Memory Leak
 

I use Ark Inventory as well as Carbonite. I am getting a Memory leak for Carb. When I turn off Carb, I lose the leak. I found that it was a conflict in Ark Inventory. When I turn Ark off, I lose the leak also. Carb is more important to me. So this is an FYI. Not sure what other bag addon I can use. Thank you for the great work.


Faldiin

I just read the other day one of the addon authors here (and I can't remember who) state that addons cannot have memory leaks.

Well I start my memory at 53 mb and the game crashes as it climbs to 107mb. I have to /reload every 20 mins or the game crashes. I dont have this issue with I remove 1 of the 2 addons. So if that is not a memory leak then please tell me what it is called.


Faldiin.

I don't have anything helpful to say; but technically it's true that addons can't have memory "leaks" ... they can however do what you describe which is simply using too much memory.

Well we can keep arguing this but I know they can have memory leaks. I have a few friends that program. In either case. There is an issue that Carb is growing on memory and being unstable with Ark. So this point still stands.

Faldiin

To rule out any corrupted files, delete the Cache folder and move the Interface and WTF folders temporarily to your desktop (the WTF folder will be auto re created when you log in again). Manually recreate the Interface/Addons folders and download a fresh copy of Carbonite. Log into the game and see if the issue persists.

I have rebuild the ui from the group up and still getting the issue. Deleted everything. I have a friend that was having the same issue and left Carb. It has taken me a few weeks to figure it out since I was not in a hurry. The latest patches to Carb made it worse. I am going to ask her to try it also and see if it works for her.

Faldiin

No, they can't. I found the comment I refered to earlier. Scott is a software engineer and an amazing addon author.

So even in what he says it is a memory leak. If it does not clear the garbage and keeps growing it is leaking memory. It is growing and not clearing. This is a memory leak. This is a programming issue also. That is what memory leaks do. They grow in the memory that they use and become unstable until the system runs out of memory and crashes. This is the same issue with OS's.

Faldiin

It's not a memory leak. If it where, the Carbonite forums would be overrun with hundreds of people reporting the same issue. As it were, that is simply not the case. I use Carbonite and am not experiencing the issue that you are.

Yes it is still a memory leak between Ark and Carb. I dont know what is causing it. I have removed Ark and went to a different addon and not having the issue. There is something with the 2 addons that is causing the leak. And since I know that someone else is having the issue IRL I know it is not just my system. It just happens that my setup with the other addons I am getting this issue. This is what happens in programing. Cant make sure everything works with everything.

Faldiin

Are the addon authors lying to you when they say addons cannot have memory leaks? Why would they lie and how does this benefit them?

Well here is the Official Definition.

In computer science, a memory leak is a particular type of unintentional memory consumption by a computer program where the program fails to release memory when no longer needed. This condition is normally the result of a bug in a program that prevents it from freeing up memory that it no longer needs. Memory is allocated to a program, and that program subsequently loses the ability to access it due to program logic flaws.

A memory leak has symptoms similar to a number of other problems (see below) and generally can only be diagnosed by a programmer with access to the program source code; however, many people refer to any unwanted increase in memory usage as a memory leak, even if this is not strictly accurate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_leak


Faldiin

This is where we run into differences between programmers and laypersons. To a layperson, not knowing what is going on behind the scenes, any problem in which memory grows is a "memory leak"
To a programmer however, a memory leak is a very specific problem, which cannot occur in garbage collected languages like Lua. To a programmer, a memory leak is when the program loses the reference to an object in memory, before it has returned that memory to the system. Thus, the program still has that memory allocated, even though it cannot get at it. Thus it is lost, or "leaked".
Garbage collected languages such as Lua, detect when there are no more references to an object in memory, and returns that memory to the system on behalf of the program, making a true memory leak impossible.
Programs in Lua, can still suffer from "memory bloat", in which a reference to the memory is maintained when it shouldn't be, preventing it from being garbage collected.
Key Difference:
Memory Leak: Program and Operating System do not have access to the memory
Memory Bloat: Program still has access, but doesn't need it any more.

While the symptoms are similar they are usually caused by very different programming mistakes, so while to the user the difference is kind of irrelevant, to a programmer it does make a difference.

That said it sounds like they both probably define a function of the same name in the global name space, probably for recycling tables or something similar, causing the conflict.

Well you have explained my issue. I have something eating the memory and not releasing it. It is a conflict between the addons. My memory starts at 50mb and crashes at 107. It grows none stop for 20 mins. When I remove Carb my issue goes away. Same if I remove Ark and keep Carb. With the 2 it is growing and not being released. So my point stands I am getting a memory leak. I can only go by the definition.

Faldiin

If I may offer some helpful advice here. There are probably just a handful of people (the addon authors) who are able to actually fix your problem; they are exactly the sort of people (coders) who are likely to be incredibly anal about the definitions of terms like "memory leak" -- which this isn't, regardless of how many times you claim that it is -- and so, even though it's actually completely irrelevant whether you know what a memory leak is, will probably be completely unwilling, psychologically unable even, to offer advice to you while the question of whether this is in fact a memory leak remains open, and while someone may be wrong about it on the intertubes. I know I would if it were me. Therefore, it might be beneficial to simply admit that, even though this problem fits the common-usage definition of a memory leak, and 99% of people would refer to it as a memory leak, there exists a technical term "memory leak" which was the original and correct usage of the phrase, and which does not and cannot apply to this specific problem by definition.

Leak .. Bloat .. whatever you want to call it .. stop being a bunch of two year olds and maybe try to fix the issue and stop the bickering or I'll have to put the two of you in the naughty corner. :)

Whatever you call it ... it is a problem and needs to be fixed.

7... 8... 9... 10 .... *deep breath* ... ANYWAYS ... :)

I just set up my game to run JUST Carbonite and Ark inventory (as well as a memory info addon) and I see NO issues with the game crashing. Memory starts at around 22mb and so far has peaked at 25 (and as low as 19). No where do I see it steadily climbing.

TBH if 100mb of addon usage is killing your game there may be a bigger problem. My normal UI runs at around 100-110 on a typical night.

Have you tried running any other games/programs that require a lot of system ram? See if they crash too. How much system ran do you have?


EDIT .. Been running for over 20 mins now and memory has yet to go much higher than 25mb

I used Carbonite alongside Arkinventory for the last several months now and have had no issues whatsoever with memory climbing uncontrollably. I have play sessions in that time period of 8+ hours (I work nights so on my days off I can't sleep...even though everyone else I know goes to bed. >.< )

It just occurred to me that I had all inventory retention capabilities of Arkinventory turned off (i.e. I didn't have it saving the contents of banks, alt inventories, guild bank, etc.). Carbonite does a much better job of tracking all this (except guild banks, which I don't need to track), so I had that disabled in Arkinventory.

If there indeed IS something going on between the combination of Carb and Ark as it relates to memory that is the place to start looking.

When I did my addon profiling I found that Arkinventory is quite the memory hog for what it does and also has very large fluctuations in what it uses as you play, so I replaced it with Combuctor a week ago and haven't looked back.

Thank you ;)