I’m diving into using Addressables in Unity, trying to get a handle on how to manage memory better—especially in terms of loading and releasing GameObjects. But I keep running into this head-scratcher regarding memory usage.
So, here’s the deal: I’m using the Graphy tool to monitor my memory, and I’ve noticed something strange. Whenever I load a GameObject, both Reserved and Allocated memory go up. Totally makes sense, right? But when I call Release, only the Allocated memory goes down. I mean, that’s what I expected! However, what’s throwing me for a loop is that the Reserved memory keeps increasing every time I load the GameObject, even after releasing it.
It’s like, shouldn’t the Reserved memory stay the same after the first load? I’m just trying to load the same thing over and over, so why does it feel like every time I do this, it’s just piling on more memory? I’ve shared some memory snapshots. At first, everything looked fine. I load the GameObject, and bam—there’s a jump in both memory metrics. But then, I release it, and while the Allocated memory decreases, the Reserved memory just keeps climbing.
After several cycles of loading and releasing, I saw Reserved memory hit 318 MB, while Allocated memory remained pretty steady. It’s bizarre! I swear I’m releasing the GameObject properly—I’m using the `ReleaseInstance` method and setting my reference to null afterward.
Is there something about how Addressables manage memory that I’m not getting? Why is the Reserved memory increasing indefinitely, even when the Allocated memory stabilizes? Am I missing a step in managing these assets? I’ve read through the documentation, but it doesn’t seem to address this behavior. Any insights or similar experiences would be hugely appreciated!
It sounds like you’re encountering a common scenario when working with Addressables in Unity. The distinction between Reserved and Allocated memory can indeed be confusing!
When loading a GameObject, the Allocated memory increases as you’re creating instances of your assets. But the Reserved memory represents the total amount of memory that the system has set aside for potential use, including the memory for loaded assets, textures, and more. This amount can go up as Unity internally manages memory.
Even after calling
ReleaseInstance, it’s possible for Reserved memory to continue increasing, especially if the system is optimizing memory allocation by reserving more for future loads. This is normal behavior! Unity tries to make things efficient by not immediately giving back memory to the OS, which can lead to the Reserved memory continuing to climb.You mentioned that you’re properly releasing the GameObject and setting your reference to null, which is great! It’s important to ensure that you’re not keeping any lingering references to it elsewhere in your code, as that could prevent proper garbage collection.
If you’re concerned about memory usage, consider implementing Object Pooling for frequently used GameObjects. This technique helps limit memory fragmentation, as you can reuse existing objects instead of repeatedly loading and unloading them, which may help stabilize your Reserved memory usage over time.
Lastly, if the behavior seems overly excessive, keeping an eye on any memory leaks is crucial. Use the Profiler to check for retained memory over long sessions of gameplay. Sometimes, even small oversights in code can lead to increased memory use.
In summary, increasing Reserved memory isn’t uncommon with repeated loading/unloading cycles, and you’re not alone in your confusion! Keep experimenting and monitoring, and you’ll get a better handle on how to manage memory with Addressables.
The behavior you’re observing, where Reserved memory keeps climbing despite properly releasing Addressable instances, is tied to Unity’s memory management approach rather than an issue with your asset releasing logic itself. When Unity allocates memory, it reserves larger blocks for efficiency and performance reasons. While releasing with
ReleaseInstance()properly marks allocated memory as free to reuse, Unity typically leaves reserved memory blocks available for future allocations rather than immediately returning them to the operating system. This explains why your Allocated memory decreases (as you correctly free assets), but the Reserved memory metric remains inflated or even grows slightly when Unity allocates larger blocks to accommodate new loads.In practice, this Reserved memory behavior is usually harmless and normal, as Unity will reuse these reserved blocks for subsequent asset instances. However, a steady and indefinite increase indicates Unity might be fragmenting the memory or progressively reserving increasingly larger blocks to fit your repeated loading/unloading requests. To mitigate this, consider loading assets in batches or pools (asset pooling) to reduce frequent large memory reallocations. Additionally, periodically using
Resources.UnloadUnusedAssets()and explicitly triggering garbage collection (System.GC.Collect()) may somewhat help stabilize memory usage by enforcing cleanup. Still, expect some growth in Reserved memory over repetitive asset cycles due to Unity’s internal memory management optimization strategies.