Fix game stutter on Win 10 1703-1809

Personally I would prefer xxxxMB

 

Do you mean you know how to purge each of standby list separately?

 

Hello!
This is my first posting.
Since my english is not that good, I prefer to use the Google translator.
Did the FreeStandbyMemory.bat run, but when I start Autoruns, it looks like this.
looks like the program is not starting.

 

Possibly just the Priority 0. Must test / investigate first.

 

Also, I heard the issue was probably fixed with the latest cumulative update :
6 septembre 2018 - KB4458469 (build 17134.320)

Addresses an issue that ignores the MM_DONT_ZERO_ALLOCATION flag. This issue leads to degraded performance, and, occasionally, error 0x139 appears.

Time to test.

 

I've had fluid game play without any fix applied with that update. So far so good.

 

Look like 1809 is officially out! I hope we get some new drivers for WDDM 2.5 that don't destroy everything like the last change over to 2.4 did. Anyone interested in the official ISO for Win 10 x64 1809 can download it here and let us know it is for gaming. I might upgrade today just for the WMR improvements but am a bit hesitant.

 

@Wagnard I started to test CreateMemoryResourceNotification API, but I failed to stress global memory. Do you know ways to "eat" RAM?

 

I will wait until NVIDIA releases next drivers (supposedly with support of 1809).

 

Use a linlpack stress test or something like prime95. I know on the Intel burn test you can select maximum memory and it will fill it right up. Might not be what you're looking for but it is one way. Also, I guess you could just open a million Chrome tabs, lol.

 

Will try this one - TestLimit64 from SysInternals suite
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/vijaysk/2012/10/26/tools-to-simulate-cpu-memory-disk-load/

Update: This memory stress worked... Good.

@Wagnard @AveYo You can use this tool to test the available memory treshold kick in:
Testlimit64.exe -d -c NNNN
where NNNN - megabytes to leak. You see in Resource monitor or any other app with memory info how many MB available and you execute this Testlimit64.exe to leak so that needed test value of available RAM remains. For example, you have 6000MB of available memory, so you execute "Testlimit64.exe -d -c 5600" to leak 5600MB so that only 400MB remains.
After Testlimit64.exe does the leak it prints something (am on Russian locale so it was not readable) and waits. You can break its waiting with <Ctrl>+<C> and all leaked MBs return back to available.

 

@Wagnard CreateMemoryResourceNotification API works, but I spent too much time at work doing actual work , so I will continue to test the treshold value tomorrow. Looks promising.

 

Since 17134.320 (1803) fixed the issue, I will slow down develeopement of the app.
1709 user are not fixed and may still need it.

nice, keep us posted with your findings.

Edit : 1 on my friend told me the stutter isn't fixed with 17134.320
Look like the tools are still needed.

 

According to RAMMap (tab "Priority Summary")
when you call

Code:

    int MemoryPurgeStandbyList = 4;
    NtSetSystemInformation(SystemMemoryListInformation, ref MemoryPurgeStandbyList, Marshal.SizeOf<int>());

all standby lists are purged
when you call

Code:

    int MemoryPurgeLowPriorityStandbyList = 5;
    NtSetSystemInformation(SystemMemoryListInformation, ref MemoryPurgeLowPriorityStandbyList, Marshal.SizeOf<int>());

only standby list of priority 0 is purged.

Also note this "Marshal.SizeOf<int>()" - MS states that the form "Marshal.SizeOf(MemoryPurgeStandbyList)" is deprecated now and can go away any new release of .Net

 

What would you use instead?

 

In old code we used this "MarshalMarshal.SizeOf(MemoryPurgeStandbyList)" - with actual variable as parameter. In new code they tell to use "Marshal.SizeOf<int>()" instead - generic method with type of variable. Sorry my awkward English.


I managed to retrieve SYSTEM_MEMORY_LIST_INFORMATION structure with NtQuerySystemInformation:

Code:

        [DllImport("ntdll.dll", SetLastError = true)]
        static extern UInt32 NtQuerySystemInformation(int InfoClass, ref SYSTEM_MEMORY_LIST_INFORMATION Info, int Size, out uint Length);

        [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential, Pack = 1)]
        public struct SYSTEM_MEMORY_LIST_INFORMATION
        {
            public UIntPtr ZeroPageCount;
            public UIntPtr FreePageCount;
            public UIntPtr ModifiedPageCount;
            public UIntPtr ModifiedNoWritePageCount;
            public UIntPtr BadPageCount;
            [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValArray, SizeConst = 8)]
            public UIntPtr[] PageCountByPriority;
            [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.ByValArray, SizeConst = 8)]
            public UIntPtr[] RepurposedPagesByPriority;
            public UIntPtr ModifiedPageCountPageFile;
        }   
        ...
     
        int SystemMemoryListInformation = 0x0050;
        SYSTEM_MEMORY_LIST_INFORMATION MemoryList = new SYSTEM_MEMORY_LIST_INFORMATION ();
        uint resultSize;
        int res = (UInt32)NtQuerySystemInformation(SystemMemoryListInformation, ref MemoryList, Marshal.SizeOf<SYSTEM_MEMORY_LIST_INFORMATION>(), out resultSize);
        if (res != 0)
        {
            Console.Error.Write("Error in NtQuerySystemInformation: {0}", Marshal.GetLastWin32Error());
            return 3;
        }
        Console.WriteLine("List information:\nZeroPageCount={0,12}\nFreePageCount={1,12}\nModifiedPageCount={2,12}\nPageCountByPriority[0..7]={3}\n",
                MemoryList.ZeroPageCount, MemoryList.FreePageCount, MemoryList.ModifiedPageCount, string.Join(",", MemoryList.PageCountByPriority));

Fields are in pages. Information is confirmed by RAMMap.
Field PageCountByPriority - is array of standby lists.
Field RepurposedPagesByPriority - is array of repurposed lists (but I don`t remember what are they).

 

Now I can state the correlation between "Memory" performance counters and stanby lists in RAMMap:

Standby Cache Core Bytes = standby list priority 7
Standby Cache Normal Priority Bytes = standby list priority 5
Standby Cache Reserve Bytes = summary of standby lists priorities 0-4

PS And standby list priority 6 is always 0...

 

Aida64 stability test

 

Very interesting to follow, since I'm still on 1709 for now. Keep up the awesome work, guys.

 

Research and development is fun, BUT have you guys (who affected by this issue) tried to configure Prefetch and Superfetch?
In registry key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters" values EnablePrefetcher and EnableSuperfetch can be:

• 0 - disable

• 1 - enable for apps, disable for boot

• 2 - disable for apps, enable for boot

• 3 - enable for apps, enable for boot

Plus you can clean Superfetch "database" - all files in %SystemRoot%\Prefetch folder. (But I suspect it needs the stopping of Superfetch service.)

Plus, execute in elevated PowerShell (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/mmagent/disable-mmagent?view=win10-ps)
Disable-MMAgent -ApplicationLaunchPrefetching -ApplicationPreLaunch

Imo, Superfetch looks like main suspect in this issue with growing standby lists.