Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
qwertz

Here's how I got ARMA2 to perform smoothly using RAMDISK

Recommended Posts

It's not very elegant, but I copied the entire ArmA II dir to a new 16GB Corsair Flash Voyager. I changed the desktop shortcut to reflect this.

It works well, there's not a single texture slow load, no stutters and I reckon the overall framerate is a little better.

HD Tune: Corsair Flash Voyager Benchmark

Transfer Rate Minimum : 26.3 MB/sec

Transfer Rate Maximum : 29.4 MB/sec

Transfer Rate Average : 28.3 MB/sec

Access Time : 0.7 ms

Burst Rate : 24.9 MB/sec

CPU Usage : 3.4%

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Ram disk hates me. Won't let me add large amounts of MB to the Disk. Also, it's quite difficult to do with 4GB of RAM.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Sry for the stupid question I've been trying really hard to follow this forum with the amount to detail and info in it is rather hard. Ok here I go, I'm running XP 32bit but 6 gigs of DDR3, windows only shows 3 in use, tried Ramdisk but I won't allow me to use more than 3 gigs, and its the memory thats in usage (or the memory that XP sees). Is there a way for it ramdisk to use the 3 that is not in usage as a seperate ram drive?? and if so how?

This depends on the specific ramdisk software you use. Pls let us know so we can help.

In general, you can absolutely use the 3GB above what Windows 32bit uses.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

so the game is thrashing about mainly because insufficient or inefficient ram usage?

so the textures and whatnot being streamed from the hd's causing problems huh? i guess the islands and objects are too large to be preloaded in a timely manner as well?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Sry for the stupid question I've been trying really hard to follow this forum with the amount to detail and info in it is rather hard. Ok here I go, I'm running XP 32bit but 6 gigs of DDR3, windows only shows 3 in use, tried Ramdisk but I won't allow me to use more than 3 gigs, and its the memory thats in usage (or the memory that XP sees). Is there a way for it ramdisk to use the 3 that is not in usage as a seperate ram drive?? and if so how?

Try this,open boot.ini with notepad and add /pae to the end ofthe line,eg:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS.0
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS.0="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect/pae

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Try this,open boot.ini with notepad and add /pae to the end ofthe line,eg:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS.0
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS.0="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect/pae

I don't think this will do anything for Kardis' problem. However, if he would post the name of the software that he is using, this would be easily solvable.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've looked up PAE and wikipedia has an entry on it, but it doesn't really help someone of my level of expertise. I understand that it allows some applications to use memory above the 32bit 4 gig memory limit, but one has to ask;

Why doesn't everyone do this?

Why haven't we all been doing this for ages?

Why has it only been mentioned now?

Are there any downsides to doing this?

Do I need to use it if I'm going to use Dataram Ramdisk as suggested by qwerty?

Have I had my tea yet?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I've looked up PAE and wikipedia has an entry on it, but it doesn't really help someone of my level of expertise. I understand that it allows some applications to use memory above the 32bit 4 gig memory limit, but one has to ask;

Why doesn't everyone do this?

Why haven't we all been doing this for ages?

Why has it only been mentioned now?

Are there any downsides to doing this?

Do I need to use it if I'm going to use Dataram Ramdisk as suggested by qwerty?

Have I had my tea yet?

Thats not quite correct. On non-Server Windows versions, PAE just changes the way the 32 bit address space is divided up. Usually, XP32 divides it to 2GB kernel and 2GB user space. PAE changes that to 1GB Kernel and 3GB User address space. You will still only be able to use 4GB max. If you have DEP enabled (which is default with SP2), a special flavour of PAE is automatically enabled anyways.

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/PAE/PAEdrv.mspx

http://hothardware.com/cs/forums/p/35319/287926.aspx

There are only very few programs that make use of PAE (and ArmA is NOT one of them). On the flipside, it can create a lot of problems, because some driver are getting a hiccup with PAE enabled.

To sum it up: PAE will do nothing to your ArmA (II) experience - if you don;t like more crashes, that is.:bounce3:

Edited by qwertz

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I have tried Ramdisks and tried using a usb to improve the performance of Arma 2,

My pc is:

Intel Quad Core, 2.40ghz with 8gb of ram

2 x Nvidia G-Force 9500 GT graphics cards

I cannot get more than 24FPS in Arma2 on Benchmark 1, Benchmark 2 is running really slow. can anyone help

Edited by adamdf

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

There are only very few programs that make use of PAE (and ArmA is NOT one of them). On the flipside, it can create a lot of problems, because some driver are getting a hiccup with PAE enabled.

To sum it up: PAE will do nothing to your ArmA (II) experience - if you don;t like more crashes, that is.:bounce3:

It seems I'm already using it!

systemproperties.jpg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
It seems I'm already using it!

systemproperties.jpg

Yeah - to quote myself:

If you have DEP enabled (which is default with SP2), a special flavour of PAE is automatically enabled anyways.
;)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Next you'll be suggesting I skim-read this thread! :D

---------- Post added at 02:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:30 PM ----------

Despite what that screeie says, I have 6 gig of memory installed. Time to install ramdisk

---------- Post added at 02:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:31 PM ----------

Intel Quad Core, 2.40ghz with 8gb of ram

2 x Nvidia G-Force 9500 GT graphics cards

I cannot get more than 24FPS in Arma2 on Benchmark 1, Benchmark 2 is running really slow. can anyone help

You've got 2 weak graphics cards. There's your problem.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Funny how my weak graphics cards seem to do just fine on games far more visually impressive than Arma2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Funny how my weak graphics cards seem to do just fine on games far more visually impressive than Arma2

uh huh. likely story.

or not. your cards ARE weak and outdated. two last generation, budget range cards are not adequate enough for arma2.

edit: and btw, ramdisk isnt about improving max FPS, its about removing stuttering that occurs when models/textures are loaded from disk.

Edited by TimRiceSE

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Funny how my weak graphics cards seem to do just fine on games far more visually impressive than Arma2

Your cards are no good for anything more than gaming at 1024 x 768 with any degree of visual quality.

Trying to argue the point only makes you look foolish.

Edited by BangTail

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

as an aside i decided to try a diferent aproach and enable software raid stripe in win7 using a

SAMSUNG HD321KJ & a Hitachi HDT721010SLA basicially i used the first 320 gig of a 1 TB drive with the full samsung both are 7200 16mb cache.

and got the following results from SiSoft Sandra

Detailed Benchmark Results

Buffered Read : 340.52MB/s

Sequential Read : 163MB/s

Random Read : 74.58MB/s

Buffered Write : 318.85MB/s

Sequential Write : 149MB/s

Random Write : 83.57MB/s

Random Access Time : 7.28ms

Having tried the ram disk and usb options, i decided to give this a try used to do it many moons ago for Star Wars Galaxies, another hd intensive game (well at the time), and it seems to be working well, for those without matched pairs of disks for hardware raid this could be an option, as it allows you to use the extra capacity for other things, tho its best if your stripe is away from your boot drive so 3 disks are required.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Symlink or ramdisk modfolder- is there any difference? Im using the ramdisk modfolder method and it is faster texture loading. Any noticeable advantages using the symlink?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Symlink or ramdisk modfolder- is there any difference? Im using the ramdisk modfolder method and it is faster texture loading. Any noticeable advantages using the symlink?

Not really, same result using different method + symlink doesn't work on XP.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
your cards ARE weak and outdated. two last generation, budget range cards are not adequate enough for arma2.

.

No! Sorry guys, but I'll go on record to say I found ArmA2 to work amazing well on my old GTS8800 640mb card.

I now have a whole new uber machine, but its surprising how much the game HASN'T improved in proportion to the punch the new rig has.

Its like the game has a built in speed/performance-limiter lol (jj)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

That card is OK, Gnat, as is my 8800GTX, but Tim was replying to a guy that had a pair of real old clunker cards.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

my 8800gtx is having trouble with those red trees, but I refuse to upgrade until I can get something twice as fast for 100 euro's. probably another year.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
my 8800gtx is having trouble with those red trees, but I refuse to upgrade until I can get something twice as fast for 100 euro's. probably another year.

"@Proper vegetation low" detail man , just sayin'

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Im using the ramdisk and PROPER LOD tweaks with great success.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I have only one HDD currently and my pagefile was located here aswell. I noticed that the game loads faster after i did install my 8GB usb stick (12 €) as none permanent pagefile, just plug in the stick set the pagefile to system management and you are ready to go.

I will try to put only parts of pbo´s to the usb stick later on like some described. No need to spend much money except your pc in general is outdated.

edit: No LOD loading at all or stutters....wow, iam suprised about this cheap solution.

Edited by oxmox

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've just finished what I euphamistically call my system midlife upgrade. The game absolutely flies along. In some areas, framerate has doubled, in practically all other areas, I'm seeing increases of at least a quarter. I've yet to see a texture pop yet and screen changes are instant - presss M, the map is there, bosh. Press it again, instantly back to viewpoint. There's no slowdown either. I played for a couple of hours last night, the game was still as frisky when I left as when I joined.

Old system = XPP, Q9550 @ 3.3, 6GGB RAM (only 3 seen), 500GB Spinpoint and 8800 GTX.

New System = Win7 64 Ulti 6GB RAM, Q9550 @ 3.3, Intel X25M 80GB (OS, games and pagefile), 500 GB Spinpoint (data and non crit apps) and 8800GTX.

Note the motherboard, CPU and RAM are unchanged, only the main drive and OS are new.

Edited by Tankbuster
edited to add CPU details

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×