Addon causing memory allocation error: block too big

Olib · 10-19-2008

Since Friday/Saturday I've been receiving "Memory Allocation Error: Block too big" during prolonged raiding (1-3 hours).

I nuked my UI in 3.0 and started rebuilding it, though unfortunatly I wasn't able to find updated mods for everything so in places I am running out of date mods. I raided on thursday without a problem and first noticed this problem yesterday (Saturday) and again today.

I'm on Vista and have the Curse client auto updating addons.

As I'm sure most of you are aware, this problem consists of what can only be called an entire UI break down - mods that are already open continue to work - sort of (i.e. I can click on grid for example, but my quartz cast bar will cease to work and just gets locked at whatever it was doing when the error occured).

I've been reading up as much as I can about what may be the cause, checking pages and forum threads relating to mods - I came across a forum thread or two on the official forums that basically pointed the finger at cowtip but I've been using cowtip for a year without a problem (though I nuked my UI I did reinstall many of the same mods and basically rebuilt it so it looked the same). The thing I find most off putting is that I can't find anyone else still experiencing this problem except a guildie thats using my UI.

A few screenies:

bugsack open just after errors occured:
http://img529.imageshack.us/my.php?i...8210405tk3.jpg

Performancefu showing the memory hogging isn't being attributed to anything:
http://img530.imageshack.us/my.php?i...8210604nk7.jpg

Screeny of addons folder:
http://img183.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mymodsje5.jpg

So my question is - does anyone know which mods are likely / known to still be causing the problem? If so is it something that can be fixed the threads I was reading made it sound like there wasn't a fix as it was just the way the game was (which as I say seems odd as I have been using most of these mods for a year).

Thanks in advance.

Nimbal · 10-20-2008

That the memory isn't attributed directly to an addon means that the responsible addon has already discarded the memory, but the garbage collector hasn't had a chance to free it yet (which could indicate that the addon doesn't reuse tables properly).

Look at Recount. It has an increasing rate of almost 10 MB per second, but uses little over 13 MB total. This either means you had a huge combat log spike just when taking the screenshot (very improbable) or Recount fetches excessive amounts of memory without using it for longer than a frame or so. The memory is discarded and the GC goes apeshit trying to free it but fails.

Try disabling Recount or switching off some of its' options so it doesn't track so much.

Dridzt · 10-20-2008

I think you're in denial a bit mate

1. Other reports tend to indicate that Cowtip exacerbates the problem
(if not causing it, as no one has verified that it does or does not sofar)
2. It is the first addon mentioned in the error log you posted.
3. How about disabling it for your next couple raids and see if you don't have the problem?

I also haven't seen a mention of this error yet that didn't have to do with an excessive amount or very deep nested frame structures created.
'SetRegions' features in error reports related to it predominantly...

I don't see where Recount fits into that.

Edit: was replying to the OP (not the post that came in between)

Olib · 10-20-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dridzt

I think you're in denial a bit mate

1. Other reports tend to indicate that Cowtip exacerbates the problem
(if not causing it, as no one has verified that it does or does not sofar)
2. It is the first addon mentioned in the error log you posted.
3. How about disabling it for your next couple raids and see if you don't have the problem?

I also haven't seen a mention of this error yet that didn't have to do with an excessive amount or very deep nested frame structures created.
'SetRegions' features in error reports related to it predominantly...

I don't see where Recount fits into that.

Edit: was replying to the OP (not the post that came in between)

Will probably run without cowtip in tomorrows raid and have my m8 run with it but without recount, or visa versa, and have a looksie at memory usage.

I don't see why it would cause a problem now and not before (cowtip or recount) - obviously 3.0 can and did break addons but if it were a common problem I would have imagined there would be threads about this already. The only thing thats changed in my setup of either of these mods is previously cowtip's borders were just blizzard tooltip borders that were replaced with a custom one in the interface/tooltips folder whereas now they are added through sharedmedia. Only reason I mention this is "somewhere" I saw it mentioned that images weren't garbage dumped (i think). Also on thursday when i raided before the problem started cowtip was broken and just had default appearance (appearance settings were gone).

Any reason cowtip (if its that) might only be a problem in raids?

Oh - and thanks for the suggestions so far, I would be happy to at least pin it to a mod even if I can't fix it.

Dridzt · 10-20-2008

Some references in order of least -> more specific.
The last two are what you should be looking at.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...40445943&sid=1

https://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/t...sid=1&pageNo=1

cowtip ticket #1 and #2
(it's interesting to note the time span but these just mean users see cowtip
referenced often in these errors, not that it's definitely to blame - more on that below)

And now for the specific stuff:
1. Xinhuan's observations on this board
http://forums.wowace.com/showpost.ph...3&postcount=75
2. MentalPower's similar analysis on Auctioneer comment space (look at the post before last)
http://forums.norganna.org/discussion/7341/#pgbottom

Quoting the relevant parts:
Xinhuan: "This points to clues that the GetRegions() call somehow manipulates internal tables of frames and regions to return results, since the Block too big error is occurring inside it for many cases. When the call doesn't return, something in memory got corrupted and wow eventually crashes.

The hypothesis is that Cowtip is generating lots and lots of fontstrings and regions on GameTooltip and when it exceeds a certain limit, the error occurs. "

MentalPower: "Most "memory allocation error: block too big" errors nowadays are caused by AddOns requesting too many widgets to be created and not reusing them at all.
The error itself is an internal Lua limitation, caused by the way it allocates memory for a table being rehashed (read: expanded), code demonstrating this in standard Lua follows:

Code:

Lua 5.1.3  Copyright (C) 1994-2008 Lua.org, PUC-Rio
> t={} local t=t for i=1, 10e999 do t[ i ]=true end
not enough memory
> =#t
33554432
> t=nil
> collectgarbage()
> t={} local t=t for i=1, 10e999 do t[ i * 100 ]=true end
not enough memory
> local i=0 for k in pairs(t) do i=i+1 end print(i)
16777216
> t=nil
> collectgarbage()
> os.exit()

My point is that there is little to nothing Blizzard can do about it without modifying Lua internals which they usually avoid doing at all costs. Also note that this limitation only presents itself when really huge tables are created (33.5M array entries or 16.7M hash entries) which means that these AddOns are creating an exorbitant amount of frames/fontstrings/textures for this to occur.
The only way to "fix" this is to get the authors of these AddOns to improve their code and embrace established best practices when it comes to UI widget creation, use and recycling."

What this means in layman's terms in as far as I understand it myself.
Excessive table creation which usually happens in frame creation code.
Tooltips + fontstrings feature in this predominantly.
Couple an inventory scanning, mass-mailing, auctionscanning addon (anything that sets/scans tooltips en masse)
with an addon that "complicates" the tooltip adding textures/fontstrings (dogtags) and you get a multiplicative effect.

Which addon is to blame? none and both.

honem · 10-20-2008

OP I can remember a thread from 3 months ago about CowTip causing memory problems. So no it didn't just come along with 3.0

Olib · 10-20-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by honem

OP I can remember a thread from 3 months ago about CowTip causing memory problems. So no it didn't just come along with 3.0

I saw that but was confused as I've been using 90% of the mods of I have now, cowtip included, for a year without problems

Plan for tonight is I deleted cowtip and its settings and reinstalled it and m8 with my UI is going to disable cowtip to 1. see if it is cowtip, 2. see if its fixed by an easy reinstall (bit of wishful thinking I know!)

yssaril · 10-20-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Olib

I saw that but was confused as I've been using 90% of the mods of I have now, cowtip included, for a year without problems

Plan for tonight is I deleted cowtip and its settings and reinstalled it and m8 with my UI is going to disable cowtip to 1. see if it is cowtip, 2. see if its fixed by an easy reinstall (bit of wishful thinking I know!)

disabling cowtip might solve the issue for you but cowtip is probably not the only cause for it its proabbly one of several addons that you use that contribute to it and cowtip just happens to be blamed for it

i have used cowtip for for hours on end (raiding/pvping) and never had a problem

Olib · 10-20-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by yssaril

disabling cowtip might solve the issue for you but cowtip is probably not the only cause for it its proabbly one of several addons that you use that contribute to it and cowtip just happens to be blamed for it

i have used cowtip for for hours on end (raiding/pvping) and never had a problem

As have I with pretty much all of my current addons installed too, which is why this is extra annoying.

As a matter of interest, anyone know what "usual memory usage" should look like? yesterday every wipe (wiping after 3.0, really what were we playing at?) memory usage was up 5mb from the time before (after resetting recount). Should it be going up by more than an MB or 2?

Dridzt · 10-20-2008

Did you maybe find an interesting (and complex) tag that you applied to Cowtip in between though?

(between the time you were using it pre-3.0 and after you rebuilt your ui)

10-20-2008	#3
Dridzt Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 328	Re: Addon causing memory allocation error: block too big I think you're in denial a bit mate 1. Other reports tend to indicate that Cowtip exacerbates the problem (if not causing it, as no one has verified that it does or does not sofar) 2. It is the first addon mentioned in the error log you posted. 3. How about disabling it for your next couple raids and see if you don't have the problem? I also haven't seen a mention of this error yet that didn't have to do with an excessive amount or very deep nested frame structures created. 'SetRegions' features in error reports related to it predominantly... I don't see where Recount fits into that. Edit: was replying to the OP (not the post that came in between)

10-20-2008	#5
Dridzt Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 328	Re: Addon causing memory allocation error: block too big Some references in order of least -> more specific. The last two are what you should be looking at. http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/th...40445943&sid=1 https://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/t...sid=1&pageNo=1 cowtip ticket #1 and #2 (it's interesting to note the time span but these just mean users see cowtip referenced often in these errors, not that it's definitely to blame - more on that below) And now for the specific stuff: 1. Xinhuan's observations on this board http://forums.wowace.com/showpost.ph...3&postcount=75 2. MentalPower's similar analysis on Auctioneer comment space (look at the post before last) http://forums.norganna.org/discussion/7341/#pgbottom Quoting the relevant parts: Xinhuan: "This points to clues that the GetRegions() call somehow manipulates internal tables of frames and regions to return results, since the Block too big error is occurring inside it for many cases. When the call doesn't return, something in memory got corrupted and wow eventually crashes. The hypothesis is that Cowtip is generating lots and lots of fontstrings and regions on GameTooltip and when it exceeds a certain limit, the error occurs. " MentalPower: "Most "memory allocation error: block too big" errors nowadays are caused by AddOns requesting too many widgets to be created and not reusing them at all. The error itself is an internal Lua limitation, caused by the way it allocates memory for a table being rehashed (read: expanded), code demonstrating this in standard Lua follows: Code: Lua 5.1.3 Copyright (C) 1994-2008 Lua.org, PUC-Rio > t={} local t=t for i=1, 10e999 do t[ i ]=true end not enough memory > =#t 33554432 > t=nil > collectgarbage() > t={} local t=t for i=1, 10e999 do t[ i * 100 ]=true end not enough memory > local i=0 for k in pairs(t) do i=i+1 end print(i) 16777216 > t=nil > collectgarbage() > os.exit() My point is that there is little to nothing Blizzard can do about it without modifying Lua internals which they usually avoid doing at all costs. Also note that this limitation only presents itself when really huge tables are created (33.5M array entries or 16.7M hash entries) which means that these AddOns are creating an exorbitant amount of frames/fontstrings/textures for this to occur. The only way to "fix" this is to get the authors of these AddOns to improve their code and embrace established best practices when it comes to UI widget creation, use and recycling." What this means in layman's terms in as far as I understand it myself. Excessive table creation which usually happens in frame creation code. Tooltips + fontstrings feature in this predominantly. Couple an inventory scanning, mass-mailing, auctionscanning addon (anything that sets/scans tooltips en masse) with an addon that "complicates" the tooltip adding textures/fontstrings (dogtags) and you get a multiplicative effect. Which addon is to blame? none and both. Last edited by Dridzt; 10-20-2008 at 05:18 AM.

10-20-2008	#6
honem Full Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 120	Re: Addon causing memory allocation error: block too big OP I can remember a thread from 3 months ago about CowTip causing memory problems. So no it didn't just come along with 3.0

10-20-2008	#10
Dridzt Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 328	Re: Addon causing memory allocation error: block too big Did you maybe find an interesting (and complex) tag that you applied to Cowtip in between though? (between the time you were using it pre-3.0 and after you rebuilt your ui)

10-19-2008	#1
Olib Newbie Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 8	Addon causing memory allocation error: block too big Since Friday/Saturday I've been receiving "Memory Allocation Error: Block too big" during prolonged raiding (1-3 hours). I nuked my UI in 3.0 and started rebuilding it, though unfortunatly I wasn't able to find updated mods for everything so in places I am running out of date mods. I raided on thursday without a problem and first noticed this problem yesterday (Saturday) and again today. I'm on Vista and have the Curse client auto updating addons. As I'm sure most of you are aware, this problem consists of what can only be called an entire UI break down - mods that are already open continue to work - sort of (i.e. I can click on grid for example, but my quartz cast bar will cease to work and just gets locked at whatever it was doing when the error occured). I've been reading up as much as I can about what may be the cause, checking pages and forum threads relating to mods - I came across a forum thread or two on the official forums that basically pointed the finger at cowtip but I've been using cowtip for a year without a problem (though I nuked my UI I did reinstall many of the same mods and basically rebuilt it so it looked the same). The thing I find most off putting is that I can't find anyone else still experiencing this problem except a guildie thats using my UI. A few screenies: bugsack open just after errors occured: http://img529.imageshack.us/my.php?i...8210405tk3.jpg Performancefu showing the memory hogging isn't being attributed to anything: http://img530.imageshack.us/my.php?i...8210604nk7.jpg Screeny of addons folder: http://img183.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mymodsje5.jpg So my question is - does anyone know which mods are likely / known to still be causing the problem? If so is it something that can be fixed the threads I was reading made it sound like there wasn't a fix as it was just the way the game was (which as I say seems odd as I have been using most of these mods for a year). Thanks in advance.

10-20-2008	#2
Nimbal Full Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 239	Re: Addon causing memory allocation error: block too big That the memory isn't attributed directly to an addon means that the responsible addon has already discarded the memory, but the garbage collector hasn't had a chance to free it yet (which could indicate that the addon doesn't reuse tables properly). Look at Recount. It has an increasing rate of almost 10 MB per second, but uses little over 13 MB total. This either means you had a huge combat log spike just when taking the screenshot (very improbable) or Recount fetches excessive amounts of memory without using it for longer than a frame or so. The memory is discarded and the GC goes apeshit trying to free it but fails. Try disabling Recount or switching off some of its' options so it doesn't track so much.

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