Controls stop responding due to a memory leak in VR.

[MilitantPotato]

I'm cross-posting this from a reply I made on a different sub forum, hoping for more advice, feel free to delete if this isn't allowed.  I'm just hoping to find a solution.

 

I've been having it ongoing since nearly day one.

100% of the time before my controls stop, my physical memory usage goes from ~10G to 22-32 gigs, then dumps 10-15 gigs to pagefile, and within a few seconds goes back to 32 gigs used. If left alone to fill my pagefile (ends up near 60gigs) I get a windows out of memory error and usually a hard-crash that requires a power button to shutdown.

Also my joystick and throttle still work, as I can keyup discord and SRS to let folks know I've lost my controls even after IL-2 stops responding to them.

 

The only thing that seems to have helped (going from several times a session, to maybe once every 2-8 sessions) is setting my ingame resolution to my monitors default of 1920x1080 and setting the ingame AA to MSAA and 0X (from FSAA.)

What used to happen after an hour or so now takes 2-4.

 

Alt-tabbing seems to greatly increase my odds of it happening.

 

Here's a list of all the things I've tried.

 

Disabling of USB power saving options listed here in previous topic,
re-installed Il-2 and windows 10, updated bios/drivers (both from windows-update and the hardware venders website) 

tried several builds of windows from 1904 to the current one

enabled/disabled windows "game mode"
changed from a gtx 1070 to an rtx 3080
Different VR headsets: a Vive, G2, and an Index headset

Tried all of my available USB ports (2.0, 3.0 case, several 3.0 and 3.1 I/O usb)

Tried a Logitech 3D Pro, Thrustmaster t.16000m and TWCS, and a VKB Gladiator.

Reset bios to defaults, no XMP, tried new RAM, disabled all C-states and power saving options in bios

disabled MSI-afterburner, any hardware logging software, kept discord and SRS closed, turned off anti-virus.

 

My current build is: 8600k, Z370 AORUS Gaming 7, 32 gigs of memory, and an RTX 3080.

Edited February 22, 2021 by Ryanair_MilitantPotato

[-DED-Rapidus]

@Ryanair_MilitantPotato, What was the game mode? (single, career, multiplayer)

[MilitantPotato]

10 hours ago, -DED-Rapidus said:

@Ryanair_MilitantPotato, What was the game mode? (single, career, multiplayer)

Thanks for responding! I've had it happen in both, but when it happened in single player I had been playing multiplayer for a couple of hours before loading into a quick mission.

[Charlo-VRde]

Hey there, this happens to me, too, a little more frequently these past few days, and after flying multiple missions, usually on one of the Finnish servers. In my own case I have to alt-tab out and reload my CH Control Manager to re-download my controls again.

 

I usually notice my controls are non-responsive when I am unable to retract my landing gear after takeoff, though the other night it led to my untimely death when I couldn't pull up the escape menu to finish my mission after landing my Ju-52 while the airfield was being attacked.  

[no_brain]

Just had this happen to me again after flying on the Finnish server for three hours. Its happened to me just a handful of times in ~300 hours played, but it always seems to happen after I've been in game for multiple hours at a time. I did not alt-tab in/out of game.

 

Reverb G2/3090/5600x/32gb

[no_brain]

In the last two days its happened three times, always about 30 minutes into the session on FVP. All USB devices stop responding at all including the keyboard and I have to alt-f4 to exit the game.

[SIA_Target]

Same problem. Using a Samsung Odyssey VR and VKB Gunfighter stick without any software. The stick quits responding but the lights on the box still show the stick is working.

 Ironically, (infuriatingly so) it usually happens after a successful sortie (which are far and few between for me), which adds insult to injury.

[PatrickAWlson]

For me this happens every mission, but only to the throttle.  To be clear, all of the buttons on the throttle work, only the throttle input stops working.  Sounds a bit different but I was about to post something under a new thread when a  search turned this one up.

[coconut]

4 hours ago, TWC_Target said:

Same problem. Using a Samsung Odyssey VR and VKB Gunfighter stick without any software. The stick quits responding but the lights on the box still show the stick is working.

 Ironically, (infuriatingly so) it usually happens after a successful sortie (which are far and few between for me), which adds insult to injury.

I have that problem too, but I don't think it has anything to do with VR. The connection between the base of the stick and the stick itself can be glitchy, and that can lead to axes or buttons to become stuck. I've never noticed any unusual lights or blinking on the connection box when that happens. I don't know of any good definitive solution, other than re-seat the stick, check and clean the connection plates.

[PatrickAWlson]

One thing that I believe to be true: it looks like the game does not try to reestablish a connection to controllers if it loses them.  I don't know the code so I certainly cannot say that this is definitively the case, but it seems that way.  A bit of reconnect code would go a long way.

 

In my case,  when my throttle gets stuck I generally fly as well as I can with whatever setting I have and then quit.  When I go to the windows test/calibration program everything is working fine.

[SIA_Target]

The connection between the stick and game seem to be inter-related. Not only does my stick quit responding but the game stick reacts to the glitch. As an example,when my stick blinks out, the joystick in the 109 is immediately shoved (shoved as in violently) into the right front corner. The plane, responding to that, enters a spin and all hope is lost. It was the same with the PE 2 last night, wheel went right and slightly down invoking a barrel roll and nothing I did righted the A/C.

 I'm not sure, but it sounds like the controllers in question in this post aren't all the same brand, therefore of differing configurations. My stick base works with gimbles and one small card, not much to clean. My throttle, CH throttle quadrant, is unaffected, perhaps because it's not attached to the stick in any way.

 I'll admit just checking the connection nut at the base of the stick revealed it to be less than tight, but the frequency of the events seem to be all over the place. No consistency at all, night before last I couldn't stay airborne 15 minutes, last night I lasted a few hours. I would think the less than tight connection would render a more consistent nature to the disconnect if that's what is causing this problem. But then I'm open to the possibility that I don't know what I'm talking about.

[dburne]

Sure sounds odd, I only fly in VR and can't say I have seen anything happen like this with my stick, throttle , or rudder pedals.

[PatrickAWlson]

My best guess is glitchy hardware combined with lack of recovery capability.  @TWC_Target that is very similar to my throttle.  it stops responding and is stuck in the last position.  In your case it sounds like it moves the stick and doesn't just stick in position.  

[firdimigdi]

On 7/4/2021 at 6:13 AM, TWC_Target said:

VKB Gunfighter

 

For VKB specifically open up the VKB Device Config tool in developer mode (add User=Developer under [User] in the zconfig.ini file) then go to the Test tab and select External Devices. If you click on your stick's image it will open up a graph showing what seems to be the signal-to-noise ratio margin for the the stick-to-base communication, this should be as close to 0 as possible when you are moving the stick around.

 

 

If it spikes and stays high for a certain duration of time it might cause the base to intermittently lose connection to the stick. To address this, as mentioned by coconut, you need to clean the contact points, using either a contact cleaner and brush or an eraser (if it can reach the contact points, in some models they are recessed so it's a no-go).

Edited July 5, 2021 by 335th_GRFirdimigdi

[SIA_Target]

To tell the truth Patrick I'm not sure what my throttle does or doesn't do during one of the episodes, I'm too busy trying things everyone is telling me to do. Click the screen, Alt tab and return, hit your center button, and in the end, throw my hands up in disgust and wait for the end of the ride.?

 I'll give it a go GR, I was thinking of taking the stick down and tighting the breaking band anyway. What could it hurt, but I know my contacts are recessed, this is a mark 0 stick. I must have an old fashion lead pencil and eraser around here somewhere.

[PatrickAWlson]

Today, after the throttle stuck, I restarted the mission.  On restart it worked fine.  I did nothing in between.  My throttle is now sticking on about 9/10 missions.  It tends to happen when things get interesting, but there is no perfectly repeatable pattern.  One reason why I think it might have to do with this thread is that it has got much worse since I got a Reverb G2, which pushes my GPU much harder than the G1.  Still, it happened pretty often with the G1 as well.

 

I'm not sure that it really has anything to do with VR or anything else.  it might just be a bad throttle combined with bad recovery logic in the game.  Glitch during a flight and you're done.  I have looked at the logs for some sort of diagnostics but there is nothing.  Still, "get another throttle" is a $350 solution that might not be a solution at all.

[MilitantPotato]

11 minutes ago, PatrickAWlson said:

Today, after the throttle stuck, I restarted the mission.  On restart it worked fine.  I did nothing in between.  My throttle is now sticking on about 9/10 missions.  It tends to happen when things get interesting, but there is no perfectly repeatable pattern.  One reason why I think it might have to do with this thread is that it has got much worse since I got a Reverb G2, which pushes my GPU much harder than the G1.  Still, it happened pretty often with the G1 as well.

 

I'm not sure that it really has anything to do with VR or anything else.  it might just be a bad throttle combined with bad recovery logic in the game.  Glitch during a flight and you're done.  I have looked at the logs for some sort of diagnostics but there is nothing.  Still, "get another throttle" is a $350 solution that might not be a solution at all.

Try jiggling your USB cable, my VKB had an intermittent connection issue because one of the pins in the stick isn't fully extended. I had to scrape away some plastic to make it work.  I'll try and get a replacement at some point but it works now.

 

The issue I'm posting about is evident when Il-2 is using enormous amounts of memory (fills 32 gigs, dumps to page file, and refills memory) until an out of memory error occurs or you close the game via task manager.  

Edited July 6, 2021 by Ryanair_MilitantPotato

[Charlo-VRde]

1 hour ago, PatrickAWlson said:

Today, after the throttle stuck, I restarted the mission.  On restart it worked fine.  I did nothing in between.  My throttle is now sticking on about 9/10 missions.  It tends to happen when things get interesting, but there is no perfectly repeatable pattern.  One reason why I think it might have to do with this thread is that it has got much worse since I got a Reverb G2, which pushes my GPU much harder than the G1.  Still, it happened pretty often with the G1 as well.

 

I'm not sure that it really has anything to do with VR or anything else.  it might just be a bad throttle combined with bad recovery logic in the game.  Glitch during a flight and you're done.  I have looked at the logs for some sort of diagnostics but there is nothing.  Still, "get another throttle" is a $350 solution that might not be a solution at all.

I use a Reverb G2 and also CH Control Manager to download all of my controls into a single, unified joystick. I also find suspicious the issue of my controls, in my case most of them, getting somehow disconnected more often with my G2.

 

I have now gotten quick at alt-tabbing out of IL-2, opening CH Control Manager and reloading my controls again, then clicking back into IL-2. I have so far never had to do that during the same flight, but I do have to perhaps every 3rd or 4th flight.
 

I am now in the habit of checking the Escape or “both brakes” button on my HOTAS before I start each flight as a check to see if my controls are recognized. But sometimes I find they’ve been disconnected somehow during a flight, which necessitates the steps in the paragraph above.

[Voyager]

How are your controls connected to the computer? 

 

I used to have that happen intermittently, but haven't had it happen in a long time. However, in one of my cable managements, I did move my controls to clusters of powered USB 3.0 extenders. I don't believe I've had that type of lock up since. 

[Charlo-VRde]

33 minutes ago, Voyager said:

How are your controls connected to the computer? 

 

I used to have that happen intermittently, but haven't had it happen in a long time. However, in one of my cable managements, I did move my controls to clusters of powered USB 3.0 extenders. I don't believe I've had that type of lock up since. 

In my case they are plugged into this front panel USB hub attached to my case, in the USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports:

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07T5QQZG4/

[SCG_Fenris_Wolf]

On 7/4/2021 at 6:16 PM, PatrickAWlson said:

One thing that I believe to be true: it looks like the game does not try to reestablish a connection to controllers if it loses them.  I don't know the code so I certainly cannot say that this is definitively the case, but it seems that way.  A bit of reconnect code would go a long way.

 

In my case,  when my throttle gets stuck I generally fly as well as I can with whatever setting I have and then quit.  When I go to the windows test/calibration program everything is working fine.

 

This is what it appears to be. Happens too often imo, and never reconnects. It should have a failsafe and reconnect to the controls. 

 

With AMD X570/B550 boards, Reverb G2, and VKB there are events ever now and then when a peripheral device experiences a V drop and/or disconnect for a short while. So the game must be able to i) detect a loss ii) level controls+engage autopilot iii) reconnect to device.

[Charlo-VRde]

I’m now wondering if this issue I posted in another thread is related to this thread. What I posted in that other thread (quoted below) happened again during a furball on Finnish last night, but I couldn’t replicate it once I was the only plane in sight about 10 minutes later:

 

”I’m randomly experiencing something similar that is very difficult to replicate. Sometimes when I fire both fire groups my canopy will open and the MP chat window will open. And sometimes when that happens my cannons won’t stop firing until I’m out of ammo.

 

I have carefully gone over my key bindings but I just can’t find a conflict. Oddly, the above only happens during a dog fight, not when ground attacking.”

[ACG_Macro]

I experienced this problem today in a quick battle.  all controls locked up, keyboard and joystick stopped responding.  After spinning out and crashing and returning to the menu I had a moving mouse pointer but none of the menu buttons would work and i had to end task il;-2.  

[Vortice]

When all my controls (keyboard, mouse, joystick, throttle, pedals and button box) stop responding in IL-2 in the G2 / WMR environment I find that pressing keys Win + Y (once only) fixes the problem immediately.

 

I have configured this keystroke combination to a Voice Attack command so I just have to speak the command and then I can carry on flying as normal.

 

The problem appears to be caused by the way WMR interacts with IL-2 and I suspect (but cannot prove) that it is caused by WMR overwriting areas of dynamic memory that it should not overwrite, but it is easily fixed with the Win + Y key combination which then allows IL-2 to access the controller inputs again.

[ACG_Macro]

my problem was having a gamepad plugged in.  

 

Unplugged that and it not happened since.  Only problem with il-2 no probs in other games i use gamepad or joystick.

Edited July 26, 2021 by 71st_AH_Macro

[SCG_Fenris_Wolf]

On 7/23/2021 at 2:51 PM, Vortice said:

When all my controls (keyboard, mouse, joystick, throttle, pedals and button box) stop responding in IL-2 in the G2 / WMR environment I find that pressing keys Win + Y (once only) fixes the problem immediately.

 

I have configured this keystroke combination to a Voice Attack command so I just have to speak the command and then I can carry on flying as normal.

 

The problem appears to be caused by the way WMR interacts with IL-2 and I suspect (but cannot prove) that it is caused by WMR overwriting areas of dynamic memory that it should not overwrite, but it is easily fixed with the Win + Y key combination which then allows IL-2 to access the controller inputs again.

 

That may very well be.

 

I have not witnessed this issue on the Vive Pro 2 yet, nor before that on the other headsets in my signature, but many times using the Reverb G2.

[MilitantPotato]

On 7/13/2021 at 2:32 AM, SCG_Fenris_Wolf said:

 

This is what it appears to be. Happens too often imo, and never reconnects. It should have a failsafe and reconnect to the controls. 

 

With AMD X570/B550 boards, Reverb G2, and VKB there are events ever now and then when a peripheral device experiences a V drop and/or disconnect for a short while. So the game must be able to i) detect a loss ii) level controls+engage autopilot iii) reconnect to device.

This is a separate issue from the USB disconnect issue some Ryzen systems are having.  A way to tell if it's this weird memory leak bug caused by alt-tabbing or cycling missions is to check task manager once the game stops responding. IL-2 will be filling system memory (and swapping to page file) and completely unresponsive until force closed.

 

I've been through three headsets, two video cards, three joysticks, and now two completely different PCs (Intel and Amd) and still have this issue.  

Edited July 28, 2021 by Ryanair_MilitantPotato

[SIA_Sp00k]

TWC_Target above discovered the source of his leak.  Was still using Necksaver V.01. When he updated to the latest version, issue was resolved. Curiously his habit of licking windows remains.

[RedeyeStorm]

Well. In the past I had this happen as well. My problem was solved by going into device manager and prevent power management to put my usb devices to sleep. 
 

Mayby a solution?

[SIA_Target]

To add to what Sp00k said, I also took the advise of Coconut and GRF and checked my connection within my stick (VKB Gunfighter) and once I took it apart found one of the spring loaded connectors stuck and wouldn't depress. Of course that only solved one half of the problem and not the CTD or locking up of the game which was usually followed by an error message in which .NetFrameWork was mentioned. The updating of Necksafer seems to have fixed the crashing and lock ups. I'm thinking that Necksafer  (yes that is the name) relies somewhat on .NetFrameWork.

 I've been a little remiss in my updates to say the least.

[TheWarsimmer]

This has happened to me since I've owned Il-2 and played in VR. Doesn't happen on other sims, but I can't isolate what causes it. I can say that it happens a lot, however. I own a rift s. It seems to happen when I am maneuvering hard on MP servers, and when I turn to look behind my shoulder. I suspect that's why people say they tend to get them during loops and they will just loop over and over until they crash. I try not to move my head too far behind me now to avoid it?. There was a time when I thought changing the USB power options worked for me, but that's no longer the case. Here are some tracks just from the last couple days of it happening to me (it saved my head movements). Maybe it will help someone.

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/92juvd7f0zph4zq/dogfight.2021-08-01_10-51-31_02.zip?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/h84bz15awyquaa8/inputstop.zip?dl=0

 

[MilitantPotato]

On 7/28/2021 at 12:48 AM, TWC_Sp00k said:

TWC_Target above discovered the source of his leak.  Was still using Necksaver V.01. When he updated to the latest version, issue was resolved. Curiously his habit of licking windows remains.

I've been on 2.07 for a bit, but I just snagged 2.08. Happened to me two nights ago on 2.07.

 

I wondered if the issue may be related to Il-2 getting confused when tracking stops. If my headset sleeps, completely loses tracking, or I alt-tab/load several quick missions the issue seems to happen more frequently.  I'm wondering if the use of NeckSafer causes tracking hiccups that exacerbate the issue?  As it stands I never alt-tab and if a mission rolls I restart the game, pretty annoying but seems to stop it 95% of the time.

On 7/30/2021 at 11:20 AM, TWC_Target said:

To add to what Sp00k said, I also took the advise of Coconut and GRF and checked my connection within my stick (VKB Gunfighter) and once I took it apart found one of the spring loaded connectors stuck and wouldn't depress. Of course that only solved one half of the problem and not the CTD or locking up of the game which was usually followed by an error message in which .NetFrameWork was mentioned. The updating of Necksafer seems to have fixed the crashing and lock ups. I'm thinking that Necksafer  (yes that is the name) relies somewhat on .NetFrameWork.

 I've been a little remiss in my updates to say the least.

The USB port on my vkb gladiator was bad and if I jiggled the cable NeckSafer would crash with a .net error also. They got me a new PCB in about a week once I sorted out their emails went to my spam folder. Solid company!

[Mr-Bluesky]

My issue is slightly different my keyboard total locks up and my mouse cant even ctrl alt and delete have to turn off from power and restart

it only does this when running srs

[Comrade_Weng]

I discovered a massive memory leak a few months ago when I was playing around trying to get the best performance using steam VR. I was using a beta version of steam VR together (from memory) with a beta version of wmr for steam. Stopping using the beta fixed the issue, although now I use opencomposite which appears to be much more system friendly.

[dgiatr]

2 hours ago, Comrade_Weng said:

I discovered a massive memory leak a few months ago when I was playing around trying to get the best performance using steam VR. I was using a beta version of steam VR together (from memory) with a beta version of wmr for steam. Stopping using the beta fixed the issue, although now I use opencomposite which appears to be much more system friendly.

Same issue happened to me two times last week while using opencomposite.

 

I had the same symptoms as you said like game controls freezing due to probably massive memory leak? after game crashing i get into task manager to see a message that il2 is not responding and 99% memory usage that will not change until i force il2 to stop working by using the command "end task". 

 

i fly me too with G2 vr headset. 

Edited September 27, 2022 by dgiatr

[macro1]

On 9/27/2022 at 11:47 AM, Mr-Bluesky said:

My issue is slightly different my keyboard total locks up and my mouse cant even ctrl alt and delete have to turn off from power and restart

it only does this when running srs

I have this same issue, often  power off is only solution, sometimes I can alt delete and end task.

[macro1]

Hmmm this seems to be happening more often now... I too have the GPU usage got to 99% , if I can get to use alt delete to bring up task manager.

Does using a powered USB hub actually help this issue?

 

[Comrade_Weng]

I've noticed this is happening more often too. Sometimes the headset locks up other times it doest but all inputs stop responding including keyboard and mouse.

[TAIPAN_]

Only just got a VR headset, and got this issue twice in 3 sessions.

 

It seems to happen after pausing the game, or taking the headset off and answering the door etc when coming back to it you can't unpause or bring up the ESC menu. All the VR headset stuff is still operational.

 

I've got all my USB devices on powered hubs like someone had suggested to help with this, and I have windows USB device suspend disabled as well as USB power management for each individual device in device manager disabled.

 

So far it's never happened with DCS or Elite Dangerous. Seems to be only IL2 that shuts off all inputs after a while.

 

Any progress on getting a fix?

[dgiatr]

3 hours ago, TAIPAN_ said:

Only just got a VR headset, and got this issue twice in 3 sessions.

 

It seems to happen after pausing the game, or taking the headset off and answering the door etc when coming back to it you can't unpause or bring up the ESC menu. All the VR headset stuff is still operational.

 

I've got all my USB devices on powered hubs like someone had suggested to help with this, and I have windows USB device suspend disabled as well as USB power management for each individual device in device manager disabled.

 

So far it's never happened with DCS or Elite Dangerous. Seems to be only IL2 that shuts off all inputs after a while.

 

Any progress on getting a fix?

Are you sure its a memory leak? Did you check you TASK MANAGER while this issue happens to verify its a memory leak?