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Working with the Memory Profiler - 2019.3

Tutorial
Intermediate
20 Mins
Overview
Details
1
Your progress
Where am I?
1.
Introduction
2.
Installing the Memory Profiler
3.
Capturing a Memory Snapshot
4.
Importing a Captured Memory Snapshot
5.
Viewing a Memory Snapshot
6.
Finding a Memory Leak
7.
Conclusion
Summary
The Memory Profiler is a new package for Unity 2018.3 or later that allows you to analyze a
project’s memory usage to find memory leaks and fragmentation. Memory leaks can occur when
memory is allocated, but never deallocated for reuse after it’s no longer needed. In this tutorial,
we’ll learn how to use the Memory Profiler to find memory leaks.
Recommended Unity versions
2019.3 and Above
Topics we'll cover
Optimization
Language
English

Tutorial
Working with the Memory Profiler - 2019.3
1

1.Introduction
If you are using Unity 2019.2 or below, click here.
The Memory Profiler allows you to analyze a project’s memory usage to find leaks and
fragmentation. Memory leaks can occur when memory is allocated but not deallocated after it’s no
longer needed. Program performance worsens as memory runs out, eventually leading to the
program (and potentially even the host device) crashing. When memory is allocated in many small
chunks, rather than fewer large contiguous chunks, it’s known as memory fragmentation. This
causes the small spans of unallocated memory between the allocated blocks to become unavailable
for use.

2.Installing the Memory Profiler

The Memory Profiler works with both the Unity Editor and development builds and is available as a
Preview package in the Package Manager. To install the Memory Profiler:
1. Select Package Manager from the Window drop-down in the Unity Editor.
2. Click Advanced, and select Show Preview Packages.
3. Locate Memory Profiler and click Install in the bottom-right corner of the Package Manager
window.
4. Once it’s installed, you can access the Memory Profiler by selecting Analysis > Memory
Profiler from the Window drop-down.

3.Capturing a Memory Snapshot

The Memory Profiler can target a currently running development build, either on the local machine
or by giving it a specific IP address for a networked machine.
1. Before you can capture a memory snapshot, you must select a target. By default, the Unity Editor
is the target.
2. To select a new target, click the drop-down menu in the upper left corner of the Memory Profiler
(Figure 01).
Figure 01: Selecting a target for the Memory Profiler
Click the Capture button to capture the current Memory Profile from the selected target (Figure
02). Note that the capture itself consumes some memory; in some cases, this can cause the target to
freeze or crash when memory is low.

Figure 02: The Memory Profiler can target a local or networked development build, the Unity
Editor, or a memory snapshot from the Bitbucket Profiler.

4.Importing a Captured Memory Snapshot

1. Click the Import button at the top of the Memory Profiler window (Figure 03).

Figure 03: Click here to import a Memory Snapshot

2. Using the file format drop-down in the lower right corner of the “Import snapshot file” dialog,
select the format of the Memory Snapshot you wish to import (Figure 04). Options include .snap
files captured using the Memory Profiler, and .memsnap* using the Bitbucket Memory Profiler.

Figure 04: Selecting the Memory Snapshot’s format

3. Navigate to and select your Snapshot. Click Open.
4. The first time you capture a Memory Snapshot, a folder called MemoryCaptures is created (in the
same level of the Assets folder, rather than within it). You can also drop Memory Snapshots into this
folder to make them accessible.

5.Viewing a Memory Snapshot

After capture or import (including moving the snapshot into the MemoryCaptures folder), the
snapshot will be visible in the left column of the Memory Profiler window. Click Open to view the
Memory Profile (Figure 05).

Figure 05: A captured memory snapshot

The default and most intuitive view is the Tree Map (Figure 06). In this view, the amount of
memory used by each element type is represented proportionally. In our example, 126 shaders
collectively consume 80 MB of memory.

Figure 06: The Tree Map

To view a category in more detail, click it to reveal all member elements and their respective
memory footprints. More detailed information will appear below the Tree Map in a table (Figure
07). Click the headers to sort the table by value or group.

Figure 07: The table view, which sits below both the Tree Map and Memory Map, gives more
detailed information on the memory usage of individual elements.
A more direct view, the Memory Map, shows the memory layout, with different colors representing
different types of memory (Figure 08). This can be helpful for locating memory fragmentation.
Figure 08: The Memory Map is a more direct representation of the virtual memory layout of your
project.

6.Finding a Memory Leak

To find a memory leak:
1. Launch the player, set it as your Memory Profiler target, and take a snapshot of an empty Scene.
2. Load the Scene you wish to test. Play through some of the Scene to load the necessary assets.
3. Unload the Scene by either calling Resources.UnloadUnusedAssets() or by loading/creating an
empty Scene twice.
4. Take another snapshot, and exit Play Mode.
5. In the Workbench, load the first screenshot, then the second, and click Diff. Unity will calculate
the difference between the two screenshots. This could take a few seconds, depending on the size of
the snapshot.
6. In the Table view, click the header for the Diff column and select Group.
7. Entries will be grouped: same in both snapshots, deleted from the first snapshot, and new. New
entries are potential memory leaks.

7.Conclusion
The Memory Profiler is a great way to audit your project’s memory usage. Not only can you see
what’s consuming the most memory, but also the way your project is using or misusing memory.
Memory leaks and fragmentation are two of the most common issues that impact project
performance, and the Memory Profiler makes troubleshooting these issues easy.
Working with the Memory Profiler - 2019.3
General Tutorial Discussion
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1. Introduction
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2. Installing the Memory Profiler
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3. Capturing a Memory Snapshot
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4. Importing a Captured Memory Snapshot
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5. Viewing a Memory Snapshot
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6. Finding a Memory Leak
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7. Conclusion
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