Use a RAM drive to reduce stuttering

[jimbop]

Acknowledgments first: here (JG52Krupi) and here (Ataros, post #37).

This is a method to create a virtual RAM drive which can be used to store some of the more accessed game files. I don't know how RAM speed compares with SSD speed? But many of us don't have SSDs yet. You will need some spare RAM that is not being used while the game is running.

The below test seems to reduce stuttering (no effect on FPS) during a quick free flight over Dover. I don't have time to continue testing just now but more later. Please let us know how you get on if you try it.

1. Download ImDisk from here: http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html/#ImDisk

2. Install ImDisk then open ImDisk from Control Panel

3. Mount Image. All you need to do is click on Gigabytes under Size of virtual disk and enter 1 in the text box. This will create a 1Gb virtual RAM drive with the drive letter F
Edit 335th_GRAthos notes: You need to have turned UAC (User Access Control) off to make this happen, otherwise you may get message "permission denied" (after the creation I turned UAC on and the system was working without problems).

4. Format the new drive in My Computer as NTFS

5. *Copy* whichever files you want over to the new RAM drive (I copied bob_3do.SFS, bob_buildings.SFS and bob_ground.SFS in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\il-2 sturmovik cliffs of dover\parts\bob)
Edit 335th_GRAthos notes: When finished copying all the files you want, unmount the drive and REMOUNT ticking the option LOAD IMAGE TO RAM. This will make now everything stay in the RAM of your PC (without this option ticked, the image is loaded from your hard disk, which make no difference in performance). You can check if this worked as expected by watching the memory usage in your Task-Manager window.

6. Rename the HDD versions of the files with an -OLD extension (or whatever you want - don't delete them but you will need to rename or move them)

7. Download Link Shell Extension and the necessary runtime DLLs from this site: http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinks...kshellext.html

8. Open your new RAM drive (F: for me) in My Computer, right-click the file you want to create a link to and click Pick Link Source

9. Open the original steamapps CoD folder where the files are usually located, right click and click Drop Symbolic Link

10. Play the game

11. Let us know if it makes a difference or even if it doesn't, thanks.

[Space Communist]

Very interesting, I will be curious to see how this turns out.

[jimbop]

Originally Posted by Space Communist

Very interesting, I will be curious to see how this turns out.

Precisely my thoughts when I read Ataros' post. Please let us know how you go.

It might have made a difference over land , it still runs pretty choppy though. If you have a dedicated SSD I think this could make a big improvement .

[jimbop]

For this to make any difference the bottleneck would have to be the HDD I would think. I doubt it will help framerate in general but could reduce stuttering.

[Stanger]

Originally Posted by machoo

It might have made a difference over land , it still runs pretty choppy though. If you have a dedicated SSD I think this could make a big improvement .

I have a SSD for c:drive (Operating system) and a SSD for Drive (Games)

Still get choppy with 40 fps.

[Ataros]

You can find lots of info on ramdrive usage from this forum as ArmA2 has high visibility distances and thus many objects loading from hard drive to video memory at the same time and this is the reason for stuttering (but only sometimes for low fps).

I use this program to create a ramdrive http://memory.dataram.com/products-a...ftware/ramdisk so far but will probably try a RAMDisk Enterprise when I have more RAM.

Out of 4GB RAM my ramdisk takes 1600 MB and this completely removes stutters for me having these 4 files placed there:

bob_buildings.SFS
bob_plane.SFS
bob_update.SFS
bob_update01.SFS

One of developers mentioned that bob_update.SFS and bob_update01.SFS are worth putting into RAM.

People at Sukhoi forums report that the most frequently accessed files are bob_plane.sfs, bob_update01.sfs, bob_maps.sfs .

I hope this helps.

ps. My specs: i7-860@3.8, 4GB, ATI4890 2GB. Run mid settings at 1680x1050 at about only 25-30 fps low over land with about 30-40 planes due to slow video card but smooth and without any stutters.

Do not forget to exclude the ramdisk and il-2 steam folder from antivirus shields. And use Gamebooster to unload unnecessary programs from memory and defragment the game folder.

[Wynthorpe]

Will give it a try thanks!

[moggel]

I couldn't get ImDisk to work so I tried RamDisk (http://memory.dataram.com/products-a...ftware/ramdisk) instead. Unfortunately the game wouldn't even start. Not sure i I made anything wrong but I did follow the instructions to the letter (except for the selected ram disk solution).

Seems most of you who tried it did see reduction of stutters, which is reallt the biggest problem with this game. To my surprise I have seen little change in FPS with different settings. I'm not even sure what FPS I have (is there a way to get that info on screen?) but the stutters kills the game for me.

Let's hope for that patch to come along soon.

Cheers

[jimbop]

Originally Posted by moggel

I couldn't get ImDisk to work so I tried RamDisk (http://memory.dataram.com/products-a...ftware/ramdisk) instead. Unfortunately the game wouldn't even start. Not sure i I made anything wrong but I did follow the instructions to the letter (except for the selected ram disk solution).

Seems most of you who tried it did see reduction of stutters, which is reallt the biggest problem with this game. To my surprise I have seen little change in FPS with different settings. I'm not even sure what FPS I have (is there a way to get that info on screen?) but the stutters kills the game for me.

Let's hope for that patch to come along soon.

Cheers

What was the problem with ImDisk?