This is the main thread for discussing the 'bad allocation' exception

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Moderator's note: there are numerous threads about this issue on the forum. All official replies will be made in this thread only.

Hello,

I am getting frequently this error sometimes using the standalone FF 3.06 Pro version

<class XFW::Kernel::StdException> bad allocation

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oniXMaster wrote: "bad allocation" means that you ran out of available memory. Please try the following: 1) ensure your paging file size isn't limited by a setting in Control Panel->System->Advanced->Settings(Performance)->Advanced->Change (ideally it should be System Managed and you should have enough space on disk, I recommend several tenths of gigabytes) 2) reduce the amount of memory Filter Forge uses for it's internal computations (go to Tools->Options...->Rendering and set the Maximum RAM usage slider to something like 60 instead of the default 75) Also please ensure that you have enough disk space for both paging file, you can check it in the same location as 1) ) and Filter Forge temporary files (available in the same location as 2) ). P.S. Test With 10000 x 5000 image sizes with properly set up paging file. The fact that other filters render fine makes me think that you're running out of disk space (there are two bitmap-based components in there, with such resolutions the temporary files alone might take from 3 to 6 gigabytes

It is NOT possible that the out of memory error could be from not enough RAM because I have 16 GB so is not this

What I find very interesting and surprising that is NOT only RAM needed, is ALSO hard disk storage size for Filter Forge temporary files !!!!

So, the problem could be NOT from FF alone, and would be because I have it bad configured in the paging file size ?

Is this why there are many problems on SOME COMPUTER to render high resolutions because probably what is wrong is that there is NOT ENOUGH STORAGE SPACE AVAILABLE FOR FF TEMPORAL FILES ??

Could I be having this lots of errors in FF because I do not have the paging file in the original default C: drive ?

I have found that this ONLY happens in the standalone version !!

I have got this error many times and with just a 2500x2500 photo

USING FILTER FORGE AS A PLUGIN OF PHOTOSHOP CS5 SOLVES THE PROBLEM !!!

BUT then I have used the SAME photo with Filter Forge as a plugin inside Photoshop and using the same filter and same settings, AND DO NOT GET ANYMORE this error , So I am happy that at least I know that to fix this undesired and unwanted error I just need to use Filter Forge as plugin and this SOLVES the problem.

Hi Guys

We have the same problem and we have both memory and diskspace on our highend pcs.

And it has todo with plugin mode as well as standalone when it comes to larger formats and for some reason only when a blur node has been used. If I remove the blur nodes I can do 65k textures with no errors.

We are trying to 16k x 16k textures and it crashes with this error even in plugin mode (if I use blur nodes).

Any ideas ?

- Avalanche Studios

Yes to my understanding the problem sits in the blur node.
I have tested several blur combos but a single nodes still breaks the render.

If the allocation is the problem i recommend that you first allocate and do a horizontal blur then the same with vertical blur. Doing that the memory footprint will be far less.

Also this is only a problem when you have large input image, 16384x16384 is what I try with.

(fun fact: photoshop cs5.5 cannot save psd files larger than 2gb)

I have emailed both contact and support but got no response beyond automated answers, I you any other channel in feel free to relay the information.

We are quite desperate to get a solution =P, The product clearly states that it can do renders up to 65k so we bought it and .. yeah well =P

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only when a blur node has been used. If I remove the blur nodes I can do 65k textures with no errors.

Avalanche Studios, this is very very interesting. Could you please post a filter that crashes with the Blur component and works correctly without it?

I replaced Blurs with High Passes in your example and it still crashes. Needs more testing with bitmap-based and procedural components.

I think that this "Bad allocation" bug is the worst thing FF has IF it is used as standalone, as this does NOT happen nearly on the plugin version using Photoshop, which I do not understand why.

I have NOT tried the above suggestion of the Blur component breaking the filter and making a crash, BUT I do not think that this could be the reason, as this "bad allocation" crash happens with nearly all the filter I have tried, and not all have blur components.

this is a memory error. i get it all the time. i have a cpu/ram usage meter running right next to FF when it's running. my system has 6 gigs. when it hits about 3.1 or above, the bad allocation can occur. if it's below that, it wont. so, if you have a ton of filters sitting in FF in storage, it does use ram. if you're using big pictures, you are going to run into this at some point. if you're using a lot of high memory components and doing a lot of bitmap type stuff, all of this seems to have to be held in memory the whole time the filter is rendering. as memory gets used up and you go over whatever this bug limit is, boom!

one interesting thing about this bug is that you can actually get the error in various numbers of iterations all happening at once. my typical number is i'll get 8 bug messages, all the same. if i get all 8 my rendering will stop and wont finish. if i get less than 8, say only 3, the rendering will continue. this usually only seems to happen if i'm right on the cusp of memory usage.

you can do things to help yourself out. offload some of the filters you keep IN FF. use smaller pictures if you can. cut down the little percentage thing you hit when you save... the 2nd window after you hit the save button. all of those things use memory.

i've reported this bug many times and every time i've been told there is no fix for it and that they're not sure what is doing this. i'm very convinced it's a resource management problem. i also seem to remember this bug showing up more when they fixed the old memory leak, though this last may just be my faulty, old age memory.

my system and FF are almost unusable at this point. almost any render i do on a photograph will crash before i can get the end of the progress bar. when i try to save filters in the editor, they almost all crash during the save. and every single time the memory meter is at 3.1 gigs or higher, which is pretty much the limit that windows can handle with a 32 bit program. (and FF is ONLY 32 bit, even if you have 64 bit windows, so the memory limit rules apply)

and here's a real kicker. there doesnt seem to be ANY activity kicked over to windows paging/swap file when ram starts to back up. i NEVER see a harddrive light go on when memory is approaching the limit, but i'm going to watch this closer now to make sure that's right, too. i have an SSD drive as my C: drive, so my swap file wwould be almost as fast as ram and windows shld be able to handle all this quite easily. so, i dont know quite what's going on.

if there was any reason for FF inc. to go to a 64 bit coding, this is it. i hope we can nip this in the bud quickly. it's making my FF experience a pain in the butt.

no, it's not false advertising, at least as i recall things. the bad allocation thing doesnt happen on every machine. some folks can render on the huge sizes. i think Sign Guy is one that can. he makes textures for the sign industry and uses very large file sizes. it just takes a while. so, it seems to be something specific to certain machines. it could even be something like your anti-virus or firewall or who knows what.

also, 32 bit can actually only use 3 gigs on a windows machine, 2 gig plus the patched version allowing 3. it's a numbers thing.

and yes, 64 bit would be the ultimate solution but FF, inc. seems reluctant to go that way yet. so, we'll see.

Usually I can´t render 4096x4096 in the standalone version without getting the bad allocation error.
I just found out that when I set the preview size to actual and let it render, it works just fine. Takes ages, but I can save afterwards.

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Sharandra Usually I can´t render 4096x4096 in the standalone version without getting the bad allocation error

Yes, for me 98% of the times that I try to render above 3500 pixels in standalone mode it gives this error, and it happens in both ways, I mean if you use the reduced size and then go "save image as" or if you set the preview size to "Actual" it normally after more than half of the render or reaching the end will give this error.

I HAVE 16 GB but FF is 32 bit, so it means that it will not use more than 3 GB, or worse is that is said that the it has it own custom memory controller that can not use more than 1,5 GB.

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Kraellin one interesting thing about this bug is that you can actually get the error in various numbers of iterations all happening at once. my typical number is i'll get 8 bug messages, all the same. if i get all 8 my rendering will stop and wont finish. if i get less than 8, say only 3, the rendering will continue. this usually only seems to happen if i'm right on the cusp of memory usage.

ALL the information that Kraellin has given is true for me, I have seen twice that I was looking at the memory manager in windows, that it was close to the 90% and I was ONLY using Filter Forge, and not multistasking, so I can´t know how FF can take all this amount of RAM.

Also as told in the quote, the error is replicated between 3 or more times (after the 5th I hit always the "Kill this task" in the "Process Explorer" tool utility. It has happened to me around twice that after 3 errors it continues rendering and finishes.

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Skybase Man, I really wonder about this bug. I'm using the Mac version of FilterForge by the way. Seems like the windows edition has the rusty nail. But if in any case I wonder what's happening after all with this error.

YES, I really wonder and would like to know what and why happens this bug too, and is like a mistery, and it seems that it only happens in the Windows version, perhaps because the MacOS is managing the memory in a different way.

What is MUCH MORE misterious and strange is that this really happens the most of the times in STANDALONE MODE and NOT IN PLUGIN VERSION, well it happens also in plug in version BUT only about 10% versus 98% in the standalone.

What is different from the standalone version to the plugin version memory management ?

I mean, we'd have to wait and see if FilterForge 4 solves anything of this matter. I thought this was one of those "things to be tackled" for version 4. I thought I remember seeing some word about it somewhere.

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Instead of saving it and letting it render while saving?

I donno, I also just hit render too. But I like resizing windows so I'd rather have FilterForge not become static during rendering.

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Please set the Multi-pass Preview to Legacy in Tools > Options > Interface and try rendering a large image.

Nope, sorry, still getting the bad allocation error.

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Please set the Multi-pass Preview to Legacy in Tools > Options > Interface and try rendering a large image.

This error occurs even if set to "Legacy".
When setting to "Off", it seems to work well like plugin mode.

Good to know this GMM, thanks, so we can test it more and better.

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we've found its cause and made it much less likely

Yes, is true I have tried some tests and before would have always given an error and now it works much better!! until now only in very high resolutions (14500 x 8500) I have got the error.

Wolvman, you should write your report down in this thread: http://www.filterforge.com/forum/read...&TID=10903