Fix: Game Memory Error GTA 5 ‘ERR_MEM_MULTIALLOC_FREE’

Users experience the error message “Game memory error. Please reboot and restart the game” when they try to launch GTA 5 on their computers. The heading of the error is “ERR_MEM_MULTIALLOC_FREE”. The heading might also vary computer to computer. Players will only encounter this error message IF they are using mods and add-ons to enhance or customize their GTA 5 experience.

This error message primarily signifies that the memory GTA 5 uses for its operation is either full or has entered an error state. Because of this, it is unable to start. This occurs when the mods or add-ons you are using are either problematic, have a memory leak, or are conflicting with other settings.

What causes Game Memory Error in GTA 5?

This error message ‘mostly’ occurs if you are using add-ons or mods for your game. However, you might also experience this due to other reasons as well. Let’s see some of the main culprits which cause the GTA 5 to crash and returns an error message.

Before we start fixing the issue, make sure that you are logged in as an administrator on your account. Furthermore, you should have an active open internet connection. Don’t use any kind of firewalls or proxy servers.

Solution 1: Power Cycling your System

Before getting into technicalities, it is always wise to power cycle your entire system. This will remove any incorrect configurations or any error state that any module in your computer is in. Power cycling means completely shutting down your computer and restarting it after all the power has been drained. This completely clears your RAM and further forces the system to create all the temporary config files again.

1. Turn off your computer. Shut it down properly.
2. If you have a laptop, take out the battery. If you have a PC, take out the main power supply and any external peripherals (excluding the mouse and keyboard).
3. Now press and hold the power button for around 30 seconds. This will force the static charge and excess power to get flushed out.
4. Now, wait for 3-5 minutes before turning everything back on. Try to launch the game and check if the issue is resolved.

Solution 2: Changing GameConfig file

If you are using third-party mods/add-ons for your game, it is most likely that the game config file is either not working or is not compatible with your system. This is a very common case and can occur if you download the wrong config file. We will navigate to a website and replace our config file with the correct version.

1. Open your browser and navigate to GTA5 Mods
2. Now select the search icon present at the top-right side of the screen and type ‘gameconfig’ in the dialogue box and press Enter to search.

3. Now select the version of the gameconfig file as highlighted in the image (Gameconfig for Patch 1.0.877.1 1.0). You can always select another version depending on the version of the game which is installed.

4. Now install OPENIV on your computer (if you don’t have it already). Launch OPENIV.

5. Now in OPENIV, navigate to the following path using the address bar. Make sure that you are in the GTA V directory.

Mods > update > update.rpf > common > data

6. Click on Edit mode present at the address bar. Make sure that you press Yes when prompted.
7. Now copy the gameconfig file from the file we just download to this location. After doing all the operations, save changes and exit.

   

8. Now try launching the game and see if the error message went away.

Solution 3: Changing GTA 5 Command Line

GTA 5 also has the feature of the command line from where you can add the commands you would like to execute on the game’s startup. This is a text file which is present in the root directory of the game. If you have a bad command line (like –ignoreDifferentVideoCard), then the game will not launch. We will change the command line and see where this takes us.

1. Navigate to the directory where GTA 5 is installed on your computer. Make sure that you are at the root directory of the installation.
2. Now search for the text file ‘commandline.txt’. If it is not present, right-click on any empty space and select New > Text Document.
3. Once you have opened the command line, search for the command ‘–ignoreDifferentVideoCard’. If it is present, delete

4. Save the new text file and restart your computer. Now try launching the game again and check if the error message is resolved.

Solution 4: Changing DirectX Version

After our research, we came across several different instances where users were unable to launch their game using DirectX 11. However, they were able to do so with DirectX 10. This is absurd since DirectX 11 is the successor to DirectX 10 and 10.1 and has all the options present in the previous version. Here are some of the stats which we noted:

DirectX 11 (with or without MSAA): Game crashes in 5-10 minutes

DirectX 10.1 (with MSAA): Game crashes in 5-10 minutes

DirectX 10.1 (without MSAA): Game doesn’t crash at all.

You can open the GTA 5 menu and navigate to Graphics > DirectX Version. From there you can select the version of DirectX and change the settings of MSAA.

Change the version and restart your computer. Now launch the game again and check if the error is resolved.

Solution 5: Reinstalling Graphics Drivers using DDU

If all the above methods don’t work, it is possible that the graphics drivers installed on your computer are outdated or corrupt. Because of this, the game is unable to launch properly and prompts you this error. We will try to reinstall the graphics drivers using Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU) and check if this solves the problem for us.

1. Navigate to NVIDIA’s official website and download the latest drivers for your graphics card. If you have an AMD graphics card, you can download its drivers from its site.

2. After you have downloaded the drivers to an accessible location, download the DDU utility.
3. After installing Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU), launch your computer in safe mode. You can check our article on how to boot your computer into safe mode.
4. After launching the DDU, select the first option “Clean and restart”. This will uninstall the current drivers completely from your computer.

5. Now you can try launching the game before installing the drivers again. If it doesn’t work, install the drivers you just downloaded and restart your computer again. Now check if the error is resolved.

Solution 6: Reinstalling the Game

If everything doesn’t work, the game installed on your computer is corrupted. We will attempt at reinstalling it and check if this solves the issue. Make sure that your progress is backed up over the cloud or over your GTA 5 account so you can easily resume when we reinstall the entire thing.

1. Press Windows + I to launch the Settings and select the category of Apps.
2. Now search for the following two entries:

Rockstar Games Social Club

Grand Theft Auto V

Uninstall both the entries one by one.

3. After you have uninstalled the programs, restart your computer. Now you can either download the entire game again or if you already have a downloaded version, you can install the game from there.

Note: If you are experiencing the error message only through one installation, you should change the downloaded game with a fresh one.