Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Guest Ian_Riddell

Phoenix Rises From (Computer) Ashes

Recommended Posts

Guest Ian_Riddell

Thanks, Ray et al....Now I'll just read all of what you said a few times... and see if any sinks in ;-)Get RAM. RAM is GOOD. (Got that bit) :-)What I don't quite understand is why PDGM runs quite nicely (2D panel) in FS2002 with most of the sliders maxxed out, even though it takes so long to boot up the panel. You may have already told me in this message thread.... but it may take me a while to realize that :-lolThanks again.Cheers.Ian.

Share this post


Link to post
Guest Ray CYYZ

Ian, think of your memory as a shopping cart. You pile all the stuff in it at the store. You go to the checkout and they nicely bag it for you. Easier moving the bags around then all the separate little goodies you put in the cart right?Loading is like standing at the checkout, gotta sort through and price everything then put it in bags so you can get at the stuff quickly. The more smaller items you have, the longer it takes (consider these detail settings).Once it has been bagged, it is quick to move the goodies around (swapping in and out of memory - Windows swap file).When you get home, it takes time to unpack the bags and put things away (gotta clean out all that swapped stuff in order to exit the program).Thats your situation as it sits now.Add to that that FS9 (not sure if you are running 9 too) seems to have a silly setting that throws away 1/4 of your ram for nothing (AGPTexture=1) and you can see just how much the prep work is going to take (the checkout clerk is one handed now).Ray

Share this post


Link to post
Guest Ian_Riddell

A marvellous analogy, Ray :-)Unfortunately, it looks like the cashier didn't like colour of my money when I tried to check out... I just bought an extra 512 of DDR RAM... to add to the existing 256.... It made absolutely no difference to loading times.So far I've spend almost A$300 on replacement RAM, $A65 on the product and about A$80 on the Bulfer 737NG FMC Users Guide. PS1 is starting to look more and more economical every minute :( I think I'd need an awful lot of encouragement to go to 1 Gig of RAM. I may have to bite the bullet and re-download the NG files.... even though, last time, it took about 4 days on my wobbly internet connection. I might have to blackmail PMDG into sending me a hard copy! :-lolCheers.Ian.

Share this post


Link to post

If any of you are using Windows XP either Pro or Home try this.... For users of Windows 2000 or XP you actually have to tell the OS what size L2 cache your processor has otherwise it won't be used properly! Luckily it's fairly easy to fix. Click on the Start button then go to run. From there type REGEDIT and press the "Ok" button. After it opens the Registry Editor follow this path. hkey_local_machine, System, CurrentControlSet, *Control*, Session Manager, Memory Management Once you're in the Memory Management folder look for the DWORD value secondleveldatacache. Right click on that and go to modify. Very important you have to change the Base from Hexidecimal to Decimal before modifying the values. After that's done just punch in your L2 cache size so if you're using an AthlonXP since the CPU has 256KB L2 Cache you enter 256. For Duron's enter 64 and for P4 Northwood's enter 512. After that's done you should notice your programs now have quite a bit more zip and the system is less sluggish because Windows now knows how to use your L2 cache properly. I will CAUTION those of you who have no clear idea exactly how to mess with this to not attempt it! If you are comfortable you will reap some added benifits =)[h5]Best Wishes,Randy J. Smith [h4]P M D G 7 3 7 NG[/h4]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-8/196432/mineimage.jpg [h3] Realism on the horizon [h5]AMD XP 2200 |MUNCHKIN 512 DDR RAM |ECS[/b ][i] K7S5A MB[/i] |GF2 MX 32 MEG and still runs GOOD!|WIN XP PRO |MITSUBISHI DIAMOND PLUS 91 19"[/h5]

Share this post


Link to post
Guest Ian_Riddell

"I will CAUTION those of you who have no clear idea exactly how to mess with this to not attempt it!"Tried it in spite of this, Randy :-lolDidn't work, but it was a noble effort. You explained it well.Thanks anyway :-)Cheers.Ian.

Share this post


Link to post

Well you should notice an increase in windows ie opening etc....[h4]Best Wishes,Randy J. Smith [/4]P M D G 7 3 7 NG[/h4]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-8/196432/mineimage.jpg [h3] Realism on the horizon AMD XP 2200 |MUNCHKIN 512 DDR RAM |ECS[/b ][i] K7S5A MB[/i] |GF2 MX 32 MEG and still runs GOOD!|WIN XP PRO |MITSUBISHI DIAMOND PLUS 91 19"[/h3]

Share this post


Link to post
Guest Ray CYYZ

Ian, mail me a couple of screen shots of what you have running on your task manager pages. Something fishy here as there really is no way that ou can double your memory and get nothing out of it without something else going on ...You wouldn't by chance have some AntiVirus program running with real time file protection?I know just what you mean about PS1, I went through the same thought process with FS2000 & PIC, the cost of putting a machine together that could actually run them well make me buy PS1 instead as it was much cheaper ;-)Rayemail: raymond.gardner@sympatico.ca

Share this post


Link to post
Guest Ian_Riddell

"Well you should notice an increase in windows ie opening etc...."I think you may be right, Randy. I just noticed it. That's going to make PMDG look even slower, tho' :(Cheers.Ian.

Share this post


Link to post
Guest Stratus_Fractus

Ray,Thanks so much!! I got an average of 8 fps more with that tweak, and no decrease in visual quality. I think I'll actually enjoy FS9 now. :-D

Share this post


Link to post
Guest OneTinSoldier

Hello Randy Smith,I'm just curious. Where'd you hear about the Registry Tweak for the L2 Cache size? I know of quite a few tweaks myself, but not that one. Just curious is all. Btw, I just punched it in. :) I guess the hardware must not report this item to the OS when installing the OS, or else MS didn't program WinXP to pick it up eh.Thanks,Jimmy Richards

Share this post


Link to post

I found that on a windows XP tweak site a while back and saved the info ;)[h4]Best Wishes,Randy J. Smith [/4]P M D G 7 3 7 NG[/h4]http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-8/196432/mineimage.jpg [h3] Realism on the horizon AMD XP 2200 |MUNCHKIN 512 DDR RAM |ECS[/b ][i] K7S5A MB[/i] |GF2 MX 32 MEG and still runs GOOD!|WIN XP PRO |MITSUBISHI DIAMOND PLUS 91 19"[/h3]

Share this post


Link to post
Guest OneTinSoldier

Ahhh, figures. Well it was a good find. Thanks for sharing it. :)Take Care,Jim Richards

Share this post


Link to post
Guest ba747heavy

IIRC, that tweak is useless unless you have a very old processor with some very odd way of putting the L2 cache on the die. There was a lengthy techinical discussion about this tweak a while back on these forums, and the general consensus was that it won't work with anything akin to a normal processer ;-)Of course, I could be wrong, remembering a discussion that didn't mean spit to this tweak, or ..... :-hah

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  
  • Tom Allensworth,
    Founder of AVSIM Online


  • Flight Simulation's Premier Resource!

    AVSIM is a free service to the flight simulation community. AVSIM is staffed completely by volunteers and all funds donated to AVSIM go directly back to supporting the community. Your donation here helps to pay our bandwidth costs, emergency funding, and other general costs that crop up from time to time. Thank you for your support!

    Click here for more information and to see all donations year to date.
×
×
  • Create New...