"Out of Memory"

[thud]

I was checking out the Bioshock demo, default settings (full effects,
with post-processing), at 1024x768, and it would sporadically come
up with the message above (also logged in the log files) and briefly
go non-3D before sorting itself out.

Does this mean *video* memory (in which case I suppose the only
option is to upgrade my video card) or could it be some other type?

Would playing at 800x600 help? Turning off 'Stereo Render' doesn't
seem to be an option, but are there other settings I can turn down?

Anyone got any other helpful suggestions/ideas ?

--- Thx to all for replying

[Jahun]

Did you try to turn down texture sizes?
I believe they can eat up alot of your video memory...

Either in-game or by .ini

[thud]

You'll have worked out by now that I should have said "Stereo Texture".

Short of turning "Stereo Texture" off (doesn't look as great) how would
I turn down the texture size ?

--- TIA

[thud]

I think these are my options (from 'Default.ini'):

; pc graphics config options
HighDetailShaders=True
Shadows=True
RealTimeReflection=True
PostProcessing=True
HardwareOcclusion=True
UseRippleSystem=True
UseHighDetailSoftParticles=True
UseSpecCubeMap=True;
UseDistortion=True;

Of course, I think I want ALL of them, so I may try turning down the
resolution and/or AA first, leaving me with these to fiddle with later.

--- thud

[Jahun]

Ehmm maybe I am missing something but can't you turn down "texture size" in the in-game options?

If that is already on it's lowest maybe some extra options can be had in the .ini, but I may be missing your point..

[thud]

Sigh ... yes, I'm probably overthinking things. I'll try the in-game options
first before fiddling with any INI files. I was kind of hoping someone would
have THE magic answer that would fix all of my problems.

--- Thx

[Jahun]

What videcard and video memory do you have now anyway?

That .ini is not the correct one I think.
Try looking in your "documents and settings -> user -> application data -> bioshock folder

In your Bioshock.ini file you can find:

[D3DDrv.D3DRenderDevice]
HighDetailActors=False
SuperHighDetailActors=False
UsePrecaching=True
UseTrilinear=True
AdapterNumber=-1
ReduceMouseLag=True
DoubleBufferMouseLag=True
DesiredRefreshRate=60
UseVSync=True
LevelOfAnisotropy=4
TesselationFactor=1.000000
CheckForOverflow=False
BatchRenderFlash=True
UseShaderConstantChecking=False
OverrideDesktopRefreshRate=False
AvoidHitches=False
UseLinearSpace=True
Use8bitBackBuffer=False
Use8bitOpacity=False


and

[WinDrv.WindowsClient]
WindowedViewportX=1024
WindowedViewportY=768
FullscreenViewportX=1280
FullscreenViewportY=1024
MenuViewportX=640
MenuViewportY=480
Brightness=0.500000
Contrast=0.500000
Gamma=1.000000
UseJoystick=False
UseController=False
CaptureMouse=True
StartupFullscreen=True
ScreenFlashes=True
NoLighting=False
MinDesiredFrameRate=25.000000
Decals=True
Coronas=True
DecoLayers=True
Projectors=True
NoDynamicLights=False
ReportDynamicUploads=False
TextureDetailInterface=Normal
TextureDetailTerrain=Low
TextureDetailWeaponSkin=Low
TextureDetailPlayerSkin=Low
TextureDetailWorld=Low
TextureDetailRenderMap=Low
TextureDetailLightmap=Low
NoFractalAnim=False
ScaleHUDX=0.0
MouseYMultiplier=0.000000
MouseXMultiplier=0.000000
WindowedViewportYPosEditor=0
WindowedViewportXPosEditor=0
WindowedViewportYPos=-1
WindowedViewportXPos=-1

and:

[Engine.RenderConfig]
HDRSceneExpBias=-3
MaxSkeletalProjectorsPerActor=6
OffsetSkeletalProjectorRearFrustrumPlane=10.000000
UseSoftwareAntiAliasing=False
EdgeDetectCutoff=0.002000
EdgeBlurSize=0.500000
StreamingVisibleWeight=10.000000
StreamingDiffuseWeight=4.000000
StreamingBSPWeight=1.000000
StreamingEmissiveWeight=7.000000
StreamingLightmapWeight=5.000000
StreamingNormalmapWeight=1.000000
StreamingDynamicLoadedWeight=10.000000
StreamingDistanceScale=1000.000000
HighDetailShaders=True
Shadows=False
RealTimeReflection=True
PostProcessing=False
HardwareOcclusion=True
UseRippleSystem=False
UseHighDetailSoftParticles=False
UseSpecCubeMap=True
UseDistortion=True
ForceGlobalLighting=True
CascadingWaterSimulationVelocity=10.000000
UseHighDetailPostProcEffects=True
UseMultithreading=False
DisableExtraAntiPortalClip=True
TextureDetail=Low
FluidSurfaceDetail=High
DynamicShadowDetail=Medium


These are the ones I believe that affect your game.
(not the .ini in your game folder)
Make a backup of it though and then maybe tweak it a bit.


But if yours works already, I think most of these won't do much (but there is a range of texture related settings). It is a new game with biig textures.. and it wants it all into videomem I guess..

[Jahun]

Hmm seeing this line in the .ini file:
"MemoryPath=MEMORY\CurrentGame"

You do have enough space on your C: drive where that directory is located?

[thud]

[Thanks for pointing out where the real .INI files are stored].

Funky stuff. See below.

> can't you turn down "texture size" in the in-game options?

No. Because I'd enabled the XBox controller it'd switched to
the XBox game engine (Xenion ?) which only gives very limited
options in-game (this also might explain why none of my .INI
mods worked, as I was modding the Windows settings).

So it looks like you can either have a useful gamepad (with FF if
you like it, which I do) OR Stereo 3D, but not both. Kudos to the
Unreal team for even making using the gamepad/FF an option.

So then I switched back to the Windows version (by deselecting
my XBox 360 controller) and things were better (what's the real
resolution on an XBox 360 - 720 x 480 ?). Now a full set of video
options in-game.

Still some artifacts at 1024x768, so reduced the game down to
800x600, which really looked good. Better textures, more jump
(it's extremely dark and creepy in S-3D, not sure I liked it).

Some flicker, so going by the Unreal mods (thanks Google) I
turned off ScreenFlashes which should have helped but didn't
seem to. They also suggested that LevelOfAnisotropy can be
turned down to 0 (default: LevelOfAnisotropy=4) which I didn't
try.

I have a similiar problem to the other fellow, no hesitation but
I'm getting shimmering because one side is not getting the full
texture (usually the left, sometimes the right). Hmm, maybe
that's what the Shimmer setting is for ...

Along the way I tried turning off both PostProcessing and also
HardwareOcclusion as I suspected them both of that Stereo
Texture problem, but no juice as I was (unbeknownst to myself)
using the XBox 360 engine at the time.

By this time I was completely creeped out (you get better Stereo
the darker it gets so your attention really gets drawn into the bright
shiny thingy) which is why that's as far as I went.

--- HTH

[thud]

[See the 'Bioshock demo' thread]

I turned 'High Detail Post Processing' off, which fixed my problems.

--- Thx