Using a RamDisk to eliminate AI Loading Stutters

[TasKiNG 0]

I made a comment in Bojote's thread "Automated Tweaking and Tuning tool for FSX" regarding the use of a RamDisk to reduce stutters caused when AI aircraft get loaded..There was some interest shown so rather than hijack Bojote's thread I thought it best to start a new one to give those interested some more info.First to save any confusion I would like to point out that when I refer to RamDisk I am not talking about a SSD Drive but instead a virtual drive that is created in the computers memory ( RAM ).I would not suggest that you try this without first making backups of your fsx.cfg and also your SimObjects\Airplanes folder or if you have less than 4gig of ram.Note that this will only prevent stutters from AI loading so if you are getting them for other reasons it will probably make little difference.Before using this make sure your fsx setup is as optimized as possible and I suggest that you check out Bojote's excellent Automated Tweaking and Tuning tool and also his shader3.0 mod utility. ( all info for these on AVSIM ).The size of the RamDisk you create will determine the amount of AI aircraft you can use but you need to keep at least 3 GIG or ram available for FSX.Here is what I did:-First of all you need to decide what AI you want.I have limited myself to Europe so I installed the WOAI ( World of AI ) packages for the Unighted Kingdon, Germany and France. This installed around 800megabytes of AI aircraft.I created a 850Megabyte Virtual Hard Disk in ram using Superspeed RamDisk Plus . Im sure there are others that do the same thing but this worked in 64bit windows 7 and is dead easy to use.On the RamDisk I then created an Airplanes folder.I then copied the WOAI aircraft files from the FSX SimObjects\Airplanes folder to my ramdisk Airplanes folder.You then need to copy the folder for the aircraft that you will be flying to the ramdisk Airplanes folder. In my case this was the Lear45 Folder.I then modified my FSX.CFG file so SimObjectPaths.0 pointed to my ramdisk Airplanes folder instead of the SimObjects\Airplanes folder. My entry was as follows: SimObjectPaths.0=D:\AirplanesI also set AirlineDensity=50Thats it. Will be interesting to know if others find this improves their AI loading stutters too.I did some speed tests on the ramdisk and the read speed was 4772 MB/s so pretty fast :)

[RelaxX 10]

This is a very interesting solution. May be I will try this as well with my QSoft RAMDisk (http://members.fortu.../ramdriv001.htm), which is not installed at the moment.

On the RamDisk I then created an Airplanes folder. I then copied the WOAI aircraft files from the FSX SimObjects\Airplanes folder to my ramdisk Airplanes folder.You then need to copy the folder for the aircraft that you will be flying to the ramdisk Airplanes folder. In my case this was the Lear45 Folder.

1) Do you do this every time you start up your system?2) What do you do if you want to use another aircraft than the Lear45? 3) Do you see an advantage if the actual aircraft is located in the RAMDisk?4) Do you use your RAMDisk for other purposes as well?

[TasKiNG 0]

This is a very interesting solution. May be I will try this as well with my QSoft RAMDisk (http://members.fortu.../ramdriv001.htm), which is not installed at the moment. 1) Do you do this every time you start up your system?2) What do you do if you want to use another aircraft than the Lear45? 3) Do you see an advantage if the actual aircraft is located in the RAMDisk?4) Do you use your RAMDisk for other purposes as well?

1) No, the RamDisk software I am using backs the files up to the hard drive when windows shutsdown and puts them back again when I restart windows.2) I am building a Lear45 Simulator so I don't fly any other aircraft. But if I wanted to I would then put the files for that aircraft onto the ramdisk.3) I put the Lear45 on there too as it keeps the FSX.CFG changes simpler.4) No, I am only using my ramdisk for this purpose. I would really need to increase my memory to 8gig before trying this with other FSX files as you need to leave enough memory for FSX to run efficiently.

[LuisFelizTirado 33]

Interesting idea. Probably you have already seen this article over at Tom's Hardware indicating the same thing with greater detail:http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ram-memory-upgrade,2778.htmlBest regards.Luis

[TasKiNG 0]

Interesting idea. Probably you have already seen this article over at Tom's Hardware indicating the same thing with greater detail:http://www.tomshardw...grade,2778.htmlBest regards.Luis

Thanks Luis,Great article on the use of RamDisks. Also mentions a free alternative to "Superspeed Ramdisk Plus" called "Gavotte RAM Disk 1.04". Wish I had heard of this free one before I started this :)CheersDave

[earthdog 599]

Great Idea...Original thinking!!But i was thinking...How would the ENTIRE system benefit by the use lets say of Supercache from superspeed.com..I mean the whole app will decide what goes to the cache...Has anyone tried something like this?I ahve W7 x64 with 8gb ram and i think i will try it...

[TasKiNG 0]

Great Idea...Original thinking!!But i was thinking...How would the ENTIRE system benefit by the use lets say of Supercache from superspeed.com..I mean the whole app will decide what goes to the cache...Has anyone tried something like this?I ahve W7 x64 with 8gb ram and i think i will try it...

My understanding of a disk cache is that it is only beneficial if the application repeatably loads the same data from the Hard Disk. In the case of FSX I would have thought that the majority of data loaded from disk would be scenery files that get loaded as you fly rather than the same files repeatedly loaded. I wouldn't be surprised if running Supercache with FSX actually makes it worse.Will be great if your going to try it. Please let us know the results.

[FlyData 2]

So would this work with all simobjects and default AI? If I made a 3GB RAMdisk, I could load the entire simobjects folder on that. If that would work, what would be the cfg file change I would have to make, and would this speed up loading of all objects (my plane as well as AI planes, boats, cars, etc)? Thanks.-Don

[RelaxX 10]

Suppose you have created a RAM disk with drive letter R and copied the entire simobjects folder in it, then you should change the paths for the simobjects in the FSX.CFG as follows:Existing:[Main]....SimObjectPaths.0=SimObjects\AirplanesSimObjectPaths.1=SimObjects\RotorcraftSimObjectPaths.2=SimObjects\GroundVehiclesSimObjectPaths.3=SimObjects\BoatsSimObjectPaths.4=SimObjects\AnimalsSimObjectPaths.5=SimObjects\MiscSimObjectPaths.6=SimObjects\UT2 AircraftNew:[Main]....SimObjectPaths.0=R:\SimObjects\AirplanesSimObjectPaths.1= R:\SimObjects\RotorcraftSimObjectPaths.2= R:\SimObjects\GroundVehiclesSimObjectPaths.3= R:\SimObjects\BoatsSimObjectPaths.4= R:\SimObjects\AnimalsSimObjectPaths.5= R:\SimObjects\MiscSimObjectPaths.6= R:\SimObjects\UT2 AircraftIt would be very interesting to know the results.

[Guest nzch2010]

My understanding of a disk cache is that it is only beneficial if the application repeatably loads the same data from the Hard Disk. In the case of FSX I would have thought that the majority of data loaded from disk would be scenery files that get loaded as you fly rather than the same files repeatedly loaded. I wouldn't be surprised if running Supercache with FSX actually makes it worse.Will be great if your going to try it. Please let us know the results.

HiJust curious, does this stuttering of AI when loading,only happen with WOAI ? or user created AI ? I also use ******* tweak and have no stutters with AI (i'm using UT2 set at 100%) in fact I am running an i5 2.8 multi core with 8gig ram and a 8800GTS 512 graphics card, so not the latest as far as hadrware goes. FSX for me is very smooth and fly mainly PMDG and Lvld. I can fly into FSDT KDFW with no stuttering(AI).So why do some with far faster systems than myself experiencing this, if anbody should, it should be me.I can only assume it is the aircraft used ? Or are some using FS9 aircraft as AI ?CheersJulian

[TasKiNG 0]

This was not a problem with WOAI, it was with any AI package. 99.9% of the time I got no stutters but occasionally I was getting a stutter and noticed that this did not occur with all AI set to Zero. Limiting my AI by only using AI from areas that I fly ( Europe ) and putting them on the Ramdisk completely eliminated the stutters. I suspect most people would not be too bothered at these rare stutters but they annoyed the hell out of me :)

[RelaxX 10]

Did you try with ALL simobjects on the RAM disk?

[TasKiNG 0]

No, Would like to but I only have 4 GIG of memory so to increase my RamDisk more than its current size to fit them all in would limit the memory available to FSX and cause other problems.Would be great to hear from someone with more ram who could try it with all simobjects.Note: I have also disabled cars and boats

[Noel 753]

Will be interesting to know if others find this improves their AI loading stutters too.I did some speed tests on the ramdisk and the read speed was 4772 MB/s so pretty fast :)

I posed this question years ago however w/ regard to .wav files, mostly default ATC. I notice some slight hangs on occasion w/ larger .wav files loading the first time, but I hadn't thought about this w/ regard to AI. Are 'AI loading stutters' a known issue? Never read or heard about this as a source of stutters. Perhaps this is the solution for autogen too, no? What would it take to do this for .wav files from ATC?Thanks in advance,Noel

[kjng 0]

Funny, i thought about using a ramdisk to speed up the draw of autogen today. But i dont know where all the autogen objects and their textures are located. (i do use gex na and eur) for addon airports it should be easy though.My approach would be to move the needed files and folders to another place on my hardrive, copy the content on the ramdisk and create links to them out of the fsx main folder via mklink.