ArmA 2 I/O analysis results

[rekrul 7]

I assume you would have to copy the files from the addons-folder in OA instead of from the A2 folder and IIRC it's marginally over 4GB so maybe you can place all the PBOs in the RAM-disk. I know that the only time I get a drop in framerate is in the cities when I run 10km VD so I guess just placing structures.pbo in the ram-disk would do a lot.

[grillob3 11]

I got it! You have to make a Addons folder in the ramdisk and add the all the pbos from arma 2 and all the pbos from Expansion\Addons to the same addons folder in the ramdisk!Just do copy the files the have the same name that i think was just one or two! Works nice!

Tx!

[rekrul 7]

I haven't combined the two yet so I won't have to move the Arma2 addons pbos and I doubt you too, unless you're using a lot of arma2 stuff in OA or vica versa.

[SIXTWO 10]

Ive only got 2gb of RAM, would this help at all for?

If not dw im gettin new RAM soon. any ideas on whats the best RAM out for ArmA 2?

[Mclan 10]

Ramdisk is indeed big helpful for silk smooth playing experience. Many thanks for the great post!

[Impulse 10]

Tell me please, what is RAM disk, how to create it? What amount of RAM system should have to use it?

[Posta 10]

Tell me please, what is RAM disk, how to create it? What amount of RAM system should have to use it?

It works just as a normal harddrive but is created in RAM.

It's WAAAAAY faster than both normal harddrives and SSDs.

There is many ramdisk apps out there. I use Dataram which is free if you dont want disks larger than 4GB. I however use 10-12GB for ramdisk. I paid like 10 bucks for the premium version. Worth it imo.

I have 16GB RAM in my system which allows me to put whole Arma 2: OA and some of Arma 2 on it. 6GB in TOTAL RAM is minimum when it comes to using ramdisks. In my opinion.

The more of Arma 2 you can put on the RAMDISK the better. Some pbos are used more often so do some searching.

Google "Arma 2 ramdisk" and you will find some good stuff.

[Impulse 10]

Thanks for the reply. You know I'm assembling a new system, so 16 Gb to have is what I needed to know. Still have to ask, do I need SSD in the case of loading up ArmA to RAM disk? Maybe it's always needed for OS or virtual memory (this called pagefile right?) so I have to get 16 Gb and SSD both. Or is a way to put completely all calculations on the RAM disk and thus SSD (any harddrive) no needed in the whole process.

[Posta 10]

Thanks for the reply. You know I'm assembling a new system, so 16 Gb to have is what I needed to know. Still have to ask, do I need SSD in the case of loading up ArmA to RAM disk? Maybe it's always needed for OS or virtual memory (this called pagefile right?) so I have to get 16 Gb and SSD both. Or is a way to put completely all calculations on the RAM disk and thus SSD (any harddrive) no needed in the whole process.

With a 16GB you can use around 12GB for RAMDISK. With 6GB you can use around 2GB for RAMDISK. And so on. You don't NEED to put the whole game on the RAMDISK. Performance-wise you only need to put the files that are most often accesed by the game. buildings.pbo and takistan.pbo for example. And foilage, trees... I've seen people with only 1GB RAMDISKs showing better performance. Remember, it's not FPS-related. Less stuttering and LOS issues.

You don't NEED an SSD when using a big RAMDISK. But as you are saying it will speed up things related to the OS and copying files to the RAMDISK. I'm planning to buy a nice SSD later on.

Arma 2 doesn't cache files in Virtual Memory/pagefile last time i checked.

As a general rule, from fastest to slowest.

1. RAM. I get over 8000MB/s (or was it 6000MB/s) in read speed. Nearly ZERO access time. Like: 0.006 don't remember.

2. SSD. Hmm, around 300MB/s? And pretty low access time.

3. HDD. My disks does around 80-120MB/s. 12, 8ms in accesstime.

You can find all the answers you want by just googleing "Arma 2 RAMDISK".

[liquidpinky 11]

At the time I was running a RAMdisk I had 8GB in total and was running 4 of it as the RAMdisk.

I had to be selective of what files I used but qwertz's research in this thread allowed me to single out the pbo's most likely to be accessed.

I now currently have 24GB of RAM so I don't have to be selective any more, I also have a 6GB/s Crucial SSD drive and haven't felt the need to put ARMA into RAM yet. But it will happen. ;)

I don't ever get any out of memory errors these days too, funnily enough.

[pointyboot 10]

removed

Edited March 9, 2011 by pointyboot

[cjph 0]

I have'nt been using a RAMdisk but have recently re-built a new system and with more RAM thought why not use the RAM, but have a problem with the OA files. If I copy any mods or the original Arma2 Addons to the RAMdisk there is no problem (ie using F:\@Addons in the shortcut and a RAMdisk denoted as F:). But, when I copy any of the files from the Expansion\Addons directory to the RAMdisk I get all sorts of errors occurring.

Any ideas ? Do I need an Expansion\Addons directory on the RAMdisk ?

Thanks for the input.

cj

[BasileyOne 10]

interesting, how does its compete with LargeSystemCache and IOLockLimit, tweaks, combination on large-ram[8Gb and 16Gb]-systems ?[in nmbrs].

[froggyluv 2130]

Seems like even RamDisk basic costs money after the free trial -$79.99 US for 64 bit systems. Any recommended free ones are a bit cheaper?

[cjph 0]

DataRAM's ramdisk is free for up to 4Gb. With the recent poll showing 4-8Gb is the most popular RAM sizes, 4Gb would probably do most people. I have not seen a free one for more than 4Gb, not without some technical know how needed.

cj

[froggyluv 2130]

Ahh yes that was the one I was trying to remember -thanks!

Funny, the DataRam version is only $14.99 to get unlocked -I wonder why the huge disparity in pricing?

Edited April 17, 2011 by froggyluv

[cjph 0]

Glad to help - I know some others go up to $100 US, which seemed excessive for a game but is probably priced for the corporate IT user.

By the way, solved my OA question - simply used F: \Expansion\Addons, as per any other mod line - d'oh !

cj

[BasileyOne 10]

Seems like even RamDisk basic costs money after the free trial -$79.99 US for 64 bit systems. Any recommended free ones are a bit cheaper?

how about free ramdisk from you operating system creator ?

http://msdn.microsoft.com/us-en/library/ff544551(v=vs.85).aspx

[MavericK96 0]

Kind of an old thread, but I thought I'd share my experience:

I recently got a good deal on a second 6 GB set of my RAM, and went for it to try a RAMdisk again for this game (12 GB total RAM). I was able to copy all of the .pbo files to the RAMdisk for OA, BAF, and PMC. When I ran the game, however, the texture swapping and framerate overall was WAY worse than just running the game off my SSD. Not sure why, exactly, since if anything the RAM should make it a lot faster. Any ideas? I don't think I did anything wrong since the game loaded just fine, but it was definitely a lot worse performance- and LOD-wise than running on an SSD alone.

[stk2008 14]

Hi all how the hell do I use this tool?.

I try to open it in Open Office but it just freezes.

I dont have Microsoft works so no not have Excel.

Thanks

[Leon86 13]

well it's more about the data from the other program, if you want to interpret it maybe you can make something in the openoffice excel equivalent.

[stk2008 14]

Hey matey.

I have no idea how or what to do as I assume the instructions are in the Excel file I am trying to open.

I have no idea what to do with the file or any thing.

Thanks

[Leon86 13]

yes they're in the excel file. Dunno if it'll still be functional if I save it in an openoffice compatible format but worth a shot.

[Baff1 0]

I recently tweaked my Windows 32 bit system, (4GB RAM), because I was having a lot of RAM related crashes with The Witcher 2.

http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/ps/dl/item?siteID=123112&id=9583842&linkID=9240697

Go to command prompt and type "bcdedit /set IncreaseUserVa 3072"then reboot.

(To undo go to command prompt and type "bcdedit /deletevalue IncreaseUserVa" then reboot).

This little RAM wiggle earnt me an extra 25% FPs in the ArmA 2 benchmark mission (Was 24 FPS now 31FPS). Dead chuffed.

Edited June 26, 2011 by Baff1

[Coffeecat 10]

Just got another 4 Gigabyte RAM for my 64Bit Win7. Now i got 8Gigs, to less for a RAM disc right?