[HOWTO - RAMDRIVE] Increasing SWTOR System Performance

[XenonParsec]

dont let the door hit you on the way out.

 

If you really have the specs in your sig you should not have these kind of problems.

Maybe someone else bought you the stuff and you just have no clue how to use it

properly?

 

If executing a batch is beyond your capabilities then i would guess you probably

will not go far in this game either.

 

What happens when I build two machines for friends with similar specs, and the game still performs like crap? Laggy performance in ilum and fleet happen to everyone as a result of the hero engine, and the devs have made posts about further optimizing the engine because they're aware.

 

The post you responded to was correct. If people have to start executing community-written code just to get swtor to function slightly better than it did before, but still less than other games that run perfectly fine (at gorgeous settings with no frame loss with lots of people playing at the same time: bf3 anyone?) then that's fail.

 

This thread has just been a showcase for people to peen (or completely make up) overkill system specs for the sole purpose of showing off to other nerds, or to attempt some alpha display of technical proficience. Terrible.

[Ocmer_]

This thread has just been a showcase for people to peen (or completely make up) overkill system specs for the sole purpose of showing off to other nerds, or to attempt some alpha display of technical proficience. Terrible.

 

Well sorry that you think like that but if you want to see people showing off systems you should get outa here and go a FPS problem thread, I've yet to see that here.

 

Also since when is creating or executing a simple batchfile such advanced? Srsly we are trying to help people, even if it is a little bit...

 

(and creating ramdisk to improve some aspect of software is not limited to SWTOR do your homework before you try to troll.)

[Scnicker]

Hello,

 

I'm trying to apply the batch; and it worked at work PC, but it doesn't on my home pc.

 

When I go through the registry, SWTOR is not in the registry directory that is in the batch?

The game is installed D:\Star Wars-The Old Republic here instead of the default location.

 

 

Help me please?

[Ocmer_]

Hello,

 

I'm trying to apply the batch; and it worked at work PC, but it doesn't on my home pc.

 

When I go through the registry, SWTOR is not in the registry directory that is in the batch?

The game is installed D:\Star Wars-The Old Republic here instead of the default location.

 

 

Help me please?

 

First off are you running a 32bit version of Windows? As I wrote the script I decided to not check for 32bit versions of Windows because it is not recommened, as 32bit only sees 3.2GB ram. Well that was until someone pointed out how to use the hidden memory with Imdisk, but it is not implented yet in the batch script.

 

If you run 64bit and got that error, it might because you reinstalled Windows and just had SWTOR sitting on another disk which you didn't touch, then ofc it wont be in the registery. Well for this case change the line (the same can be done for local):

for /F "skip=2 tokens=3,*" %%i in ('reg query "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\wow6432node\bioware\star wars-the old republic" /v "Install Dir" 2^>nul') do set InstallPath=%%j

 

to:

 

set InstallPath=D:\Star Wars-The Old Republic

 

Now I don't know for sure if the path has to be quoted ( "path" ), but at least I hope this helped.

Edited February 23, 2012 by Ocmer_

[coerCez]

First off are you running a 32bit version of Windows? As I wrote the script I decided to not check for 32bit versions of Windows because it is not recommened, as 32bit only sees 3.2GB ram. Well that was until someone pointed out how to use the hidden memory with Imdisk, but it is not implented yet in the batch script.

 

If you run 64bit and got that error, it might because you reinstalled Windows and just had SWTOR sitting on another disk which you didn't touch, then ofc it wont be in the registery. Well for this case change the line (the same can be done for local):

for /F "skip=2 tokens=3,*" %%i in ('reg query "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\wow6432node\bioware\star wars-the old republic" /v "Install Dir" 2^>nul') do set InstallPath=%%j

 

to:

 

set InstallPath=D:\Star Wars-The Old Republic

 

Now I don't know for sure if the path has to be quoted ( "path" ), but at least I hope this helped.

 

I might give this Ramdisk a try but I have a question. Does it also increase your FPS in Ilum zerg vs zerg battles? Like 60 vs 60, etc? Other than this I dont have FPS issues mostl of ths time.

[Ocmer_]

I might give this Ramdisk a try but I have a question. Does it also increase your FPS in Ilum zerg vs zerg battles? Like 60 vs 60, etc? Other than this I dont have FPS issues mostl of ths time.

 

Hard to say to be honest as I noticed a FPS increase, so did others, but not all.

 

Keep in mind this thread is created to prevent (or keep minimum) of hitching, when the client is (re-)building it cache files on a harddisk/SSD.

 

So I guess you have to see it yourself what effect it will have and if that is what you want.

[KriTicalPoinT]

Ok just did the 6gig ramdisk with the hopes of planet load screens dropping with no improvement. Im guessing now that this must be an issue with SWTOR and my video cards.

If nothing else at least I've learned a few things by trying something new.

 

Thanks again to everyone thats taken the time to try and help everyone!

[Marctraider]

In my case, Fancycache didn't seem to make a difference; I was already running on an SSD and the all-in-one batch ramdrive, though.

 

Are you sure you set it up properly? because it didnt work properly here at first either.

 

When you configure the program you have to start caching and after that press configure caching. Then you will have to reboot in order to make the changes.

 

Best settings so far;

 

Blocksize: 4KB (same as ntfs)

Algorithm: LRU

Cache Size: 2500MB here, depends on what you have available after a while when playing

Caching Strategy: Read-Only should suffice. But you can choose Read and Write if you have plenty of cache set.

 

Again it does not directly improve first-time loadtimes but after a bit of playing it works better and better. Im using LRU because the other algorithm doesn't seem to be as good in this scenario. You want to keep stuff loaded which is unpredictable as of whether it will be required any time soon. The LFU-R algorithm won't help with that since an unpredictable necessary read is often a seldom read. But LRU could already have cached it a while ago thus it will probably be the best algorithm for the job.

 

A bit hard to explain but anyway... It WORKS GREAT!

[XenonParsec]

Well sorry that you think like that but if you want to see people showing off systems you should get outa here and go a FPS problem thread, I've yet to see that here.

 

Also since when is creating or executing a simple batchfile such advanced? Srsly we are trying to help people, even if it is a little bit...

 

Maybe it isn't that advanced, and the instructions are just terrible. Or the method to implement this community "fix" isn't simple enough. The last time I ran a batch file was to root my phone, all I had to do was plug it in and double click the file. Either way, it's a lot of unnecessary effort requiring some background in computer knowledge to execute, to serve as an incomplete bandaid for poor engine optimization.

 

You're not helping anyone by introducing a "fix" that generally only hardcore computer nerds will be able to figure out. All 20 people that understood and/or bothered to try this were benefited, sadly leaving another 1,699,980 with poor framerates.

 

And if you're so interested in only the community and not alpha displays of technical proficiency, stop typing in blue and delete your sig. I wager that's not likely to happen.

 

(and creating ramdisk to improve some aspect of software is not limited to SWTOR do your homework before you try to troll.)

 

When software is written by competent developers, on licensed technology that can be shown to already run great under similar implementations, then no, you don't need to do a bunch of ramdrive geekery.

[bahdasz]

whole bunch of crap 3 people understand

 

or...

 

BioWare could just fix the ....ing game

[ZedFighter]

or...

 

BioWare could just fix the ....ing game

 

Now this, would be worth $15 a month!

[ZedFighter]

This hasn't brought about any marked improvement for me

 

I can run all max settings ANYWHERE in the game, get and be happy with ~50-80 FPS.

 

As soon as you add a truckload of players in the scene it goes to hell instantly!

[Ocmer_]

Maybe it isn't that advanced, and the instructions are just terrible. Or the method to implement this community "fix" isn't simple enough. The last time I ran a batch file was to root my phone, all I had to do was plug it in and double click the file. Either way, it's a lot of unnecessary effort requiring some background in computer knowledge to execute, to serve as an incomplete bandaid for poor engine optimization.

 

Well sorry if it is like hard and terreble for you to understand but I'm happy enough that quite some users have used my script and gave actually feedback.

 

Let me be honest, I've actually never done something in batch and as some people stuggled with the manual method of Lemon_King I decided to check out this feature (more because someone already wrote a first version, which been edited over time).

 

I still know it is not that perfect, but which instructions are terrible? Mine or Lemon_Kings? I amost wrote it in such way a user only have to select what the script has to do in the menu, as it is an ALL-IN-ONE, what is hard about that? The script finds the local and instalfolder automatically (not 100% perfect I know), so users won't even have to trouble about that.

 

And if you hate blue, sorry for that but I'll just use it more for easy overview of what I posted and who quoted me, as I try to help the ones with trouble at least.

Edited February 24, 2012 by Ocmer_

[Black-Mage]

mkdir T:\SWTOR\swtor
mklink /J "%userprofile%\AppData\Local\SWTOR" "T:\SWTOR\"
mklink /J "T:\SWTOR\swtor\settings" "<SWTOR Install Location>\Star Wars - The Old Republic\SWTOR\retailclient\settings"
mklink "<SWTOR Install Location>\Star Wars - The Old Republic\SWTOR\DiskCacheArena" "T:\DiskCacheArena"

 

Hello a Question, that i understand whats going on.

Why i have to create a link from my SWTOR in <local> to my ramdrive AND link the settings Folder back from ramdrive to my the Settings Folder in my Install Path?

 

I understand that i can only link the Streaming Files if they are exist (this happends when the Game is running), so we link the complete Folder. ok.. But why link the Settings Folder back to harddrive > Install Path?

 

Is there is a Problem when i link the local SWTOR folder to my Ramdrive and finish?

 

Hope you guys understand my bad english =)

[NissiK]

It's all in the title. What are the pro's and con's of each? Is there a big enough difference to say one is superior between a 4GB Fancy Cache and a 4GB Ram-Drive?

[releena]

If they have not acknowledged it as a problem, then it isn't a problem (according to them) and so they shall devote no effort towards fixing it.

 

What we think is irrelevant except as it affects our willingness to continue subscribing.

 

^This

 

Not lv50 yet so I don't know if performance will be acceptable in PVE endgame, but even with the RAM drive set my performance in WZ is terrible, which is probably a bad indicator. I'm well above minimum specs and I consider this a serious issue.

[floriwie]

Maybe it isn't that advanced, and the instructions are just terrible. Or the method to implement this community "fix" isn't simple enough. The last time I ran a batch file was to root my phone, all I had to do was plug it in and double click the file. Either way, it's a lot of unnecessary effort requiring some background in computer knowledge to execute, to serve as an incomplete bandaid for poor engine optimization.

 

You're not helping anyone by introducing a "fix" that generally only hardcore computer nerds will be able to figure out. All 20 people that understood and/or bothered to try this were benefited, sadly leaving another 1,699,980 with poor framerates.

 

And if you're so interested in only the community and not alpha displays of technical proficiency, stop typing in blue and delete your sig. I wager that's not likely to happen.

 

 

 

When software is written by competent developers, on licensed technology that can be shown to already run great under similar implementations, then no, you don't need to do a bunch of ramdrive geekery.

 

I am really sorry that SWTOR forums doesn't have negative reps, u will get a lot of it from me...

 

Lemon_King and Ocmer are only trying to help, u are only trying to troll.....if u don't want to use the solution., just close the thread and go on with ur life....

[floriwie]

Hello a Question, that i understand whats going on.

Why i have to create a link from my SWTOR in <local> to my ramdrive AND link the settings Folder back from ramdrive to my the Settings Folder in my Install Path?

 

I understand that i can only link the Streaming Files if they are exist (this happends when the Game is running), so we link the complete Folder. ok.. But why link the Settings Folder back to harddrive > Install Path?

 

Is there is a Problem when i link the local SWTOR folder to my Ramdrive and finish?

 

Hope you guys understand my bad english =)

 

If u don't do that with every restart of ur computer u will loose ur settings....

 

RAMDRIVE deleted at reboots and so the settings...

[Rabenschwinge]

I've just tried those instructions on my notebook computer (6GB ram) and it works great. Thank you! I am a little puzzled as to what the purpose of this DiskCacheArena was in the first place - if the file was originallly still on the disk, it would not have been considerably faster than accessing this file than the original files in which the data was...

 

Of course a Linux box would use every last byte of free main memory to cache the hard drives and thus, if this file was regularly accessed, soon have it completely cached in memory without saying a word... but afaik Windows does not do this.

Edited February 24, 2012 by Rabenschwinge

[Scnicker]

Thanks man, your suggestion worked!

 

Though 1 more question: When I start the game and check my processes in the task manager, Swtor still uses a total of 1.5gb RAM instead of the 4GB that I cached. Any idea why?

 

And yes, I use Win7 64bit with 8gb Ram.

[Rabenschwinge]

^This

 

Not lv50 yet so I don't know if performance will be acceptable in PVE endgame, but even with the RAM drive set my performance in WZ is terrible, which is probably a bad indicator. I'm well above minimum specs and I consider this a serious issue.

 

This guide is meant to help with disk access performance. If you have performance issues in situations where the disk is hardly accessed it won't help you. If you're in a war zone everything you need is typcially loaded in your memory, your box just has to render it.

[TCin]

ive typed this in 100x ..... every time i kept getting "invalid switch"

 

 

why would this happen? .. yes im a noob to this so if you are gonna be an ******e .... dont

[Rabenschwinge]

ive typed this in 100x ..... every time i kept getting "invalid switch"

 

 

why would this happen? .. yes im a noob to this so if you are gonna be an ******e .... dont

 

Could you repeat what exactly you typed in - adjusted for the paths on your computer? With the replies of your computer. On which command exactly do you get this error message?

 

If you use "cmd.exe" (personally I use the powershell) you may first "select all" in the console dialogue using the icon in the upper left and then copy it using "Enter". If you paste the dialogue to http://pastebin.com/ we might be able to help you.

 

You don't have to type every line, though. You might as well copy and paste them, or store them in a .bat file and execute them.

Edited February 24, 2012 by Rabenschwinge

[TCin]

i typed everything in correct .... checked the path on my PC ... typed it in perfect over and over

 

 

ill look up how to do the .bat file trick .... thanks for your quick reply

[releena]

Thanks man, your suggestion worked!

 

Though 1 more question: When I start the game and check my processes in the task manager, Swtor still uses a total of 1.5gb RAM instead of the 4GB that I cached. Any idea why?

 

And yes, I use Win7 64bit with 8gb Ram.

 

Because the RAM drive is using the 4 GB, SWTOR is not allocating that.

 

This guide is meant to help with disk access performance. If you have performance issues in situations where the disk is hardly accessed it won't help you. If you're in a war zone everything you need is typcially loaded in your memory, your box just has to render it.

 

I've also looked at file accesses while playing SWTOR, and even when I'm in the same room fighting mostly the same enemies (it was a big room), the same files are being read. Now, maybe enemies have multiple randomly chosen appearances, but there were literally hundreds of reads from several files even after I started fighting the same enemy types.

 

What you describe is how it SHOULD work. Next time I go into a WZ, I'm going to play for 5 mins, then log file accesses. I'm pretty sure I'll still end up seeing thousands of reads. For example, ~10 mins in Huttball resulted in 27,500 reads. This is NOT including the loading screen. Bear in mind when I played SWTOR beta Huttball, and the game in general, ran fine. I'm not sure what happened between beta and retail, but performance has noticeably degraded. And presumably that was with the highest resolution textures being enabled which were removed from world rendering in retail and reserved for cutscenes only. If I got the performance in beta I'm getting now, I likely would have passed on the game.