CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#memory
Rabir
Rabir

Reputation: 59

Memory Management Ideas?

I'm writing a game in C# with SharpDX... So, for drawing a frame, currently i'm using a Timer, with interval set to 1; But this is too slow for a game, so i want something faster... First of all, if I use another thread for the game (and another for the Window itself) and i use a "[while (InGame)]" statement, it is fast, but the GC will never release a single object, and the memory usage just going up and up...

IF I use the SharpDX built in "RenderLoop" function, it is fast also, but the GC still doesn't do anything...

I've tried to override the Window form "WndProc" function, but the game only refresh itself then i'm moving the mouse like a crazy men...

This is my first real game, with a lot of functions, so if any of you have any idea, how would i fix it, or what should I use, I would appreciate it... There must be something in the Window Form lifecycle like a

void FormLife
{
     WndProc();
     HandleEvents();
     etc...
}

(It was just a hard example...)

OR how can i force the GC to do its job, at the end of the while(InGame) state ? I've tried GC.Collect(); but its dont work...

Upvotes: 0

Views: 157

Answers (4)

Chad Dienhart
Chad Dienhart

Reputation: 5194

Since the objects are not being collected you must be holding a reference to them somewhere.

You didn't post much code so it is hard to say where you are holding a reference.

In the past I've used windbg to find the root cause of of memory issues. VS2013 has a memory profiler built in (might be easier to use).

A common case I've seen of holding references is via event subscription. If you have subscribed to any events you have to make sure you unsubscribe to release the object. see Why and How to avoid Event Handler memory leaks? for more details. That doesn't look like your problem.

Upvotes: 0

Alois Kraus
Alois Kraus

Reputation: 13535

If GC.Collect does not free memory you have a memory leak. Use the memory profiling tool of your choice to spot the leak (PerfView, Windbg, .NET Memory Profiler, YourKit, ....)

Besides this the best allocation is no allocation at all. If you reuse objects and keep unused objects in a pool you can get rid of GCs almost entirely. Even if you stay away from Gen 2 collections which can block your game for hundreds of ms you also need to keep a sharp eye on Gen 0/1 collections which can also cause noticeable delays.

See http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/74631e98-fd8b-4098-8306-8d1031e912a4/gc-still-pauses-whole-app-under-sustainedlowlatency-latencymode-despite-it-consumes-025gb-and?forum=clr

Upvotes: 1

Danny Varod
Danny Varod

Reputation: 18069

  1. Don't put your game logic in the UI classes.

  2. Use a multimedia timer and a dispatcher to return to main thread for rendering. From my experience a cycle of 5mSec works well. (Lower will waste CPU time).

  3. Use dispatcher priority of Input so that the timer won't choke the UI and prevent it handling user events.

  4. On timer event, if the previous update hasn't completed, return immediately without doing anything (you can use System.Threading.Interlocked.CompareAndExchange as a cheap sync method).

  5. To make game run faster, try to reuse objects and change their states or to pass short living immutables so that the GC won't delay your program.

  6. Use the IDisposable pattern where applicable.

Upvotes: 5

Venr
Venr

Reputation: 937

You don't typically have to worry about memory management. If you are making sure not to hold on to references then the garbage collector should do its thing automatically based on memory pressure.

You can force it yourself using GC.Collect but you need to be absolutely certain you really need to. Most of the time its not required. Check this thread for more info and points to consider: Best Practice for Forcing Garbage Collection in C#

Upvotes: 0

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