[Possible solutions/INFO REQUEST] NP Pool Memoryleak [PC only] updated: Apr. 13

The infamous "NP Pool Memoryleak" problem.

I've decided to gather information about it so it can hopefully get some attention.

• Click the "Me too" button if you have this problem.
• Write here if you have information to contribute.

Posts about other problems and other non-helpfull posts will be removed at my discretion.

Also, please note I do not work for EA so no need to complain about things, this is a constructive thread.

Symptoms:

• Non paged pool (NPP) memory gets filled up with garbage. Normally it's only filled up with around 200-300mb of data but after the memory leak happens it takes of the remainding memory causing BF4 and the system to grind to a hault. Due to the nature of NPP this garbage cannot be removed from occupying space in the memory until you reboot the system.
• BF4.exe is not using more memory than normal, not the private working set or the paged pool
• Example: Ive got 8GB of memory, during play 250MB of NPP memory is used, then the memory leak happens and suddenly 5.2GB of my memory is lost and being used for nothing due to this bug.

When does it happen:

• The memory leak happens after mapchange, but otherwise somewhat random. The main trend is that mapchange causes the memoryleak and it then takes some time to fill up the memory depending on the speed and amount of memory.

Systems affected:

• Win 8 (mostly 8.1)
• Radeon HD 5xxx, HD6xxx, HD7xxx and R series
• Very few Nvidia has said it affected them as well but is deemed unlikely as none would provide a screenshot showing it's the non paged pool

Things people have mentioned helped:

• Running BF4 in Win7 compability (not working for the majority and causing other problems)
• Exiting the game before mapchange (working, but not a solution)
• Alt+tab during load of new map (not working)
• Running Catalyst Control Center(CCC) in Win7 compability (not working for the majority )
• Using the standard default windows 8.1 driver or Cataclyst 13.9 with all the other errors etc. that follows (not working for the majority )
• Updating Realtek network driver from Realtek's website as the win8 standard driver could cause this (reported to solve similar problem)
• Disabling NDU using: "sc config NDU start= disabled" in a commandprompt (reported to solve similar problem)

Possible causes:

• The game just don't like those graphics cards even though it has the AMD logo on it. (most likely)
• Some use of DirectX 11.1 in Win8
• NDU memory leak with certain network adapters in Win8
• Built-in Win8 network adapter driver for some Realtek network cards
• AMD driver issue
• Poolmon indicated the culprit wears the MINI tag associated with atikmdag.sys which is a part of the AMD driver package

Links:

• http://answers.ea.com/t5/Battlefield-4/BF4-PC-Memory-leaking-94-Memory-usage-with-12GB/td-p/1731447
• http://www.reddit.com/r/battlefield_4/comments/1r7hd6/windows_8_bf4_memory_leak_the_cause_and_the_fi...
• http://answers.ea.com/t5/Battlefield-4/Memory-Leak-Can-we-get-a-response-of-some-kind/m-p/1951067#U1...
• http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?p=4689663
• http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=443&threadid=168894&STARTPAGE=4&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear

Can be identified using:

(when the problem is occouring)

Look at the taskmanager memory usage and notice a huge chunk of memory being used but not by any program

Rammap

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/ff700229.aspx

To check that it is the non paged pool area of your memory being filled.

This is a picture of how it could look normally. During the bug you will see Nonpaged Pool take up 4 000 000+ K of your memory

Windows 8 taskmanager detail view

Detail-->right click column-->select columns-->enable NP pool.

Then check that it's not BF4.exe that takes up the NP pool.

Update 19

New driver out that might fix the issue: http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/latest-catalyst-windows-beta.aspx?hootPostID=b3a8c3499bc1498ae1b596a38ca73457

Update 18

There's hope:

"Windows 8.1 memory leak (AMD) - AMD has found the issue & fixed, and I'll let you guys know as soon as their beta driver is updated!"

link: https://twitter.com/tiggr_/status/555825926190415872

Update 17:

The new about the problem is that there's nothing to report about the problem. Sorry to dissapoint, if I could catch the programmers at AMD and DICE  + their bosses and put them in a room and have an uncomftable staring contest until someone explains to me how an AMD Gaming Evolved title can have such an issue for more than a year I would (with lots of cake in the room ofc. as I do have a lot of respect of programmers and they tend to like cake).

 

As we have a new year and I'm getting tired of poking poor EA people who is not rightfully to blame for the error I will now let it be up to DICE/EA/AMD to contact me if they want to give feedback on this topic.

Update 16:

After some time in the wombeta, today it is 1 year ago the game came out and thus 1 year since the this bug appeared in the released game, happy birthday memoryleak!

Update 15:

Personal note: my old graphics card burned out so had to get a new and thus don't have this problem anymore. If there's a patch and the problem still persists or similar, then please send me a private message in here and I will update this thread.

Update 14:
June 3. patch and 14.6 beta both fixed nothing related to the memoryleak.

 

Update 13:

Remember to join and give feedback about this problem on the CTE forum. Read more on how here:

http://blogs.battlefield.com/2014/05/community-test-environment/

 

Update 12:

31. March - Naval Strike is out. With new game patch.

If you have this problem after this patch please write it here and add the following like this:

• I have tested with RamMap that my non-paged pool iks being filled: Yes
• It have happened after Naval Strike: Yes
• CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black 3.2GHz
• GPU: Club 3D Radeon PCI-E HD6870 OC 1GB DDR5
• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790GPT-UD3H 790GX CFireX
• RAM: Mushkin DDR3 PC3-1333 4GB CL9 kit Stiletto x 2
• Soundcard: Creative Recon3d PCI-E soundcard - onboard card disabled in bios
• GPU Driver: Catalyst 14.3 beta

Colorscheme not required 😉

 

Update 11:

18. March - New AMD driver did nothing. Problem still persists. Nothing else to report except it's sad.

 

Update 10:

6. March Patch brought back the Non Paged Pool Memory Leak for me and some others. It had been gone (for some) since between patches a while (for some odd reason). I have no idea what Dice is doing..

 

Update 9:

The new patch feb. 13th has done nothing to help the problem, patch. 14.1 also nothing. Have also heard nothing about the problem.

Place to report the error with AMD:

Driver feedback form: http://www.amdsurveys.com/se.ashx?s=5A1E27D25AD12B21

Raise Ticket : http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/ticketprocess.aspx

 

Update 8:
A new patch is out. (30. January). Problem still persists = it's not fixed.

Since AMD thinks each game patch fixes their driver problem report the problem here: http://www.amdsurveys.com/se.ashx?s=5A1E27D25AD12B4F - you can also raise a ticket with AMD at http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/ticketprocess.aspx

Since EA has not acknowledged the error on their top issues post on Battlelog, you could also request so on Battlelog and to your friendly neighborhood EA Advisor.

 

Update 7:
A new patch is out that might fix this problem allthough the patchnotes are a bit unclear, so please report if you still get the problem after the patch

 

Update 6:
Now use http://www.amdsurveys.com/se.ashx?s=5A1E27D25AD12B4F to report that this current driver update does not fix the problem as well. How fast AMD fixes things directly corresponds to how many reports and complaints they get according to their "technical support".

 

Update 5:
AMD technical support responded to a ticket I made a while ago.

This was their response:

• Thanks for your mail. Yes, our driver team had already received some reports related to this issue before, and after some investigates, they thought that this issue seems to have been resolved, possibly via a patch released by DICE. And they didn’t receive much reports related to this issues recently. So please try to find some game patches form EA to solve your issue, thank you.

So, apparently they think the error has magicly solved itself because we don't complain enough. So I would urge all in here with the problem to go to: http://emailcustomercare.amd.com/ and http://www.amdsurveys.com/se.ashx?s=5A1E27D25AD12B4F and fill out a support request with all your relevant information. You can also write them at https://twitter.com/AMDRadeon, https://twitter.com/AMDGaming, https://www.facebook.com/AMDGaming and the other places AMD hangs out.

 

Update 4:
Ok, so I'm in contact with someone at AMD, if people could add what browser (name and version) they are using that would be great.

• Myself: Chrome 31.0.1650.63 m

Update 3:
AMD posted on their forum that: "Just a short update. We continue to work closely with DICE to find a solution to this problem."

• http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=443&threadid=168894&STARTPAGE=4&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear

Update 2:
seems like this is not a top issue for Dice

• http://battlelog.battlefield.com/bf4/forum/threadview/2955065670203355766/

Update 1
 I've just been informed that Dice has been told about the issue. Now only AMD left.

• Source: AnswersHQ moderator