LoveCraft RAM Guard

LoveCraft shows its news, profile and event pages with a built-in web browser (Vuplex). We've found that when that browser's main process dies, LoveCraft has no way to start a new one, so the game stays frozen for good. LoveCraft's own log confirms it: "The Chromium browser process unexpectedly failed", followed by a note that the game doesn't handle that event.

RAM Guard can't bring that session back; only LoveCraft's developers can fix the game so it recovers. What 1.3.15 does: if LoveCraft freezes because its browser died, RAM Guard tells you within seconds that the session won't come back and that you need to restart LoveCraft, instead of leaving you waiting. It also records how the browser ended (a crash, out of memory, a graphics driver reset, or being closed by another program) in the anonymous crash report, so we can find and fix the cause.

"Set in Steam" only helps if you play LoveCraft through Steam. For the direct-download version (or if you'd rather not touch Steam's settings), switch on "Start with Windows and wait for LoveCraft" in RAM Guard, or press START WITH WINDOWS in the Getting Started card.

RAM Guard then starts quietly in the tray when you sign in to Windows, caps LoveCraft the moment it starts, however you launch it, and goes back to waiting when you close the game. While it waits it checks every couple of seconds and uses almost no CPU. Switch it off any time and RAM Guard stops starting with Windows.

LoveCraft can use a lot of video memory: we've measured over 10 GB on a 16 GB card, plus about 1 GB for its built-in web browser. When the card fills up, Windows moves the overflow into regular RAM, which shows up as stutter and adds to the memory pressure behind long-session crashes.

Windows doesn't allow any program to cap another program's video memory, so RAM Guard can't limit it. Instead, RAM Guard notes it in its own window when your card passes 95% full while LoveCraft runs (since 1.3.13 without a pop-up), so you can lower texture quality in LoveCraft's graphics settings or close in-game web pages. GPU memory is also included in the anonymous crash reports, so we can see whether full graphics cards line up with crashes.

If you run two or more LoveCraft clients at the same time, each one now gets its own RAM cap, its own "pause while loading" check, its own freeze watch and its own unfreeze. Unfreezing one client never touches another client's web browser, and the status line lists every client with its memory use. Installed copies update automatically.

Many LoveCraft freezes happen while the game waits on its built-in web browser (Vuplex, which shows the news, profile and event pages). When that happens for 15 seconds, RAM Guard 1.3.9 asks whether to restart the part of the browser the game is stuck on. Say yes and the game usually comes back within seconds; in-game web pages reload. If the game is still frozen 15 seconds later, it offers to close the whole web browser so the game can carry on without it.

RAM Guard only ever touches LoveCraft's own browser processes, only when the game is actually stuck on them, and checks again right before acting. Prefer it hands-free? Turn on "Unfreeze automatically (don't ask)" in the window. Don't want it at all? Turn off "Unfreeze LoveCraft when its web browser hangs".

Most LoveCraft "not responding" freezes we've seen are the game waiting on another program, and the main suspect is the web browser built into LoveCraft (Vuplex, which shows the news, profile and event pages). 1.3.8 checks what the game is stuck on when a freeze happens, using the same Windows feature as Resource Monitor's "Analyze wait chain", and shows a tray message naming it.

The result goes into the anonymous crash report (only program names such as "Vuplex WebView", never your files or accounts). Once enough freezes are recorded we'll know for sure what causes them and can share it with LoveCraft's developers.

"Set in Steam" puts a copy of RAM Guard in the LoveCraft folder, and Steam starts that copy with the game. If you then downloaded a newer RAM Guard somewhere else, the copy in the game folder stayed old, so the old version came back every time you launched LoveCraft.

From 1.3.7, whenever RAM Guard starts it checks the copy Steam uses and updates it if it's older. If you installed a version before 1.3 with "Set in Steam", download 1.3.7 and open it once: it updates the game-folder copy for you, and from then on that copy keeps itself up to date.

To keep improving RAM Guard and our advice on LoveCraft crashes, RAM Guard 1.3.6 sends a short report at the end of each LoveCraft session: whether Windows recorded a crash or a freeze for the game (and which part of it failed, for example its built-in browser), how long the session ran, how full Windows' memory was, how much LoveCraft was using, and your cap setting. If RAM Guard itself hits an error, it sends the error and where in RAM Guard's code it happened.

What is never sent: LoveCraft's own log files (they contain account details and login tokens), your name, your PC's name, your folders or your IP address. Your Windows user name and folder paths are removed from error reports before they leave your PC.

Crash reports use the same random install ID and the same switch as usage stats. Switching off "Send anonymous usage stats and crash reports" stops both, deletes any reports still waiting on your PC and asks fusenode.org to delete everything already sent.

From 1.3.4, RAM Guard tells fusenode.org that it's running so we can see how many people use it and when LoveCraft is busiest. That helps us decide what to fix and build next.

What is sent: a random install ID that RAM Guard makes up on first run (it isn't tied to your PC, Windows or Steam account), the RAM Guard version, whether your PC is x64 or ARM, and whether LoveCraft is running. It's sent when RAM Guard starts and closes, every 15 minutes while it's open, and every 5 minutes while you play. We don't store your IP address, names, files or anything about your PC. Activity is kept for 90 days.

To turn it off, switch off "Send anonymous usage stats" in the RAM Guard window. That also asks fusenode.org to delete everything that was sent for your install.

New to RAM Guard? The Getting Started card at the top of the window walks you through it: choose your RAM cap, start RAM Guard with LoveCraft from Steam, and increase the page file to stop long-session crashes. Each step has its own button and ticks itself off when it's done.

Hide the card once you're set up, and bring it back any time from the tray menu (Getting started guide). Installed copies update to 1.3.3 automatically.

The new Windows Page File card shows your memory limit and suggests a safe, fixed page file size for your PC. One click (plus Windows' permission prompt) applies it, and a restart makes it live.

It never shrinks your page file, only touches your system drive, uses at most 10% of free disk space, and keeps your previous setting so RESTORE PREVIOUS can undo it. Installed copies update to 1.3.2 automatically.

RAM Guard now watches Windows' commit limit while LoveCraft is running. Above 95% it shows a red warning in the window and a tray notification telling you to save and restart the game, repeated every 20 minutes while it stays high.

A new News card in the app shows posts like this one. Installed copies update to 1.3.1 automatically.

LoveCraft RAM Guard no longer needs a license key. From 1.3.0 on it checks fusenode.org for updates and installs signed updates by itself, restarting quietly in the tray.