Crash while trying to open a 22MB dwg file

[Christoph_vW]

Crash while trying to open a 22MB dwg file - DoubleCAD was using 1.7 GB RAM when it crashed.

DoubleCAD XT 3.1 (Build 37.0)

System:  Windows 7 (64-bit), version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1
Reason:
doublecadxt.exe caused an  in module <UNKNOWN> at 0023:751DB727

Registers:
EAX=0018ED00  EBX=00000000  ECX=00000003  EDX=00000000  ESI=007EA708
EDI=007EA708  EBP=0018ED50  ESP=0018ED00  EIP=751DB727  FLG=00200216
CS=0023   DS=002B  SS=002B  ES=002B   FS=0053  GS=002B



Modules:

[thebrian]

At 1.7 GB you are near or at the maximum memory that most 32-bit applications can effectively manage, including DoubleCAD.

If you shut everything else down you may be able to open the file, but it is likely to act sluggish.

[Christoph_vW]

I guess it will need much more memory...
I am trying to open the file with Google Sketchup on an overclocked Core i5 machine now - which is working > 30 hours now to open this file...

But anyway - "Out of memory" message would be better than crashing...

[thebrian]

Adding memory to your computer won't help much if at all. 32bit applications like DoubleCAD (and possibly the SU version you have) have a maximum of 2GB that they can see/manage. However, due to other applications running (like Windows itself etc.) the true effective level is about 1.8 GB. The only real way to solve the issue is 1) a smaller file 2) more efficient software (for one axis of efficiency e.g. data compression) 3) a 64bit version of the software which can handle considerably more memory. #3 is in the pipeline, but is 18-24 months away.

[Nick]

What about making DCAD Large Address Aware on a x64 computer?  That should bump the max to ~3GB.

Here's the location of a program that makes this switch really easy.

Note: DO NOT use this on a 32 bit computer and DO NOT use this if you have 4GB or less RAM in a 64 bit computer.

[thebrian]

Thanks Nick - I'll pass that onto the engineers. I think the last time we look at something like that it generated stability problems of its own.

[Nick]

I've used it on a couple of other programs and it seems to work well as long as the guidlines I pointed out are followed.  On a 32 bit OS, a person is asking for trouble if they enable LAA.