Dopus hogs memory

Help & Support
1

First off I'm very happy with Dopus, and have been so since Magellan on my Amiga.

Now to my troubbles:
After a few minutes DOpus eats up more than 200MB of RAM and 50% CPU.

My setup:
Dell 8300 Win XP SP2, 1GB RAM 1,5TB HD

What I've done:
-Clean install
-Scan with AdAware
-Scan with Spyware Doctor
-Scan with MS AntiSpyware
-Defragged etc

Extra problems
Systems disk access slows to a complete grind some times, killing dopus.exe in task manager is the only thing that'll make the system fast again.

After dopus is restarted, it's only fine for two minutes - and then it's up in using 200MB Ram and 60% CPU.

Most common file type I have is movie files. And I use the K-Lite codec pack.

Im not sure, but I don't think I had this problem with DOpus 6.

Cheers.

2

Try disabling the movie plugin. We've had a few reports of this nature and lots of movie files seems to be the common element. If disabling the movie plugin fixes it I would love to know which codec the movies causing it uses.

3

I'll try that and tell you how it goes.

Meanwhile, here is the info on my codecs:

*K-Lite mega codec pack, I don't have the version number., But here is the site: k-litemegacodecpack.com/

And from the read me that follows the pack:
DivX Pro [version 5.2.1] [Decoding]
This is required for playing DivX movies. DivX is the second most popular format.
DivX Pro [version 5.1.1] [Encoding]
This is required for encoding movies in the DivX format.
DivX :wink: MPEG-4 Low and Fast motion [version 4.1.0.3927]
This is an old version (3.11) of DivX. Only required for those who want to use it to encode something.
XviD [version 1.0.2 build 2004-08-29] [Decoding]
This is required for playing XviD movies. XviD is currently the most popular format.
XviD [version 1.0.2 build 2004-08-29] [Encoding]
This is required for encoding movies in the XviD format.
3ivX Pro [version D4 4.5.1] [Decoding]
This is required for playing 3ivX movies.
Required for opening audio and video streams in a MP4 container (.mp4 files).
Also contains playback support for AAC audio streams.
3ivX Pro [version D4 4.5.1] [Encoding]
This is required for encoding movies in the 3ivX format.
Also contains DirectShow encoder for AAC audio.
Windows Media 7 [version 7.1.0.3055]
This is required for playing movies and audio that are in the Windows Media 7 format.
Windows Media 8 [version 8.0.0.371]
This is required for playing movies and audio that are in the Windows Media 8 format.
Windows Media 9 [version 10.0.0.3646]
This is required for playing movies and audio that are in the Windows Media 9 format.
Windows Media 9 VCM [version 9.0.1.369]
This is required for playing movies and audio that are in the Windows Media 9 format.
On2 VP3 [version 3.2.5.0]
This is required for playing VP3 movies. These are NOT very common.
On2 VP6 [version 6.2.0.10] [Decoding]
This is required for playing VP6 movies. These are NOT very common.
On2 VP6 [version 6.2.0.10] [Encoding]
This is required for encoding movies in the VP6 format.
Cyberlink DVD decoder [version 5.0.0.1130]
This can be used to play DVDs in some players (and if you have a DVD drive in your PC).
Not required if you use Media Player Classic, because it has an internal DVD decoder.
Ligos Indeo XP [version 5.2820.15.58]
Required for playing movies that have the Indeo 5 format.
Intel Indeo [version 4.51.16.2]
Required for playing movies that have the Indeo 4 format.
Intel Indeo [version 3.24.15.03]
Required for playing movies that have the Indeo 3 format.
Intel I.263 [version 2.55.1.16]
Required for playing movies that have the I.263 format.
huffyuv [version 2.2.0]
Required for playing movies that have the huffyuv format.
Required for encoding movies in the huffyuv format.
Huffyuv is a lossless (no quality loss) video compression format.
MS MPEG-4 [version 4.1.0.3927]
Required for playing movies that have the MS MPEG-4 format.
Ligos/Elecard/MainConcept MPEG-2 demuxers & decoders
Required for playing MPEG-2 (and SVCD) movies.
Not required if you use Media Player Classic, because it has an internal MPEG-2 decoder.
There are 7 combinations of dexumers and decoders available. If you don't know which one to choose, then the Elecard / Ligos combination is recommended.

QuickTime codecs [version 6.5.2.10]
Required for playing QuickTime movies and audio.
QuickTime DirectShow filter
Allows you to play QuickTime content in all DirectShow enabled players.
Without this filter QuickTime content can only be played in Media Player Classic.
QuickTime plugin for Internet Explorer
Allows you to view QuickTime content that is embedded in a webpage.
This is installed together with the QuickTime codecs.
QuickTime plugin for Firefox/Mozilla/Netscape/Opera
Allows you to view QuickTime content that is embedded in a webpage.
Extra QuickTime plugins
Plugins for viewing some special formats that are sometimes used on webpages.

RealMedia codecs [version 6.0.12.1056]
Required for playing RealMedia movies and audio.
RealMedia .smi and .smil files are not fully supported. Only the first part of a clip will be played.
RealMedia DirectShow splitter [version 1.0.0.9]
Allows you to play RealMedia content in all DirectShow enabled players.
Without this filter RealMedia content can only be played in Media Player Classic.
RealMedia plugin for Internet Explorer
Allows you to view RealMedia content that is embedded in a webpage.
This is installed together with the RealMedia codecs.
RealMedia plugin for Firefox/Mozilla/Netscape/Opera
Allows you to view RealMedia content that is embedded in a webpage.

Fraunhofer MP3 DirectShow decoder [version 1.9.0.311]
Required for playing movies that have a MP3 audio stream.
WMA DirectShow decoder [version 8.0.0.4487]
Required for playing movies that have a WMA audio stream.
AC3 DirectShow decoder [version 0.70b mod]
Required for playing movies that have an AC3 audio stream.
AC3 ACM decoder [version 0.7]
Required for playing movies that have an AC3 audio stream.
Vorbis DirectShow decoder (CoreVorbis) [version 1.0]
Required for playing movies that have a Vorbis audio stream.
AAC DirectShow decoder (CoreAAC) [version 1.0b9]
Required for playing movies that have an AAC audio stream.
Not required if you install 3ivx [Decoding].
MusePack DirectShow decoder [version 1.0.0.3]
Required for playing MusePack audio files.
Voxware DirectShow decoder [version 1.0.0.12]
Required for playing movies that have a Voxware audio stream.
Monkey's Audio DirectShow decoder [version 1.00]
Required for playing Monkey's audio files (.ape).
Monkey's Audio is a lossless (no quality loss) audio compresion format.
LAME MP3 Encoder [version 3.96.1]
This can be used to encode MP3 streams/files.

Ogg DirectShow splitter [version 0.9.9.5] and Vorbis DLLs [version 1.1.0]
Required for opening audio and video streams in an Ogg container (.ogm files).
Not required if you use Media Player Classic to play these types of files.
Matroska DirectShow splitter [version 1.0.2.4]
Required for opening audio and video streams in a Matroska container (.mkv and .mka files).
Not required if you use Media Player Classic to play these types of files.
Matroska DirectShow muxer [version 1.0.0.9]
Can be used to mux audio and video streams into a Matroska container.
DirectVobSub (vsfilter) [version 2.33]
DirectVobSub is a tool for displaying subtitles. Your subtitle file should have the same filename as your video file (for example Movie.avi and Movie.sub) and should be in the same folder as your video file. Then the subtitles will automatically be displayed in most players.
Matrix Mixer [version 0.30b]
Matrix Mixer can be used to amplify the sound of a video file. It also can mix stereo sound to multiple channels (useful for 4.1 and higher speaker sets).
SHOUTcast Source [version 1.0.0.1]
This can be used to play SHOUTcast streams in any DirectShow enabled player.
Morgan Multimedia Stream Switcher [version 0.9.9]
Morgan Multimedia Stream Switcher can be used to switch between two audio streams in a video file that has two audio streams. These types of video files are not very common. BSplayer also has this functionality built-in. So if you use BSplayer, you don't need to install this.
DivX Anti-Freeze [version 0.4] (CAUTION - not recommended!)
This prevents freezing of some players when playing a damaged DivX movie. This filter is not needed with the current version of DivX, only with old versions!
Warning! This filter causes problems with some programs like MovieMaker. It is not recommended to install this.

4

Okay, I uninstalled K-Lite and all codecs.

I deactivated the Movieplugin.

Rebooted.

Now dopus is at 50% cpu, memory climed real fast to 60MB, and it's still climbing.

The two lists open in the one window is:
Left: A CD, install for MS SQL Enterprise (Not installed :wink:)
Right: My Movie download directory.

Btw, the K-Lite MEga codec pack I had was version 1.16, I'll install 1.18 later.

update:
I've closed the Opus lister window, but dopus is still growing. I'll try to set the dopus preferences such that It'll not open any window after a restart.

5

Update II:
Okay, now I've isolated the behaviour to one folder (might very well be more folders, but this one ALWAYS triggers the spiral of death):

Info on the files in the folder:
File 1:
ca 220 MB
Video: DIVX, 132 kbps
Audio: AC3 (Ch2 48000Hz) 192kbps
Frame size: 320x240

File 2:
ca 220 MB
Video: DIVX, 141 kbps
Audio: AC3 (Ch2 48000Hz) 192kbps
Frame size: 384x288

File 3:
ca 57 MB
Video: DIV4, 91 kbps
Audio: MPEG Layer III (Ch1 22050Hz) 31kbps
Frame size: 400x300

File 4:
ca ? MB (My system slows down....)
Video: XVID, 91 kbps
Audio: 0001 (Ch2 32000Hz) 31kbps
Frame size: 720x480
I think this is the bad guy, after having probed the file, my probe tool is struggling REAL hard...

File 5: (last one)
ca 600 MB
Ends in mpg, seems like I can't get at if after killing the tool because of file 4...

My installed codecs for these files:
XviD [version 1.0.3 build 2004-12-20] [Decoding]
DivX Pro [version 5.2.1]
Fraunhofer MP3 DirectShow decoder [version 1.9.0.311] - Required for playing movies that have a MP3 audio stream

My gut feeling, w/o 100% proof is that there is a problem with XVID and Dopus. I get the same problem in other folders where Xvid files are stored. Not in other folders.

PS: Movie plugin is disabled (deseleced in plugins list).

6

I use the Ace Mega Codec Pack Pro 6.03 on my system at home with Dopus 8.0.0.0. I use xvid files all the time with no problems. Unless I'm doing something big, the cpu never goes above 20% use and the memory never goes above 50% use. I have a AthlonXP 2500+ with 1GB of memory. I also use a couple of Maxtor 16MB cache 300GB drives, not configured as RAID. At work however with a 1.6Ghz P4 with 768MB of memory, my cpu use varies a lot with Dopus 8.0.1.2. I think this is due more to the Maxthon web browser with about 25 tabs opened though. Movie files cause no problem here either. You might want to check what services you have enabled, maybe one of those is causing the problem. Also, I have had better luck with the Ace Mega codecs that the K-Lite, maybe try something like that too. I also use TaskInfo to monitor what is running on my computer as it shows me more than Task Manager.

You said 1.5TB of hard drive, I assume this is a RAID? You might want to tweak your OS for faster access to the drive. If you are comfortable doing this yourself with regedit then check out snakefoot.fateback.com/tweak/winnt/tweak.html. But if you don't feel comfotable then download TuneXP from driverheaven.net. You might also try updating your drivers. It just sounds like something else in your system is not quite configured properly. I hope this helps. Good luck.

Leland

7

i agree with leland

i use the last opus and my memory usage is normal, ok if i
scan a dir with lots of movie the preview windows of the
movie plugins eats a lot of ram but usually dopus eats only
from 4 to 40 mega fo ram that's all :smiley:

trust me pal NEVER use codeck pack !!!!!!!!!!
install ONLY the codec that you really need !!!!! :confused:

8

Most people only need to decode several formats, because they don't encode videos. The best solution is to use FFDShow (get new releases here), which plays about everything used in AVi containers (DivX, XVid, 3ivX...) and also features audio decoders. Only add codecs for files you can't view with FFDShow or if you want to encode (e.g. get XVid).

9

Hi arnljot,

Does the problem still occur if you disable all the plugins, terminate dopus and restart dopus ?

If not, then go through each plugin one at a time enabling them (terminate dopus and restart dopus after enabling each plugin) and see which plugin causes the problem and then report back here.

10

You don't need any of the codec packs and I don't recommend using them. Just install ffdshow and you'll be able to view most formats. Still need separate codecs for AC3 and 3ivx but that's still about 200 codecs less.

I have no problems with XviD files and DOpus.

11

I too would advise not to use codec/filters packs unless you know exactly what you do and setup. Even if it seems to work as expected, you'll end up with problems after a while.
E.g. I used to test a pack (I think it was the ACE mega codec pack) that replaces Windows standard codecs with modified ones. After being uninstalled, it didn't replace the original ones ; this could be fixed only by formating / reinstalling Windows. Also, some happen to install several versions of a codec, which are not supposed to be and are quite incompatible, by hacking the register (which is stupid and useless).

Some packs are ok (those that install only needed codecs and filters, such as the Matroska pack), but avoid the big ones that claim to install everything as the plague.

Anyway, I don't know if your DOpus problem is related to the fact of having installed the K-Lite pack.

12

I have had the same problem with movie files. I suspect that it is caused by files that have corruption in them. It is odd though because both Media Player Classic and the normal windows media player play the files fine. Since they are all using the same codecs I guess there must be something funny that DOpus is doing. I also have a small app made with some Delphi directshow components that does not have a problem with the files.

I have disabled the movie plugin and the problem mostly goes away, although I have also had the 50% CPU usage issue a couple of other times but for an unknown reason (I have reported both issues to GPSoft).

13

I've had files that, with certain codecs, MPC won't play but WMP will play and similar combinations with Opus working/not working with files while the other programs do or don't work differently...

It's always been solved by fixing the codecs. I don't think Opus is doing anything wrong, it's just all programs do things slightly differently and sometimes one program trigger some codec issues while others don't. Which program triggers which issues is down to luck but it always seems to be the codecs that are at fault since getting newer/different codecs always fixes the problem.

(Of course, you tend to get less problems with WMP because you'd have to be a real idiot to write a codec and not test it in WMP... But even then certain files with certain codecs can cause issues in WMP that you don't see in MPC or Opus.)

God knows why codec writers find it so difficult to write reliable software! About the only thing I can think of that's completely locked up my PC in the last year was a video codec...

By the way, if you're having codec issues in Opus and you have a multi-CPU and/or hyperthreading system then it might be worth turning off Preferences, Listers, Thumbnails, Use multiple threads to generate thumbnails since some codecs (e.g. XviD) are not threadsafe at all and go mental if you try to use them on two threads at once. I think Jon may have disabled multiple-thread thumbnailing for the movie plugin completely, so this suggestion may be useless, but I'm not sure if he did it for the entire plugin or just for XviD files, so it's worth a try.

14

The problem with DOpus taking up 50% CPU time, and continually chewing up memory is NOT always related to the movie plugin. I disabled that some time ago and yet I still occasionally get this problem. In the most recent case I created a new folder in dopus, activated and used another program, and when I went back to the dopus window it had locked up. Looking in task manager dopus was taking up 50% cpu and was allocating about 10,000 KB per second.

15

I'd say it's got to be something to do with a plugin or a shell extension or something else different between machines. If you can narrow it down to a particular type of file, or try to work out what may be different about your system, that'd be really useful in tracking down the problem.

Try using FileMonto see which files the dopus.exe process is accessing when allocating all that memory.

The only similar thing I've seen is when viewing network drives containing office documents, where I could see the files were being completely downloaded about 10 times each and really slowing things down. That turned out to be a bug in the network filesystem (since fixed in a Windows Update). It also happened in Explorer.

16

Right, Opus just did it again - frozen and taking up 50% CPU time. Looking in FileMon, all I see is an endless stream of lines these:

409232 6:02:12 p.m. dopus.exe:1964 DIRECTORY C:\RECYCLER\S-1-5-21-2000478354-926492609-839522115-1003\Dc2 DELETE PEND Change Notify

409233 6:02:12 p.m. dopus.exe:1964 DIRECTORY C:\RECYCLER\S-1-5-21-2000478354-926492609-839522115-1003\Dc2 DELETE PEND Change Notify

I had just dragged a folder into a Nero window from a lister, then when I clicked on another folder in the lister, this happened.

17

This happen to me as well, on three different computers no less. I habitually have to quit the dopus task in the task manager to regain full operability over the system. I'm considering downgrading to v. 6...

My computers are as follows:
Athlon 64 2Ghz with 2GB ram
Pentium 2,6GHz with 1GB ram
Compaq laptop 700MHz w/512 MB ram

All are running Windows XP SP2. There are no codec packs of any kind installed on these machines. Two of them have Xvid and Divx Pro installed, while the latter have none.

18

FREE Opus T Shirt offer!

To those valued users who have seen this problem, we would like some extra help from you becaue neither we, nor any of the Beta Testers, have ever seen or been able to produce or repeat this problem.

We would value your help. Give us some more details.

If anyone who can provide us with a reliable method of reproducing this problem we'll be happy to send you an Opus 8 T-Shirt for your help.

Things we wold like to know:

A. What have/had you been doing before or when you saw this problem start?

B. What else is running on the machine.

C1. We have seen cases where video codecs can cause strange problems. Have you been viewing video files or folders with video files? If so then disabling the movie plugin should solve the problem.

C2. Remember that the movie plugin is also used to get information fomr the file to display the details in the normal file display columns so you do not have to actually view the movie.

C3. Also try disabling the Listers - Thumbnails - Use shell image extraction for formats Opus does not understand.

C4. Check the columns that are being displayed in the Lister. Apart fomr size and dates etc, do any of these access the file for descritions or other details of the file

D. We have one other user who has reported such an issue but apart from video files (and the movie plugin), we have not been able to trace this to Opus itself so it may be some interaction with some other library or application on the machine - such as Antivirus or AntiSpyware etc. Do you run any of these and does disabling them help?

If you can actually reproduce this issue please grab a copy of FileMon from

sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/filemon.shtml

Run this then create the problem in Opus and tell us what you see in Filemon. Does Opus seem to be in some busy loop and continually trying to access various files, for example in the recycle bin or elsewhere?

Many thanks for all your help!

__
Greg

19

I had experienced a similar problem a few months ago.
Dopus, and everything else was running at "half" speed.
I'm not certain if it's relevant here as it was on a Win98 system, but I'll mention it anyway.

Actually, 50% of the time the computer was slave to something else.
It was very annoying in Dopus as it interfered with normal use of the program.
When playing music, the visuals and sound of the player would freeze, then work, then freeze, then work, ...

I had to go back two backup images before it was weeded out.
I originally attributed it to the Dev C++ Compiler, but it turns out it wasn't the culprit, as I accidentally reproduced the problem and successfully eliminated it some time later.
The culprit turned out to be Reg Explorer.

:opusicon: porcupine

20

I haven't had it happen for a while, but then again I have not been using my PC much lately. Although it is not reproducable at will, here are some answers to your questions:

A. What have/had you been doing before or when you saw this problem start?

It typically happens when I go 'Up' from a folder, then I start to notice that opus and the rest of the machine is going slowly.

B. What else is running on the machine.

ZoneAlarm (with Anti-virus), Privoxy, not much else.

C1. We have seen cases where video codecs can cause strange problems. Have you been viewing video files or folders with video files? If so then disabling the movie plugin should solve the problem.

In my case it is not related to the movie plugin - I was not viewing movies and I also have the plugin disabled.

C2. Remember that the movie plugin is also used to get information fomr the file to display the details in the normal file display columns so you do not have to actually view the movie.

At least in the last couple of times it happened there was no movie in the current folder - in fact it is often the root of C:\ where it happens.

C3. Also try disabling the Listers - Thumbnails - Use shell image extraction for formats Opus does not understand.

This option is not enabled on my machine. I also do not use thumbnail mode.

C4. Check the columns that are being displayed in the Lister. Apart fomr size and dates etc, do any of these access the file for descritions or other details of the file

I use only Name, Size, Attributes, Modified date.

D. We have one other user who has reported such an issue but apart from video files (and the movie plugin), we have not been able to trace this to Opus itself so it may be some interaction with some other library or application on the machine - such as Antivirus or AntiSpyware etc. Do you run any of these and does disabling them help?

Yes, I run ZoneAlarm with antivirus. I can't tell if it helps to disable them because I never know when it will happen. I will try disabling them and let you know.
At least for the last time it happened, FileMon shows the results posted in this forum, and that I sent to you.

Regards,
Simon.