How do I debug a memory leak?

Recognize the signature (memory growing steadily over a session, not a one-time spike), capture it over real, longer sessions since quick tests miss it, trace what keeps accumulating (objects never removed from collections, event handlers never unsubscribed, unbounded caches, assets never unloaded), free it, and verify memory now holds steady over a long session instead of climbing toward a crash. The growth-over-time pattern is the key clue, and tracing what's accumulating pinpoints the specific leak.

How do I know if I have a memory leak?

Look for the signature: memory that grows steadily and continuously over a session, the longer you play, the more memory is used, until the game slows down or crashes. A stable game holds roughly steady memory once loaded; continuous unbounded growth is the hallmark of a leak (distinct from a one-time spike that may come back down). Because it only manifests in longer sessions, capturing memory behavior over real, extended play reveals the climb that quick tests miss.

What commonly causes memory leaks?

A few recurring patterns: objects added to collections and never removed, event subscriptions or callbacks never cancelled (keeping objects alive forever), caches that only grow without bound, and assets loaded repeatedly (for example on each area entry) but never unloaded. Each leaves memory nothing will ever free, so it accumulates. When debugging, these are the suspects to trace, field data showing which longer sessions correlate with memory pressure narrows down where the accumulation is, so you can find and fix the specific pattern.

Tips for Debugging a Memory Leak

Quick answer: Recognize the signature (memory growing over a session), capture it over real long sessions, trace what keeps accumulating (objects never removed, handlers never unsubscribed, unbounded caches, unloaded assets), free it, and verify memory holds steady.

A memory leak makes your game use more and more memory the longer it runs, eventually slowing down or crashing. Leaks are sneaky because they only show in longer sessions. Here are practical tips for debugging a memory leak.

Recognize the Growth-Over-Time Signature

A leak's defining trait is gradual, continuous growth: memory climbs steadily the longer the game runs, rather than holding stable. The first tip: recognize this signature, if memory grows over a session and the game eventually slows or crashes, you have a leak, distinct from a one-time spike.

Bugnet captures memory-related crashes and performance over real sessions, so the long-session out-of-memory crashes a leak causes surface even though a quick test would miss them. Recognizing the pattern is the first step to debugging the leak.

Trace What Keeps Accumulating

Leaks come from specific patterns. The tip: trace what keeps accumulating, the usual suspects are objects added to a collection and never removed, event subscriptions never cancelled, caches that only grow, and assets loaded each time an area is entered but never unloaded. Finding which one is growing pinpoints the leak.

Bugnet helps you see which longer sessions and situations correlate with memory pressure, narrowing where the accumulation is. Tracing what keeps growing turns a vague 'it slows down' into a specific leak, an unbounded list, a forgotten handler, that you can fix.

Free It and Verify Over a Long Session

The tip for fixing: release what was accumulating, remove finished objects, unsubscribe handlers, bound caches, unload assets on exit, then verify memory now holds steady over a long session instead of climbing. The verification matters: a leak fix is only real if the growth stops.

Bugnet captures memory behavior over full real sessions, so you can confirm the climb is gone and long-session crashes stopped. So debug a memory leak by recognizing the growth signature, tracing what accumulates, and freeing it with verification, the loop that keeps long sessions stable.

Recognize the growth-over-time signature, capture it over real long sessions, trace what keeps accumulating (objects never removed, handlers never unsubscribed, unbounded caches, unloaded assets), free it, and verify memory holds steady.