Memory Not Fully Deallocated Between Maps – Likely Causing GPU Crash (NVIDIA)

I had an NVIDIA driver crash while running a Trench map (T1 or T2, with corruption). My VRAM usage was at 4.1 GB before the crash, and dropped to 1.9 GB immediately after. After noticing this, I started monitoring how the game allocates VRAM:

1) Trench (Post-Crash): As I walked through the map again, VRAM allocation resumed. However, when I revisited the same areas I had already explored before the crash, no new memory was allocated.

2) Sump T1 - Core of Corruption: In the next map, I observed VRAM increasing to 4 GB, then dropping and rising again — suggesting that assets from the previous map were unloaded to make room for new ones.

3) Willow T2 - Cleansed: VRAM rose to 4.1 GB, fluctuating between 4.1–4.2 GB. At some point during this map, the NVIDIA driver crashed and restarted. I captured two images:



Image when the game crashed



Image just after the game recovered from the crash.

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System Information (DxDiag)
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Time of this report: 5/17/2025, 17:02:05
OS: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (10.0, Build 19045)
System Manufacturer: ASUS
System Model: System Product Name
BIOS: 3002 (UEFI)
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700X 8-Core @ 3.4GHz (16 CPUs)
RAM: 32 GB
Page File: 37.9 GB used, 49.9 GB available
DirectX Version: 12

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Display Devices
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GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti
Driver Version: 32.0.15.7602
Driver Date: Apr 16, 2025
VRAM: 7949 MB Dedicated, 24274 MB Total
Display Mode: 1920 x 1080 @ 60Hz (DisplayPort)
Driver Model: WDDM 2.7
Hardware Scheduling: Enabled
Feature Levels: 12_1, 12_0, 11_1, 11_0, 10_1, 10_0, 9_3
HDR Support: Not Supported
Hybrid GPU: Not Supported

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Nvidia Drive Version
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Drive Game Ready - 576.02 Wed Apr 16, 2025

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Conclusion:
Based on the behavior I observed, the game appears to dynamically manage VRAM usage with a soft cap around 4 GB on my 8 GB GPU. During normal gameplay, memory is allocated as the player moves through new areas, but that memory isn't consistently released when transitioning between maps. After the crash, I noticed that previously visited areas no longer triggered new allocations — suggesting that the game retained those assets in memory or flagged them incorrectly as already loaded.

This pattern became more obvious after running multiple maps in a row (e.g., Trench → Sump → Willow), where memory allocation would climb near 4.1–4.2 GB, dip slightly, then climb again. This indicates some memory is being released, likely to stay under a target threshold — but not in a clean or deterministic way. The crash I experienced may have been caused by the engine attempting to reuse or unload memory that was still in active use by the GPU driver.

My proposal: when a map instance is closed, the client should explicitly and completely deallocate all assets tied to that instance, rather than relying on partial or on-demand cleanup. This could prevent VRAM buildup across multiple maps and reduce the risk of NVIDIA driver crashes caused by resource conflicts or dangling allocations.

V cool ty for sharing

I just got the crash and noticed the same thing. VRAM was around 4GB then dropped back to ~2GB after the crash.

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System Information
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Time of this report: 5/18/2025, 09:04:08
Machine name: GAMEPC
Operating System: Windows 11 Home 64-bit (10.0, Build 26100) (26100.ge_release.240331-1435)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: ASUS
BIOS: 3210 (type: UEFI)
Processor: 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-12700K (20 CPUs), ~3.6GHz
Memory: 32768MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 32062MB RAM
Page File: 20833MB used, 13276MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 12

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Display Devices
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Card name: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti
Display Memory: 24048 MB
Dedicated Memory: 8018 MB
Shared Memory: 16030 MB
Current Mode: 2560 x 1440 (32 bit) (165Hz)
Driver File Version: 32.00.0015.7628 (English)
Driver Version: 32.0.15.7628
DDI Version: 12

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