Is there any way to boost memory to a program in Windows 7? I have many issues with Storyline either compiling too slow, saving too long or just crashing if I'm building an extremely large file with Storyline. I've got 8 gb of ram in this computer and its less than a few weeks old (the company I work for just bought me a brand new win 7 machine).
So, I was wondering if it was possible to boost memory in any way other than the obvious restarting the computer and shutting down Storyline after working in it all day.
I just started working on the file less than an hour ago. The computer's been powered down. And the moment I attempted to save for the first time, it gave me this. I've got 10 scenes & 64 slides so far and many more slides/scenes to go in the project I'm working on. Is there a way to fix this?
Not sure, but have you checked system resources to make sure something else isn't grabbing all the memory? Not sure if you are a tech guy so here is a link for some ways to check what is going on.
I ended up having to split my course into 3 separate files. I am just starting the 3rd SL file for this project - all together, if I did one storyline file it would have been almost 750mb.
Saving to Dropbox seems to help, especially if I save every slide, or multiple times during one slide that I've edited. When I save to my local hard drive, that's when this problem occurs. I'm not very technical when it comes to the Windows OS. I can follow steps to fix an issue, but that's about it. Thanks for the links though, I'll give some of these options a try that were commented on in the other posts.
I have the impressions that once SL has finished, with the preview/save/publish..., it doesn't release the memory it has allocated for these tasks.
I noticed this while I was kicking out the unnecessary applications/services... from the memory (I even got down to kicking out the explorer) and still it would refuse to save. My eye fell on the memory usage by SL, 1.3GB.
I rebooted my machine and restarted SL with the same course, and re-applied the modifications. saved it and then tried publishing, I kept the taskmgr open. During the publication, the memory usage rose to 1.1 GB. Too my surprise, after the publication of my project, the memory usage remained the same.
I tried to save my application, without changing anything, the memory krept up to 1,6GB and hup there was the error... What happened with the 700MB it used during the publication...
I'm having the same issue. I closed all my other applications and ended all possible processes. I monitored the task manager just as Geert did and was also shocked to see how much memory SL was using. Any chance a resolution is in the works for an upcoming release?
These instances are definitely something we're keeping an eye on, and we're trying to learn as much about it as we can as to prevent it from happening in the future. If you'd be willing to share your .story file with us so we can do some testing, we'd be appreciate the opportunity. Thanks!
Got the response provided below from my support ticket. Deleting the Articulate temporary files seems to have helped. I'm still saving to a Dropbox folder and haven't gotten the memory issue again (been working on the file for about 30 minutes since purging the temp folder).
Alicia
-------
First, be sure you're working from your local hard drive(typically your C: drive). Working from a network drive or a USB drive cancause erratic behavior, such as file corruption, an inability to save changesyou've made to your project, and loss of resources. Please review the followingarticle for more information:
Also, try to free up your system resources to see if ithelps. Here's how:
A) Delete Articulate temporary files
** It is sometimes helpful to delete all files andfolders from the temp folder and not just the Articulate folder. Ask your ITdepartment for assistance with this if you are unsure how to proceed.
1) Close all running applications.
2) Open Windows Explorer and go to %temp%\Articulate
3) Select all files and then the press the Delete key.
** You may skip any files you are not allowed to delete.We only need to clear out your temp folder as it can affect your systemperformance if the temp folder is getting full.
Here is something else that I found helps with this - empty the Recycle Bin. I recently emptied mine for the first time in several months, 7.7 GIGS of garbage. I still get the 'Low on Memory' error, however it does not come as frequently.
i have used a program called ntcore that converts the 32 bit exe to allow it to take advantage of 4 gigs of ram. i am sure this is in no way support by articulate by it has worked amazing. before the program always crashed when it hit 900 mb ram. i have had it hit as high as 1.8 gigs usage without crashing (yet).
keep in mind, this will only work if you have x64 windows.
Yeah that's it. I only recently implemented this with storyline so i cannot guarantee stability. But i have used with other apps before without issue. I must say, its nice not to have storyline crash instantly on a 1000 question quiz pool. Personally, i do not know if i would use it unless you have min 6-8 gigs of ram.
I've been using Storyline for a long time and I regularly construct large courses all, until now, without issue. For example, a recent course was. 450Mb in size (unpublished), had 10 scenes and approx 270 slides - each with Flash animation or video.
My SL is fully up-to-date and all existing updates have been applied.
MEMORY HOG
I recently struck a frustrating memory-hogging issue when creating my current course which is only 6.5mb in size and has around 30 screens (text only as media has not yet been created). Instead of creating empty slides, as per my normal procedure, I created a single content slide, populated it and then used this as the basis for each new screen. The content screen had custom PREV and NEXT buttons, as I have disabled the built-in ones. As a result, Storyline became extremely sluggish and it would take about 5-10 secs for a reaction when clicking another scene, or content area on a slide.
TASK MANAGER - What's going on?
I opened Windows task manager to view how much memory was being used by SL...to my surprise, my 6.5mb file was hogging between 800mb-1.2gb of RAM! To form a comparison, I opened some of my previously created courses (including the 270 slide course) and consistently found that they were using only around 250-350Mb RAM.
CULPRIT
The only thing that has been done differently with this course is the way I built the structure i.e. duplicating a populated content screen (only holding text) to create the course Vs my standard method of creating a blank screen and then adding content.
RESOLUTION
To resolve the issue, I created a new course structure and populated it with blank screens. Tediously, I then copied and pasted content from the text boxes in the problem course to the new course.The new course now uses around 250Mb of RAM and I have not had any further memory-related issues.
Interesting, but frustrating issue, first time occurring after using SL solidly for over a year.
19 Replies
I keep getting this message:
I just started working on the file less than an hour ago. The computer's been powered down. And the moment I attempted to save for the first time, it gave me this. I've got 10 scenes & 64 slides so far and many more slides/scenes to go in the project I'm working on. Is there a way to fix this?
Any help would be appreciated.
Not sure, but have you checked system resources to make sure something else isn't grabbing all the memory? Not sure if you are a tech guy so here is a link for some ways to check what is going on.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/windows-7-memory-usage-whats-the-best-way-to-measure/1786
This will let you know if Storyline is dragging down the machine, or maybe something else.
Hey Jesse,
The same thing happened to me a few weeks back...
http://community.articulate.com/forums/t/15200.aspx
I ended up having to split my course into 3 separate files. I am just starting the 3rd SL file for this project - all together, if I did one storyline file it would have been almost 750mb.
Saving to Dropbox seems to help, especially if I save every slide, or multiple times during one slide that I've edited. When I save to my local hard drive, that's when this problem occurs. I'm not very technical when it comes to the Windows OS. I can follow steps to fix an issue, but that's about it. Thanks for the links though, I'll give some of these options a try that were commented on in the other posts.
Hi All,
I have a similar problem with my course.
I have the impressions that once SL has finished, with the preview/save/publish..., it doesn't release the memory it has allocated for these tasks.
I noticed this while I was kicking out the unnecessary applications/services... from the memory (I even got down to kicking out the explorer) and still it would refuse to save. My eye fell on the memory usage by SL, 1.3GB.
I rebooted my machine and restarted SL with the same course, and re-applied the modifications. saved it and then tried publishing, I kept the taskmgr open. During the publication, the memory usage rose to 1.1 GB. Too my surprise, after the publication of my project, the memory usage remained the same.
I tried to save my application, without changing anything, the memory krept up to 1,6GB and hup there was the error... What happened with the 700MB it used during the publication...
Geert
I'm having the same issue. I closed all my other applications and ended all possible processes. I monitored the task manager just as Geert did and was also shocked to see how much memory SL was using. Any chance a resolution is in the works for an upcoming release?
Hi Alicia,
These instances are definitely something we're keeping an eye on, and we're trying to learn as much about it as we can as to prevent it from happening in the future. If you'd be willing to share your .story file with us so we can do some testing, we'd be appreciate the opportunity. Thanks!
I submitted a case and attached my story file. Thanks, Peter!
Got the response provided below from my support ticket. Deleting the Articulate temporary files seems to have helped. I'm still saving to a Dropbox folder and haven't gotten the memory issue again (been working on the file for about 30 minutes since purging the temp folder).
Alicia
-------
First, be sure you're working from your local hard drive(typically your C: drive). Working from a network drive or a USB drive cancause erratic behavior, such as file corruption, an inability to save changesyou've made to your project, and loss of resources. Please review the followingarticle for more information:
http://articulate.com/support/kb_article.php?product=st1&id=cw6rhkr2xpxr
Also, try to free up your system resources to see if ithelps. Here's how:
A) Delete Articulate temporary files
** It is sometimes helpful to delete all files andfolders from the temp folder and not just the Articulate folder. Ask your ITdepartment for assistance with this if you are unsure how to proceed.
1) Close all running applications.
2) Open Windows Explorer and go to %temp%\Articulate
3) Select all files and then the press the Delete key.
** You may skip any files you are not allowed to delete.We only need to clear out your temp folder as it can affect your systemperformance if the temp folder is getting full.
Restart your computer then replicate the issue.
Glad to hear it helped, Alicia, and thanks for sharing the tips
Here is something else that I found helps with this - empty the Recycle Bin. I recently emptied mine for the first time in several months, 7.7 GIGS of garbage. I still get the 'Low on Memory' error, however it does not come as frequently.
-Eric
i have used a program called ntcore that converts the 32 bit exe to allow it to take advantage of 4 gigs of ram. i am sure this is in no way support by articulate by it has worked amazing. before the program always crashed when it hit 900 mb ram. i have had it hit as high as 1.8 gigs usage without crashing (yet).
keep in mind, this will only work if you have x64 windows.
Tom
Is it this program you're using?
http://www.ntcore.com/4gb_patch.php
Yeah that's it. I only recently implemented this with storyline so i cannot guarantee stability. But i have used with other apps before without issue. I must say, its nice not to have storyline crash instantly on a 1000 question quiz pool. Personally, i do not know if i would use it unless you have min 6-8 gigs of ram.
Tom
Perfect, this work machine is using a x64 bit OS and also has 8gb ram. So, if my boss gives it an okay, I'll test it out.
Thanks for the info.
Jesse.
Hi All,
just coming back on the memory hog issues.
Since I upgraded my SL last year December I didn't get any memory issues anymore.
How is the situation in your environments ?
It seems that the memory management issues regarding non-freed up memory were solved with Update 2
Cheers
Geert
Thanks, Geert! Just wanted to quickly share the download link for Update 2 for anyone who hasn't found it yet.
G'day all!
I've been using Storyline for a long time and I regularly construct large courses all, until now, without issue. For example, a recent course was. 450Mb in size (unpublished), had 10 scenes and approx 270 slides - each with Flash animation or video.
My SL is fully up-to-date and all existing updates have been applied.
MEMORY HOG
I recently struck a frustrating memory-hogging issue when creating my current course which is only 6.5mb in size and has around 30 screens (text only as media has not yet been created). Instead of creating empty slides, as per my normal procedure, I created a single content slide, populated it and then used this as the basis for each new screen. The content screen had custom PREV and NEXT buttons, as I have disabled the built-in ones. As a result, Storyline became extremely sluggish and it would take about 5-10 secs for a reaction when clicking another scene, or content area on a slide.
TASK MANAGER - What's going on?
I opened Windows task manager to view how much memory was being used by SL...to my surprise, my 6.5mb file was hogging between 800mb-1.2gb of RAM! To form a comparison, I opened some of my previously created courses (including the 270 slide course) and consistently found that they were using only around 250-350Mb RAM.
CULPRIT
The only thing that has been done differently with this course is the way I built the structure i.e. duplicating a populated content screen (only holding text) to create the course Vs my standard method of creating a blank screen and then adding content.
RESOLUTION
To resolve the issue, I created a new course structure and populated it with blank screens. Tediously, I then copied and pasted content from the text boxes in the problem course to the new course.The new course now uses around 250Mb of RAM and I have not had any further memory-related issues.
Interesting, but frustrating issue, first time occurring after using SL solidly for over a year.
Cheers
Jim
www.artofjimbo.com
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