Streaming DayZ from RAMdisk (How-to/Performance)

[eggmoe 1]

STREAMING DAYZ/ARMA2 FROM RAMDISK INSTEAD OF HDD

This is for people that might encounter stuttering in their game.

Stuttering is different from frame rate slows. Stuttering happens when your harddisk goes to retrieve data and everything else is waiting on it.

If this happens often it can be misinterpreted as FPS problems

For example, ARMA 2 (Not just DayZ) on my friends bangin' Alienware laptop looks like it's running like crap. It's because laptops usually use smaller, slower HDDs that run at 5200rpm (I think?) where as normal desktop HDDs run at 7200rpm. ARMA 2 is notorious for this problem because the entire game streams from your HDD.

Example of stuttering from ARMA

People with Solid State Drives already probably [hopefully] know about this as SSDs stream data at a MUCH faster rate than laserdisks.

What is even faster than SSD, though, is the sticks of RAM in your computer. What I have chosen to do is stream my entire DayZ mod folder from my excess RAM. With DayZ performance being up and down with each patch (I am unsure if this is a processing issue or a streaming issue, my processor sucks anyways) I wanted to eliminate streaming if that was the problem. If you have enough RAM (12-16GB) you can be like this guy and drop the whole ARMA 2 folder onto your RAM and run it from there.

HERE'S WHAT I DID

1. Grab Dataram's RAMDisk software. The personal one gives you up to 4GB of RAMdisk for free. (If you're just doing this with DayZ you only need +200mb)

2. Set up the config so you have space for DayZ. I set 400mb. I don't really know the differences between the FAT16 or FAT32 partitions. Just select FAT16. Mine is selected on Unformatted because I have the disk image to load on start up which is in the next step.

3. Start your RAMdisk and go to it from MyComputer. Should be called Local Disk (L:\). Drop your DayZ folder right in there.

4. Then go to the Load and Save tab of RAMDisk config and check Load disk on start, and Save disk image on shutdown (optional). The disk image is the info that you want on the drive. You don't have to always have this running, only when you play DayZ. So with this selected, you start the app, then it loads the drive's previously saved image (your DayZ folder).

5. Now you have to tell ARMA 2 where to load your mod from on launch. Either set this in the launch options on the shortcut, or put it in whatever launcher you use. I just use Spirited Machines ARMA II and have it look for mods in "L:\DayZ" (Additional Addon Search Directories Tab).

"-mod=L:\DayZ"

That's IT. Be sure to start your RAMdisk before ARMA, and if you have issues with ARMA II launcher refresh the addons list, sometimes it forgets. Don't forget to drop all your new updates into the new RAMdisk folder and save the new disk image.

Sorry if I made something simple seem complicated, I just wanted to make sure everything is written out for poor dayz noobs.

[Jorden 63]

Dude, this is amazing!

[noesant 0]

Good shit.

[Timberfox 2]

How much is this helping? aka how much are those mod files really being accessed?

[Bagle1030 0]

How do i set the shortcut if i bought the ArmA II: CO off of steam?

[eggmoe 1]

How much is this helping? aka how much are those mod files really being accessed?

I don't know' date=' but when I first did it I saw a noticeable performance increase. Unsure of if it was just the patch, though. It does, however, completely rule out streaming as an issue for the game from now on. Definitely something people with slow HDDs should look at.

How do i set the shortcut if i bought the ArmA II: CO off of steam?

You should be running the beta patch anyways, which is in the install directory of OA

[Chrisbes 0]

Considering i'll soon be upto 16gb ram, I'm definately going to try this. Thanks!

Image taken from "http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?88388-Here-s-how-I-got-ARMA2-to-perform-smoothly-using-RAMDISK/page5"

That's right. 5000mb/s transfer speed. Almost 10x faster than the fastest SSDs. Seems like a good idea in theory.

[eggmoe 1]

Considering i'll soon be upto 16gb ram' date=' I'm definately going to try this. Thanks!

Image taken from "http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?88388-Here-s-how-I-got-ARMA2-to-perform-smoothly-using-RAMDISK/page5"

That's right. 5000mb/s transfer speed. Almost 10x faster than the fastest SSDs. Seems like a good idea in theory.

[/quote']

If I had the RAM to do it, I'd throw all of ARMA onto a RAMdisk.. Gotta grab a SSD for my next rig.

[Chrisbes 0]

Considering how cheap RAM Is now, I'd rather that. Thinking of buying a new SSD sometime soon, so i'll use my old 40gb one as my Pagefile.

[Bagle1030 0]

How do i set the shortcut if i bought the ArmA II: CO off of steam?

You should be running the beta patch anyways' date=' which is in the install directory of OA

[/quote']

I'm not that hot on computers.. What do i do?:I

[oshi7 365]

As awesome as this is, its infuriating how badly made Arma 2 is.

[benw 2]

Didn't know if moving only the Dayz folder will helps, but i will try it, thank you.

[DeleteMEPlease 0]

If I had the RAM to do it' date=' I'd throw all of ARMA onto a RAMdisk.. Gotta grab a SSD for my next rig.

[/quote']

Don't. SSD's are crap compared to RAM. Your RAM is more versatile and does not have a limited amount of read/write before it dies. You can also move the RAM to your next PC (usually RAM cycles are 4 times as long as CPU/Mainboard cycles)

This comes from a guy that has 32GB of RAM and runs every game from it.

FREE no limitation 32/64Bit RAM Disk Tool: http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html/#ImDisk

This software simply offers you everything, incl. full command line support for creating and loading an Image File into your RAM disk on System Boot.

[Ruddager 0]

Hey guys.

I've done all the steps, but I'm a bit confused what to change my (steam) shortcut target too;

It currently reads as:

"C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\arma 2 operation arrowhead\Expansion\beta\arma2oa.exe" -noSplash -noFilePatching -showScriptErrors "-mod=C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\Common\arma 2;expansion;expansion\beta;expansion\beta\expansion;@DayZ"

The drive I want to change it too is called 'E'.

-EDIT- I fixed it, it was simply \expansion;g:\@dayz and everyone said, but I wasn't running Ramdisc which was fairly stupid of me. All issues now fixed, including my game-breaking stuttering!

Thanks everyone - Andrew

[Leatherman 0]

Could this cause any potential damage to your RAM?

[Vipeax 318]

No, your RAM handles "content" changing a LOT better than a harddisk or SSD.

[racecar 0]

This isn't going to help that much if all you put on there is the DayZ folder. All you will be loading quickly from your DayZ folder is zombies, tin cans, and a few weapons.

The vast majority of content that is being streamed in DayZ is from the chernarus, buidlings, objects, plants, and misc .pbos in your ARMA 2 directory.

Edit: Altogether it's around 3gb of data that you would want on your RAM to stream perfectly smoothly.

[jagdfalke@gmail.com 5]

It does' date=' however, completely rule out streaming as an issue for the game from now on.

[/quote']

It doesn't.

The stuttering comes from ArmA II streaming textures directly from the hard drive when they are needed (inefficient much?). Placing your Day-Z directory into a ram disk will only increase the access speeds to Day-Z content - however the majority of content in the game is ArmA II content which is still sitting on your hard disk. If you really want to get rid of the stutters, you need to work out what ArmA files are getting the most use while playing Day-Z, and place those files on the ram disk.

It's a great idea though.

[taffer 4]

Hmmm. I have a 32gb usb3 flash drive sitting around doing nothing. What if I just dumped the whole game in there? I'd have to use junctions and the ram disk thing huh?

[Shogun (DayZ) 1]

Wouldn't all data be gone when you restart computer? meaning you would have to do this all over again -.- :huh:

[taffer 4]

I've never done this before, but yeah that's true right? You would have to save an image of it, and load the image each time I think.

character data is in 'my docs' right? and when it comes to dayz all your stuff is saved on server right? so I guess it might be cool....?

[Rickard 2]

Hmmm. I have a 32gb usb3 flash drive sitting around doing nothing. What if I just dumped the whole game in there? I'd have to use junctions and the ram disk thing huh?

A USB drive is not the same thing as RAM. It's much slower.

Wouldn't all data be gone when you restart computer? meaning you would have to do this all over again -.- :huh:

You can save an image file that you start every time you wanna start dayz.

Here is a good video tutorial:

How much does this actually help? Most information used is from ArmA itself. Unless you have insane amounts of RAM, running ArmA:CO from RAM is not possible.

[racecar 0]

I've never done this before' date=' but yeah that's true right? You would have to save an image of it, and load the image each time I think.

character data is in 'my docs' right? and when it comes to dayz all your stuff is saved on server right? so I guess it might be cool....?

[/quote']

A super awesome solution is to just not turn off your computer!

Also, you don't have to worry about losing any save data at all because the only thing you need is the .pbo files from the addon directory.

Basically you can just pull all of the stuff that is in the arma 2\addons\ that doesn't look like it references characters, vehicles or weapons, and that should take streaming the Chernarus stuff. If you really want to make sure you can grab the PMC, BAF, DayZ folders as well.

[eggmoe 1]

If I had the RAM to do it' date=' I'd throw all of ARMA onto a RAMdisk.. Gotta grab a SSD for my next rig.

[/quote']

Don't. SSD's are crap compared to RAM. Your RAM is more versatile and does not have a limited amount of read/write before it dies. You can also move the RAM to your next PC (usually RAM cycles are 4 times as long as CPU/Mainboard cycles)

This comes from a guy that has 32GB of RAM and runs every game from it.

FREE no limitation 32/64Bit RAM Disk Tool: http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html/#ImDisk

This software simply offers you everything, incl. full command line support for creating and loading an Image File into your RAM disk on System Boot.

So what do you do? Store the img files on a HDD? Just run HDD and 32GB RAM?

[ender917 0]

So I don't mean to be completely redundant, but I'm stuck with something. I can't seem to get the target directory right. I went to :

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\arma 2 operation arrowhead\Expansion\beta

and made a shortcut of the .exe there. I then went to the target directory and put this in:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\arma 2 operation arrowhead\Expansion\beta\arma2oa.exe" -noSplash -noFilePatching -world=empty "-mod=C:\Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\Common\arma 2;expansion;expansion\beta;expansion\beta\expansion;f:\@DAYZ"'

When I launch the game Day Z runs but it's still laggy as hell. Any help? Thank you.

EDIT: The game was never consistently laggy before. It seems that only some servers are laggy, though, but others I play with have higher FPS than I do so I don't think it's client side.