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

[december 0]

I just tried changing the page file to my game disk, didn't see any difference.

[Potatomasher 0]

C and D on the same drive? You had the pagefile on partition C and moved it to partition D where you have ARMA2? Did i get that correct?

Or do you have ARMA2 on another physical drive?

I have 1 HDD with OS on C and ARMA2 on D, but the bloody pagefile on C wich prolly is dumb. I dont know...

I mean i have 2 physical drives. C & D

C drive has only OS in it and it has no pagefile at all.

D drive is my file drive where i keep all my files. Arma is there and so is the pagefile.

I haven't divided any of my drives in partitions.

Now it should be clear enough. :)

[hamis 0]

XP cannot use the symbolic links, so as a work around you can create a mod folder in your ram drive like R:/@ramd/addons and put the files listed above in the ramdrive addons folder then use Link Shell to "Pick Link Source" and then go to your Arma 2 folder and right click on the ARMA 2 folder and select "drop as junction" after that you need to add this to your shortcut for Arma 2 : -mod=@ramd

I tried this with arma 1 (1.15),but couldn't make it work.Only option it give is cancel link creation.What could cause this?

[Alex72 1]

I mean i have 2 physical drives..

Now it should be clear enough. :)

Indeed. :) Thanks.

Either 2 HD's or 12GB RAM... Hmmm

[wildweasel 10]

I can create links in my Origonal Arma folder on my HDD but i cant create symbolic links or link sources in my Ram Disk Anyone know why? My Ram disk only has 38mb free could that be why?

Im not even using xp im using windows 7. but cant create symolic links in my ram drive only the ram drive itself.

Manged to get my Links to work. Had to choose whole drive as source then link it in arma folder thne link then link the files inside the new folder there.

But i havnt seen any improvments , maybe worse. my character looks block looking for a second when im zooming in and out in 3rd person, maybe i need to choose some better pbo files as im using

only 2gb.

I think its because all ive done is created the new folder in my addon folder and im then linking it back into addon folder so its still using my HDD not my Ram Disk. But i cant link from inside the ram disk :|

Edited October 19, 2009 by wildweasel

[cjph 0]

I tried this with arma 1 (1.15),but couldn't make it work.Only option it give is cancel link creation.What could cause this?

Same problem here - everything else worked, just not the linking.

Does the game Addons folder have to be on the same disk as the OS ?

It was all going so well up to then :confused:

[TimRiceSE 10]

ntfs file system?

[irishbloke 10]

The lengths you have to go to get this game running properly is ridiculous, it is not worth it.

Very true but thats PC gaming for yah

[cjph 0]

Yes - all NTFS.

[Leon86 13]

Same problem here - everything else worked, just not the linking.

Does the game Addons folder have to be on the same disk as the OS ?

It was all going so well up to then :confused:

You dont have to use the link thing at all. just create an addon folder on the ram drive (in my case B:\@ram\AddOns). Just move some .pbo's there and start arma 2 with a shortcut like a mod

in my case "C:\Program Files\Bohemia Interactive\ArmA 2\arma2.exe" -mod=B:\@ram

[Jex =TE= 0]

Originally Posted by december View Post

The lengths you have to go to get this game running properly is ridiculous, it is not worth it.

Very true but thats PC gaming for yah

Personally I love shit like this but I guess you have to be interested in PC's in the first place. Just the thought of giving it a go sounds great (if a little geeky lol). For all the hassle I had in the past with my PC, nowadays I don't have any problems like I read other people do because I've learned a lot and become experienced.

I'd actually just buy the ram to try this out and only because it sounds cool (lol - oxymoron anyone? ;))

[cjph 0]

Cheers (and many thanks Leon86) - seems to have worked ! So far, so very, very good !

[Leon86 13]

I'm glad it worked, it's working well here too, so well I might want to upgrade to 8gb ram (now I have 6).

I made these movies so I could compare performance, they arent very high fps because fraps is too heavy on my system. It's still fast enough to see the terrible slowdowns of the hd though.

<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5vMhjPoeoI&hl=nl&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5vMhjPoeoI&hl=nl&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>

<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eiqbxJcQFI&hl=nl&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eiqbxJcQFI&hl=nl&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>

I had already posted them in this thread: http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=88629&page=6

hope the mods dont mind I post them twice.

[Is1980 10]

I got Arma2 a few weeks ago ... since i made a lot of testing to get the absolute best compromise for smoothness with good image quality .

The things that really improved my performances were :

- a new rig with intel i5@ 3.2ghz and radeon 4890 , installed arma2 on windows7 64bits (flawless, extremely rarely crashes and only with the harvest red campaign )

- the Mod PROPER for vegetation and buildings (game totally smooth now , even in cities or when i aim suddenly and look around )

- "-maxmem=2047" trick

- settings at res 1920x1050 : visibility = 2400 meters textures= high , memory= very high , aa=low af= normal ; object details= normal (without Proper mod , i set to low) , terrain details = normal (without Proper mod i set to low ) , post process= low; shadows =high

I have 40+-50fps everytime almost everywhere except in main campaign manhattan or big cities with lots of AI activity where my fps are like 30+ but extremely stable (thanks to Proper mods , no "drops" in fps when i aim or look around quickly while zooming in cities or in the woods now , these PROPER vegetation and buildings mods are a must have IMO )

Edited October 19, 2009 by Is1980

[Greg 0]

...I made these movies so I could compare performance...

Great demonstration! Shows what the game could or really should be like. Imagine the current game streaming from a console DVD drive :O

[yanquis 10]

yes ramdisk is a miracle for ppl lucky enough to have the right amt of ram and thanks again 2 qwertz for finding about it. now its up to BI to make it unnecessary as it should be by the time arrowhead is released.

[hamis 0]

How do i make ramdisk plus automatically load pbo's during startup?There is no such option in menu.:confused:

[irishbloke 10]

can someone tell me if i need or can make a ram disk for vista 64? i tried the ram disk program mentioned but the copy i got didnt work on 64 bit windows. is there 2 versions?#

ive 4 gigs of ram for vista 64 do i need a ram disk.

I moved my page file to a completely new drive;

i.e separate to windows and arma2

it seemed to speed things up although i only looked at it for 5 mins but fingers crossed.

[cjph 0]

Got it working last night by simply linking the addons as per Leon86s advice above (thanks again mate). I had 4Gb installed on my XP system, but as I still had the original 2Gb I upgraded from last time, I put the whole 6Gb in and setup a 4Gb RAMdisk, leaving 2Gb for the games and OS. Not sure if an additional 2Gb (my mobos max is 8Gb) is worth the cost, or whether expensive 4Gb DDR2 modules I have seen would work, giving a possible 12Gb+ and allowing the whole game and some user addons to be RAMdisked.

But I can back up what is said above - no great increase in FPS but the game is much, much smoother and seems more 'realistic', for example a lot of the textures do not seem to flicker as before and the popping when zooming in with a scope or binoculars is gone. Obvisouly things still appear when they fall within your VD which probably can't be helped without increasing it, and there were one or two stutters when flying over the main towns in a fast jet, but nothing on the scale of before.

I did try and add the new Namalsk island to the RAMdisk as well, but did not see a difference in FPS or smoothness, so need to test more as it was getting late. I did try entering a small MP game with 9 players and again it was smoother, though there was lag on the server and so it was hard to tell which was network and local disk related.

So for the cost of the RAMdisk software ($39 USD) the game is much smoother.

[Leon86 13]

I use Qsoft ramdisk, works for win7 x64, it's shareware that expires on jan1 2010 (and then you can reinstall) it has a maximum size of 4gb but that's perfect for me because I only have 6 gb of ram.

edit: my bad, there is a 64GB size limit and that should be plenty

The "Enterprise Evaluation" (full) versions are freely available and can be downloaded from the links within the table below. The versions are full functional , but they may however popup randomly a "nasty" reminder message on Windows 2000 , XP and Server 2003. They may display a "Fatal application exit" message, although there is nothing "fatal" going on and you can continue your work without any fear at all. The evaluation versions will stop working ( expire ) on Januar 1st , 2010

Is there a need to buy the software ? No , one will always be able to update the ramdisk version to a refreshed "Evaluation" version before the running evaluation version stops working ( expires ). Provided that one makes this effort , the ramdisk software is free ! However , in reward for the donation , you will be sent the version that does not produce the "bubble" message on Windows 2000 , XP and Server 2003 and that never expires.

you can find it here, be sure to carefully read the installation instructions and also download de gui executable (ramdriveproperties.exe)

http://members.fortunecity.com/ramdisk/RAMDisk/ramdriv001.htm

Edited October 20, 2009 by Leon86

[cjph 0]

I tried Qsoft and came unstuck - I think the download missed off the executable so I was stuck. Might be looking to go over 4Gb to add in some additional addons and other files, though will still be stuck on my mobo 8Gb limit (though as the board is older I'm unlear if this is a physical max or simply because 4Gb DIMMs were not available a few years back). Does Qsoft only allow one 4Gb RAMdisk, or could two 4Gb disks be created ?

[Leon86 13]

I was mistaken on the 4gb limit, the 'resident memory' slider went up to 4.4 and I was on 3.5, I just assumed it would stop at 4. and you can use 'system' and 'locked' memory as well. The disk size goes up to 64GB.

Qsoft ramdisk has no 4gb limit just to be clear

Btw, I found this movie by fragkILLA comparing his normal hd (top) to his raptor (bottom) in armamark

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFe3Tnh3e-o&hl=nl&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFe3Tnh3e-o&hl=nl&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Edited October 20, 2009 by Leon86

[qwertz 10]

I was mistaken on the 4gb limit, the 'resident memory' slider went up to 4.4 and I was on 3.5, I just assumed it would stop at 4. and you can use 'system' and 'locked' memory as well. The disk size goes up to 64GB.

Qsoft ramdisk has no 4gb limit just to be clear

Btw, I found this movie by fragkILLA comparing his normal hd (top) to his raptor (bottom) in armamark

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFe3Tnh3e-o&hl=nl&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFe3Tnh3e-o&hl=nl&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Yep, good find. That's exactly the effect - the faster the disk system, the less the stutter. With a RAMdisk, the stutter is gone completety.

Edited December 31, 2009 by qwertz

[wasserkool 1]

Yep, good find. That's exactly the effect - the faster the disk system, the less the stutter. With a RAMdisk, the stutter is gone completety.

In my system, the OS and the game is loaded on an 15000RPM Seagate Cheetah 15K.5 SAS drive and the stutter is noticeably better than the video with 7200 RPM. The swap file is on a seperate HD.

However I do still get slowdowns during major firefights :(

[froggyluv 2136]

Dummies Guide, by a dummy.

.

Thanks very much for guide as I was over my head but I followed your guide to the T and everything seems to be working albeit on a much smaller scale ie.1.5 gb.

With the SymLink, is there any need to add any paramter ie. @Ramdrive/addons, to the startup line? That part confused me. Also, what is the advantage of using Ramspeed Plus as opposed to the basic? In Ramspeed should the "Zero at Remove" box be checked and what does that do?

So far it looks like flying is smoother but I'll have to test it some more.

Thanks again!