Storyline 3 Error: Available Memory is Low

May 30, 2017

 

We are getting this error on a machine that is running Windows 10.  It is an HP Z600 workstation, has dual Xeon processors and 32Gb of RAM.  Storyline is the only application running.  Every time we get this error it is not possible to save the file (we are lucky to get a file recovery though).

This error only occurs with Storyline 3.  When we check the memory availability, we have more than 28Gb free.

 

Grateful to know if anyone else has such issues?

 

Les

52 Replies
Peter Moore

I've just discovered this thread after searching for several days for any clue to why storyline 360 has been running so slowly and clunkily (is that a word?)  recently.  I was thinking that something in the last update or two  must have introduced a bug?  But in seeing this tip from Alyssa - I found this folder (Win 10 system)  C:\Users\User\AppData\Local\Articulate\360

Then deleted all the files inside it - there were over 6000 in there.  This immediately restored a good chunk of the missing performance and cured the frustrating latency from the UI.

I can only assume that Storyline was running out of application memory or system resources in some way.   Can I recommend to the Storyline dev's that if my hunch is right?  (admittedly it's a guess on my part) - that they consider an automated way to purge the contents of system file locations like these....so the app keeps running more smoothly over time.

 

Regards (And thanks Alyssa if you're still on the team there)

 

 

 

 

Alyssa Gomez

Oh wow, 6,000 files? My 360 folder only has about 200 files in it. I'd want our support team to take a closer look at your system to ensure everything is working the way we'd expect.

If you start seeing a build-up of files again, reach out to us here. And be sure to let me know your case number so I can follow along. 

Keep me posted!

Emily Chorley

So glad I stumbled upon your reply Peter - I am fighting and losing battle with SL360 - no amount of support cases or reformatting my more than capable PC has helped and I'm getting the same issue over and over and over again. 

Fingers crossed your reply will make a difference to my issues too!

Peter Moore

Well. I wish you luck. I have since discovered that Storyline re-populates this file location with a couple of thousand folders and several hundred MB of data soon as you create a new storyline project. Seems like this is just part of its normal function so maybe that is not the root of the problem...although when I cleared this folder out.  UI performance instantly improved for a while.

Since then I have received some advice after logging a support case. One piece of that was to remove then reinstall SL360. Which I did 2 days ago. This also gave me back some decent UI performance and I thought it was a fix but while working on a project yesterday and creating an object from a series of .jpgs to give me 10 states, I was seeing significant sluggishness in UI response. It feels like the application really is running out of memory or something similar. I had to delete those states and will need to come up with another way to build the interaction I want.

I am  using a new (6 month old) powerful computer spec’d out for 3D work so it’s all a bit baffling.

Maybe SL should be built as a 64 bit application? Or maybe that has nothing to do with it, as not everyone is reporting this kind of problem. Let me know how you go?

Sandra Loach

This is the same issue I've got with Storyline3. Our systems are locked down though and I don't have admin rights over the folder I need to access to clear all the superfluous files that Storyline keeps creating.

I'm also having issues with screen recording in Storyline3 which I think is linked to the system memory issue. Sometimes the recordings work fine and play fine; other times they work fine, but then present a black screen when playing or freeze completely; and then they don't work at all and won't import back into the application. As most of the training I'm designing at the moment is for new IT systems I have to use screen recording all the time. It's getting almost impossible to use it now. I have raised numerous support calls with our internal IT department which initially fixed the issue, but as I can't delete those extra files myself it's becoming a nightmare task to manage. 

It's also causing Storyline3 to crash altogether and the only way to get out the system is to force a log off from the network.

Has anyone else had the same issues?

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi all, 

Today we have a new update to Articulate 360, and there was a specific fix to resolve the behavior where the preview files weren't being purged from the temporary folders. 

This update was a big one, and included a number of important fixes and new features that you'll see in the release notes here. If you'd like to get started with the update just launch the Articulate 360 desktop app on your computer and click the Update button for each application. Details here.

Please let us know if you have any questions, either here or by reaching out to our Support Engineers directly

Also, Sandra - not to worry! All these fixes will be in Storyline 3's next update. It's currently scheduled for later this quarter. We'll let you know once it's ready. 

Yves Guillou

Also running into the same issue on Storyline 3 with most projects we are working on. It is a major issue. Cleanup the folder helps but does not fully resolve it.  When exactly do you expect to release the fix to Storyline 3? Is it going to be 64 bit based so that you can use the full extent of the memory on the computer? Do you have a beta version of Storyline 3 that can be used in the meantime?

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Yves,

The next update of Storyline 3  is scheduled for later this quarter (so by end of March) and we'll let you know here once that is released! 

The fix made in Storyline 360, will be the same one available in Storyline 3. It doesn't change Storyline to be a 64-bit application, it changes how these temp files were generated and cleaned out. 

Sergio Aclo

To all who suggested removing files from the AppData folder -- Thank you! 

I have 32gb of RAM on my machine, 2TB of SSD space, 16gb of virtual memory allocated on the HD,  working on the c:\drive exclusively, and no other applications running, and it kept telling me I was low on ram (even though my task manager said I still had 70% RAM free. I've had to use Adobe Captivate over SL the past few weeks because SL refused to let me save any work once the all of the memory-related errors appeared.

Deleted over 10,000 files from the AppData folder!! Hoping a new 64-bit version comes out ASAP, but I'll happily take a  fix to the temp file protocol/RAM errors in the next version.

Thanks again!

Peter Moore

I'm on SL360 too and have found that the last couple of updates to the application have improved this situation, at least in my experience.  I'm not seeing the lagginess that I was a few weeks ago.  Interested to hear of others like yourself where you are still seeing the mem error.  I did find that when I stack too much content, like images, in to layers or in to 'states' then performance starts to suffer.  I always optimize images before import to SL to try to lessen the impact of this.  So on the current development I'm building, I'm trying to minimise the use of heavy content in layers.

Kimberly Valliere

My current file is less than 7MB. It has already crashed once tonight and I lost a lot of work, despite thinking I had saved the file or at least SL would recover within a few minutes. I have worked in SL for over 5 years now and have not ever seen it so buggy. I just had to close out my file because when trying to preview, I received the system low warning. I am running Chrome, a PPT and SL...that's it. Heaven help you if you open a second SL course to compare triggers...a world of hurt is coming your way.

The bugs in slide master layers are unbelievable. Format painter resizes text boxes and doesn't even copy formatting. It makes programming a custom menu especially difficult. There were a few other issues I noticed on slide master layers, but I've been fighting SL for 6 hours now and my own personal memory is running critically low. Alas, let me restart my computer so that I can open SL again.

 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Kimberly,

That's really abnormal behavior, and I'm sorry to hear it's still happening to you. I saw you had a case earlier this week, but I went ahead and opened a new case for you and escalated to our Senior Support Engineers. They'll be in touch shortly, so please keep your eyes peeled for an email from Support@articulate.com

Our team is looking for other examples and scenarios that are consistently showing the errors about available memory, so if you're reading this and also want to work with our team, please reach out here! 

Kimberly Valliere

Will do, Ashley! I'll grab screenshots and submit a case when it happens again. I received a few different messages last night, but I was focused on finishing my project. This was a first draft, so I'll definitely be working on it again soon. The "send feedback" pop-up message appeared a few times to send the error to Articulate, so hopefully that carries helpful information to the engineers as well.

While this course isn't that large, the one I just finished was over a GB, so I wonder if that has something to do with the memory drain.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Kimberly,

I started a case for you! You should see an email from our team shortly, and they'll reach out with some ideas and next steps. If you're  not ready to go through the troubleshooting now - no worries! Just let them know when you have time and we'll keep the case open. 

Sergio Aclo

Hi Ashley,

Yes, I have Storyline 3 on my personal computer and Storyline 360 on my work laptop. Unfortunately, the low memory error appears on both, and it seems worse on Storyline 360. The AppData trick works temporarily but it quickly builds up to several thousand files again in a matter of hours, sometimes minutes.

I'm not sure if the attachment will show, but I took a screenshot of the Task Manager when I had four (4) Storyline files opened from the C:\drive. Altogether, they were using over 9GB of RAM!! One file was over 3GB and two files were over 2GB!

I understand that since Storyline is a 32-bit application, the default memory limit is 2GB for each instance (per Microsoft). However, setting the IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE on 64-bit systems pushes the RAM limit to 4GB (which is why I had 3 instances over 2GB at one time). Can't wait for the 64-bit version!

Thanks again.