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Author Topic: [Important!] Modded System Requirements  (Read 513380 times)

MightyChristian

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Re: [Important!] Modded System Requirements
« Reply #435 on: May 04, 2022, 06:42:52 PM »

To play mods with Starsector, you need two things:
  • Sufficient system RAM (System RAM) - (Action required!)
  • Sufficient video RAM (VRAM)


RAM

Starsector, especially with mods involved, can use a lot of System RAM when saving or loading games.  By default, the 64-bit version of the game allocates 1.5 GB of memory for the JRE Heap.  However, this is not enough if you want to play with lots of mods.  To increase the Heap beyond 1.5 GB, you must allocate more memory.


Step 1: Verify that you are on a 64-bit operating system.  If not, you're out of luck!

Step 2: In the vmparams file, replace the text "-Xms1536m -Xmx1536m" with the memory you want to allocate to Starsector.  These numbers should be the same value.  For example, "-Xms4096m -Xmx4096m" allocates 4 GB of memory for the game.
Or
Download one of the premade vmparams files listed below.

Finish: Run starsector.exe as usual to start the game using 64-bit Java with newly-increased memory limits.  Enjoy!


How much should I allocate?
Unfortunately, an exact prediction of Heap usage isn't possible.  Here are some rough estimates:

1.3 GB Heap: The most you can get on a 32-bit OS.  Having a bunch of faction mods will cause crashing, especially when saving the game.  Avoid using DynaSector.

2 GB Heap: This is good enough for perhaps two or three medium-size factions (e.g. Blackrock Drive Yards, Scy Nation), but is liable to crash when saving the game if you use more than that.  If you have only 4 GB of System RAM, this is the best you can do.

3 GB Heap: Sufficient for a mix of a couple large factions (e.g. Interstellar Imperium, Shadowyards) and several medium-size factions.  Don't go overboard, though.  Recommended for people with 6 GB of System RAM.

4 GB Heap: Most combinations of mods will work with a 4 GB heap; only some of the craziest configurations (a dozen or more factions, plus Nexerelin and DynaSector) will overload this.  Recommended for people with 8 GB of System RAM or more.

6 GB Heap: Even if you activated every single mod at the same time, 6 GB would still be enough.  Not recommended unless you have a ton of mods, and you happen to have 12 GB of System RAM or more.


What if I don't have enough RAM?
That's okay.  Most of the System RAM requirements from mods are the result of additional markets and fleets in the game world.  You can add factions without increasing the number of markets or fleets by using Nexerelin's Random Sector feature.  Just set a sector size appropriate to your machine, and you can add as many factions as you can fit within that limited-size sector.

Edit by Thaago: Below is a snippet of a post by Tartiflette, with links to premade vmparams files made by MesoTronik.
How much ram you can allocate is determined by your system specs:

- You should never exceed 8GB or you will experience stutters, freezes or even crashes.

- If you are closing other applications, especially ram-hungry ones like Internet Browsers, you can allocate as much ram as Total System Ram MINUS 2GB
 
- If you keep your browser and other applications open, you should only allocate HALF of your Total System Ram

- 32BIT SYSTEMS CANNOT ALLOCATE MORE THAN 1.3GB OF RAM

If you can allocate 1.3GB:
https://bitbucket.org/MesoTroniK/1300-meg/downloads/vmparams
This should be OK for a handful of faction mods plus your QoL mods and ship packs.
 
- If you can allocate 2GB:
https://bitbucket.org/MesoTroniK/2-gig/downloads/vmparams

- If you can allocate 3GB:
https://bitbucket.org/MesoTroniK/3-gig/downloads/vmparams
By that point you can have a decent sized mod list of 6+ factions and/or ship packs.
 
- If you can allocate 4GB:
https://bitbucket.org/MesoTroniK/4-gig/downloads/vmparams
This should be safe to use if not all at least a large amount of mods.
 
- If you can allocate 6GB:
https://bitbucket.org/MesoTroniK/6-gig/downloads/vmparams
Your computer should be able to handle every current mod you throw at it.
 - If you can allocate 8GB:
https://bitbucket.org/MesoTroniK/8-gig/downloads/vmparams
WARNING: SOME SYSTEM CONFIGURATIONS THAT SHOULD ALLOW 8GB CAN EXPERIENCE STUTTERS AND FREEZES WITH THAT AMOUNT. If that is your case, fall back on a 6GB allocation. This much allocation is currently safe to run an arbitrary number of mods.

VRAM

Starsector can use a lot of VRAM (video memory) because all of the game assets are uncompressed sprites that are (by and large) always loaded into your video card.  If you aren't running mods, you can squeeze by with just a 512 MB video card.  However, this is not enough if you want to play with mods.


How much VRAM do I need?
First off: if you run out of VRAM, Windows (and probably most other operating systems) will claim some System RAM to use as emergency video memory.  This can cause slowdowns, decrease stability, and - most importantly - eat up the memory you allocated to Starsector for your mods!

So, you should always avoid using more VRAM than is actually installed on your video card.  Fortunately, we can gauge how much VRAM each mod needs.  Refer to the data below:

Estimated VRAM Usage

(Note: none of these figures except Unknown Skies counts the Unknown Skies shared textures)
Starsector 0.9.1a: 413.5 MiB (approximately)
GraphicsLib 1.4.2:  267.4 MiB (not including ~97.5 MiB for various shader buffers, depending on settings & resolution)
    small ripple:   207.4 MiB
    no distortions: 182.1 MiB
    no shader maps:  85.4 MiB
    fully disabled:   0.1 MiB
Tyrador Safeguard Coalition 1.6.1c: 259.0 MiB
    no shader maps:                 186.9 MiB
Ship and Weapon Pack 1.12.4: 203.5 MiB
    no shader maps:           57.6 MiB
Exigency 0.7.2:     194.2 MiB
    no shader maps: 180.7 MiB
Interstellar Imperium 2.4.0: 191.1 MiB
    no shader maps:           71.2 MiB
Shadowyards 0.9.1 RC3: 164.8 MiB
    no shader maps:    100.7 MiB
ApproLight Plus 0.3.7 RC2: 146.2 MiB
    no shader maps:        122.1 MiB
ApproLight 0.8.4 RC1: 144.9 MiB
    no shader maps:    98.8 MiB
Tahlan Shipworks 0.3.16: 124.6 MiB
    no shader maps:       88.5 MiB
Dassault-Mikoyan Engineering 1.18a: 123.4 MiB
    no shader maps:                  54.5 MiB
Blackrock Drive Yards 0.9.5: 119.5 MiB
    no shader maps:           62.4 MiB
Unknown Skies 0.42: 117.5 MiB
Junk Pirates / PACK / ASP 3.4.0: 104.2 MiB
    no shader maps:               63.4 MiB
Underworld 1.5.0:   100.4 MiB
    no shader maps: 29.9 MiB
Sylphon RnD 0.9.10: 75.3 MiB
    no shader maps: 56.2 MiB
Seeker 0.3:         74.4 MiB
    no shader maps: 46.3 MiB
Scy Nation 1.60:    63.1 MiB
    no shader maps: 50.9 MiB
Knights Templar 0.9.8f: 59.4 MiB (not including shader buffers)
    no shader maps:     40.1 MiB
Karlsson Heirloom 0.12: 49.5 MiB
    no shader maps:     31.8 MiB
Legacy of Arkgneisis 1.7.1: 45.4 MiB
    no shader maps:         31.7 MiB
Mayasuran Navy 8.3.0: 41.7 MiB
    no shader maps:   39.7 MiB
Kadur Remnant 3.1.2: 40.6 MiB
ICE 0.4 RC3: 36.3 MiB
Tiandong Heavy Industries 1.2.1a: 33.3 MiB
    no shader maps:               15.6 MiB
Vayra's Sector 3.1.5: 31.7 MiB
Diable Avionics 2.51: 31.2 MiB
    no shader maps:   20.2 MiB
Outer Rim Alliance 0.88: 26.8 MiB
    no shader maps:      16.4 MiB
Xhan Empire 1.7:    21.2 MiB
    no shader maps: 13.8 MiB
Metelson Industries 7.2.2: 21.2 MiB
Torchships 0.11:    20.2 MiB
    no shader maps: 10.4 MiB
Kingdom of Terra 0.9.5: 19.7 MiB
Vayra's Ship Pack 1.1.4: 16.2 MiB
Disassemble Reassemble 1.6.9: 13.4 MiB
Upgraded Rotary Weapons 1.41: 7.5 MiB
    no shader maps:           4.5 MiB
Luddic Enhancement 1.2.1f: 6.5 MiB


Add to this about 200-500 MB depending on operating system, video drivers, Starsector's render buffers, screen resolution, number of monitors, other applications, etc.  Typical users will see around 550 MB of VRAM usage with vanilla alone, and about 1070 MB with GraphicsLib and Ship/Weapon Pack enabled.  With lots of mods enabled, it's not uncommon to see 2 GB VRAM required for Starsector.


What if I don't have enough VRAM?
Aside from strategically removing mods based on the amount of VRAM you'd save (see the above table), disabling GraphicsLib features can save a lot of VRAM.  Setting "useLargeRipple", "loadSurface", "loadMaterial", and "use64BitBuffer" to false can save big, especially if you're running a lot of mods that use shader maps, at the cost of some visual fidelity.



Having other problems?  Visit the Mod Troubleshooting Guide!


I use a MacBook Air, the M1 with 16 GB of ram. How do I apply this to my game with it being a Mac OS and all?
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booyaboi

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Re: [Important!] Modded System Requirements
« Reply #436 on: June 16, 2022, 07:35:12 AM »

hi sorry to be a bother brothers and sister... ive been reading through isnt much recommended to go over 6 gb but i was wondering if 7gb would be applicable or safer then just running 8gb because yolo and i was hoping someone would have a copy of the file already for 7gb setting that i could perchance grab id be grateful... anyways hope yall have a good day love you brothers and sisters...
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Ramiel

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Re: [Important!] Modded System Requirements
« Reply #437 on: July 24, 2022, 12:35:00 AM »

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AndSaintz

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Re: [Important!] Modded System Requirements
« Reply #438 on: December 06, 2022, 08:37:47 AM »

Hello Guys, i'm having trouble with my game, i have 16GB RAM a GTX 950TI 2GB and i get warning about not enough VRAM, but game played cool since today.

I installed some mods (a new level of confidence, diable avionics, legacy of arkgneisis, officer extension, tahlan shipworks and unknown skies) and now even the menu lags, before i was getting lag only after playing the game for too long and a save, close and open the game again fixed everything.

I have 8GB ram allocated and updated the jre file but still nothing helps

The Main Menu lags alot, the in game is cool, but when i enter battle's my fps goes to 2-5 and it's unplayable
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Histidine

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Re: [Important!] Modded System Requirements
« Reply #439 on: December 09, 2022, 01:24:08 AM »

Hello Guys, i'm having trouble with my game, i have 16GB RAM a GTX 950TI 2GB and i get warning about not enough VRAM, but game played cool since today.

I installed some mods (a new level of confidence, diable avionics, legacy of arkgneisis, officer extension, tahlan shipworks and unknown skies) and now even the menu lags, before i was getting lag only after playing the game for too long and a save, close and open the game again fixed everything.

I have 8GB ram allocated and updated the jre file but still nothing helps

The Main Menu lags alot, the in game is cool, but when i enter battle's my fps goes to 2-5 and it's unplayable
Slowdown in main menu and combat sounds, combined with the VRAM warning, indeed sounds like running out of VRAM. Although such a small number of mods shouldn't be causing it to run out. Are you running other applications at the same time?

Anyway one thing you can do is disable GraphicsLib in its config (the enableShaders option in GraphicsLib/GRAPHICS_OPTIONS.ini). Pressing Pause while in combat also disables GraphicsLib effects I think.
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Ondost

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Re: [Important!] Modded System Requirements
« Reply #440 on: January 02, 2023, 12:55:34 PM »

hello, i keep getting this messages:

Fatal: Ship hull spec [facet] not found!
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Histidine

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Re: [Important!] Modded System Requirements
« Reply #441 on: January 03, 2023, 02:18:41 AM »

hello, i keep getting this messages:

Fatal: Ship hull spec [facet] not found!
Are you trying to run Starsector 0.9.1 with a mod (I suspect it's Nexerelin) for a newer version of the game?
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SlavenOlupina

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Re: [Important!] Modded System Requirements
« Reply #442 on: April 21, 2023, 01:26:51 AM »

Hello there,

For starters i have to say, thank you for making this amazing video game. As a long time player and fan of EV series and (probably all) similar games (in existence) this i consider the ultimate peak of the genre. All of my love to the modding community also, all of you guys are brilliant.

I however require some help (or some clarification) in regards to an issue which i constantly have.

I have been playing with mods for past year and constantly i get to a point in game where i can't continue the campaign becouse i can't save anymore. Game reports (in 90% of cases) "GC overhead limit exceeded" error and (in other 10%) "Java heap space" error. I have been gradually removing mods every playthrough while aplying all fixes found on the forums and internet however i allways reach that point. Game works fine otherwise.

This never happens in unmodded game so it's obvious the mods are causing it.

I have allocated 8gb of ram and switched to Java 8.
Java uses more than 10gb of ram when i can't save anymore.

Other than influencing battles, graphicslib shaders on or off doesn't seem to play a role in this issue at all. For me, they don't make any difference other than visually (in java 8, with old java fps drops in battles).

My PC specs are;
Nvidia GTX 1080 8gb
Ryzen 5 3600
32 gb Ram
game is run from NVME SSD.

Is there a solution to this i have missed?
Are there any mods that are known to cause this at some point (becouse of memory leak presumably)?
(Adjusted sector? - which i also configured so the map is a little (125%) bigger than vanilla.

Is there a number of mods with which this won't happen? I read everywhere people are playing with triple amount of mods that i use, do they also experience this issue?

Should i allocate 16 gb of ram to starsector? (from my experience with this issue i think this will prolong the time until it becomes unsaveable but not solve it). There is also the statement that 8gb is enough for arbitrary amount of mods.

Is there possibly a way to reset or "clear" java heap or garbage collector since they become so big at some point?


I can sometimes save at this point if i go to a small 1 planet system and then spend 30 minutes - 1 hour of time spamming save until it does save however im not keen on continuing to do this and it also is only prolonging the inevitable.

Thanks in advance for reading this wall of text.

Cheers,
Slaven

P.s. my knowledge of java code is unfortunately non-existent however i probably can understand basic stuff since i (partly) build pc-s for a living (in otherwords; not a total hardware and software dummy). The most i've done is edit stuff in mods by observing what is written in other mods.
« Last Edit: April 21, 2023, 07:39:04 AM by SlavenOlupina »
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Histidine

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Re: [Important!] Modded System Requirements
« Reply #443 on: April 22, 2023, 07:07:49 PM »

For the GC overhead limit issue, try the G1GC vmparams by Himemi (post copypasted from Discord). Also lets you allocate more than 8 GB RAM if you really need it.

Quote
G1GC vmparam Collection v.1.1.2 (0.95.1 Compatible)
Note: the only compatible Java 8 are version 271 pinned in #modded_gameplay or the one posted by wisp in #announcements

Download
Windows:
https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1E3doDWDmF43VW7wTGvPShPe5lp5sJsKK&export=download
Linux Distro:
https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1GmvL4H43r6PmvZbzKqzHNC7tHM7U0fZm&export=download
MacOS: (game arent launching, not working for now.. permission related issue)
https://drive.google.com/uc?id=124yMChlacYYdosEngoDhQtOl7Kk1PCUb&export=download

[...]

Ever frustrated why your startup loading times is so awful?, got a high-end PC and want to use more of its memory size and speed?, or optimize your potato laptop to play this game?.. we got you covered with 1/2/3/4/6/8GB VMParam. Brought to you lovingly after a week of testing.

Packs Included:
- JRE7 Safe Pack
- JRE8 Safe/Aggresive/Dangerous Pack
- For 1/2/3/4/6/8GB
- G1GC Hide Leak Messages mods


Key differences between packs
All share the same trait of having a low latency multi-threaded GC (the janitor you may call it) to reclaim unused memory and make the game smooth. For starter I recommending the Safe pack but if you trust your high end PC to pack a punch do give Dangerous pack a go. As for people who're curious about what this do read the Documentation.txt included on each pack.

Known issues
- Due to how the mod works, the game may show "Memory Leak! Campaign Duplicates" over time. This is okay!

- However if one of your mod list does have a memory leak.. this mod may fail to clean extra copies.

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n3xuiz

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Re: [Important!] Modded System Requirements
« Reply #444 on: May 08, 2023, 02:27:03 AM »

not that i have enough updated mods to need it right now but: has anything changed in .96a in regards to the whole jre8/vmparams? can i just copy what i had in .95 over?
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Histidine

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Re: [Important!] Modded System Requirements
« Reply #445 on: May 10, 2023, 08:36:21 PM »

Yes, old JRE and vmparams will work.
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SlavenOlupina

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Re: [Important!] Modded System Requirements
« Reply #446 on: May 12, 2023, 09:33:50 AM »

Thanks for the answer, custom vmparams unfortunately haven't solved the save issue, removing adjusted sector (unfortunately) did.

Cheers!
« Last Edit: May 12, 2023, 09:35:35 AM by SlavenOlupina »
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Seamus Donohue

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Re: [Important!] Modded System Requirements
« Reply #447 on: February 06, 2024, 09:45:57 AM »

Step 2: In the vmparams file, replace the text "-Xms1536m -Xmx1536m" with the memory you want to allocate to Starsector.  These numbers should be the same value.  For example, "-Xms4096m -Xmx4096m" allocates 4 GB of memory for the game.
Or
Download one of the premade vmparams files listed below.
For my fellow Macintosh users, you need to right-click Starsector.app, then click "Show Package Contents".  From there, look for Contents/MacOS/starsector_mac.sh and open that with a text editor.  TextEdit worked fine for me.  You can then find the parameters that Dark.Revenant is talking about.  They should look like this:

Code
    -Xms1536m \
    -Xmx1536m \
Those are the numbers that you need to change.
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maximusnakedus

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Re: [Important!] Modded System Requirements
« Reply #448 on: February 09, 2024, 05:01:37 PM »

Hey guys, I think I let the smoke out:

Fatal: exerelin/campaign/uiCustomPanelPluginWithinput$ButtonEntry
Cause: exerelin.campaign.ui.CustomPanelPluginWithinput$ButtonEntry
Check starsector.log for more info.

I dont know what any of this means.... all I know is I'm better when I play when I consume whiskey and pizza sticks.
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Histidine

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Re: [Important!] Modded System Requirements
« Reply #449 on: February 10, 2024, 12:34:07 AM »

If you're using the Arma Armatura or UAF mods, make sure they're on their latest versions. Nexerelin, too.
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