# "I'm afraid we are about to crash soldier"...



## Robo Rivard (Sep 1, 2016)

Hi guys, sorry if that problem has been discussed before, but I found nothing with the search function.

I'm working with Kontakt 5.5.1 inside Cubase 8.0.40 under Windows 7 64 bits. I have 16 Gigs of RAM.

For some reasons, I can't seem to have access to the full 16 Gigs of RAM, and after adding just a few patches to my Kontakt multi (most of the time way less than 1 Gig), the computer freezes and I get the following message:

"Background loading warning:
Your memory is getting low. 
Please use the purge function to free up some ressources.
Kontakt will progressively cache only the required samples for playback and offline bounce."

Or sometimes I also get:

"Kontakt 5:
Looks like there is no memory left.
I'm afraid we are about to crash soldier."

And ultimately:

"VST Bridge has stopped working."

Then everything freezes, and I have to do a force restart.

It seems to be happening only with Kontakt 5, because no other plugins are active at the same time... Cubase itself seems to behave normally... And I have 16 Gigs of RAM!

All my other programs are running flawlessly.

Can you help me?


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## Tod (Sep 1, 2016)

> "VST Bridge has stopped working."



Are you using a 32bit Kontakt dll?


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## scottbuckley (Sep 1, 2016)

Robo Rivard said:


> "Kontakt 5:
> Looks like there is no memory left.
> I'm afraid we are about to crash soldier."


Best error message ever.

I second Tod's question - perhaps you are using the 32-bit version of Kontakt? Not sure how you check - I will usually just make sure I only install the 64-bit VST right from the beginning.

-s


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## jemu999 (Sep 1, 2016)

Check what they said first! Make sure you are not in 32bit Cubase or 32bit Kontakt

Other help:
Reboot your computer. Don't open any software on ur computer. Go to the performance tab in windows task manager:
http://superuser.com/questions/482178/how-can-i-constantly-monitor-my-computers-ram-usage

Now check how much ram your computer has used _before_ you open Cubase and or Kontakt. Then open up Cubase, and see the ram usage change. Open up Kontakt and begin adding your libraries. Continue to monitor Ram usage with each library you add. This will give you some answers.

BTW, You might be surprised to find a lot of RAM is already being used by Windows 7 before you even open Cubase etc. There are ways to reduce this by looking up/ adjusting your pagefile.sys. See this thread for this and other optimizing help:
http://www.soundsonline-forums.com/showthread.php?t=48782

Hope this helps. Get more RAM, its cheap nowadays.


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## Robo Rivard (Sep 1, 2016)

Thanks guys!

I'm pretty sure I have the 64 bits version of both software... But who knows?

On my C: drive, I have two program folders: "Program Files", and "Program Files (x86)"... From what I understand, the "Program Files" one contains the 64 bits programs, and the "(x86)" one contains the 32 bits files?...

My other concern is that I have a lot of "VST plug-ins" folders all over the place... If I use only Cubase 8, should the only VST plug-ins folder sits in the Cubase 8 folder?... I might have 32 bits ddl of Kontakt in the 64 bits folder of Cubase...

I will try the other options tomorrow morning (it's late here)...


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## Tod (Sep 1, 2016)

One of the problems with Kontakt is that there is no immediate distinction between the 32bit and 64bit dll files. When you install Kontakt, it does give you the option of where to place the different bit dlls, and it's best to know where they are. If Kontakt is loading in a bridged mode, there's a good chance you're using 32bit in your 64bit Cubase. However, I don't use Cubase so I'm not sure what happens there.

It looks like you're using Window, so you should be able to right click on the dll file and go to Properties, then go to the Details tab. That should tell you if it's 64bit or not.


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## Robo Rivard (Sep 1, 2016)

OK guys, I think I fixed it!

I went to my C: drive/Program Files/Native Instruments, and I found a folder named "VSTplugins64bits"... Inside it, I found three dll for Kontakt, and one for Replika... I copied them into the VSL plugins folder of Cubase 8, and it seems to work pretty good so far!!... I could add sounds to my current Kontakt 5 multi, and it went fine... Will I be able to use my 16 Gigs of RAM now?

My Cubase is 64 bits: it's indicated on the shortcut!... Seems like I need to do a spring cleaning in my VST plugins folders...

Thanks community, you were of great help!


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## Robo Rivard (Sep 1, 2016)

While I'm here: should I remove my version 5 and 7 of Cubase from my system?... I don't see why I would need them in the future...


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## Lindon (Sep 2, 2016)

Robo Rivard said:


> OK guys, I think I fixed it!
> Will I be able to use my 16 Gigs of RAM now?


See the comments above, as an end user NEVER have access to all your installed memory, the operating system takes a slice, as does each of the applications you are running....


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## Robo Rivard (Sep 3, 2016)

jemu999 said:


> Check what they said first! Make sure you are not in 32bit Cubase or 32bit Kontakt
> 
> Other help:
> Reboot your computer. Don't open any software on ur computer. Go to the performance tab in windows task manager:
> ...



Thanks for the advice Jeton, I will always monitor the RAM usage with the task manager from now on!...

I started Windows 7 64bit with nothing else, and I get 2.92 Gb of RAM usage. I guess it's fair... It says CPU usage= 2%, and physical memory= 18%... With Cubase 8, it still stays low, and I tried to open different projects, and the memory usage is honest... With 16 Gb of RAM I should be fine, since I don't do orchestral work.

Thanks for the tips, it will help me identifying the offender the next time!


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## FredrikJonasson (Mar 5, 2017)

I have to revive this "Looks there is no memory left. I'm afraid we're about to crash, soldier" message. 

I've had problems with a lack of RAM for a long time, but it has previously shown itself in problems in playback and unstability. However I recently reinstalled Windows, Cubase et.c. and now I get the "soldier" message and can't load old projects. What has changed?


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## EvilDragon (Mar 5, 2017)

Is it possible that Cubase is trying to load the 32-bit version of Kontakt? Remove the 32-bit DLL manually.


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## FredrikJonasson (Mar 5, 2017)

EvilDragon said:


> Is it possible that Cubase is trying to load the 32-bit version of Kontakt? Remove the 32-bit DLL manually.


There isn't a path to the 32-bit files so that shouldn't be it.

Edit: Now that I think about it, it could be after I installed the 5.6.6 Kontakt update this started. 

I managed to open a project now, but my computer begins to act strangely. Closing Chrome and stuff. Anyone else experiencing this with the update?


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## EvilDragon (Mar 5, 2017)

Nope, everything works as usuall with 5.6.6. here.


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## TomNoyd (Mar 6, 2017)

FredrikJonasson said:


> There isn't a path to the 32-bit files so that shouldn't be it.
> 
> Edit: Now that I think about it, it could be after I installed the 5.6.6 Kontakt update this started.
> 
> I managed to open a project now, but my computer begins to act strangely. Closing Chrome and stuff. Anyone else experiencing this with the update?



I haven't experienced my computer acting strangely in that way ("Closing Chrome and stuff") but I have been having some issues with the memory error/"soldier" message with Kontakt 5.6.5 (with older sessions - Reaper 5 64-bit) and I'm still running into it with 5.6.6 (with newer projects). I'm noticing this problem more with Albion I (legacy) and bigger Spitfire libraries. I have 32 GB of ram with plenty to spare (these sessions are _never _RAM hungry and I'm monitoring my PC's overall memory usage). In the past, I've _never_ run into these memory leak/error messages with previous versions of Kontakt or even on my 4 GB laptop.

I sent in a help ticket with a crash log to Native Instruments when I was having this problem with 5.6.5. Ultimately, they suggested to update to 5.6.6. The memory leak problem is still there but only less frequent.

I don't suppose anyone has found a solution or a workaround besides rendering out the stems?

*EDIT
*
Apparently, I had to physically type out "I'm noticing this problem more with Albion I (legacy)" for me to realize...I'm having problems with certain libraries (particularly Spitfire). I just so happen to have Kontakt 5.0.3 and 5.4.2 and those are working just fine - no soldiers being warned that we're about to crash.

ALSO, I notice that with Kontakt 5.6.6, my DAW's resource manager (Performance Meter in Reaper) _doesn't acknowledge_ any newly loaded RAM from the Albion patches (and then it gets that error message after, say, 200 MB loaded into Kontakt). But with Kontakt 5.0.3 and 5.4.2, the performance meter recognizes Albion's memory usage and everything works just fine. Hmmm.


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