Interesting discovery re: RAM (not preview)

Guy S. wrote on 11/20/2012, 9:59 AM

Thanks for posting your findings! I found that V12 was set to 1024 by default; I changed it to 2048.

Just to clarify, the tab labeled "Internal" is normally hidden. To see it hold down the Shift key while selecting Options>Preferences from the menu bar.

This tab is hidden for a reason, so be careful. To quickly find the setting type "Memory" into the search box at the bottom of the window.

UPDATE: No stability issues and timeline playback feels slightly improved.

Andy_L wrote on 11/20/2012, 9:20 PM

this can't be right...maybe this is just a minimum setting, and doesn't restrict the app from using more memory as needed. Otherwise...???

LV studio wrote on 11/20/2012, 11:10 PM

Thanks for the "tab" info. I doubled the default mem settings to 768 and 2048. So far NBTPro 2 has not crashed. I'm feeling pretty good about this. :)

NickHope wrote on 11/20/2012, 11:17 PM

Here is how that setting looks in Vegas 8.0c 32-bit.

And here is how it looks in 10.0e 32-bit.

set wrote on 11/20/2012, 11:21 PM

So, this is it.....
Thanks for the Discovery! - Hope this settings is also the answers for WHOLE BUGS we all having.
Showing only prefs containing 'Memory' found:

Memory needed by Vegas (MB) : 384
Memory needed by Vegas 64-bit (MB) : 2048 (def:1024)

I found Autocalculate Video Memory (64-bit) : FALSE (but default is TRUE)
Any difference?

OpenCL Memory Size Filter : 384 (def:384)

NickHope wrote on 11/20/2012, 11:30 PM

I have never touched the "Autocalculate Video Memory" setting. So in my case the default was FALSE.

Edit: Also...

wilvan wrote on 11/25/2012, 2:11 PM

Now this is indeed the best discovery , very much appreciated.

I always wondered why vegas 64 bit was so scared of using RAM and total system RAM never exceeding the 32 bit 4 Gig limit. ( whilst after effects using happily the available more than 40 Gigs RAM ) .

I played with these figures and finally could have vegas use ( while editing ) what is available ( or small but bigger part of the available 48 GB RAM , which vegas also limits to 32 GB in another setting in same pref ).

Am gonna play some more with these settings after having finished present work.

Great discovery . ( actually , this setting should not at all be hidden unless things are not yet really ready and steady for using more than one ( 1 ) GB of RAM )

bill-kranz wrote on 11/25/2012, 2:55 PM

Hi - I also saw a JPEG screenshot quality setting set for "95" under 8.0c. Would upping that make a difference? What if you set it for 2,000 and your whole system launches out the window?

Thanks for uncovering this information!

Bill

TheHappyFriar wrote on 11/25/2012, 8:00 PM

Could be this is the memory Vegas reserves for itself and doesn't let anything else use that memory. So if you up it you're allowing less ram for other programs.

set wrote on 11/25/2012, 8:07 PM

Sometimes I had crash, frozen screen when doing 'UNDO', but after I raised memory needed to 2048, as far as I experience, had no issues.

Multicam works without crashes. Previously crash after a minute.

(12 build 394)

wilvan wrote on 11/27/2012, 12:04 AM

@TheHappyFriar :

Could be , but only while running vegas pro and what kind of other programs would one be running while ( semi-pro or pro ) editing . ( soundforge maybe but that one does not require much RAM ) .

The adobe also asks in preference how much memory you would like to leave for other programs ( is opposite question since they assume an editor concentrating at what they are editing and not to other programs ). You can even tell how much RAM per processor you want it to run .
And that helps MUCH more then the openGL stuff , even in after effects.
( and cheaper since RAM nowadays is priced very competitive )

PS :
I wonder also why the max RAM ( in same internal pref ) is limited to maximum 32 GB , real workstations can have up to 192 GB of RAM.
I am having 48 GB and could easily assign 32 GB and still have plenty left for the OS and other programs while editing.
So sony could really optimise this thing here.

TheHappyFriar wrote on 11/27/2012, 6:44 AM

I'll give this a test my my XP 32 Vegas 10 & see how it works with other programs.

In a normal editing session, I'll have a copy of Vegas open & Gimp. If I'm doing motion tracking I'll have Vegas, Blender & Syntheyes. I might even have OpenOffice open with a script/outline. Definitely a copy of FireFox.

Mindmatter wrote on 11/27/2012, 7:29 AM

are there any findings on the " autocalculate video memory (64bit) " being set to FALSE by default?

Neil Wilkes wrote on 11/27/2012, 9:52 AM

This is all very interesting.
CHecking this in the Internal Prefs for V12 (x64) and I am seeing some confusing stuff:
1 - There is a setting for RAM Preview limit 32-bit operation. This is 1024Mb
2 - There is another RAM Preview limit for 64-bit, set to 32,768 (my installed memory)
Do these need adjusting, and what should it be set to?

I found the other settings mentioned, and would like to thank you for this information.

Paul Masters wrote on 11/27/2012, 11:45 AM

Are the 'internal' settings saved with an update or do they revert to the 'factory' settings?

I gather that they revert with a new version ... but may be not as some of the customization appears to stay, especially when the older version was not removed.

Thanks.

Paul Masters

rmack350 wrote on 11/27/2012, 12:06 PM

HappyFriar's list of applications is much more in line with our experience when editing. We usually need scripts and reference documents open, along with supporting apps like Photoshop or some sort of image viewer like Bridge (yuck!) or FastStone Viewer. And since our business largely runs on email we'd have an email client open, and a web browser.

I'm not sure what the setting for RAM means but I assume it's a floor, not a ceiling, but it could be working space

Keep in mind that memory is virtualized in Windows. Just because an application is requesting 2GB of virtual address space doesn't mean it's using 2GB of RAM. You could have 8 applications requesting a gig of memory each even though you just have 4 GB of RAM. And even though those apps request a certain amount of space, they might not be filling it.

I think the next question to ask after raising the memory setting is whether you can eventually load up Vegas to the point where your problems return?

Rob

GenJerDan wrote on 11/27/2012, 9:20 PM

And this fixed my can't-render-AVI-with-GPU problem. :^)

DavidPJ wrote on 11/28/2012, 7:08 PM

Thanks megabit! Like another post, I was having frequent crashes with Vegas 12 Build 394 when using the Undo button. I changed the memory from 1024 to 2048 but I haven't had the opportunity to test it for a length of time. Hope it helps.

TheHappyFriar wrote on 11/28/2012, 8:50 PM

I loaded up a ram intensive project in Vegas 10. I had my processes list open while Vegas played the TL. With the default 384mb value Vegas used ~550mb. With the 1gb value Vegas still used 550mb.

Next test is to render that project. It would crash 32-bit Vegas with a memory error if I rendered to anything but AVI.

wilvan wrote on 11/29/2012, 12:42 AM

@TheHappyFriar

I would not touch these settings when still running a 32 bit operating system and
according 32 bit version of vegas pro.

TheHappyFriar wrote on 11/29/2012, 6:54 AM

Why not? Worst that will happen is I'll crash something, best is it'll work. Won't know until it's tested. If that value is in 32-bit Vegas then there's a reason, same reason for the value in 64-bit Vegas.

DavidPJ wrote on 11/29/2012, 9:45 AM

After changing the memory to 2048 last night I tried a tried a number of undo operations . Vegas 12 didn't crash, not even once. Before I changed the setting Vegas would crash at least 50% of the time on an undo.

ritsmer wrote on 11/29/2012, 10:23 AM

Some VERY interesting observations in this thread...

...would ForumAdmin please add some educated comments, please? -
it could really help many people getting their Vegas installations up and running as stable as they are intended to be.

Paul Fierlinger wrote on 11/29/2012, 10:59 AM

To the question, What else can you be running at the same time as Vegas? I run TVPaint at all times in tandem with Vegas 12, which has similar timelines including multiple video and audio layers in the dozens and a Preview window et all, and can be just as much a memory hog as Vegas. TVP never crashes though, but with 1080p 2881 x 1621 x 24fps files and larger, the playback rate can suffer at times.

I too changed the Vegas memory to 2048 and can report that this has no ill effect on either TVP or Vegas. Both programs are 64 bit and I use an nVidia Quadro 420 NVS card and have just 8GB RAM in my computer.

The first noticeable difference for me in Vegas is that my external Preview monitor plays smoother than pre memory change.