Windows Debugger ram usage different from windows ram usage

[valere]

Hi. I'm having a problem with a memory leak in my load function. I'm only using temp variables and I'm not sure where the problem is coming from. GMC debugger shows memory being freed up after function like it should, but it seems like windows doesn't free up the memory and makes the game lag a lot.

Is there any reason the two numbers don't line up ? They do when I launch the game up until I use my load function.

 

[valere]

Even when I simplify my load function to the extreme, I still see this problem arise
Here my simplified load function

function LoadGame()
{
    if(file_exists("savedgame.save"))
    {
        //read data from file
        var _buffer = buffer_load("savedgame.save");
        var _string = buffer_read(_buffer, buffer_string);
        buffer_delete(_buffer);
        _buffer = -1;
        var _loadData = json_parse(_string);
        delete _string;
        delete _loadData;
               
    }
}

Is there any reason a code like this should left anything in memory ?

The save file is around 4Mo

 

[O.Stogden]

I'm not sure if GM works in a way where the memory is technically "freed", in that if you make something else, GM can take up the memory, but it doesn't "free" it on the Windows side of things.

So if you had 100MB RAM usage, then made an 8MB data structure, RAM usage goes to 108MB, you free it, the usage stays at 108MB (in Windows), but if you made another 8MB data structure, GM places it in that 8MB, because it knows it's now free. So the RAM usage stays at 108MB, instead of going to 116MB.

That's how I believe it may work, but I'm not sure. And GM probably handles destroying/garbage collection differently for every type of resource.

 

[valere]

I was wondering if that was the case, but my function starts lagging the game more and more as I use it. So it seems the RAM isn't freed up.

 

[O.Stogden]

I'm not 100% familiar with json_parse either, it looks like it makes additional resources when you use it, it might be that the "delete _loadData" isn't deleting everything that the json_parse function creates, but like I said, I have no experience with this.

Also make sure your garbage collector is activated with " gc_enable(true); " . It should be enabled by default though.