How do I handle out-of-memory crashes?

Capture OOM crashes tagged by device to see which hardware hits them (they mostly affect lower-memory devices you don't test on, so they're invisible from your machine), reduce your memory footprint (unload what isn't currently needed, compress large assets, stream instead of loading everything up front), check for a memory leak that grows usage over time, and verify with field data that the crashes stopped on the affected devices. The fix is bringing your resident memory use within the limits of the devices that were crashing.

Why does my game crash with out-of-memory errors only on some devices?

Because its memory footprint exceeds what those devices have. A footprint that fits comfortably on your high-memory dev machine can exceed a budget or older device's RAM, triggering an OOM crash there while running fine for you. OOM crashes concentrate on lower-memory hardware and are invisible from your testing by definition. Capturing memory-related crashes tagged by device from real players is the only way to see which devices are running out of memory and verify your fixes worked there.

How do I reduce my game's memory footprint?

Unload assets you don't currently need (free them when leaving areas), compress large textures and audio, stream content instead of loading everything up front, and check for a memory leak that makes your footprint grow over a session. Capturing memory-related crashes by device shows you where the pressure is worst, and verifying afterward confirms the out-of-memory crashes on low-memory devices actually stopped. The goal is holding only what the current moment requires, so the game fits within the limits of constrained devices.

Tips for Handling Out-of-Memory Crashes

Quick answer: Capture OOM crashes tagged by device to see which hardware hits them, reduce your footprint (unload what isn't needed, compress assets, stream), check for leaks, and verify the crashes stop on the affected devices.

Out-of-memory (OOM) crashes happen when your game uses more memory than the device has, and they mostly hit lower-memory devices you don't test on, so they're easy to miss. Here are practical tips for handling out-of-memory crashes.

See Which Devices Hit Them

OOM crashes are invisible on your high-memory dev machine, they only happen on devices with less RAM than your game needs. The first tip: capture crashes tagged by device, so you can see which hardware hits out-of-memory errors, a problem affecting players you'd never notice from your own testing.

Bugnet captures memory-related crashes tagged by device, so OOM crashes on lower-memory hardware surface in your data. You can't handle out-of-memory crashes you don't know are happening on hardware you don't own, so capturing by device is the starting point.

Reduce Your Memory Footprint

Handling OOM crashes means fitting within the memory the affected devices have. The tip: reduce your footprint, unload assets you don't currently need, compress large textures and audio, and stream content instead of loading everything up front, and check for a memory leak that grows your footprint over time.

Bugnet helps you find what's driving memory pressure and whether a leak is involved. Reducing the resident footprint is the core fix, holding only what the current moment needs lets your game fit and run on the devices that were crashing.

Verify the Crashes Stop

The final tip: verify there. The payoff of a footprint reduction is fewer OOM crashes on lower-memory devices, so confirm with field data that the footprint dropped and the crashes on those devices stopped, telling you the fix reached the players who needed it.

Bugnet captures memory-related crashes by device, so you can confirm OOM crashes on low-memory hardware actually went away. So handle OOM crashes by seeing which devices hit them, reducing your footprint, and verifying the crashes stopped, which lets your game run where it couldn't before.

Capture OOM crashes by device to see which hardware hits them, reduce your footprint (unload, compress, stream), check for leaks, and verify the crashes stop. OOM crashes hit lower-memory devices you don't test on.