ZBrushCentral

Allocate more memory to Zbrush ?

ZBrush Usage Questions
#1

Hey guys, I think I heard something about XP(32) not being able to allocate more than 2Gigz of ram to each application. I’m having issues working on my model right now, “insufficient memory” error messages all the way forcing Zbrush to crash in the end. I had 2Gigz of DDR and just upgraded to 4 gigz, but still, not improvement, all sliders of Zbrush memory preferences are up to the max. Any wayz around the problem? or shall I install Windows XP64 bits ? ( do I need specific hardware for that purpose by the way ? )

than ks for helping,

pe@ce

Adriano

#2

That’s the problem. The maximum setting for Preferences>Mem>Compact Mem is greater than the amount of RAM that your system can make available to ZBrush. As a result, that amount of RAM usage can never be reached, which in turn prevents ZBrush from using virtual memory – even when it needs to. This is why you are getting errors like crazy.

A common mistake among ZBrush users is the belief that they can get better performance by simply maximizing all the settings. They forget that if improving performance was as simple as maxing that slider, there would be no need for such a slider. The value would be at the maximum by default.

The slider should be set to a value lower than the amount of RAM that you have. However, Windows XP is limited by the fact that it will not allow any program to use more than two GB of RAM. So even though you now have 4 GB of RAM in your system, XP is still only allowing a maximum of 2 GB to go to ZBrush. You cannot override this by changing a setting in ZBrush.

With the amount of RAM that your system has, I would set Preferences>Mem>Compact Mem to 2000. This will let ZBrush use everything that XP is making available to it. All the extra RAM that your system now has will simply wait in the background and be used by things like XP and any other programs you might be running at the same time as ZBrush.

Please see the ZBrush 2 Performance Tips found in the FAQ>General section here at ZBC for detailed information about the various settings that you can use in ZBrush to enhance performance. Adjusting those settings willy nilly is a sure-fire recipe for trouble. You need to understand how the settings work before you can put them to good use.

As for Windows XP x64, it is not the answer. First, you need a 64-bit processor. Second, ZBrush 2 is not optimized to run on that platform, and cannot run at all on x64 systems with more than 2 GB of RAM. Your system has 4 GB of RAM, so switching to x64 would actually prevent you from using ZBrush at all. Even if you removed the extra RAM to be able to run ZBrush on x64, you’d stilll get better performance by staying with your current OS – provided you have your Preferences set correctly.

#3

Thanks for your help Aurick, obviously I should have asked about it before purchasing 4 x 1GB of PC2100 DDR …duh !! now it really feels like I spent 400 bucks for nothing :confused: …well, almost for nothing.
Anyway, I changed the memory settings to 2040 in Zbrush’s preferences and I still get error messages “insufficient memory” and then it crashes.

I’m gonna read some more FAQ to find out where I can optimize some more, but I’m starting to think that spliting my mesh in several patches is gonna be the only way I can reach the desired level of subdivision, I guess I can export all the Dispmap patches in Photoshop later on and fix up the seams… do photoshop handle 32 bits depth maps ? …hmmm… anyway, am gonna dig into that.

laterz and thanks again,

Adriano

#4

Let me guess: You’ve also set Preferences>Mem>MaxPolyPerMesh to 10? How many polygons does your model have?

As you’ll learn from reading that thread I referred you to, the MaxPolyPerMesh setting should never be higher than double what ZBrush defaults to. With the amount of RAM that Windows makes available to you, a value of 6 would be the maximum that you really should go with.

#5

Hi Aurick,

you guessed right, but I have no other choice, if I choose less than 10millions polys in my settings, it simply won’t even try to subdivide my mesh an other time and reach the level 5 of subdiv. It’s terribly frustrating right now not to be able to work on my whole mesh at once. I decided just now to split the mesh into several patches and join the dispMap pieces together afterward. I just can’t go on like that with trial and errors anymore, made me waste way too much time so far.

Thanks anyway for your help, most valuable as usual.

pe@ce

Adriano

#6

hmm just getting these errors also? One question though if it is impossible to allocate more then 2 gb ram to the program why put this even in the settings it does not make any sense :rolleyes:

#7

ZBrush is not exclusively a PC program. The Mac platform may allow more RAM per app than Windows does. Also, keep in mind that ZBrush is always designed to be as forward-compatible as possible. So you may sometimes find settings that reflect anticipated hardware capabilities rather than current.

Of course, whether the computing world evolves to be able to actually match expectations or not is a whole other story… :wink:

#8

Well, I can’t verify how much memory Zbrush uses now I did the 3GB switch with windows, but I set the memory preference to 2650 Mb and do not get those error messages anymore. I can also say tht wehn rendering with Max under winXP 32, 3Ds Max reaches the 2600 Mb of ram use very easely now and won’t run out of memory for my Render. I wish I could use the 4 GB I have for a single app, but it seems not possible, the best I got so far is 2699Mb with Max, bu it might have something to do with the 2700Mb limitation I did set for windows, I should try to make the switch up to 3500Mb some day, but I’m afraid XP would turn out to be very unstable.

Search for that “3Gb switch” thread at GTalk, it might help you the way it did for me.

pe@ce

Adriano

#9

Memory limits

There are limits to how much memory your computer can use. If you are using the

standard 32-bit edition of Windows then the theoretical limit is restricted to is 2 gigs

You can actually increase this to 3 GBs (2.6 practically) by adjusting a single setting:

Right click on My Computer

Select Properties
Click the Advanced tab
Click on ‘settings’ within the Startup and Recovery section
Click Edit
A notepad window will appear which looks something like this:

[boot loader]

timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=“Microsoft Windows XP Professional” /fastdetect

What you need to do is duplicate the multi... line, change the name slightly and add /3GB to the end so that it looks like this: [boot loader]

timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=“Microsoft Windows XP” /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=“Microsoft Windows XP More Memory” /fastdetect /3GB

The result of this is that next time you reboot, you will get a menu where you can choose a regular windows boot, or a special

version which gives an extra gig of memory to applications.

WARNING:
Don’t just add the /3GB option to the existing line, because if it doesn’t work then you won’t be able to boot at all.

Chris

#10

on a close note, is it possible to change the path for the vmem file?
seems like a waste to have a scratch raid1 set of two 10k rpm drives when I’m using zbrush and it’s hell bent on using my 7400 rpm IDE system drive.
sort of reluctant to installing zbrush on this scratch drive on which apps are enjoying as good as full fragmentation-freeness due to it being blank at the end of the day.
EDIT: btw, when zbrush says something like “300+46000” and task manager says zbrush uses around 1000, what’s happened?
also, my program drive where the vmem file should be located is only 38gb total let alone 46 free.
couldn’t find where the file was at at this case. (content of Zbrush3\vmem\ 64mb)

#11

Bless Linux32 & Wine!!..
Damn Zbrush online activation & Wine!!..

World is not just!

#12

Do what Atwooki recommended, and try adding this if you’ve got over 3GB but under 16GB on a Win32 system:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=“Microsoft Windows XP More Memory” /fastdetect /PAE/ 3GB

You’ll know it worked if you boot up, and check under “Control Panel”> “System Properties” > “General” and the menu should say your memory is 3 (or more) GB and underneath it says “Physical Address Extension”

It doesn’t actually show the amount that you have (for instance I’m using 4GB, but it shows that I’m running on 3.25) but Windows is actually using the full amount of RAM you’ve got in your system.

On a side note, Your best bet is to copy and paste the line your default “multi” line points to and just add " /PAE/ 3GB" to the end of it. I personally have never used the Right click on the “My Computer” method. I just directly modify the “boot.ini” file (should be on your default drive) in notepad after making a backup of it. (This way if something messes up and the bootloader doesn’t even come up I can restore it using Bart PE by deleting the modified and restoring the original.)

Here’s my boot.ini as an example:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT=“Recovery Console” /cmdcons
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=“Xp Pro PAE 3GB” /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /pae /3GB
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=“Xp Pro PAE” /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /pae
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=“Xp Pro Normal” /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS=“Xp Pro Safe Mode” /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /safeboot

#13

hey there! I need your help! i have zbrush installed on an intel i7 930 with 6gb of ram, with windows 7 64 bit and i get the following messageUntitled-1.jpg on a 6 subdivisions mesh that it’s not even so highly detailed. What’s the problem? Please help me!

#14

hello guys
i have the same problem of ram memory
and i make my ram up to 8 g now and still got the same wrong message and at the end its crashed
and then i increased the mem to the maximum number of faces and i read this is wrong so i dont know how can i make it as defult again as before
anyway i wanna ask about somthing
if i increase my vartuial memory will this make any differunt for my memory or not

#15

I’m not getting any errors, but zBrush is acting really slow when I increase or decrease subdivisions, or hide polygroups. Stepping up one division (even after it has been divided prior) results in at least 1 minute wait. I use the program regularly enough to know the behavior is messed up. It should only take a second to step between subdiv levels. I have a bunch of memory on my computer and 2 quad cores installed on a 64-bit OS, but the performance is super slow. Any ideas why?

#16

Windows 7 64bit, 8Gb ram, same crash when trying to export an obj.

#17

A big thank you Atwooki! Your advice just saved me a whole heap of trouble and probably expense!

#18

I’m having the same problem running 2.9 quad core with 6 gb on Win 7. Frustrating that there’s no resolution UUUGGGGG!!!

#19

Hi man!

I found a partial solution. Separate your model 2 half pieces by polygroups, then delete the hidden and save to another tool. Do this with the other half too. So you’ll remain all details and you’re will be able to continue your work.

Peace