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[Ronald Klein]

  Sooo I can no longer edit my vmparams file in order to increase the memory allocation to Starsector. I do that and the game won't start at all. No error messages no nothing, simply no effect after clicking the exe. And I apparently also cannot use Java version 8 with it. Is the Jre that Starsector comes with a 64 bit version or do I need to download and install version 7 ? (if I still can).

  The bummer is that without this edit I cannot run more than 2 or 3 mods before it starts randomly freezing up so it's kind of a gamebreaker. I already finished the all the vanilla content in the new patch and I'd love to dig into the updated mods...

 Edit: Ok so I gave Starsector permission to use Java 8 and that solved the issue.Question is, just how unstable is it like this and is there anything I can do to improve it?

[Alex]

You still need to install 64-bit java, yeah, per instructions here:
http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=8726.0

From .8.1 on, the game will ship with 64-bit java.

As far as not being able to edit vmparams: try a clean reinstall (after saving off anything you care about, i.e. savefiles, mods, screenshots, etc). It's probably some sort of permissions issue...

Also: if you run starsector.exe from the command line, it may give you a useful error message which might indicate what the problem with vmparams is. Also, you can run the game using starsector.bat in starsector-core/, which doesn't use the vmparams file - the parameters are specified directly in the .bat file - so that can be a workaround as well.

[Ronald Klein]

 Heh. Got ninja'd. I appreciate you responding so quickly!

[Alex]

Right - to clarify, you definitely want 64-bit Java 7. 8 will appear to work but often leads to crashes, stuttering/poor performance, etc. Not to say that it can't be made to work but it would take some major tweaking of various parameters being passed in (including many not present in vmparams at all at the moment), at the very least.

[Ronald Klein]

 Oh I realize I wasn't very clear. I have no trouble actually editing vmparams one way or another it was simply that Starsector wasn't running after the edits to increase memory. Also the first time around I got no warning when trying to run it using Java 8 which was why I didn't know what the issue was. After I reinstalled and did it all again the warning showed up

[Ronald Klein]

 Ok then. Thanks for the answers again and I'm not sure I mentioned it before but I'll do it now since I know you're going to see it:

 Absolutely stellar work on the update. It is phenomenal!

[Alex]

Thank you! Glad you've been enjoying it

[Alex]

Oh I realize I wasn't very clear. I have no trouble actually editing vmparams one way or another it was simply that Starsector wasn't running after the edits to increase memory. Also the first time around I got no warning when trying to run it using Java 8 which was why I didn't know what the issue was. After I reinstalled and did it all again the warning showed up

(Missed this post - ahh, ok, got it.)

[fededevi]

[...]

Alex, a couple of question loosely related to this.

Did you change default garbage collector for Starsector or does it work with the default implementation/settings? Do you use object pools or no object allocation at all for things like projectiles?

[Ronald Klein]

 I've been running Starsector for several hours with the latest Java 8 build and it's been doing just fine. No glitches,stuttering,freezes,crashes or really anything other than a smooth ride. Just in case anyone else wants to use it. ( And I'm running around 10 mods as well)

[Alex]

I can't emphasize it enough, it's still a really bad idea. The glitches are not necessarily consistent - depending on your PC, they may only crop up occasionally, or not at all. Encouraging anyone else to use Java 8 is an even worse idea, since there's zero reason to use it over Java 7 and it's just setting them up for potential crashes down the line. I appreciate that you're trying to help people out here, but it might have the opposite effect

Sorry if I'm coming on a bit strong here, but the number of issues being reported by people using java 8, that don't realize they're due to java 8, despite having been warned by the game not to use it, is a bit frustrating. I'd still like to leave it in as an option just in case someone *can't* use 7 for some reason, but I'm this close to just blocking it altogether instead of providing an override in settings.

... well, hopefully, this'll be a lot less of an issue with the next release, when the game will ship with 64-bit java 7.

[Camael]

Edit: Ok so I gave Starsector permission to use Java 8 and that solved the issue.Question is, just how unstable is it like this and is there anything I can do to improve it?

 I've been running Starsector for several hours with the latest Java 8 build and it's been doing just fine. No glitches,stuttering,freezes,crashes or really anything other than a smooth ride. Just in case anyone else wants to use it. ( And I'm running around 10 mods as well)

I did run Java 8 as I had gotten used to the method in previous releases and it went just fine. Since the 8.x SS release I get regular, massive crashes, sometimes taking the whole rig down with it (Yes, my PC has psychological issues not related to Java or SS on top of that...). I think it makes a lot of sense to point out that Java 7 can be used in a 64 bit version with increased memory allocation. Back when this came up the quick fix was using Java 8, so people seem to still be choosing between mods or stability. Then again, shipping the core game with a native 64bit Java will fix all these issues anyway, so thanks for that!