topic Re: Freeing up system memory? in ArcGIS CityEngine Questions

Freeing up system memory?

jeffreymorris1 — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:49:12 GMT

My computer has 12GB of system memory and City Engine keeps on asking me to purge system memory when working with huge files. How do I free up system memory before running City Engine?

Re: Freeing up system memory?

jeffreymorris1 — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 23:45:42 GMT

In the lower-right corner of the program window, there are two readouts for amount of memory free. Are the left readout for video memory and the right readout for system memory? I think that I'm running low on video memory and not system memory. My project has about 100 image files showing bird's eye view of the city.

Re: Freeing up system memory?

MatthiasBuehler1 — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:25:19 GMT

Hi,

those two indicators show the 2 memory types CityEngine uses : Java memory (left) and Native memory (right). [ CityEngine is written using 2 programming languages : Java and C++ ]

Thus you're running out of Java memory.

The reason for this is that Java reserves a certain amount of memory for CityEngine and this memory can not be used for any other application. Due to this fact, the developers had to agree on this certain amount of memory which is okay for most users. Some users with big datasets may - as you - run into issues with this. But of course this amount can be set. (PM me to get instructions)

Though editing this amount has it's risks if the user's not perfectly aware of the steps taken.

To get an overview of how much the VRAM is used, check :
Help > About CityEngine > Installation Details > System Info > OpenGL

Re: Freeing up system memory?

DavidMoore1 — Sat, 26 May 2012 01:23:14 GMT

I was having the same problems. My Solution == check your JRE, if it's 32 bit and you run City Engine 64 bit then City Engine goes nuts. There is a 64 bit JRE. Otherwise switch to 32 bit City Engine and it'll run fine. Yours Truly davidj88101

Re: Freeing up system memory?

JoanneO_Brien — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 00:22:32 GMT

Hi Matt

I really need to free up some more JAVA memory form my CityEngine too as it can't handle my models etc. I'm running a 64bit version on a Windows 7 machine, could you let me know how?

Thanks

Joanne

Re: Freeing up system memory?

MatthiasBuehler1 — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 08:34:20 GMT

Hi !

In the CE application folder, you'll find a file called CityEngine.ini.

Open it with a text editor.

Change the line
-Xmx2048M

To e.g.
-Xmx4096M

Or a similar value ( does not have to be power of 2 ).
save, restart CE to take effect.

[This will change the left memory indicator.]

PLEASE SET THIS WITH CAUTION !!

Cheers !

matt

Re: Freeing up system memory?

JoanneO_Brien — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 20:45:43 GMT

Thanks for that, I'll be very cautious! 😉

Re: Freeing up system memory?

JenniferPollom — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 16:34:56 GMT

Hi,

those two indicators show the 2 memory types CityEngine uses : Java memory (left) and Native memory (right). [ CityEngine is written using 2 programming languages : Java and C++ ]

Thus you're running out of Java memory.

The reason for this is that Java reserves a certain amount of memory for CityEngine and this memory can not be used for any other application. Due to this fact, the developers had to agree on this certain amount of memory which is okay for most users. Some users with big datasets may - as you - run into issues with this. But of course this amount can be set. (PM me to get instructions)

Though editing this amount has it's risks if the user's not perfectly aware of the steps taken.

To get an overview of how much the VRAM is used, check :
Help > About CityEngine > Installation Details > System Info > OpenGL

Why would I only see one indicator for memory? I just upgraded the RAM to 12 GB total, but the Free Memory indicator does not seem to be reflecting that increase in memory.

Re: Freeing up system memory?

MatthiasBuehler1 — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 12:41:42 GMT

I'm pretty sure you only see 1 indicator because of the CityEngien window layout. Maybe try rescaling some windows or go to:

Window > Layout > Default.

Ther must be 2 indicators. :rolleyes:

Lemme know ..

Matt

Re: Freeing up system memory?

JenniferPollom — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:47:08 GMT

Thank you for your response. I had tried re-sizing previously and have gone to Windows-->Layout-->Default. The display still only shows one memory indicator (see attached image).

Re: Freeing up system memory?

MatthiasBuehler1 — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:55:49 GMT

Hi !

Try creating a new scene which has no projection set yet.

It may be that the projection note down there messes up the layout and pushes the mem indicators out of the way.

Also, you can resize the whole CE window to show it bigger than 1 screen. I usually work on 3 screens here .. 😉

Lemme know ..

Matt

Re: Freeing up system memory?

JenniferPollom — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 14:45:03 GMT

With a projected scene, I can never see both the memory indicators no matter where I put all the windows. Will this be fixed in a service pack do you think?

Re: Freeing up system memory?

MatthiasBuehler1 — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 10:25:41 GMT

Hi Jennifer..

Can you post a screenshot with your full screen ?

Please also let me know what resolution your monitor is working on ..

Kind greetings and thanks.

[ Sorry for the inconvenience with the GUI.. ]

Matt

Re: Freeing up system memory?

JenniferPollom — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:29:55 GMT

I am running a 64-bit operating system.

Re: Freeing up system memory?

JenniferPollom — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 17:32:26 GMT

I forgot to tell you that both screens are at a resolution of 1280 x 1024.

Re: Freeing up system memory?

MatthiasBuehler1 — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 10:38:37 GMT

Hi ..

Did you get my PM ?

I guess it'd be best we can so a screensharing session to track this down.

E.g. via Skype or so. Please PM me, we can then figure out the details.

Matt

Re: Freeing up system memory?

IonutAlixandroae — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 12:51:42 GMT

Hello,

I`m having the same problem with CE, also movement in the scene is with lag. A few times I was getting a fatal error and the application just ended( I think it saved a txt file on my desktop with specification of the error).

JRE is 64 bit and CE also on 64 bit. I have 8 GB of RAM and a 2GB GPU

In my .ini file xmx is 4096 and I`m not sure what value to set ( 8192 maybe? ).

Can you give me any suggestions?

Thanks !

Re: Freeing up system memory?

MatthiasBuehler — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 14:44:06 GMT

Hi,

Do NOT assign more than half of your system memory to Java. This memory is reserved by CityEngine and no other application can access it.

If you still get 'out of memory / purge' messages, you'll need to get more RAM. I'd recommend 16 GB.

Ok ?

Matt

Matthias Buehler

Head of 3D Technologies

twitter: @MattB3D

----------------------------------

Garsdale Design Limited

matthias.buehler@garsdaledesign.co.uk

www.garsdaledesign.co.uk

Re: Freeing up system memory?

IonutAlixandroae — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 08:07:17 GMT

Hi Matt,

Does CityEngine benefits from using 2 GPU NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 in SLI ?

https://community.esri.com/message/445440?et=watches.email.thread#445440

Thanks !

Re: Freeing up system memory?

MatthiasBuehler — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 10:14:11 GMT

Hi,

I'm not perfectly sure if it will run technically - I assume it will be no problem and is supported.

But I doubt there's any advantage using SLI for any work in CityEngine. Note CityEngine is NOT a visualization tool. 90% of time working, you only generate a small portion of a city when you are changing the code or working on a specific design. So there's really no need for such GPU power. It does not make work you faster.

It's like with cars. Do you need a Maserati to go shopping ? Not really.

😉

Matthias Buehler

Head of 3D Technologies

twitter: @MattB3D

-----------------------------------

Garsdale Design Limited

matthias.buehler@garsdaledesign.co.uk