PT4 (Mac Yosemite) Major Memory Leak Issue

[muckdarags]

Hello: I have been a PT4 user for awhile now. I originally installed PT4 on my MacMini (2.7Ghz i7, 16Gb RAM) when I was running MacOS Mavericks. It ran fine and I never had any issues. I also run all types of applications like: Chrome, Safari, WSOP Poker Software, PartyPoker Software, Various Digital Audio Recording platforms, many more and have never had any issues. When playing poker (15-20 hours a week) I usually play 3-4 tournaments and/or cash tables at a time. I use PT4’s HUD feature while playing.

About a month ago I upgraded to Yosemite. Everything seemed fine. Then all of the sudden my Mac rebooted itself. This had NEVER happened before. I thought this must be a Yosemite issue. I investigated and started reading about memory creep issues. I began to monitor memory usage and noticed in the middle of a poker session my memory usage was sky high. I have a 16Gb system so I should have no issues with memory. In a timely fashion Apple released a point release of Yosemite... I upgraded thinking the issues had been corrected. A few days later my Mac rebooted on its own again. I started to look more closely at memory and found that this process called WindowServer was expanding from 40mb after reboot to 6gb as the day progressed and when I closed all the apps it stayed at 6gb. I started using an app called MemoryCleaner to clean up RAM but it had no effect on WindowServer. I had to reboot to clean that out.

I lived with it for weeks going through the cycle of rebooting a few times a day. Before upgrading to Yosemite I don’t think I rebooted for 6 months. Finally I had enough.. and I posted on the Apple community thinking that this was purely a Yosemite issue. Here is a link to the post... https://discussions.apple.com/message/27813002#27813002 As you will read a number of very helpful members helped me through some testing and cleaning up things on my Mac that shouldn’t be there. But after all that work, I found the problem still existed so I decided to take i upon myself to narrow things down.

Here is a log of monitoring my usage for 7 hours today...

Test 1: WindowServer Creep Test

WS = WindowServer process. Mem = Total Memory Used
PT = PokerTracker 4 WSOP = Poker Site Software

08:48 Reboot Mac Finder, Activity Monitor and Stickies Opened - WS 43mb
08:50 Opened Safari - WS 54mb
09:04 Opened Numbers - WS 65mb
09:06 Quit Numbers - WS 64mb
09:09 Opened Numbers - WS 66mb
09:10 Quit Numbers - WS 64mb
09:11 Watching Twitch with Safari - WS 68mb
09:14 Closed Twitch - WS 60mb
09:14 Opened YouTube - WS 60mb
-- Watch a few videos, little change in WS
09:25 Quit Safari - WS 58mb
09:26 Opened WSOP Poker - WS 62mb
09:26 Opened PokerTrack Click Get Hands While Playing (Enable HUD)- WS 66mb
09:27 Playing 1 Table WS 73mb
09:29 WS 89mb, Mem 5.4gb
09:30 WS 102mb
09:35 WS 132mb
09:40 WS 165mb
09:45 WS 200mb, Mem 6.24gb
09:50 WS 240mb
09:55 WS 278mb, Mem 6.31gb
10:00 WS 304mb, Mem 6.35gb
10:01 Closed WSOP & PT, WS 305mb, Mem 6.0gb
-- Idle
10:20 WS 305mb, Mem 6.0gb
10:20 Opened Safari WS 310mb, Mem 6.34gb
10:25 Watching Twitch WS 308mb, Mem 6.76gb
10:29 Opened Skype, Logged On, WS 316mb, Mem 7.0gb
10:40 WS 316mb, Mem 7gb
10:50 WS 316mb, Mem 7gb
10:50 Quit Safari WS 314mb, Mem 6.4gb
10:50 Skype Video Call, remote screen & Vid chat, WS 316mb, Mem 7.4gb
11:05 WS 316mb, Mem 7.4gb
11:30 WS 316mb, Mem 7.4gb
11:45 WS 316mb, Mem 7.4gb
11:50 Quit Skype, WS 307mb, Mem 7.1gb
11:52 Opened Apple Mail WS 314mb, Mem 7.6gb
11:58 Quit Apple Mail WS 310, Mem 7.3gb
12:00 Opened WSOP WS 313, Mem 7.4gb
12:01 Played 1 Table WS 316mb, Mem 7.5gb
12:05 WS 316mb, Mem 7.5gb
12:10 WS 316mb, Mem 7.5gb
12:15 WS 316mb, Mem 7.5gb
12:15 Opened PT Get Hands While Playing (Enable HUD) WS 325mb, Mem 7.7gb
12:16 WS 328m Mem 7.7
12:17 WS 346mb, Mem 7.7gb
12:20 WS 375mb, Mem 7.7gb
12:25 WS 410mb, Mem 7.9gb
12:25 PT - Clicked Stop Getting Hands (Disable HUD)
12:25 WS 409mb, Mem 7.8gb
12:30 WS 409mb, Mem 7.8gb
12:35 WS 409mb, Mem 7.8gb
12:40 WS 409mb, Mem 7.8gb
12:40 PT Clicked Get Hands While Playing (HUD Enabled)
12:41 WS 414mb, Mem 7.9gb
12:45 WS 429mb, Mem 7.9gb
12:50 WS 463mb, Mem 7.9gb
12:50 Quit PT
12:51 WS 455mb, Mem 7.7gb
12:55 WS 455mb, Mem 7.7gb
13:00 WS 455mb, Mem 7.7gb
13:01 Quit WSOP WS 448mb, Mem 7.7gb
-- Idle
13:30 WS 460mb, Mem 7.7gb
13:35 Open Safari WS 463mb, Mem 7.8gb
13:35 Watched Twitch & Youtube WS 465mb, Mem 8.6gb
13:40 Opened WSOP WS 469mb, Mem 8.9gb
13:41 Played 1 Table WS 472mb, Mem 8.9gb
13:50 WS 472mb, Mem 8.9gb
13:51 Quit Safari WS 468mb, Mem 8.0gb
13:55 WS 468mb, Mem 8.0gb
13:55 Playing 2 Tables WS 471mb, Mem 8.0gb
14:00 WS 471mb, Mem 8.0gb
14:00 Open PT WS 475mb, Mem 8.1gb
14:02 Clicked Get Hands While Playing (Enable HUD)
14:05 WS 519mb, Mem 8.3gb
14:10 WS 594mb, Mem 8.4gb
14:15 WS 664mb, Mem 8.5gb
14:20 WS 738mb, Mem 8.6gb
14:20 Click Stop Getting Hands (Disable HUD) WS 734mb, Mem 8.5gb
14:25 WS 734mb, Mem 8.5gb
14:25 Quit PT WS 730mb, Mem 8.4gb
14:30 WS 730mb, Mem 8.4gb
14:35 WS 730mb, Mem 8.4gb
14:35 Quit WSOP WS 723mb, Mem 8.2gb
-- Idle
14:45 WS 723mb, Mem 8.2gb


Test 2: iHoldem Indicator WindowServer CreepTest

14:45 Reboot Mac Finder, Activity Monitor and Stickies, TextEdit Opened - WS 41mb, Mem 4.0gb
14:45 Opened WSOP WS 46mb, Mem 4.3gb
14:46 Opened iHoldem Indicator (HUD Disabled) WS 48mb, Mem 4.3gb
14.46 Playing 1 table WS 55mb, Mem 4.3gb
14:50 WS 55mb, Mem 4.3gb
14:55 WS 55mb, Mem 4.3gb
14:55 Enabled iHoldem Indicator HUD WS 56mb, Mem 4.4gb
15:00 WS 56mb, Mem 4.2gb
15:05 WS 56mb, Mem 4.2gb
15:10 WS 56mb, Mem 4.2gb
15:15 WS 56mb, Mem 4.2gb
15:20 WS 56mb, Mem 4.2gb
15:25 WS 56mb, Mem 4.2gb
15:25 Quit iHoldem Indicator WS 53mb, Mem 4.2gb
15:25 Quit WSOP WS 48mb, Mem 4.0gb
-- Idle
15:45 WS 48mb, Mem 4.0gb

I’ve run this by a fellow PT4/Mac User who is experiencing the same issues. He is also a software designer ( I was a developer years ago but have since moved into marketing/sales so I have some knowledge of software and OS). We both conclude that this is more than likely an issue with PT4. Here’s why:

1. No other application on my Mac causes WindowServer to expand into the Gb level
2. This problem ONLY occurs when "Get Hands While Playing" is enabled on PT4
3. This problem stops when “Stop Getting Hands” is clicked.
4. All other applications on my Mac release memory from WindowServer when you quit the application.

I believe I presented detailed test results here. I’d like to know if PT has tried to recreate this issue in their dev lab.

I read another post on this forum where the moderator told a PT4 user who was suffering the same issues to contact Apple. I would like to know in technical detail why PT pointed the finger at Apple when EVERY other application i use works perfectly with Yosemite.

As you can see from the log above I also ran a test with iHoldem Indicator which also has a HUD feature. When using this HUD there was zero evidence of WindowServer memory leakage.

I look forward to a response.

Thanks
MuckDaRags

[kraada]

I will make certain a developer sees your post.

[muckdarags]

I will make certain a developer sees your post.

That’s exactly the response I was hoping for. Thank you. Please let them know I opened a support ticket as well and pointed it to this post for details.

Thanks
MuckDaRags

[kraada]

I've discussed your case with our lead Mac developer. He has told me that in the past he has had trouble with similar issues with one of his Macs that has the same graphics card you do - the Intel HD 4000, and that these are definitely not limited to PokerTracker -- see this thread for people who have had similar problems that are not PokerTracker related.

That said, he has said it is possible we are creating a condition that would exacerbate the problem, so if you could please zip up and send us /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports from your machine via our ticket system we can investigate more thoroughly what (if anything) we can do to improve things for you here.

[ellesium]

The same problem with ALL my Macs: Imac 27" 2009, Retina 13" late 2013, Macbook air 13" late 2011..
After update to Yosemite surely.

[WhiteRider]

We're looking into this and I think that the development team have found the problem, but I don't yet know the cause. If you want to get a notification if/when we are able to fix this please open a Support Ticket.

[muckdarags]

@ kraada. I received an email from development saying they believe they have found the problem. They did not ask me to send any logs. Is this still required?

[kraada]

I'd expect if they wanted it they would ask but I'll see what I can find out for you.

[Wisher]

I am facing the same issue.
RAM for WIndowServer goes up like crazy when I play with HUD.
After restart and unless I play another session everything is normal, then when I start playing it behaves the same way.

Since the Devs seem to believe they have found the issue, is there any chance we would get an ETA on the fix?

[kraada]

I don't have an ETA for the next release at this point in time.