WebHelp Compiler Error: "Internal Error: Out of Memory"

[hc_tw]

When I attempt to generate WebHelp output for my project I get the following error:

"Internal Error: Out of Memory"

I was not having this issue until after a couple things:
1. I switched computers and reinstalled Flare.
2. I installed a Flare update (2.5.2 I believe)
3. I organized some folders in My Documents, but to my knowledge I didn't separate any Flare project components.

The project was outputting beautifully before the above, and the actual content has not changed. I just am at a loss as to what this error is related, and I have searched the Help and this forum to no avail.

Please advise!!!!

Thanks in advance,
Dana

[RamonS]

Well, the error claims that Flare is out of memory. You may want to check if the swap file has a size limitation and if the drive on which it is located allows for it to grow. For example, if the swap file in on drive C: and your project is on D: then it doesn't matter if D: has 500 GB available when C: is down to 3 MB free space.
XP calls that file paging file and you can configure its settings here: Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced Tab, click Settings under Performance, select the Advanced tab there and under Virtual memory click Change. There select the drive with the most available space and choose the option System managed size. Then click Set, OK and some more OK and Apply buttons, then restart and try again. Also, check if the drive that contains the output folder has sufficient space left to hold the output files.

Let us know if that didn't help.

[hc_tw]

Thanks. I'm going to check into those suggestions.

I thought it may help to add that it only gets as far as:

Removing previously generated content...
Checking if auto-sync of any import file is needed...
Loading skin info...
Compiler (Internal Error): Out of memory.
Aborted.

It is erroring during "Loading skin info."

[Richard Ferrell]

Does it happen if you build a different Target? Do you have a support contract and upgraded to v3.1 of Flare? Does it happen when its trying to build the search filters?

[hc_tw]

Same issue with a different target (print). Our support pack recently ran out, and I did not get around to downloading v3 (or 3.1). I work in Flare intermittently as my projects vary, and this project has not been touched in a while. It did output fine before, though.

[hc_tw]

We looked into RamonS's suggestions and reinstalled v2.5, but the same error persisted. I installed v3.1 trial, and my project outputs perfectly. Is purchasing v3.1 my only recourse to solving this issue? It is obviously a known bug that was corrected in v3.

[Richard Ferrell]

What is the name of your company? I can see if you have a Support contract and if you do, you should be able to receive v3.1 for Free, Even if it ran out, you should still be able to get v3.1 for free, as long as it ended after v3.1 was released.

[hc_tw]

Thanks, Richard. I replied with the info you requested via private message. Thanks again for taking the time to listen (read) my concerns.

Dana

[Richard Ferrell]

Let me know if you didn't get the email with your Flare 3.1 Download links and Analyzer download links

[lmhundley]

I am experiencing this issue with 4.2.

Can anyone post the resolution that completed this post?

Tks

Lew

[nfberg]

Funny, I had this same issue yesterday in 4.2 after adding a .ico item to the skin. The most annoying part of the error was the day before I added more memory to the PC taking it from 2gb to 3.2gb, the limit XP 32 bit address.

Pulling the .ico file and saving as a .png solved the issue for me.

[lmhundley]

I just got off the phone with Ryan on the MadCap Helpdesk. He resolved this issue for me.
Yes, it had to do with a logo/icon file that I changed in my 'skin'.

In Flare, open the .CSS file
Click on the "Styles" tab
Open the "ToolbarItem" item
Open the "Logo" item
Open the "Basic" Property Group
Click on the value for the "Icon" property
A dropdown list appears
Click on the image to use (In my case, I use the "Browse for image..." selection)

At this point is where I went wrong. I had been working with .gif files all day. This time, I selected a .jpg. (Ryan said that I should be able to use that file, and that perhaps the file became corrupted. I made the decision to stick with .gif files for now).
So I selected the .jpg file, and saved the .css file.
I then built my project.
It then threw the "Internal error: Out of memory." right after the "Loading skin info..." entry.

I guessed that it was the .jpg file that was the issue. So I went to the "Build" tab on the toolbar, and clicked on "Clean Project" to delete all the files, and allow me to do a fresh build. I also went back to the "Icon" property, and set it to the MadCap default value.

But I continued to get the error. I spent time manually going through the generated content and selectively deleting files. Still no luck.

With Ryan running my remote system and using Flare, he opened up the skin that I inserted the .jpg file into as the icon by right clicking, and selecting "Open with" and "Internal Text Editor". This displayed the HTML source. We did a search on .jpg knowing that was the extension of the bad file, and, BOOM!, he found a reference to the file I had removed.

The explanation is that as an undo or for restoration reasons, even if you take that file away using the tool, it remains in the code, and is loaded each time you build. We even found some of the .gif files I was playing with still in there. Also, even though I had changed the .css file, all the .css files for the project are used in the compile. (Want to reduce your code; manually go through the skins and remove references to unused properties and/or remove any .css files you will not be using.)

So we deleted the .jpg file reference, built the project, and it built fine.

Hope all of this helps someone out in the future.