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Difference between revisions of "Glossary:RAM Disk"

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
m (→‎Game is smaller than RAM disk: Fixed spelling and grammar a bit)
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[[File:Memory_module_DDRAM_20-03-2006.jpg|thumb|frame|x250px]]
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[[File:Memory_module_DDRAM_20-03-2006.jpg|thumb|frame|x150px|A pair of RAM modules]]
 
[[Category:Hack]]
 
[[Category:Hack]]
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= Information =
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A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramdisk RAM disk] is a virtual hard drive that is stored within your computers ram. RAM is incredibly fast and is even faster than a SSD. It can be used to significantly speed up loading times of any game.
  
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A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramdisk ramdisk] is a virtual harddrive that is stored within your computers ram. Ram is incredibly fast, even faster than a SSD, you can use this to significantly speed up loading times of any game, and increase smoothness.
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== Considerations ==
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=== Advantages of using a RAM disk for gaming ===
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== Advantages of using a ramdisk for gaming ==
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*Substantially speeds up how fast a game can load.
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*Substantially speeds up how fast a game can load, sometimes even becoming instant.
 
 
*Removes stuttering caused by a slow/fragmented hard drive while playing.
 
*Removes stuttering caused by a slow/fragmented hard drive while playing.
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*You can put a part, or a whole game onto your ramdisk, depending on how much you have available.
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*Put a part, or a whole game onto your RAM disk, depending on how much you have available.
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*You can save this ramdisk as a single file on your real harddrive to load back later, to easily swap in and out different games.
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*Easily swap in and out different games by storing the RAM file on the hard drive.  
  
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== Disadvantages of using a ramdisk for gaming ==
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=== Disadvantages of using a RAM disk for gaming ===
 
*Contents of the ramdisk are lost upon a restart of the computer.
 
*Contents of the ramdisk are lost upon a restart of the computer.
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*Complicated to set up if you can't fit the entire game into a ramdisk.
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*Complicated to set up if entire game does not fit into a RAM disk.
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*The ramdisks have to be formatted, that means you will need a little more space than is required for the game files themselves. IE to use 2gb of game data you may need 2.3GB of free ram for your ramdisk.
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*The game itself will still use RAM, just as if you are playing normally.
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*The game itself will still use ram, just as if you are playing normally.
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*Setting the RAM isk too large can cause the system completely slow down.  
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*Setting the ramdisk too large can cause the system to come to complete a crawl. You will need to experiment to see what is the largest ramdisk you can handle without locking up.
 
 
*Software is limited to 4GB ramdisk size unless bought or you find an alternative.
 
*Software is limited to 4GB ramdisk size unless bought or you find an alternative.
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*May Require extra hard-drive space to backup saved games depending on your, and the games setup.
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*May require extra hard-drive space to backup saved games depending on game and system configuration.
  
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== Requirements ==
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== Guide ==
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*[http://memory.dataram.com/products-and-services/software/ramdisk Ramdisk Software]
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=== Requirements ===
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*[http://code.google.com/p/symlinker/downloads/list Symlink Creator Software]
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*[http://memory.dataram.com/products-and-services/software/ramdisk RAMdisk utility] - supports up to 4GB RAM disk size.
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*Spare ram, if your computer is already maxing out on ram, you can't do this.
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*Spare RAM. If one's system is limited on RAM then this hack will not work.
  
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= Setting up =
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=== Step 1 - How much spare RAM is there? ===
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First thing is you will need to find out how much ram you have free when you are playing your game, open up your game and go into a level. Now press ctrl+alt+del and select to open the task manager. Click the Performance tab on the task manager and look in the lower left where it says "Physical Memory (MB)" Under that it says "Available". This is how much ram you have free to use, take this number and reduce it by 200mb, this is your rough estimate to how large you will ever want to let your ramdisk be, any higher and your system will most likely slow to a crawl so much you have to reboot.
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#Find out how much RAM is free when you are playing the desired game. Open up your game and go into a level.  
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If this maximum size is over 4GB, to use more than 4GB you'll need to find an alternative ramdisk software, or purchase it.<BR>
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#Press ctrl+alt+del and select to open the task manager. Click the Performance tab on the task manager and look in the lower left where it says "Physical Memory (MB)" Under that it says "Available". This is how much ram you have free to use.
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If this size is very small, then close applications you wont be using while gaming, like messengers, anti-viruses, fancy cursors and skins and such to free up ram. If it is still very small, use [http://www.pcwintech.com/cleanmem Cleanmem] to flush your ram clean.
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#Take this number and reduce it by 200mb. This figure is approximately how large one should let their RAM disk be. Any higher and your system will most likely slow to a crawl so much you have to reboot.
 +
*Increase available RAM by closing unnescssary applications or using a utility like [http://www.pcwintech.com/cleanmem Cleanmem].
  
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With your maximum allowed size in mind, find your games files on your system, an easy way to find where it is located is rightclick the games shortcut, click properties, and look at the target, that is where your game is installed.
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=== Step 2 - What's the size of the game? ===
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For steam games they should be in the steam/steamapps folder somewhere.
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#Find out the size of your game by checking the properties of the game folder.
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Browse to where your game is installed and find out how big the entire game is, you can do this by rightclicking the folder, then selecting properties.
 
  
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Start up the ramdisk software, check the "Fat32 Partition" option. If your game saves its saved games in the games folder itself, then click the "Load and Save" tab, and check "Save Disk Image on Shutdown" and "Autosave" To avoid losing any save games.
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=== Step 3 - Format the RAM ===
 +
#Start up the ramdisk software, check the 'FAT32 Partition' option.  
 +
#If your game saves its saved games in the games folder itself, then click the 'Load and Save' tab, and check 'Save Disk Image on Shutdown' and 'Autosave' To avoid losing any save games.
  
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Now we have two routes to go from here, if your game size is smaller than your maximum ramdisk size, great! go straight on to the guide below. If not, then using a ramdisk is slightly more complicated setting up for that particular game.
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=== Step 4 - Size ====
 +
==== Game is smaller than RAM disk ====
 +
#Set Disk Size to how big the game is in MB + 100MB and press 'Start Ramdisk'.
 +
#Copy the entire game folder to the RAM disk.
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*If the software states that there is not enough space, or performance crawls to a stop, click 'Stop Ramdisk', add another 100mb to the disk size and try again.
  
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== Game is small enough to fit into ramdisk ==
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Once it is all copied, find the games main .exe file on your RAM disk, open it and start playing at increased performance and speed.
  
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Set the Disk Size to how big the game is in mb + add 100mb and hit "Start Ramdisk"
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==== Game is larger than RAM disk ====
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Now copy the entire game folder to the ramdisk, if it pops up that there is not enough space, then click "Stop Ramdisk" and add another 100mb to the disk size and try again, until you find the right size that works.
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It is still possible to use this method to load some commonly used files in large games to increase loading speeds by using symbolic links.
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Once it is all copied, find the games main .exe file on your ramdisk, open it and start playing!
 
  
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== Game is too big to fit into ramdisk ==
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Requirement:
 +
*[http://code.google.com/p/symlinker/downloads/list Symbolic Link Creator utility].
  
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Don't worry if you can't fit all of your game into ram, we can still make files go to ramdisk and load much faster still, it will still net you a big speed increase.
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===== Identify and copy commonly accessed game files =====
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This method is a definite must for use with MMO's, which are far too large to fit into a ramdisk anyway (usually).
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Choose large files rather than lots of small files. The most commonly accessed game files are often the largest, for example:
 +
*World of Warcraft uses MPQ files.
 +
*Counter-Strike Source uses .GCF files.
  
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We first must find out what files we should actually put on the ramdisk, do you know what files are used all the time by the game? For example with WoW, it is the large MPQ files. Or a game like counter-strike source, it is probably some of the source or counter-strike .gcf files.
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#Set Disk Size to how big the large game files are in MB + 100MB and press 'Start Ramdisk'.
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If you have absolutely no clue what the game uses the most, then just guess it and ramdisk the largest folder or file/s that will fit onto your ramdisk. Choose the largest folder, or file/s you can that will fit into your maximum ramdisk size. Don't choose 500 tiny files as this will make the process long and boring, choose folders or files that are large and can only just fit onto your ramdisk, the less (and larger) the better.
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*If the software state that there is not enough space, or performance crawls to a stop, click 'Stop Ramdisk' and add another 100mb to the disk size and try again.
  
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On the ramdisk program, set the Disk Size to the maximum size you got earlier and click "Start Ramdisk" If you suddenly feel your computer slow to a crawl, stop the ramdisk, lower the disk size a few hundred mbs, then start it again.
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Rename the files. For example for World of Warcraft, world.MPQ, art.MPQ can be changed to world_BACKUP.MPQ and art_BACKUP.
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Copy all the files/folders you can that will fit into this ramdisk, again limit this to as little files/folders as possible, use the largest ones you can find. It may take a few tries to find what will actually fit.
 
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For this example i have copied World of Warcrafts following files to the ramdisk; The Interface folder, world.MPQ, art.MPQ. After copying them rename them to something different otherwise you will lose these files in the next step!. I have renamed them to Interface_BACKUP world_BACKUP.MPQ art_BACKUP.MPQ.
 
  
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Now we have to make a fancy type of shortcut to each of these called a Symbolic Link that windows can understand.
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==== Symlinking ====
 +
Symbolic links allow Windows to access files on the RAM disk as if they had not been moved at all from the hard drive.
  
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Open up the symlink program and we now have to tell windows to load these folders/files now from the ramdisk, not the harddrive. Start with the folders, in the dropdown box for "Select the type of symlink that you want to create:" Make sure it is set to "Folder symbolic link".
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#Open up the Symbolic Link Creator utility.
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#Copy folders by selecting 'Select the type of symlink that you want to create' > 'Folder symbolic link'.
 
Under Link Folder click the explore button, now explore to the path where the folder was. For me it was in C:\MyGames\WoW.
 
Under Link Folder click the explore button, now explore to the path where the folder was. For me it was in C:\MyGames\WoW.
 
In the "Now give a name to the link" type in the original name of the folder. In this example its Interface.
 
In the "Now give a name to the link" type in the original name of the folder. In this example its Interface.

Revision as of 17:23, 13 February 2012

A pair of RAM modules

A RAM disk is a virtual hard drive that is stored within your computers ram. RAM is incredibly fast and is even faster than a SSD. It can be used to significantly speed up loading times of any game.

Considerations

Advantages of using a RAM disk for gaming

  • Substantially speeds up how fast a game can load.
  • Removes stuttering caused by a slow/fragmented hard drive while playing.
  • Put a part, or a whole game onto your RAM disk, depending on how much you have available.
  • Easily swap in and out different games by storing the RAM file on the hard drive.

Disadvantages of using a RAM disk for gaming

  • Contents of the ramdisk are lost upon a restart of the computer.
  • Complicated to set up if entire game does not fit into a RAM disk.
  • The game itself will still use RAM, just as if you are playing normally.
  • Setting the RAM isk too large can cause the system completely slow down.
  • Software is limited to 4GB ramdisk size unless bought or you find an alternative.
  • May require extra hard-drive space to backup saved games depending on game and system configuration.

Guide

Requirements

  • RAMdisk utility - supports up to 4GB RAM disk size.
  • Spare RAM. If one's system is limited on RAM then this hack will not work.

Step 1 - How much spare RAM is there?

  1. Find out how much RAM is free when you are playing the desired game. Open up your game and go into a level.
  2. Press ctrl+alt+del and select to open the task manager. Click the Performance tab on the task manager and look in the lower left where it says "Physical Memory (MB)" Under that it says "Available". This is how much ram you have free to use.
  3. Take this number and reduce it by 200mb. This figure is approximately how large one should let their RAM disk be. Any higher and your system will most likely slow to a crawl so much you have to reboot.
  • Increase available RAM by closing unnescssary applications or using a utility like Cleanmem.

Step 2 - What's the size of the game?

  1. Find out the size of your game by checking the properties of the game folder.

Step 3 - Format the RAM

  1. Start up the ramdisk software, check the 'FAT32 Partition' option.
  2. If your game saves its saved games in the games folder itself, then click the 'Load and Save' tab, and check 'Save Disk Image on Shutdown' and 'Autosave' To avoid losing any save games.

Step 4 - Size =

Game is smaller than RAM disk

  1. Set Disk Size to how big the game is in MB + 100MB and press 'Start Ramdisk'.
  2. Copy the entire game folder to the RAM disk.
  • If the software states that there is not enough space, or performance crawls to a stop, click 'Stop Ramdisk', add another 100mb to the disk size and try again.

Once it is all copied, find the games main .exe file on your RAM disk, open it and start playing at increased performance and speed.

Game is larger than RAM disk

It is still possible to use this method to load some commonly used files in large games to increase loading speeds by using symbolic links.

Requirement:

Identify and copy commonly accessed game files

Choose large files rather than lots of small files. The most commonly accessed game files are often the largest, for example:

  • World of Warcraft uses MPQ files.
  • Counter-Strike Source uses .GCF files.
  1. Set Disk Size to how big the large game files are in MB + 100MB and press 'Start Ramdisk'.
  • If the software state that there is not enough space, or performance crawls to a stop, click 'Stop Ramdisk' and add another 100mb to the disk size and try again.

Rename the files. For example for World of Warcraft, world.MPQ, art.MPQ can be changed to world_BACKUP.MPQ and art_BACKUP.

Symlinking

Symbolic links allow Windows to access files on the RAM disk as if they had not been moved at all from the hard drive.

  1. Open up the Symbolic Link Creator utility.
  2. Copy folders by selecting 'Select the type of symlink that you want to create' > 'Folder symbolic link'.

Under Link Folder click the explore button, now explore to the path where the folder was. For me it was in C:\MyGames\WoW. In the "Now give a name to the link" type in the original name of the folder. In this example its Interface. Finally in Destination folder click explore, and navigate to where you copied the folder. In this example its I:\Interface. Click Create Link. Repeat this process for all the folders you copied. Then do the same process for all the files, change from "Folder symbolic link" to "File symbolic link". Click explore and explore to where the file was, in this example its in C:\MyGames\WoW\Data. In the box below it, type the name of the original file, in this example it was world.MPQ Click the explore button under destination file. Find world.MPQ on your ramdrive and select it. Click create link. Repeat this for all the files you copied. NOTE you don't need to do this for files INSIDE a folder you already linked.

Success! Now whenever the game attempts to read data from the files/folders you linked, it will read them from the ramdisk instead by following the symbolic link shortcut. This will greatly improve the speed of your game, if you notice no real increase then try using different files, or buy more ram to be able to ramdisk more data. For example if you copied a wows MPQ file that contains all TBC content, but you never ever visit there, you probably wont get much benefit, but if you are always in Kalimdor, and you ramdisk the MPQ containing Kalimdor, you will see a significant difference.

Important footnotes

Data from ram is instantly lost whenever you lose power, or shutdown. If your game saves its saved games in the games folder itself, then click the "Load and Save" tab, and check "Save Disk Image on Shutdown" and "Autosave" To avoid losing any save games. Do not delete the original game files from your harddrive unless you have this autosave turned on, or you will lose your files!