Using a RamDisk to eliminate AI Loading Stutters

[Noel 4,499]

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 have some interest in trying a RAMdisk for loading ATC .wav files. I've noticed I can have an occasional very slight hiccup when certain ATC .wav files play. Once they've been executed once in memory, the same hang does not happen with the same .wav stream. How could I do this, just for stock FSX ATC? I think this would have more impact than AI aircraft, though not sure. I do know for sure though about the brief hangs which I had guessed maybe was the initial read disk I/O for that particular .wav.Thanks in advance!Noel

[kjng 0]

I have some interest in trying a RAMdisk for loading ATC .wav files. I've noticed I can have an occasional very slight hiccup when certain ATC .wav files play. Once they've been executed once in memory, the same hang does not happen with the same .wav stream. How could I do this, just for stock FSX ATC? I think this would have more impact than AI aircraft, though not sure. I do know for sure though about the brief hangs which I had guessed maybe was the initial read disk I/O for that particular .wav.Thanks in advance!Noel

I want to put all required files for autogen batch on the ramdisk, what you propose should be possible the same way. But you have to know what files are involved in ATC com. (editvoicepack x might come in handy)

[garydpoole 183]

Hi Can I assume that use of a RAMDisk in FS9 is not practical due to the lack of the SimObjectPaths approach to the compartmentalizing of the AI folders?RegardsGary

[Crewecut 1]

Thanks for the tip! The CS 757 is a bit frame heavy on TO and landing, will definitely give it a go.Bjorn

[Crewecut 1]

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

Found this at techsnack.net regarding the Gavotte free-bee "But, remember to copy downloaded files from Ramdisk before you shutdown your PC, else you will lost everything!" I like the idea of the other program doing it for me, I´d gladly pay.Bjorn

[kjng 0]

http://memory.dataram.com/products-and-services/software/ramdiskthat one is free and does save content to disk on shutdown and load it on system startup, only limitation in the freeware version is a max of 4 gb.

[Crewecut 1]

Great, thanks! 15 bucks isn´t that bad :( B

[Stoli151 6]

Hi I'm new to this forum and this is my first post. This thread gave me the inspiration to try using ramdisk to eliminate HDD microstutters. I have an i7 2720 quad geforce 525m 6gb DDR3 RAM and a 7200 RPM HDD. I started with a clean install with sp1 sp2 and some of Nicks tweaks to the config. Then I just adjusted sliders until I was running a fast fps 50 to 60 but I was still getting microstutters every 20 or thirty seconds with a large drop in fps every minute. I found the large drop was caused by the image globe files that render your far vision in the sim. Since i run a weather addon that limits my visibility to 50miles I just disabled those files since i cant see what they render anyway. That eliminated the large fps drop at one minute. Next was the occasional microstutters and reading this thread specifically the post about using mklink inspired me to download the freeware 4gb ramdisk app and find this article www.howtogeek.com complete guide to using symbolic links in windows and linux. By the way I only think you should try this if you have 6gb or more of ram. Then I downloaded the freeware process monitor and ran it while fsx was running and found out which files fsx was reading the most. I found the most hits were on the sound files, scenery/world texture, scenery/global, simobjects, texture, weather/clouds, and appdata/local/microsoft/fsx/shaders. So I started up ramdisk made it 2.8 gb in size fsx needs about 3 so think about that, then copied what i could to the ramdisk. I could not even attempt the scenery/world/texture files because they were to large but if you have the ram and the payware ramdisk app, go for it. Then I used the linkshell program explained in the article to make symbolic links from the ramdisk to their old location in the fsx files. I highly recommend using linkshell as opposed to using the cmd. Linkshell makes this a drag and drop operation basically. Once i did that I ran fsx and had a nearly flawless performance. Basically the more you can get on the ramdisk I think the better fsx will run. However you have to repeat the whole process over every time you stop the ramdisk which includes shutting down, I found this is worth it though. I am not a programmer so if some professional wants to dispute with me how I didn't do anything right, go ahead. It worked for me is all I can say. Keep in mind you should have good hardware good fps and occasional minor stutters for this to work I believe. And the more RAM the better. Any questions for me please post but keep in mind I am one step above being an imbecile with a computer. Thanks to all involved in this thread

[dhwang 0]

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 know a ramdisk is a lot faster than a SSD, but a SSD is not fast enough?

[GSalden 4,656]

Hi I'm new to this forum and this is my first post. This thread gave me the inspiration to try using ramdisk to eliminate HDD microstutters. I have an i7 2720 quad geforce 525m 6gb DDR3 RAM and a 7200 RPM HDD. I started with a clean install with sp1 sp2 and some of Nicks tweaks to the config. Then I just adjusted sliders until I was running a fast fps 50 to 60 but I was still getting microstutters every 20 or thirty seconds with a large drop in fps every minute. I found the large drop was caused by the image globe files that render your far vision in the sim. Since i run a weather addon that limits my visibility to 50miles I just disabled those files since i cant see what they render anyway. That eliminated the large fps drop at one minute. Next was the occasional microstutters and reading this thread specifically the post about using mklink inspired me to download the freeware 4gb ramdisk app and find this article www.howtogeek.com complete guide to using symbolic links in windows and linux. By the way I only think you should try this if you have 6gb or more of ram. Then I downloaded the freeware process monitor and ran it while fsx was running and found out which files fsx was reading the most. I found the most hits were on the sound files, scenery/world texture, scenery/global, simobjects, texture, weather/clouds, and appdata/local/microsoft/fsx/shaders. So I started up ramdisk made it 2.8 gb in size fsx needs about 3 so think about that, then copied what i could to the ramdisk. I could not even attempt the scenery/world/texture files because they were to large but if you have the ram and the payware ramdisk app, go for it. Then I used the linkshell program explained in the article to make symbolic links from the ramdisk to their old location in the fsx files. I highly recommend using linkshell as opposed to using the cmd. Linkshell makes this a drag and drop operation basically. Once i did that I ran fsx and had a nearly flawless performance. Basically the more you can get on the ramdisk I think the better fsx will run. However you have to repeat the whole process over every time you stop the ramdisk which includes shutting down, I found this is worth it though. I am not a programmer so if some professional wants to dispute with me how I didn't do anything right, go ahead. It worked for me is all I can say. Keep in mind you should have good hardware good fps and occasional minor stutters for this to work I believe. And the more RAM the better. Any questions for me please post but keep in mind I am one step above being an imbecile with a computer. Thanks to all involved in this thread

Can you provide the link to the article as I was unable to find it ? My VRD is 2.5 Gb.I wanted to put my AI aircraft on it but the aircraft folder from MyTraffic is 10 Gb.Therefore I wanted to use linkshell to make the links to the most used MT aircraft, like Boeing and Airbus. Link Shell :Check Link Shell Extension, which you can use from Explorer (right mouse button click, or right click and drag and drop on an Explorer window / desktop). With it, creating hardlinks, symlinks, or junctions is as simple as clicking on files/folders/drives with mouse. 1 Move folder to VRD2 On the VRD rightclick mouse and choose " Pick Link Source "3 Go to the main folder in FSX where the removed folder was originally4 Rightclick mouse and choose " Drop as Symbolic Link "

[Stoli151 6]

http://www.howtogeek...ndows-or-linux/ This is the link to the article I referenced. I think you need to think outside the box on this one and use process monitor to find most used files. At first I just tried scenery files on ramdisk. But process monitor showed me sound files were being accessed way more frequently than some of the other files I had on it. Once I put all sound files on Ramdisk, I had real improvements. Its funny how sound can affect your visual performance. Then I put whatever else I could fit into my Ramdisk that was being used frequently. The key is to relieve your HDD of most of its workload. I think the real breakthrough would be when someone can get the entire scenery/world/texture file on their ramdisk as this file was used extensively while fsx was running. The linkshell program I referred to in my first post is the same you referred to in yours.The whole linking process with links to downloading linkshell extension and micosoft visual c++ 2005 SP1 redistributable is thoroughly explained in it.

[TasKiNG 0]

I know a ramdisk is a lot faster than a SSD, but a SSD is not fast enough?

As I don't have a SSD I'm not sure. All I can say is that since creating and moving the AI Aircraft to the ramdrive I have not had any stutters.

[dhwang 0]

As I don't have a SSD I'm not sure. All I can say is that since creating and moving the AI Aircraft to the ramdrive I have not had any stutters.

I've seen report using a SSD eliminating terrain blur. Maybe it will help you the AI stutters as well. Using a ramdisk has many disadvantages like limited space, data restoring hassle, cpu loading increasing, etc. A SSD will be a better solution in my opinion. Though I don't have a one, either. Hope someone with a SSD can give us a feedback.

[TasKiNG 0]

I've seen report using a SSD eliminating terrain blur. Maybe it will help you the AI stutters as well. Using a ramdisk has many disadvantages like limited space, data restoring hassle, cpu loading increasing, etc. A SSD will be a better solution in my opinion. Though I don't have a one, either. Hope someone with a SSD can give us a feedback.

The limited space was a bit of an issue as I only created a 1gig ramdisk to leave 3 gig for FSX but managed to pack enough WOAI into that space to give plenty of traffic.I have no "data restoring hassle" as the ramdisk program automatically backs it up on shutdown as restores it at startup. There is also no problem with cpu loading increase as fetching AI from RAM has less load on the CPU than getting it from SSD via a Disk Controller. My main disk is a hardware raid and is pretty fast so I have no issues with loading scenery. What was annoying me was the stuttering when AI came into range. Loading this from Ramdisk has completely eliminated the stutters.I'm not saying that this is the best way to fix it but if you don't have a SSD drive and are getting AI stutters then its worth giving it a try.

[Noel 4,499]

I know a ramdisk is a lot faster than a SSD, but a SSD is not fast enough?

For all of the hassle, might be good 'nuf. I will def get an SSD for my next machine. What is the fasting total SSD solution, what sort of interface? I would imagine transfer rates for SSD drives must be in part related to the connection type to the mainboard. Are they a lot quicker, higher bandwidth over SATA HDD's?