Increasing Heapsize

jimbo118

jimbo118

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just wondering how to,i have gig of ram yet hl2 only allocated 64mb,how do i increase it?

i tried it with v:bl by inserting -heapsize 512000 into the command line but it said 'unable to allocate 500mb'
 
it's better going in launch options because that way it's executed whether you start from steam or from a shortcut. try lowering it slightly, say -heapsize 500000. you didn't type an extra '0' did you? lol
 
works for me in the shortcut and i have 1gb and type 512000 and it works.
 
yeah, it works from the shortcut if you launch from the shortcut, but if you launch from steam it won't, whereas if you put it in launch options it will work from steam OR the shortcut, that was my point. if you always use the shorcut that's fine, i just find it simpler to put everything in launch options.

my idea was that steam might be interpreting 512000 as slightly over half the amount of memory it 'thinks' is in the system, and that lowering it by a couple of megs would bring it back under the limit
 
ok ill try but how does the shortcut look? ' -applaunch 20...'?
 
yeah, just add -heapsize 500000 to the end of whatever's already there
 
jimbo118 said:
just wondering how to,i have gig of ram yet hl2 only allocated 64mb,how do i increase it?

i tried it with v:bl by inserting -heapsize 512000 into the command line but it said 'unable to allocate 500mb'
Click to expand...

sorry, i think i misunderstood you, what's v:bl? when you say inserted into the command line did you mean you typed it into the console? that wont work. it has to be in launch options (right-click HL2, choose properties->launch options button) or the shortcut (right-click HL2, choose create desktop shortcut)

i prefer the launch options for the reasons already mentioned
 
v:bl is vampire the bloodlines

no with v:bl i put it into the shortcut but it didnt work

my hl2 shortcut is"C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\Steam.exe" -applaunch 220

so i just put - heapsize 50000 on to the end of that if i dont use the launch options way
 
that should do it. if you call up the console a soon as you start it should tell you how big the heap is
 
damnit it wouldnt work,it said the 'memory couldnt be read'
 
anyone help me?i set to 50mb just to see if it'd work and it did but i cant have high variables 512 etc
 
Have you tried something like 200mb?? That would be 204800, I think. I don't think you need to set 512 to HL2. I get good enough performance with 200.
 
i set it to 256mb and it worked,load times were much slower but the ****in stutter bug is still there with this game even after the dec 22 update,what were the commands to fix that?the 'mat_force texture blabla' didnt help

i wonder y it wont allow a higher value
 
Try these commands for the stuttering thing: (quoted from another thread because I didn't come up with this)

spidster said:
type this in hl2 launch options:

-fullscreen +mat_forcehardwaresync 0 +snd_async_prefetch_priority 1

if it works try:

+mat_forcehardwaresync 0 +snd_async_prefetch_priority 1
Click to expand...

EDIT: Is this method the one you are reffering to by saying 'mat_force texture blabla' ? If so, ignore it.
 
any ideas on my hep query?why i cant go over 300mb,i have a gig
 
typed wat u said,the console said unknown command when i loaded it up
 
Opps, sorry for not explaining. You need to put that in the Launch Options. In Steam, right click Half-Life 2, click properties, then click on launch options and copy and paste in there.
 
yeah, +snd_async_prefetch_priority 1 is the unknown command, i gather that was an older workaround that didn't seem to do anything and was taken out of a later update, you can remove that. +mat_forcedmanagedtextureintohardware 1 was a later fix, but people have reported serious framerate drops (20-50%!) using it, and it didn't seem to fix it either, but it is a legal command so you could try setting it either way.

+mat_forcehardwaresync 0 has recently been posted here as a fix, i've read nothing about that on www.steampowered.com, i'm not sure if someone didn't get this mixed up with mat_forcemanagedtextureintohardware and is now spreading nonsense, but anything's worth trying

here's what i've currently got in my autoexec.cfg:

sv_autosave 0 //disables autosave at level start
cl_forcepreload 1 //funnily enuff, forces preloading
sv_forcepreload 1
mat_forcemanagedtextureintohardware 0 //see above
r_fastzreject 1 //1=on, 0=off, -1=detect hardware, default is 0, set to -1 if you have any problems after enabling it
cl_smooth 0 //this has also appeared in posts about the stutter

the thing that's made the most difference for me was disabling autosaves using sv_autosave 0 and marking the autosave files read-only

i got most of my information here. it explains how to use config files, the console and launch options too
 
yeah i have that guide too but im still wondering why i cant increase heapsize over 256mb,i gave a gig of ddr2 ram(533mhz),is their a setting that controls this?
 
i have no idea why. is your system definitely seeing all your ram? (i'm pretty sure it wouldn't even boot if it wasn't, but hey, we're clutching at straws here) tried googling memtest?
 
yeah i have 1022 mb it says in hl2's console,but anything over around 300 i get an error message 'unabe to allocate 500mb'etc
 
it says "instrution at 'list of letters' in referenced memory'list of letters'.memory couldnt be read.'

ah this is doin my head in
 
how would i check michael?,my cpu usuage is 0% at the mo
 
Look in the System Information File it will tell you how much RAM is being used and if you look in the: Task Manager, Processes it will tell you what the RAM is being used for.
 
my page file usage is 217mb,i have 35 processes running,where do i find the system information file?
 
jimbo118 said:
my page file usage is 217mb,i have 35 processes running,where do i find the system information file?
Click to expand...
Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Information

Also if you click on the Box Processes it will show how much Memory each is using.
 
physical memory(k)

total:1046616
available:704599
system cache:774744
 
i found physical memory in my task manager but not in the system info
 
got it lol,was lookin in all the different sections

total phy mem:1,024.00mb
available:681.65mb

surely i should be able to set my heapsize higher if i have nearly 700mb free
 
Just buy 5 more gigs of ram, thats the easy way of solving your problems!
 
jimbo118 said:
i found physical memory in my task manager but not in the system info
Click to expand...
That’s interesting it didn't have the field: Available Physical Memory, along with Total Physical Memory on the right hand side?
 
jimbo118 said:
got it lol,was lookin in all the different sections

total phy mem:1,024.00mb
available:681.65mb

surely i should be able to set my heapsize higher if i have nearly 700mb free
Click to expand...
I would think so.
 
Jimbo! i've just reinstalled and am reconfiguring and tweaking, and i just noticed that my heapsize was getting ignored (it definitely was working before). so i'm not talking to you anymore in case i catch any more bugs from you! :p

i fixed it by moving the -heapsize 256000 to the first position in launch options, or directly after -applaunch 220 in the case of the shortcut

i'm absolutely confident this will not help you at all, but i thought you'd like to know
 
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