Crash When Rendering Particles - Where's the Problem?

[Wet Sponge]

Hiya,

I've created a scene using particles for grass. It seems that when ever I go above 75,000 emission particles Blender doesn't like it.

I've done some tests and it doesn't seem to be a RAM issue:


First Renders:
1)
- 75,000 emissions
- 35 children
...used 3.2GB RAM (rendered)

2)
- 80,000+ emissions
- 35 children
...used 3.2GB RAM (crash)


Latest Renders:
1)
- 75,000 emissions
- 35 children
- Checked 'Save Buffers' under 'Performance' tab
...used 2.8GB RAM (rendered)

2)
- 80,000+ emissions
- 35 children
- Checked 'Save Buffers' under 'Performance' tab
...used 2.8GB RAM (crash)


I know that one can render more particles than that. I've seen 100,000 particles with 60 children rendered fine. Am I missing something, or is it definately a RAM issue?

Used Blender 2.58.1 r38191

System:
- Windows Vista Home Premium 32bit (SP2)
- 4GB RAM
- 2.4GHz Quad Core

My system is pretty fine, apart from the lack of RAM.

[stiv]

In a nutshell, your 32 bit application crashes because it cannot address more than 3 gigs of memory (in round numbers). This is a fundamental limitation of 32 bit processors and the reason people are going to 64 bit operating systems for rendering.

important note: when a process requests more memory, that chunk of memory must be contiguous - no gaps. You may have 4 meg free, but if it is in 1 meg chunks, a request for 2 meg will fail.