You’re riding through the heart of Lemoyne. The sun is setting, the lighting looks incredible, and you’ve finally tracked down that legendary animal. Then, the screen freezes. A tiny, annoying box pops up telling you there’s an rdr2 out of memory error and the game just quits. It’s frustrating. Honestly, it’s one of the most persistent bugs in Red Dead Redemption 2, and it has almost nothing to do with how much actual RAM you have tucked away in your motherboard.
I've seen people with 64GB of high-end memory get hit with this. It feels personal, but it's just bad optimization meeting specific hardware quirks.
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The "Out of Memory" message is a bit of a liar. Usually, it’s not about your system memory or even your VRAM filling up to the brim. It’s about how the Rockstar Advanced Game Engine (RAGE) talks to Windows, specifically regarding the page file and the Vulkan API. If those two don't play nice, the game panics and shuts down. We're going to dig into why this happens and how to actually stop it from ruining your hunting trips.
Why the rdr2 out of memory error happens to high-end PCs
Most people assume that if they have an RTX 4090 and a massive amount of RAM, they are immune to "out of memory" issues. They aren't. In fact, Red Dead Redemption 2 often struggles more on high-end rigs because the game tries to push settings that trigger these internal overflows.
One of the primary culprits is the Vulkan API. By default, RDR2 loves Vulkan. It’s supposed to be more efficient than DirectX 12, but it has a nasty habit of mismanaging the "handshake" between the GPU and the system's virtual memory. When the game requests a block of memory and doesn't get it within a specific millisecond window, it throws the error. It doesn't matter if you have 10GB of VRAM sitting empty; the engine thinks the door is locked.
Another factor is the SGA files. These are "Shader Group Assembler" files located in your Documents folder. They are supposed to make the game load faster by caching shaders, but they often get corrupted. When the game tries to read a corrupt SGA file, it results in a memory address conflict. The game sees a "null" response where it expected data, gets confused, and gives you the boot.
The "Delete the SGA Files" Trick
This is the first thing you should try. It’s the closest thing we have to a "magic fix" for the rdr2 out of memory error. You need to navigate to your Documents folder, then Rockstar Games, Red Dead Redemption 2, and finally Settings.
Inside that folder, you’ll see a bunch of files starting with sga_.
Delete them. All of them.
Don't worry; the game will just recreate them the next time you boot it up. By clearing these out, you’re forcing the game to rebuild its shader cache from scratch. This fixes any corruption issues that were tricking the engine into thinking it had run out of space. Sometimes you have to do this every few weeks, especially after a GPU driver update. It's annoying, sure, but it works.
Switching from Vulkan to DirectX 12
If deleting the cache doesn't work, it's time to change the Graphics API. This is found in the Advanced Graphics menu in-game. You'll have to "unlock" the settings at the top of the list before you can toggle it.
Switching to DirectX 12 changes how the game manages its memory pools. DX12 is generally more stable on Windows 10 and 11 for this specific game, even if you lose a frame or two of performance. Vulkan is great for raw speed, but DX12 is much better at "garbage collection"—the process of clearing out old data so new data can fit. If you've been crashing every 20 minutes, this single toggle might be the end of your woes.
The Page File Myth
There is a lot of bad advice on forums telling people to "disable the Windows Page File" to speed up their computers. Never do this. Red Dead Redemption 2 relies heavily on the page file (virtual memory) regardless of how much physical RAM you have.
If you have manually set a small size for your page file, the rdr2 out of memory error will haunt you forever. Go into your Windows Advanced System Settings and make sure the "Automatically manage paging file size for all drives" box is checked. Let Windows handle it. The game needs that "overflow" space on your SSD to move assets around in the background.
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Adjusting the Triple Buffering Setting
Here is a weird one: Triple Buffering. Usually, this is just a setting to help with screen tearing, but in RDR2, it can mess with the memory buffer. If you are using Vulkan, try turning Triple Buffering OFF. If you are using DirectX 12, try turning it ON.
It sounds nonsensical. It kinda is. But because of how these APIs queue frames, the buffer can sometimes "stack" in a way that the game interprets as a memory leak.
Steam and Epic Games Launcher Arguments
For some players, the error happens before the game even reaches the main menu. If that's you, you might need to use a launch command. In Steam, right-click the game, go to Properties, and look for "Launch Options."
Type in: -ignorepipelinecache
This command tells the game to bypass the very files we talked about deleting earlier. It prevents the game from even looking at the potentially corrupted cache, which can bypass the crash entirely. It might make your initial load screen take an extra 30 seconds, but that's a small price to pay for a stable game.
The Overclocking Factor
Believe it or not, an unstable GPU overclock can manifest as an "Out of Memory" error. It’s not that you ran out of space; it’s that the GPU "hiccuped" due to high clock speeds, and the RAGE engine—being a bit sensitive—defaulted to the most generic error message it has.
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If you’re running MSI Afterburner or any other overclocking software, try resetting to stock speeds. If the crashes stop, you know your overclock was the culprit. Even a "factory overclock" on some high-end cards can be a bit too aggressive for RDR2's liking.
A Note on System Updates
Windows updates are usually a headache, but for RDR2, you actually want the latest version of WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model). Older versions of Windows 10 had specific bugs regarding how VRAM was reported to applications. If your OS is telling the game you have 4GB of VRAM when you actually have 8GB, the game will throttle itself and eventually crash. Keep your OS updated, and more importantly, use DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) to do a clean wipe of your graphics drivers before installing the newest ones from NVIDIA or AMD.
Actionable Steps to Fix Your Game
If you are staring at your desktop after another crash, follow this sequence exactly. Don't skip steps because you think they don't apply to your "beast" of a PC.
- Clear the Cache: Go to
Documents\Rockstar Games\Red Dead Redemption 2\Settingsand delete every file that starts withsga_. - Toggle the API: If you are on Vulkan, switch to DirectX 12. If you are already on DX12 and crashing, try Vulkan just to see if your specific driver likes it better.
- Verify Game Files: Whether you are on Steam, Epic, or the Rockstar Launcher, use the "Verify Integrity" tool. Sometimes a single 10KB file is corrupted and causing the memory address to fail.
- Fix the Page File: Ensure Windows is automatically managing your virtual memory. Do not cap it at a specific size.
- Add the Launch Argument: Use
-ignorepipelinecachein your launcher settings to prevent the game from loading bad data on startup. - Check VRAM Usage: Don't let the in-game bar turn red. Even if your card can "handle" it, RDR2 becomes exponentially more unstable as you approach the physical limit of your VRAM. Dial back the "Tree Quality" or "Water Physics" just a notch; they are notorious memory hogs.
By following these steps, you're addressing the actual technical failures of the engine rather than just throwing more hardware at a software problem. RDR2 is a masterpiece, but its PC port requires a little bit of manual labor to keep it running smoothly in the long pastures of New Austin.