Low on Memory?! Cant save!

Oct 16, 2012

Got this message when saving:

The project file could not be saved.

Your system appears to be low on memory. Please close any other programs and try again.

I have 12GB RAM, 3GB used 8GB Free!

What should I do, don't want to redo that whole section again...

My project is 108 slides comprising of lots of quiz questions, 8 sections

121 Replies
Phil Mayor

Dan Strong said:

This is great news thanks!

I think you should probably look into how much RAM Storyline uses, seems excessive...

If I add the same amount of slides in Powerpoint with no interactions on both obviously and the same styles Storyline uses way more memory. How come?

Dan


Storyline isnt powerpoint, not sure you can compare the memory usage.

Betsy Nyman

I've got a deadline next week and Storyline keeps crashing due to this memory problem.  My 'course' is a massive branching scenario with variables that track a user's success rate. 

The storyboard has been written - storyboard approved - SME  input done, hours and hours of work, and now it's all unraveling because Storyline can't handle the file size.  Other than the 'unofficial' suggestion - can we break the course up and then link it back together some how?  I have an employee near tears over this mess.

My client does not have an LMS and we will be publishing to their web-server.

Thank you!

Jonathan Bacon

Betsy raises am interesting question that I've been trying to figure out: is there a way for one Storyline project to "call" another, that would enable us to break up large projects (mine currently has 14 modules and is headed for 32, each with 10+ sides and each slide with at least 3 layers, audio and lots of graphics, including video).

Heinrich Bartie

Just my 2 cents in response to Jonathan's question.

I normally create each module/chapter of my course in storyline as a seperate project/.story file. Same thing with assessments.

This was mainly to allow proper tracking of completion (If your project contains slides and quizzes you can only pick one to track against when you publish the project for use on an LMS)

In doing so I ended up with the scenario you guys are referring to. Disjointed projects all belonging to he same course. I use a product called Simple Scorm Packager from JCA solutions once I have completed all my individual components.

It allows you to "roll up" these individual scorm packages or projects into one larger one. Think of it like creating a course by specifying the chapters (your individual projects) in sequence, and the program then creating a larger parent scorm package with these as items.

Works well for me, hope it can help with your projects?

http://jcasolutions.com/ssp

James Brandwood

I was getting this message often and as am using a 32 bit work computer so the 64 bit patch won't work for me (I am still pushing for a 64 bit but IT have concerns about supporting it on the network since it would be the only one).

Anyway long story short I get around this by publishing my work often even if I don't need to. In a different post...

http://community.articulate.com/forums/p/20663/115379.aspx#115379

...which also covered the issue of the size of the file not getting smaller even if you delete most of the content (which appears to be a related issue) it was pointed out that if you publish the project the file size will get smaller when you save it.

Since I have started periodically publishing my work I no longer get the can't save issue.

James Brandwood

I am running update 2 now and am still seeing Storyline using alot of memory (426000 at idle for a 98,848kb project). i have noticed though that the file size when saving seems to better reflect changes to the file. i.e. when you delete large sections of a project the save file size actually reduces.

No can't save errors yet but that was mentioned as one of the fixes in the update list so I won't expect to see them again.

John Pieterse

Peter Anderson said:

Hi everyone, 

We proudly released Update 2 over the weekend and are excited to hear if it helps with the memory issues you've experienced. You can learn all about it here, and download it here

Thanks for your patience and help!



Hi Peter and all.

I have conducted a few severe tests after the SL update 2. My config is Win7, 64k, 16 Gb. Test spec's. Before update I could build upto 150-180 slides, including multiple layers reaching 230 Mb and after publishing reducing to 45 Mb without "cant save memory" problem. Above this level I had to break my project into pieces and allowing the client only to run a training consisting out of 2 or 3 seperate downloads on their iPads. This obviously gives a less professional look.

After installing SL update 2 I fired up one of the projects and imported the two other seperate part and this is what happened:

- Importing 2 other projects of each 230 Mb went without any problem

- The first project file of 230 Mb did not increase substantially, just a few Mb. One would expect it to triple.

- Editting within the project is no problem

- Saving the whole project (now consisting of over 400 slides (and layers) went with out error messages.

- Strangely enough SL tells you that it is saving (in my case 180) slides, the original number of slides of part 1.

- The output of the whole projects remains around the 45 Mb. Also strange as, despite importing two big parts, the output remeained the same.

And last but not least. Every item in the output file worked and is accessible with speed.

My preliminary conclusion is:

- Save error message has gone

- Projectfile does not increase - strange, but welcomed

- Output file did not increase - strange but also welcomed.

And to the Articulate staff I would like to say:

Thank you VERY much for your effort, you have done a great job!

And all the best for the New Year to come!

Regards,

John

Jeanette Denham

Johnathan Brouwer said:

http://www.ntcore.com/4gb_patch.php



We used this...(not created by our team)...but after we had so many problems and wasted time with the low memory and "cannot save" issue, we researched and tried...after install, problem went away...



AGAIN, not created by us or officially endorsed by our team..."its use at your own risk"




Hi Johnathon,

I'm rather new to this all and NOT a computer expert - this problem has happened to me and caused me to almost throw the computer out the window on a few desperate late nights.

Now...newbie question - how do I install the patch, or can you direct me to somewhere that will tell me?


Cheers for the sanity saver whilst the team catch up to us!!

Paul Wolstencroft

Just started getting this problem for the first time on a large project.  The file size is about 120 Mb. (Have made sure update 2 is installed.)

Here's the rub.  I just bought a shiny new Dell 3.1GHz, 16GB RAM, 2 GB graphics card etc.  Nothing much on it yet except Adobe and Storyline and the system check outs OK but I get a 'System low on memory' error.  However, my old (Sony) PC has just 6GB RAM and 512Mb graphics card.  This PC is full to the brim with dozens of progs and even when mutli-tasking, it saves my Storyline file OK.

Any clues anyone?

Peter Anderson

Paul Wolstencroft said:

Just started getting this problem for the first time on a large project.  The file size is about 120 Mb. (Have made sure update 2 is installed.)

Here's the rub.  I just bought a shiny new Dell 3.1GHz, 16GB RAM, 2 GB graphics card etc.  Nothing much on it yet except Adobe and Storyline and the system check outs OK but I get a 'System low on memory' error.  However, my old (Sony) PC has just 6GB RAM and 512Mb graphics card.  This PC is full to the brim with dozens of progs and even when mutli-tasking, it saves my Storyline file OK.

Any clues anyone?


Shoot, sorry to hear about the trouble, Paul. I'd recommend contacting the support team at this point. They'll be able to comb through your system setup to try and find anything unusual that might be impeding the software. 

Dana Visser

I am having the same problem that others have had in December. It was working fine yesterday, but when I went to work on my project I am getting the "low memory" error. I've cleared my disc clean up, I have plenty of memory. I restarted my computer, but still get the error. I want to find out if SL has a fix, or if I should download the non-Articulate fix?

Christine Hendrickson

Hi Dana,

First, can you tell me what version of Storyline you're using, please? To find this information, click on "Help" and "About Articulate Storyline".

If you're not running version 3 (1305.2012), please download and install the update using the link below:

Articulate - Storyline Update 3

Once you've finished installing the update, please republish and test your course on the iPad. If the problem continues after installing the update, or if you already have Update 3 installed, please let me know.

Thanks very much!

Christine

Brad Meyerhoff

I am having a similar issue.  If I return to a file I created, I cannot publish, make changes to the player or even preview the whole project.  I get a Low Memory error and to close other programs.  I installed updated earlier this week and the issues appear to be happening since the update.

Thoughts?