Cleanmem - The First Memory Cleaning Dll (update!), From 500,000kb down to 2,000kb! Options

[halo shg]

CleanMem^V2.0
By Halo Shg

Information:
If you've ever found your game lagging or consuming too much memory, you're in the right place.
Finally, a perfect solution to bring down the memory consumption!

Functions:

• cleanmem_init
• cleanmem
• cleanmem_get_mem

Special Notes:
You should probably call this on room change and game end. More won't do any harm, but it wouldn't really be necessary.
This DLL is only 4.5kb in size.

UPDATE: Now you can get the amount of memory your game is using! That means you can clean when it gets above a certain point! - Thanks GMLismybeach for the suggestion


Legal Information And Licensing
Ok, so a lot of people have been asking me about this (both here and in PM's). I figured I'd better put up some info.

You MAY use this in a freeware application freely.
You MAY use this in a shareware application freely.
You MAY use this in a commercial application freely as long as I am credited somewhere in the application.
You MAY NOT modify the executable WITHOUT crediting me for the original.
You MAY request the source.

For any uses other than commercial (ie. shareware, freeware) crediting is optional. For commercial games, credit is required.
If you would like a version with no information (this is, my name is not stamped on the DLL), you may request it.
Keep in mind, however, that credit is required for ALL types of applications if you are using this version.

If have any special requests, PM Me.

Examples:
You have a freeware application and the DLL is the original (unmodified) copy.

• Credit: Optional

You have a freeware application and you have modified or requested the NoInfo version of the DLL.

• Credit: Required

You have a commercial application (regardless of the DLL type)

• Credit: Required

You have requested/disassembled the source, and are distributing a modified version either in your application or
standalone.

• Credit: Same rules apply for applications. If the DLL contains still my name (in the object (compiled) form, that is)
  then credit is optional.

Download:
Direct Link (Right Click > Save As)
Old V1

Mirror 1
Mirror 2


This post has been edited by halo shg: Nov 3 2009, 11:41 PM

[Sindarin]

Nice work!
As I have already made something similar for my games I'd say it would be safe to free the memory every 50 steps (don't use it in a Step event, leave some interval between).
Just DON'T free the memory when you're e.g. creating, replacing a sprite, background, sound or freeing them. (Should make sense)
I wonder why Game Maker doesn't have an inbuilt function for this?

This post has been edited by Sindarin: Jun 30 2009, 07:50 PM

[TheMagicNumber]

Well, I did give it a try, and watched the memory usage in Process Explorer. It didn't work. The memory usage just stopped increasing (didn't make any more images). Now I have a huge memory leak and need to restart.

Maybe it's the example?

Windows XP SP3, Intel P4 1.7GHz (32 bit)

[Whaddsoft]

Now I have a huge memory leak and need to restart.

Wait, the memory doesn't automatically free when a program closes?

[score_under]

BUG: You don't close your process handle after you open it.

[halo shg]

That's strange. I had no problems testing it on multiple computers running multiple operating systems.

EDIT:

BUG: You don't close your process handle after you open it.

Fixed. Redownload.

This post has been edited by halo shg: Jul 1 2009, 03:24 PM

[TheMagicNumber]

Debug version returned zero, and still didn't clear any memory.
CM.exe is complete rubbish, it seems to be corrupt, and I can't delete it...thanks for the Trojan, removed.

This post has been edited by GMREC1111: Jun 30 2009, 09:15 PM

[halo shg]

EDIT:
Post removed.

You can still get PcWinTech's memory cleaning tool from PcWinTech.com

This post has been edited by halo shg: Nov 10 2009, 09:31 PM

[TheMagicNumber]

It is still failing, no changes are detected in Process Explorer (excluding the stopping of allocating memory). Basically it doesn't show a decline, but it did in fact update.

[HaRRiKiRi]

It works perfectly for me (win xp 32bit sp3). It increases the load when run and when I press space the mem usage drops down to about 2,000K (from 35,000 or even 50,000). So it works nicely.

[smart_monkey]

I haven't yet tried it but is very interesting. This would be a tool for anyone with a game that drains tons of memory.

Downloading now!

[halo shg]

@Sindarin - I too wonder why it isn't built in. It was only like 5 lines of code.

@GMREC1111 - I think I may have found the problem. You said you were using Process Explorer, so I assume you were looking at Virtual Size,
instead of Working Set. Basically, your looking at the amount allocated memory, not memory usage.

You can toggle that column, or use Windows XP's task manager by typing taskmgr.exe into the run dialog

@HaRRiKiRi - Thank you for confirming that it works on SP3. Thanks for testing it aswell.

@smart_monkey - I'd be happy to hear your response


~ Halo Shg

[TheMagicNumber]

@GMREC1111 - I think I may have found the problem. You said you were using Process Explorer, so I assume you were looking at Virtual Size,
instead of Working Set. Basically, your looking at the amount allocated memory, not memory usage.

Okay, I guess it works. But it's not freeing allocated memory. If I read correctly.

[prog]

This really helps with my 3D game. (With this, it actually goes above 10 fps on my crappy computer)!

[Meiun]

Just tried it on Vista 64 bit, and seems to work fine. As useful as this does seem, would you mind adding a description of how exactly this works and what it is that it is doing to free the memory?

[uuf6429]

Actually it may be the second such dll . However, nice you got it published...unlike someone else. Quite stable too...

[IceMetalPunk]

Very nice. At first I thought it would mess with loaded resources or some such nonsense, but I underestimated you. A quick test (saving the created sprites to a ds_list and drawing them all every step) shows the resources are fine and the memory still drops incredibly!

Very nice. I need to go check out how much memory Blastix is using (never did, ironically), and if it's a large amount, I'll definitely use this DLL.

-IMP

*EDIT* Well, the test was a success. Blastix was hogging almost 100,000 KB of RAM, then I used your DLL and called it every time the room changes, and it knocked down to only 7KB. Amazing. I'll be using this.

This post has been edited by IceMetalPunk: Jul 1 2009, 10:00 PM

[halo shg]

@GMREC1111 - I'm not sure if this is possible. Even all the commercial memory cleaners I've tried fail to do this. Makes me think it isn't possible.

@prog - Glad you liked it.

@Meiun - Of course. Using an API call, I am able to remove pages from the working set (Google it). First, however, I must register this DLL as a "debugger" to avoid denial of access. If you want the (C++) source, PM me. I would be happy to give it to you. I'm not sure if I'd like to release it to public yet though.

@uuf6429 - Well, OK. Mines publicly available

@IceMetalPunk - Windows doesn't fail that badly. Also, I sure hope you meant 7,000KB. Otherwise I might assume performance-enhancing drugs were involved


On a final note, happy Canada Day to all! And in case I forget, happy early Independence Day!

~ Halo Shg

[Krisando]

Wow worked great.

[prog]

What exactly does this do?