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I am trying to transition to a Ramdisk to load SC2, but I am wondering what is the best folder/file(s) to load into the ram disk.
Note: I am using MKLINK windows 7 command to link to the appropriate file/folder so I can keep the original install location but not move the Entire contents of the SC2 folder into the ram disk since its to large at 10.2 gigs ), i can do it on a file by file or folder basis.
I want to speed up when Maps/multiplayer loads (which minimum files can i copy/link in my ramdisk to speed up loading multiplayer) is this the Battle.net.MPQ? or something in "versions" folder?
Note i only have about 2-3 gigs of available Ramdisk space, so loading all of SC2 in there would not work..
I doubt I need the entire folder since things like Movies/single player campaign is not needed need to load for multiplayer.
Link to the SC2 forumn thread:
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/4768327328
I have searched the forums here and did not see an answer to this yet. (i posted earlier to the wrong area, so posting here to get it in the right category)
So why do this?
+ Show Spoiler +I have SSD, but Ram is 100x faster than that, with 8gig ram i have abotu 2-3 gig free so this can be used to load maps faster.. I noticed my friends machine is 2-3 seconds faster than mine and he can start mining before i even see my Workers.. so i hope this will give me an edge over his setup.
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TY SkyR so that tells me I probbly can get away with jsut those 2 folders in my Ram-disk (which is less that 500 meg)
So for those who want to know:
the commands I run are: (note you have to run cmd.exe as Administrator, do this only if u know what your doing)
mklink /J "C:\Program Files (x86)\Sc2\Versions\Base21029" "F:\other\scdata\Base21029"
mklink /J "C:\Program Files (x86)\Sc2\Versions\Shaders14515" "F:\other\scdata\Shaders14515"
Also for kicks I tested the battle.net folder out too (it seems to do with the UI of battlenet):
mklink /J "C:\Program Files (x86)\Sc2\Battle.net" "F:\other\scdata\battle.net"
since its only an extra 100 meg to load
And for the .exe file:
mklink "C:\Program Files (x86)\Sc2\StarCraft II.exe" "F:\other\scdata\StarCraft II.exe"
this creates Junctions/links to the original location on my C: while the actual files are located on F: (my ram-disk)
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There was a good comment in the last thread you made which I think you should read:
On April 27 2012 03:02 Ph4ZeD wrote: What on earth is the point of this? You are already limited by how fast the other players in the game load and decent SSDs (which are pretty cheap now) load the game incredibly fast already.
A ramdisk is not going to be "100x faster" than a SSD. It may be somewhat faster, but that's just more time you'll be sitting there twittering your thumbs waiting for the other player to load. If you already own a SSD, there's literally no point to this at all.
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I read that comment, but still if the game loads faster it may give you an edge in worker splits.
I ran my computer next to my friends, and his loaded a good 2-3 seconds before mine,,, my screen compeltly black but he was in the game already.. (note we both were using harddrives, but his computer is faster),
This would give him a advantage in initial worker splits, so the theory is if the game loads in faster it may help you this way, So it may actualy have a point.. ( id like to test to find out if true)
(besides this will let you know which folders are useless to multiplayer if you are running ssd and need to recover the disk space)
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I have reason to believe if there really was a 2-3 second difference theres something wrong at your end, since this is never the case when the rest of us go to Lans quite often
Perhaps, your ramdisk to a SSD you may get you screen nanoseconds faster, but hell if you bank on that for a win, and your below grandmaster, kind of silly..
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I was on the same network/router as his. We were both wired (not wireless, i remeber now). his computer is faster than mine and mine was a laptop his was a desktop
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On April 27 2012 04:04 ericbojo wrote: I ran my computer next to my friends, and his loaded a good 2-3 seconds before mine,,, my screen compeltly black but he was in the game already.. (note we both were using harddrives, but his computer is faster),
That sounds more like an issue with the GPU than the HDD. Basically, SC2 loads up all the data it needs from the HDD before the match starts. If you've got a black screen for 2-3 seconds, it's not due to loading speeds on the HDD.
If I had to guess I'd say there is some issue with your video driver that's causing it to hang for a few seconds. Moving your files to a ramdisk isn't going to solve that.
Even so, loading from a ramdisk isn't going to be that much faster than loading from a SSD. Won't come even close to a 2-3 second difference, unless the file being loaded is immensly enormous. Also, using a ramdisk leaves less space for Window's superfetch to preload files, so it would actually probably reduce the overall speed of your PC where starting applications is concerned.
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This might be true, but still it doesn't answer the question at hand.
I'd rather like to test this than make assumptions. (his computer was significantly better than mine, but im running at low settings, and game runs super smooth at those settings) on top of that he was running on a TV screen which has serious input lag which would make his screen slower than mine (yet he was still faster loading the in game screen)
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Serious input lag still isn't 2-3 seconds you know? Even on a TV.
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Loading slower than your opponent won't give you a disadvantage. Latency, fps drops and being worse than him will.
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Cool stuff, used to do this on Linux and Mac, didn't know Windows had a easier way to create RAM disk.
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Well, doesn't Windows allocate unused RAM to System Cache? I see longer longer load times the first time around anything but then it all gets faster. You are trying to get a form of System Cache from the beginning, right?
As for the load time getting in the way of your worker splits, I don't know about that, you should see huge latency on your end, like 2+ seconds, if the start game command gets to you 2 seconds later. I am confused.
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This seems like a lot of effort and it's only really useful once per map as Windows will already cache the files after the first use (and do a better job of it too by only caching required pages). If you have an SSD already your bottleneck is definitely not the hard drive.
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If windows caches stuff, generally it's in the pagefile which is hard disk based right?
Im not sure, but if windows cached maps then your second load of the same map should be a lot faster than the first load.. which doesn't seem to be the case for me.
Even if there is no initial load in game benefit, i still like the game client to load fast too, which it seems to help a lot.
Also for those who run on Pure SSD, every Megabyte is valuable, so knowing which files are useless for multiplayer can save u alot of space.
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On April 27 2012 04:33 TheToast wrote:Show nested quote +On April 27 2012 04:04 ericbojo wrote: I ran my computer next to my friends, and his loaded a good 2-3 seconds before mine,,, my screen compeltly black but he was in the game already.. (note we both were using harddrives, but his computer is faster),
That sounds more like an issue with the GPU than the HDD. Basically, SC2 loads up all the data it needs from the HDD before the match starts. If you've got a black screen for 2-3 seconds, it's not due to loading speeds on the HDD. If I had to guess I'd say there is some issue with your video driver that's causing it to hang for a few seconds. Moving your files to a ramdisk isn't going to solve that. Even so, loading from a ramdisk isn't going to be that much faster than loading from a SSD. Won't come even close to a 2-3 second difference, unless the file being loaded is immensly enormous. Also, using a ramdisk leaves less space for Window's superfetch to preload files, so it would actually probably reduce the overall speed of your PC where starting applications is concerned. Yes, this.
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On April 28 2012 03:39 ericbojo wrote: If windows caches stuff, generally it's in the pagefile which is hard disk based right?
Im not sure, but if windows cached maps then your second load of the same map should be a lot faster than the first load.. which doesn't seem to be the case for me.
How, and with what effectiveness, Windows caches depends greatly on what OS you're using. For Windows 7, Microsoft greatly overhauled Windows Superfetch, which esentially pre-loads regularly used files, applications, etc. into the unused System RAM. That way when you open these things, the system just has to access the RAM, instead of issuing a read request from the HDD and then loading that into memory.
In previous versions of Windows, the superfetch wasn't as effective; though I believe it's existed since XP. (possibly further back?). The superfetch is part of the reason that using a RAMdisk can actually reduce system speed. Just because Windows shows that RAM as unused, it is in fact being utilized by the system to pre-load stuff. The exact requirements for superfetch to preload a file is unknow, obviously MS doesn't release their source code, but MS developer blogs have explained that it preloads the stuff that is used the most frequently. Depending on how often you play SC2, it may or may not apply.
Either way you slice it, a RAMdisk is not going to be any noticably faster than a SSD. If you wish to ignore us and try it anyway, well then have fun. But the 2-3 seconds of black is not an issue with your SSD, likely it's an issue with video settings, video driver, or some combination.
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On April 27 2012 04:49 ericbojo wrote: This might be true, but still it doesn't answer the question at hand.
I'd rather like to test this than make assumptions. (his computer was significantly better than mine, but im running at low settings, and game runs super smooth at those settings) on top of that he was running on a TV screen which has serious input lag which would make his screen slower than mine (yet he was still faster loading the in game screen) Im not sure about that bub. I mean, same tv, ive had crazy amount of different computers plugged in, everything from my old Athlon64 X2, To my more recent i3-2120 (running on its default IGP), to my girlfriends Phenom ii x4 955 be with a 460, and lastly my friends overclocked i5-2500k with a HD 6970 and other various laptops when we lan. Never had a notable input delay EVER. Idk, because this is a thread created on a situation and it might not necessarily answer your original problem.
Hell, to even think it helps a work split is a little far fetched, a simple human error (like, looking away) for a nanosecond already loses a "thinkable" advantage you may get, if any.
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I do agree that GPU is probbly the biggest cause to screen load lag, but since i can't upgrade the computer I am using to test this isn't an option for me. Ram-disk is my only option to improve load time, and on top of that its free to try since I already have plenty of ram to spare. Sure its a little bit of techincal know how but i think its worth the effort.
Either way you slice it, a RAMdisk is not going to be any noticably faster than a SSD. If you wish to ignore us and try it anyway, well then have fun. But the 2-3 seconds of black is not an issue with your SSD, likely it's an issue with video settings, video driver, or some combination.
Im looking for input so obviously not looking to ignore any feedback, but so far most input this thread has received is that its not worth doing (with no evidence to back it up), what I propose is new (or not documented well) and from what I'm hearing, hasn't been tested yet, so why not at least give the idea a shot before shooting it down, for those who are interested? It doesn't cost anything to try it out.
Wouldn't u rather hear someone say "Hey I've tried it and it doesn't work /is slower / theres a better/cheaper way.? If there is I'm all ears.
So i guess I'll try to do my own testing to see what works, and see if it has any improvement.. , right now i don't have a good setup to test, ideally it would be 2 identical computers on the same network starting the same game with screens side by side.
Anyway, I agree, it is a small point, but every edge u can get can help you eek out a win at the higher levels.
Also for some reason Windows disables SuperFetch if you are using a SSD, although it seems like they shouldn't since memory is inherently faster than even a fast SSD, good to know they have that feature though.
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