SWTOR Unleashed (game files in RAM to improve performance)

[Heavenly_Nexus]

I click to open SWTOR Unleashed and it always is giving me an error message saying that this program has stopped working and prompts me to close the problem or check for a solution. I have ImDisk installed. Am I doing something wrong?

[savadious]

I just added this unleashed thing to every PC in my house...

 

ITS FREAKIN AMAZING !

 

Thanks a bunch for all your hard work!

[LegendaryBlade]

So I play TOR on my okay-tier laptop a lot of the time. I had avoided trying Unleashed on it because I figured 4 gigs of ram wasn't enough.

 

I was wrong, combining Unleashed with Gamebooster removed just about all the chugging from my game. Now the only time it chugs at all is when someone messes up and we pull two or three groups and there's 100 things going on, and then it's still playable.

 

Thankyou for this amazing piece of software!

[BogyOne]

It already does this. If you don't reboot between 2 game sessions (and if you don't "remove and quit" or "retail" in between them), it won't recreate the ramdrive since it's already there.

Hey, you know I asked about it earlier too. Despite what you say I observe each time between starting new session without reboots the ramdrive being created anew on my machine (maybe it is specific somehow).

 

Is there any way to give you some data to verify that (log, make a movie) - if you are interested to dig into it?

Edited December 10, 2012 by BogyOne

[swredrage]

Fact : I already have an OCZ Vertex 3 250GB SSD, Core I7 2600k o/c @4.2Ghz, 16GB DDR3, Radeon HD5850 and it does help me a lot.

 

that is really surprising to me, yeah the video is a couple gens back but I would figure it would be more than enough. There must be something going on somewhere the engine really doesn't like, as we know it is very picky

 

One thing I have noticed is that my dual OCZ Agility 4's are no where near the quality of my Samsung 830 or my ADATA SSDs, but still should be more than enough through put too keep up.

 

Even running the whole game in RAM didn't make that much of a difference for me. ( Intel i7-3930 @stock, @4.2 or @4.6 depending how I feel that week, on the ASUS Rampage IV extreme, 64GB DDR 1800, Samsung 830 boot/game drive and Radeon 6870 at 2560x1440 resolution )

[Prysha]

ugh , what?

I run windows 7 with a quadcore and 8 GB of ram.... most ofthe tiem my game runs liquid.. why do i need to add tools ?

 

im just curious why this would even make sense to me...the only problem this game has is the shadows...and there is a solutuion.. put them on low...

[swredrage]

ugh , what?

I run windows 7 with a quadcore and 8 GB of ram.... most ofthe tiem my game runs liquid.. why do i need to add tools ?

 

im just curious why this would even make sense to me...the only problem this game has is the shadows...and there is a solutuion.. put them on low...

 

shadows are not the only cause of peoples issues. It is just one of many.

[Lionflash]

I just wanted to throw in my feedback here.

 

I tried SWTOR Unleashed about a week ago and I went from play the game with everything set to high but Anti-Aliasing on low; playing at 60fps (with AA on playing @ 25fps)...

 

...to playing with AA on at 60 fps. I have an i7, 16 GB RAM, and some above average decent card.

 

Side Note: Because of the 2nd most recent patch my game has been running slower, the patch must have messed with me this time unfortunately, so I am back with AA on low. But it would be even slower without SWTOR Unleashed.

 

Thanks a lot guys.

[exca]

I click to open SWTOR Unleashed and it always is giving me an error message saying that this program has stopped working and prompts me to close the problem or check for a solution. I have ImDisk installed. Am I doing something wrong?

Do you have windows x64? .NET framework 4?

[exca]

Hey, you know I asked about it earlier too. Despite what you say I observe each time between starting new session without reboots the ramdrive being created anew on my machine (maybe it is specific somehow).

 

Is there any way to give you some data to verify that (log, make a movie) - if you are interested to dig into it?

Uninstall Imdisk, reboot, install the latest I provide, reboot, delete your xml config file, start unleashed, activate logs, start in unleashed mode, exit the game, start unleashed again, start in unleashed mode, and post me here or in private message your log file content please.

[exca]

that is really surprising to me, yeah the video is a couple gens back but I would figure it would be more than enough. There must be something going on somewhere the engine really doesn't like, as we know it is very picky

 

One thing I have noticed is that my dual OCZ Agility 4's are no where near the quality of my Samsung 830 or my ADATA SSDs, but still should be more than enough through put too keep up.

 

Even running the whole game in RAM didn't make that much of a difference for me. ( Intel i7-3930 @stock, @4.2 or @4.6 depending how I feel that week, on the ASUS Rampage IV extreme, 64GB DDR 1800, Samsung 830 boot/game drive and Radeon 6870 at 2560x1440 resolution )

I suggest you try to put in unleashed only : diskarena, localapps, fx and dynamic. Strangely, this is what works best up to my knowledge.

[exca]

I just wanted to throw in my feedback here.

 

I tried SWTOR Unleashed about a week ago and I went from play the game with everything set to high but Anti-Aliasing on low; playing at 60fps (with AA on playing @ 25fps)...

 

...to playing with AA on at 60 fps. I have an i7, 16 GB RAM, and some above average decent card.

 

Side Note: Because of the 2nd most recent patch my game has been running slower, the patch must have messed with me this time unfortunately, so I am back with AA on low. But it would be even slower without SWTOR Unleashed.

 

Thanks a lot guys.

Try to delete your XML conf file, and restart unleashed, choose your conf and try again.

[Heavenly_Nexus]

Do you have windows x64? .NET framework 4?

 

Yes, I have both. I tried unzipping it again and it happened to work that way. But it is rather annoying to do every time.

[Lionflash]

Try to delete your XML conf file, and restart unleashed, choose your conf and try again.

 

Sorry to be a bother, but where is the XML conf file? Way over my head...

 

Thanks in advance.

[exca]

Yes, I have both. I tried unzipping it again and it happened to work that way. But it is rather annoying to do every time.

Once only!

[exca]

Sorry to be a bother, but where is the XML conf file? Way over my head...

 

Thanks in advance.

next to the exe file

[deadandburied]

RAM will outperform an SSD by 10X or so, unless the benchmark is expanded to include time spent futzing with configurations, uninstalling/reinstalling, posting cries for help here, downloading patches and extra drivers etc, etc, etc. And it turns out that it's an extra 10X you don't need for SWTOR.

 

SATA 2.5" SSD's cost approximately a dollar per GB, they plug into any spare SATA port on your motherboard, they require no configuration (just a quick NTFS format like any disk), they run SWTOR like a dream with no alternate configurations or install directories or special launchers required, AND they run your other two or three favorite games right alongside TOR with no fuss.

 

I would only use a RAMdrive on a seriously obsolete PC with no options for SSD expansion.

 

Without you actually testing it how on earth do you know the SDD's are working correctly. It's not always just plug and play. As explained in my previous post there can be plenty of problems. Check the corsair forums for example of the problems people are having.

 

SSD performance also degrades. To add to my previous post. Is TRIM working? TRIM does not work if you're using ssd in pci-e slot. TRIM does work for RAID but only if the ssd is not being used are part of a raid array. Although the latest IRST and mobo bios does support it. But you have to research this and use the correct bios and IRST. Also may need to update your firmware for the SSD.

[deadandburied]

Very interesting comment about optimizing the computer. Though whatever you might say, your RAM will still outperform 10 to 100x times your SSD or SSD raid 0.

It's strange you got only 5% performance increase. Which settings did you use? What are your graphical settings?

 

Fact : I already have an OCZ Vertex 3 250GB SSD, Core I7 2600k o/c @4.2Ghz, 16GB DDR3, Radeon HD5850 and it does help me a lot.

 

I have an ASUS P8Z68-V PRO GEN3, I7 2600k@4.43ghz, 8gb corsair ddr3 running at 1000mhz/2000mt/s, 2 560TI in SLI mode, 4 WD black editions 1tb hdd's running in raid10, Corsair Force GT 60gb as my ssd cache drive for my raid10.

 

I always play with all settings at max and have zero issues. I don't have to run with fullscreen windowed mode. I run in fullscreen mode. I don't have to use the nameplate scaling fix, so don't use it. Max dip to 35fps if there's 250 on the fleet and i pass by 100+ by the gtn on my speeder. Otherwise it's 50-110fps. Typically 60+fps.

 

I won't argue that unleashed will help and does help plenty of people. I also won't argue that ram is 10x faster than an ssd. However unleashed does not help us people that have optimized our own system. I take great pride in knowing and optimizing my system to the fullest and i test everything to verify this. You don't need unleashed if you're optimized. The game does not require 10,000mb/s thruput. However it does seem to ~ 250mb/s to not have issues and if you aren't getting over this amount unleashed can be a great help.

 

Again test and optimize your system. Here's a hint. If you select unleashed to load 16gb to ram and it takes 2 minutes to load this into ram then this means your ssd is not performing well. It's a benchmark without actually downloading and using a benchmark. Noticed a few people posting it's taking that long with their ssd systems. I'd seriously look into correcting whatever issue you have.

 

We have quite a few people in my guild who have and use SSD's and at least two have just swtor on the ssd. That two have load times that are worse than my non ssd raid10 before i added my ssd cache. There is somethign wrong on their end, driver, software, firmware, etc. We're always waiting on these people to get back to the boss after a wipe. There are also quite a few of us with SSD's that are working optimally. We've tried unleashed and most if not all have went back to not using it as none of our optimized systems found enough of a benefit. The people with the long load times i haven't suggested they use unleashed yet. I'd personally rather see them fix their computer first. Again using load times as a way to gauge their ssd performace. I think it's obvious the people with the long load times would benefit quite a bit more by using unleashed. While it may or may not decrease load times it should increase fps as they aren't having to wait for the swtor files to constantly read and there are quite a lot of files being read at once i've noticed.

 

I decided to try a different scenario this time around. I removed my ssd cache drive from my raid 10. Tested unleashed on my raid 10 regular hdd's without the ssd cache. Then installed swtor on the ssd to compare the difference. There was zero fps gain in either setup. However load time from character select screen to in game was 45 seconds for the raid10 using unleashed (diskcachearena, local app, fx and dynamic) vs 15 seconds for the ssd without unleashed. Raid 10 with the ssd cache performed exactly the same as the ssd by itself oddly. Same fps and same load times.

 

I'm never had an issue with this game. I run in fullscreen mode and not fullscreen windowed. Never had to turn nameplate scaling off. Never had to lower any graphic settings. Yet i've seen people with almost exactly the same setup as mine that were having many issues. Same cpu, same mobo, same vid card. People are obviously doing something wrong. I'm going back to optimizing your system. If you got my mobo uninstall that virtulogic software and disable that pos in the bios. That fixed my initial problems with this game. Finding and using the correct vid drivers worked wonders as well. Using 310.70 currently.

 

This is a great tool that has helped a lot of people. I'm glad people are looking for ways to help people out. And it has helped quite a lot of people. It just hasn't helped me. But i didn't need help anyways. I don't believe the game is the problem. Look at fixing it on your end. That's not to say there aren't some problems with some setups. AMD vid cards still having issues i believe for example. And some setups just won't run this game right. My laptop is a good example of a setup that runs this game like crap. But i think i'll put the blame on the manufacturer and not the game.

 

just my 2 cents

Edited December 11, 2012 by deadandburied
updated post

[exca]

Seems you have a good computer. It's not the case for everyone. You probably realise it hides most of SWTOR engine's bad design. Don't you?

 

Also I think playing in full screen mode isn't that smart, since it'll reload the game files each time you alt tab to check something in windows whereas "windowed fullscreen" (which is in fact really fullscreen too) doesn't and lets you swap back and forth instantaneously.

 

You seem to focus on optimizing the computer and it's a good thing in my opinion. BUT. When people don't have the money (or don't want to spend some) to upgrade their computer (SSD, cpu, GFX card or whatever...) if the optimisation is not enough... What can they do? It's where SWTOR unleashed kicks in. And it's FREE. Don't compare that with buying hardware for example, it doesn't make sense. It's not a competition. All optimisations are good. Buying hardware is too. But they're is no point in comparing those.

 

Ram isn't just 10-100x times faster than hard drives (be it a SSD raid), ... it has also far faster access times. When I read your comments I'm not so sure what settings you chose in unleashed : I advise DiskArena+LocalApps+Fx+Dynamic, that's all... Some people and I noticed some performance drops on some systems if you add too much in the ram drive. (I still haven't figured out why) This is the settings you might want to try (for curiosity at least).

 

System optimized or not, I'm very unsure about your beliefs. 800+ past posts proved that users without performance gain were simply misusing the tool.

 

Since I'm very interested in people full of knowledge, I'd be very happy to learn from you (msn, teamspeak, email, private message, or any other communication tool) how to verify my system's optimisation, so we could add so more verified advices to help people out. Would you give me a hand?

 

I also on the point about user whining about 2 minutes loading time for unleashed. This tool is made as simple as possible but still... it's for advanced users who at least read the original post and try a few seconds to understand what my software does and why. By the way as stated upper.... bad idea to try to load more than DiskArena+LocalApps+Fx+Dynamic to make a first SWTOR Unleashed bench.

 

About your friends systems.... if their SSD is slower than a simple HDD raid0... yes, they have issues they must correct before thinking about optimisations such as SWTOR Unleashed.... but if they don't know how to, they can still try unleashed it might help them.

 

There's also something fundamental you seem to have missed when I read you. You say SSD loads faster than HDD + Unleashed.... But you know SWTOR Unleashed isn't made to speed up loading times. So your comment are totally out of context. If you want to speed up loading times (check the original post) => try to use the ready boost feature (though it doesn't speed up first loading of a file, but it does after that) be it a RAM one (like AMD's or the windows one using USB or cards).

 

Also since your laptop is "crap", if you have enough RAM, maybe you could try unleashed on it?

 

Regards.

[deadandburied]

I'm not saying to spend money to optimize your system. I'm saying to optimize your current system. It's not a question of money. It's just ensuring your system is working correctly and at it's full potential with what you have. When i built this computer earlier this year swtor ran like absolute crap. CTD's quite often. Locks ups. Low fps. Stuttering and huge drops in fps. I just kept at it until i resolved all my hardware and software issues. Didn't even know i had any issues until playing this game. This takes quite a bit of work and each system will be different. It can be very difficult at times to locate and fix the problems. It took me several weeks btw. Could have lowered the time using google. But i prefer figuring stuff out on my own.

 

I've tried unleashed with (diskcachearena, localapp, fx) and (diskcachearena, localapp, fx, dynamic). Any more than that just goes to pagefiling due to only having 8gb ram. So it ends up being counter intuitive. I run fullscreen mode because i prefer fullscreen mode. I can live with a reload time that's a max of 6 seconds when i alt/tab out and back in.

 

And i might mention that there's many posts of users that say using unleashed did not help them. I'm not here to argue. I agree it has helped a whole lot of people. But at least give me the courtesy to agree that is has not helped a lot of people as well. And i admit there are quite a few not using unleashed correctly. But i can assure you there are plenty that were using it correctly that saw no benefit.

 

As explained using readyboost via a mem stick would not benefit me either. My access time on my ssd is faster as well as read and write speeds obviously. And i have a fairly old usb stick that benches horribly. There really isn't any reason to use ready boost if you have an ssd that is working correctly. The ssd should be 4x faster. In my case it's 10-20x faster read and writes. Although access time is only 2-4x faster on my ssd. If your main drive is not an ssd i'd put ready boost on the ssd drive however. Ready boost on my mem stick on my laptop may be an option as that's using a fairly slow hdd and no ssd so the mem stick access time would be ~20x faster. So yayour suggestion is looking like a real good idea and i'll try it out some day. Lappy has 6gb of ram so i may be able to try unleashed on it. Although i can't be bothered atm as it's winter and i rarely if ever use it now.

 

Now that i've tried my ssd by itself i think i'll put it back as my raid10 ssd cache drive. I liked everything loading and running fast as opposed to just this game.

 

And thanks again for helping so many people with unleashed.

Edited December 12, 2012 by deadandburied

[exca]

I still maintain that there's always a good reason why it might have not helped a few people. Computing is no magic. Faster access and throughput of most accessed files, can't slow down the game. Maybe some won't notice a difference because their computer is already very very fast.... but still. I don't believe it has no effect. It's probably my developer mind talking but that's how I think. If people see no difference it's either : their computer have a bottleneck somewhere or they already max the game's engine throughput.

 

Some people put unleashed and see no FPS change.... In fact unleashed allows them to put in and out of the 2GB process of SWTOR data faster. Meaning, if their videocard is good enough, they can enhance texture quality or other graphical options without much performance loss.

 

I totally agree with you that Usb/MemoryCard ReadyBoost is useless for SSD owners. But a Ram based one (such as AMD's one) might still speed up loading times from what I read.

 

By the way I'm very serious, I'm really interested in your knowledge in optimisation. I already know quite some things but I'm sure there are many people out there better than me at this. You look like one of them so I'd like to learn what I can from you if you have some time to explain me the big lines.

[DarthVitrial]

OK, the new version of Unleashed no longer has the event log errors!

[exca]

OK, the new version of Unleashed no longer has the event log errors!

Not sure to understand.... issue solved for you?

[DarthVitrial]

Not sure to understand.... issue solved for you?

Yes, issue solved.

[exca]

Yes, issue solved.

Great, how's unleashed for you now?