Raising RAM in load BMP function SDL

Question

I'm using SDL to code a simple game, and i have a big problem - i'm trying to do some animations with function, in the fuction i call static int which keeps raising every game tick, and dependant on value of static int i change my variable image (with image=SDL_LoadBMP(myfile)), it's working great, but after 10 minutes of running a program, which had been working with 50MB of memory before without this really simple animation, ram usage of my program is starting to get bigger and bigger, and as i said, after 10 minutes it's 3GB and keeps raising every animation occur(so, like every 3 seconds).

Weird thing is also that i have other image which animation is a little bit simplier - i change my image upon clicking any arrow (still in main), and then call function, so after a second it gives back the initial image to a variable(it's giving image back in function), and it's working great - with that i mean - even if i keep clicking arrows, memory usage is constant.

my function looks like that:

void func(obj* image)
{
static int time1;
time1++;
if(time1>1000)
{
time1=0;
SDL_FreeSurface(image->image); //this doesn't change anything
image->image=SDL_LoadBMP("path");
}
else if(time1>800)
image->image=SDL_LoadBMP("path2");
else if(time1>600)
image->image=SDL_LoadBMP("path3");
else if(time1>400)
image->image=SDL_LoadBMP("path4");
}

typedef struct {
    SDL_Surface* image;
}obj;

int main()
{
obj struct;
func(&struct);
}

ofc it's fulfilled with all this SDL library calls to make a window etc

https://i.ibb.co/YBcvjnF/Bez-tytu-u.png

Answer 1

If I understand correctly you're making SDL_Surface* over and over again, you never call SDL_FreeSurface()(info).

You need to load a some point all the BMP needed to play the animation into SDL_Surface* then reuse these BMP(s).

In your main (or into an init function) you need to store into an array or pointers the BMP images.

// Somewhere on one of your struct
SDL_Surface *animationImages[4];

// Then in an init function you do
animationImages[0] = SDL_LoadBMP("path");
animationImages[1] = SDL_LoadBMP("path2");
animationImages[2] = SDL_LoadBMP("path3");
animationImages[3] = SDL_LoadBMP("path4");

// And finally 
void func(obj* image) {
    static int time1;
    time1++;

    if (time1>1000) {
        time1 = 0;
        image->image = animationImages[0];
    } else if (time1>800) {
        image->image = animationImages[1];
    } else if (time1>600) {
        image->image = animationImages[2];
    } else if (time1>400) {
        image->image = animationImages[3];
    }
}

And before the end of your game or when you don't need these animationImages anymore call SDL_FreeSurface() for each SDL_Surface* you have created.

// In a specific function used to clean up allocated stuff you do
SDL_FreeSurface(animationImages[0]);
SDL_FreeSurface(animationImages[1]);
SDL_FreeSurface(animationImages[2]);
SDL_FreeSurface(animationImages[3]);