topic Archicad Using too much RAM in Modeling

Archicad Using too much RAM

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 20:12:13 GMT

Hi there
I have noticed recently when I have 2 versions of Archicad v17 running
In the Task Manager - Processes one of them will sit at the typical 500mb of ram usage while the other one is currently using 2.5 GB of RAM
(2,576,928 K to be exact it seems to be running at a maximum as the number does not change)
(this is while a Cross Section View is open and computer is Idle)

It has only recently started doing this, did they mess something up with a recent update or has my archicad 18 installation affected something?

Anyone else having similar problems?

Re: Archicad Using too much RAM

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 20:12:19 GMT

Ok wow a whole month and no replies guess ill go straight to graphisoft and make a complaint about their product

Re: Archicad Using too much RAM

Anonymous — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 20:48:53 GMT

Hy Methy,
no reply from me (and i think from others) simply because i use to keep 3 or 4 AC17/AC18 instances open and never encounter such problem.

Re: Archicad Using too much RAM

PB — Wed, 08 Oct 2014 08:10:07 GMT

Perhaps the AC file that is taking a lot of RAM has an very high polygon count object(s) in it or has an element that is 'corrupted' (an issue we sometimes get with terrain meshes, or odd shaped items that have developed 'difficult' geometry)?

Re: Archicad Using too much RAM

Gerry Leonor — Wed, 08 Oct 2014 22:29:24 GMT

this occurs frequently when i open a second AC17 file. for big projects, i like to separate my model & layouts into 2 files.

a few minutes after opening the second file, i notice that the remaining RAM i have left drops down to half a gig, or less. what i do is to close the 2nd file, reopen it & once that's finished opening, my RAM usage for 2 AC files is more reasonable.

Re: Archicad Using too much RAM

Marton Kiss — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 10:20:07 GMT

methy wrote:
Hi there
I have noticed recently when I have 2 versions of Archicad v17 running
In the Task Manager - Processes one of them will sit at the typical 500mb of ram usage while the other one is currently using 2.5 GB of RAM
(2,576,928 K to be exact it seems to be running at a maximum as the number does not change)
(this is while a Cross Section View is open and computer is Idle)

It has only recently started doing this, did they mess something up with a recent update or has my archicad 18 installation affected something?

Anyone else having similar problems?

Methy,

we identified the source of this problem. When you have two or more ArchiCAD sessions open they communicate in the background. That is called IPC - Inter Process Communication. Some features like updating drawings between two files use this.
If this communication fails, we open a new socket in the background, to re-establish the communication, which obviously uses RAM. Unfortunately there is no limitation on how many of these can be open, so the RAM usage may constantly increase.

With the upcoming AC 18 update we will address this, though we are still investigation what stops this communication.

Marton

Re: Archicad Using too much RAM

Barry Kelly — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 16:11:37 GMT

Martin,
Does this background communication apply even when the files in two or more open sessions are not linked in any way?
Simply 2 or more completely separate files.
I have a designer who has just started using 17 and regularly has more than one file open and is experiencing this problem.

Also if there is to be a fix for 18 will there ever be a fix for 17 as well?

Barry.

Re: Archicad Using too much RAM

Marton Kiss — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 07:43:31 GMT

Barry wrote:
Does this background communication apply even when the files in two or more open sessions are not linked in any way?

Yes. If more then one ArchiCAD instance is running there is communication between those to share navigator data and provide the possibility of cross-linking.

Barry wrote:
Also if there is to be a fix for 18 will there ever be a fix for 17 as well?

Yes, with the next ArchiCAD 17 hotfix we will address this in ArchiCAD 17 as well.

Marton

Re: Archicad Using too much RAM

Anonymous — Sun, 02 Nov 2014 21:42:26 GMT

When this issue is going to be fixed? I got two versions 16 & 17 START edition and I'm still unable to work with two instances. This is really annoying so please release the update ASAP.

Re: Archicad Using too much RAM

Marton Kiss — Mon, 03 Nov 2014 08:03:06 GMT

ceroz wrote:
When this issue is going to be fixed? I got two versions 16 & 17 START edition and I'm still unable to work with two instances. This is really annoying so please release the update ASAP.

We've discovered the source of this problem, for details see: http://helpcenter.graphisoft.com/?p=41567/#Multiple_ArchiCAD_instances_cause_Freeze

Re: Archicad Using too much RAM

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 23:59:57 GMT

Hi, Thanks for your replys

Its good to see that Graphisoft are taking a keen interest in the issue. 😃

I have not had a problem with multiple instances of archicad prior to the installation of Archicad 18

The odd thing is that the problem is occuring in v17 and only from the time v18 was installed.
(we havent officially started using v18 yet, as converting files back in case of program instability is not something we have time for. while waiting for a stable/build/hotfix)

My computer has not changed or been upgraded or anything at this time so I ruled out hardware issues.

I hope the v17 fix comes soon as currently even on a machine with 8gb of RAM having 2 archicads open (possibly with high polygon complex models) is causing the first instance of archicad to push up over 1 and sometimes 2 GB of RAM taking my computers total RAM sometimes up to 5GB of RAM and making the program exceptionally slow laggy & barely usable.

I would have to save, close and restart the AC instance sometimes several times until the idle speed was reduced.

Re: Archicad Using too much RAM

Barry Kelly — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 01:10:30 GMT

methy,
I see you have an NVIDIA GeForce card.
Have you tried turning off ‘NVIDIA Streamer Service’ as mentioned in Marton's post?
Does that solve the problem while you wait for the hotfix?

Barry.