iPhone cocos2d sprites in array, memory problems

Question

I'm trying to keep track of my sprites in an array, add and remove them from layers, and then finally clear them out of the array.

I'm using the following code:

Sprite * Trees[50];
Layer * Forest;

Forest =  [Layer node];
Forest.isTouchEnabled = YES;
[self addChild:Forest z:30];

// do this a bunch of times
Trees[0] = [[Sprite spriteWithFile:@"mytree.png"] retain];
[Trees[0] setPosition:cpv(240,160)];
[Forest addChild:Trees[0] z:5];

And then when I want to destroy a tree I use:

[Forest removeChild:Trees[0] cleanup:YES];
[Trees[0] release];

My problem is that when I look in Instruments, I'm never reclaiming that memory, there is never a drop back down. I thought that by releasing the sprite it would free up the memory. Am I doing this completely wrong?

Answer 1

I know that when you are using the simulator with cocos2d, the memory doesn't look like it's being released, so you have to run it on the device to get an accurate picture of what's going on.

There is a good discussion here about cocos2d and memory.

What I've noticed is that everything that you create and retain must be released, but it isn't released from memory until I do this:

[[TextureMgr sharedTextureMgr] removeAllTextures]; 

That will release the memory.

Here's a bigger example:

Sprite * sPopup = [[Sprite spriteWithFile:@"popup.png"] retain];
    sPopup.position = cpv(240,440);
    [self addChild: sPopup z:2];
[sPopup release];

Then, when I'm done with sPopup in another function I have this:

[[TextureMgr sharedTextureMgr] removeAllTextures]; 

and the memory is freed.