Not enough memory + ISS Problems?

the elf loader message comes up if the ISS fails to load up data from the elf file into the system when initialising. This usually occurs because the memory map as defined in the elf file doesn't match the ptf memory map, possibly because the elf file wasn't built for the ptf file in use. The other possibility may be that you're attempting to load data into a peripheral that isn't modelled by the ISS.

Check out what peripheral it is, that lives at the address at which the elf loader fails, and check if that peripheral is supported by the ISS. In the IDE, when running the program with the ISS, there will be a list of warning messages for each of the peripherals in the system which are not supported by the ISS. If the peripheral living at the failing address is on that list, then you won't be able to write data to it. As a workaround, what you can do is go into the ptf file to the module causing a problem, and add the

iss_model_name= "altera_memory";

at the top module level. This will have the effect of the ISS simulating that peripheral as a block of RAM instead, thus allowing the elf loader to proceed.

If this doesn't fix your problem, then it may well be a bug...