't), then who's to say you can trust the 1057mb?

[Dragon]

As for the "total" value, does he have SLI? That counts both cards if memory serves. Also it could just be a DX conflict with a new card, some sort of "hypermemory" where it uses system RAM, or who knows what.

I was a bit tipsy when I assembled this thing, no SLI - yet, but I might have clicked on Enable SuperHyperMemory in the BIOS somewhere.

[DrDea]

 Take this thy holy hand grenade..................

[Getback]

Krusty, think they will get the point.

I believe that Skuzzy said that the usage is not accurate because of the drivers or dx. The point being it's not accurate.

That's about all I know.

[Dragon]

So with all the attention to detail, why leave something in the game that lies?

[Skuzzy]

It is not necessarily a lie.  The reporting method is what we cannot gaurantee.  For example, some drivers report the usage with the textures in thier onboard compressed format while not repoting how much memory is being used after the textures are uncompressed to be used.

There is no standard for reporting memory used on a video card.  Is it the frame buffer space?  Is the texture space?  Is it vertex space?  No one but the manufacturer knows for sure.

And as NVidia or AMD might actually look at the game for issues from time to time, it is beneficial to them.