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Problem with virtual memory


Smrk
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I have one job, where i have to save many solids in different levels (positions of electrode). Today i have error message: "PK Error code 901 , modeler has run out of virtual memory". I press ctrl alt del to see how much of memory is used and mastercam has about 3 GB of RAM. ( of my 4GB max.). Does mastercam swaps on hard drive or use only RAM?

I have to split file in two or buy more RAM... I have Vista 64bit, 4 GB RAM, using X5 MU1

Thanks for reply.

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I don't know if this will work or not but it just an idea. As I'm sure someone will be able to help if this doesn't. Have you set your physical memory in your Setting/Config/toolpath to 99%? Like I said I don't know if this will help but I thought I would toss it out at cha.

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Run ramsaver

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have you set your physical memory in your Setting/Config/toolpath to 99%

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bad Idea.

No more than 50 %

Your modeler needs memory and you are leaving it without it

Run nohistory nohist.dll c-hook to remove history from solids it will free lots of memory

It will leave you without solid history so copy your file to some other if you need your history tree

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I already have solids without history. When i start MC it takes about 110 MB of RAM, after opening file it is about 1GB, and than show begins :-) after few operations with solids (about five copies of solid, 5 translations and 5 rotations) it rapidly increase usage of ram up to 3,5 GB, than it shows error. I have to make only 4 copies, translate them and than restart MC to clean operation history and continue with work. So it looks like it is because of "undo moves" stored in memory.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Don't confuse virtual memory and physical memory. Adding physical memory will give you better performance but it will not give a 32 bit application (such as Mastercam prior to X6) access to more memory space. There is a setting in Windows for virtual memory but by default it is managed by Windows and grows as needed. 32 bit applications are limited to 2GB of address space or 3GB if it is Large Address Aware, which Mastercam is. On 32 bit Windows you have to set a boot switch to get the extra 1GB but on 64 bit Windows you get it automatically.

 

The PK error you are seeing is actually coming from Parasolids but as someone alluded to, the amount of memory being consumed could have something to do with the undo data. There is a setting in System Configuration - Start/Exit to limit the undo by number of transactins or amount of memory. By default this is not enabled. Use this with some caution because it could keep you from being able to undo.

 

The RamSaver function really does nothing more than save the file and then reopen it. It does clean up the database memory being used and frees the undo memory. You should be able to use RamSaver (or save and reopen the file) in lieu of limiting the undo.

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Joe, do you think that using ram saver may help my, having to restart MC for waterline rest paths

only regenerating after a restart and the .3k path size issue on imported or copied rest paths?

 

Or would my issue relate to how MC memory is allocated to calculate the (behind the scenes) info needed to produce

the Rest paths?

 

 

It's a bit hard to say if RamSaver would help in every case. RamSaver will free the memory used by the database, display list, undo, and a few other things. There is the posibility of having memory fragmentation or even some memory leaks in some areas. Exiting Mastercam and restarting it would clean that up. I would have to look at some specific examples in the debugger to see exactly what is happening.

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  • 3 months later...

I have been having memory issues and crashes lately, and I recently made a discovery: without making any changes to the file that I was working on, the Memory Usage (as displayed in the Task Manager) for Mastercam doubled in a few minutes. There wasn't even any Undo data to save, and I have the limit set to 10 MB. I just orbited around the model for a few minutes and watched as the memory usage climbed. I opened Mastercam and it started out using about 170,000K...I opened my file and it went up to about 215,000K...I orbited the model and the usage climbed to over 400,000K in minutes.

 

When I first pulled up the task manager to begin investigating the cause of insufficient memory, Mastercam was using over 1.4 million KB - over 1 gigabyte with this same model that started at 215,000K. What the heck is Mastercam doing? I've never seen this before in any other program.

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When you are creating electrodes... I assume you are keeping the original in burn location and rotating copy that into a new plane (most likely origin top view).

 

What I had found with cores or cavities with lots of electrodes.. I created them in burn location and then turned off core or cavity and file save some picking only my electrodes. When it came time to cut I used the WCS so I never had to transform the trodes.

 

What seems to happen especially when making trodes is you get trimmed sheets. When you copy the blank sheets start multiplying for every copy rotate translate what have you.

 

Large files after the electrodes are made use save some, the blanked entities get cleaned up. If you need to keep the electrode cut files with the original model try (save first) to turn on all levels and screen unblank unblank all and delete non associated entities.

Typically I will turn the models I need to one specific color and level and the blanks to another color/level ( it can be quite messy depending on slab surfaces count and size).

 

That should really help in downsizing the memory.

 

Kind of why I started designing my electrodes in UG or the design side software. Try to keep my mastercam cut files as small as possible.

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I have one job, where i have to save many solids in different levels (positions of electrode). Today i have error message: "PK Error code 901 , modeler has run out of virtual memory". I press ctrl alt del to see how much of memory is used and mastercam has about 3 GB of RAM. ( of my 4GB max.). Does mastercam swaps on hard drive or use only RAM?

I have to split file in two or buy more RAM... I have Vista 64bit, 4 GB RAM, using X5 MU1

Thanks for reply.

 

Mastercam does not do any swapping to disk. Starting with X6 (released about 4 months ago), Mastercam does now have a 64 bit version that will allow you to access as much virtual memory as is available on the system.

 

The 32 bit versions of Mastercam (pre-X6) are LARGEADDRESSAWARE and according to Microsoft documentation you should automatically have access to the full 4GB that a 32 bit applcation can address on Vista and Windows 7. If you are only getting 3GB there may be a Windows setting on your system that is limiting it to 3GB. It is a bit tricky to set this. My recommendation would be to upgrade to X6.

 

I would also recommend upgrading to Windows 7. In my humble opinion, Windows 7 is what Vista should have been.

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I have been having memory issues and crashes lately, and I recently made a discovery: without making any changes to the file that I was working on, the Memory Usage (as displayed in the Task Manager) for Mastercam doubled in a few minutes. There wasn't even any Undo data to save, and I have the limit set to 10 MB. I just orbited around the model for a few minutes and watched as the memory usage climbed. I opened Mastercam and it started out using about 170,000K...I opened my file and it went up to about 215,000K...I orbited the model and the usage climbed to over 400,000K in minutes.

 

When I first pulled up the task manager to begin investigating the cause of insufficient memory, Mastercam was using over 1.4 million KB - over 1 gigabyte with this same model that started at 215,000K. What the heck is Mastercam doing? I've never seen this before in any other program.

 

What version of Mastercam are you using? There was a problem in X4 (I think prior to MU3) that was creating permanent views instead of temporary ones while rotating and eventually it would hit the max number of views allowed. I am not sure if that would even explain the amount of memory increase that you are seeing.

 

The other question I have is if this is only happening with a specific file or files? This sounds like a memory leak but I have not seen any memory leaks associated with just rotating a part like this. If it is file specific could you please send ne a copy of a file that is causing the problem.

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What version of Mastercam are you using? There was a problem in X4 (I think prior to MU3) that was creating permanent views instead of temporary ones while rotating and eventually it would hit the max number of views allowed. I am not sure if that would even explain the amount of memory increase that you are seeing.

 

The other question I have is if this is only happening with a specific file or files? This sounds like a memory leak but I have not seen any memory leaks associated with just rotating a part like this. If it is file specific could you please send ne a copy of a file that is causing the problem.

 

I'm using X5 MU1 and it doesnt seem limited to just one file. I even ruled out the config file. Larger files just make the memory leak faster. And the memory leaks with whatever I do with the interface. Rotating the part was just the first step in my diagnostics and even that caused problems. Making actual changes to the file make the memory leak even faster.

 

I'm not sure what I can do with the interface to stop the problem, because now that it's here, it doesn't want to go away - as if Mastercam did something wrong and corrupted the installation.

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I'm using X5 MU1 and it doesnt seem limited to just one file. I even ruled out the config file. Larger files just make the memory leak faster. And the memory leaks with whatever I do with the interface. Rotating the part was just the first step in my diagnostics and even that caused problems. Making actual changes to the file make the memory leak even faster.

 

I'm not sure what I can do with the interface to stop the problem, because now that it's here, it doesn't want to go away - as if Mastercam did something wrong and corrupted the installation.

 

I just loaded a very large file (over 1200 solids) in X5 MU1, shaded it, and rotated it. When first loaded Mastercam was using about 1.3GB. After shading it went up to 1.6GB. Rotating did not affect the memory usage at all. I then turned shading off and tried rotating and I did observe a slight memory leak. I suppose it would be enough to cause problems over time but it does not seem to be nearly as large a leak as what you are seeing.

 

Are you running any third party apps with Mastercam?

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I just loaded a very large file (over 1200 solids) in X5 MU1, shaded it, and rotated it. When first loaded Mastercam was using about 1.3GB. After shading it went up to 1.6GB. Rotating did not affect the memory usage at all. I then turned shading off and tried rotating and I did observe a slight memory leak. I suppose it would be enough to cause problems over time but it does not seem to be nearly as large a leak as what you are seeing.

 

Are you running any third party apps with Mastercam?

Nothing besides my 3Dconnexion SpaceNavigator and the latest Beta driver for it. I don't suppose that would cause such a memory leak in Mastercam.exe itself.

 

Edit: I tried turning off the 3DxService.exe but rotating the model with the mouse and keyboard still leaked memory.

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  • 3 years later...

Okay I applied the 3gb boot switch option on my 32 bit  system

and woopee it solved my problems

 

This is the method I used

 

 

To enable the 3GB switch:

  1. Right-click on the Command Prompt icon in the Accessories program group of the Start menu. Click Run as Administrator.
  2. At the command prompt, enter: bcdedit /set IncreaseUserVa 3072
  3. Restart the computer.

To disable the 3GB switch:

  1. Right-click on the Command Prompt icon in the Accessories program group of the Start menu. Click Run as Administrator.
  2. At the command prompt, enter: bcdedit /deletevalue IncreaseUserVa
  3. Restart the computer.

 

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