KSP's RAM issue Is Getting out of hand

[Tris_The]

DISCLAIMER I am not a Regular Forum user this is one of the few posts i've ever made

 

--->Steam Post<---

 

Whats The Problem

   So I've been doing some mod testing to create a modpack that runs stably and I have run into the issue I keep seeing casually ignored that stops this game from being modernized.    The RAM
Yes its talked about plenty but don't see anyone talking about the real problem and with the release and failure of KSP 2 something should be done to bring back KSP 1 so its not just its base gimmicks.
 

What I've Noticed

   The main thing I noticed, KSP is loading all stock assets, old assets, DLC assets essentially the entire game plus all the mods you install. Then it is loaded into Cache on RAM instead of pulling from a caching file on storage so at all times the entire game is loaded on ram, not the engine, not the current assets, everything minus like maybe a Gig, and thats not including the doubling bug. Currently I have an install over 16 Gb and it is pulling 8Gb RAM at the Main Menu, 14Gb at KSC, VAB, and Luanchpad. Of course as I'm writing this its being on its best behavior but it will reach 20 Gb when it boots and at times almost 30 GB while playing and my computer doesn't freeze out but SignalRGB breaks, Youtube Breaks and whatever else depends on the same rendering instruction sets as KSP.
 

What Does That Even Mean

   First it means don't B!#@h about there being to many mods that isn't the problem never has been the game runs perfectly fine with several hundred mods. The problem is KSP is doing something most other games avoid which is loading the entire game repository into ram.... its why your latest COD game can be over 200Gb and not use well (ill do a quick guesstimate in comparison the the game content to cache ratio of KSP) 168Gb or so in RAM. So while people are trying to back up the statements of you have to many mods or its simulating an entire solar system understand that's not how it works. KSP is storing ALL of the game files in RAM to be swapped in and out of the game instance and simulation runs on CPU "~most likely" and the data is stored in a sub 100Mb file. KSP needing any more resources outside of the capacity of the game itself is unfounded.
 

Whats Going On Then In plain text

   KSP is loading all assets on runtime into RAM disallowing future expansion for modernization. On top off that a reoccurring bug, acknowledged by the community and only truely addressed "recently" in a single thread, causes the game assets the load twice or even three times into RAM on warm up which can lead to PC wide stack overflow Crashes with 1.12+ Versions of the game.

Thread mentioned
https://steamcommunity.com/app/220200/discussions/0/3392923906939515058

 

What should we do then

   What would work the best is if we managed to convince what remains of KSP 1 Development to implement a advanced bootstrapper that integrates with LODs and Occlusion Culling checks so when game assets are loaded at launch it would simply be for a asset check then it will call assets during gameplay rather than packing the RAM up before hand. Essentially the game needs a system to call on assets when they are needed instead of the old fashion method of load everything and don't worry. Maybe this is something modders can work on simply we need something to at least patch the bug currently happening cause at least my computer (not a potato) cant handle the game taking wayyy wayyy more resources than it needs for any reasonable purpose I've been getting flashing screens, laggy windows issues and more.

 

Ok Thats All

   I've Spent my time organizing and setting up my game plenty of reinstalls over the years and i'm hoping to be able to play at some point without the game breaking my computer. I've gotten it stable so far but at this point its seeming like a game you need a special dedicated computer to run. Anyways that's my Bit, for those who need it Specs are Below (not that it really matters in this context)

 

~SPECS~

OS - Windows 11
CPU - Ryzen 7 5800x @ ~4.62 - 4.75 Ghz
RAM - 32GB @ 3.2Ghz
GPU - MSI Nvidia RTX3060Ti 8Gb GRAM (Full while running)
 

Programs tested with running

- Chrome (Unstable - especially YT)
- Discord (Stable - Can even Stream)
- SignalRGB (Unstable - Theme Engine crashes clogs rendering instruction sets even bugs out CKAN
- OBS (Stable maybe - didn't test much)
- Ableton (Stable - I use this for Mic and audio input)
- Focusrite Scarlett drivers (Unstable - un-syncs device audio clock I get BSODs in ARMA3 because of this guy)
- Task Manager - (started to skip update repaints)


P.S. As of Writing this the ram usage has dropped to 11.5Gb giving me reason to believe the game has the implications to achieve what I am proposing but is using the utility's to a very poor margin. And I should also Address, Caching files don't get cleared quickly. enough

Edited 5 hours ago by Tris_The
Added link to sister post

[Anth]

Main issue is that there is a memory leak that was introduced with 1.2, I think relating to the Unity garbage collection. When the game changes between scenes it appears to load the universe every time and it causes the memory to go up and up and also the load times get longer and longer.

In addition the bigger the save file the faster the memory leak increases.

If this issue was eliminated then most of the memory issues would be gone.