ArmA 2 I/O analysis results

[Liquidpinky]

Nice work qwertz, from that data I should be able to optimize better what I have put on my RamDisk. Just wish I was in your position and could put it all on it.

[Barso]

This is fantastic and very informative.
How much RAM do I need to load the stock game with no mods into a RAMDISK and which RAMDISK is the one to buy?
It would be great for a step by step instruction for the non-technically minded like myself to get the game to run as optimal as we can on a PC with windows7 64 bit and 12 GB RAM.
Thanks.

[S-M]

The best post i have seen on this forum, its almost a shame the chap is 100% sure to be chastised and thrown into a rape jail, for posting pictures that are to large.

Just wait until hitler see`s it
The law is the law and nobody can apparently escape it

[Bulldogs]

This is very interesting. Looks like I'm going to have to do some heavy testing myself. Although, if this thesis is correct, then I wonder why I don't get any studdering using a standard hard disk. I'll have to look into it and see if I can figure it out.

[Pappy60]

Certainly one of the most detailed studies of the issues, absolutely phenomenal job !

However I am not so sure it addresses EVERYthing it certainly shows us some dramatic evidence of why we are seeing slow painting and stuttering...but that said, I followed LiquidPinkys instructions for a ramdrive (very nice job by the way) and setup a ramdrive with the files he detailed and did get it to work as a junction under XP but still had stuttering and slow painting , albeit less of both but still there.....I think Qwertz is right that if I get the entire game into ram it will probably solve my issues...but thats an $800 upgrade for me(I currently only have 8gb) ...quite painful and of course at that point I will need to upgrade my quad core 2.5 ghz cpu because it won't be able to handle the streams coming out of ram ...

Don't get me wrong, the work being done in this post is incredibly good and necessary but I am afraid the evidence that results may tell us all that it is going to take very deep pockets to play this game as shown in the videos......

I certainly would like to see a posting from BIS as to what the machine specs were when they created their videos ?

[S-M]

I certainly would like to see a posting from BIS as to what the machine specs were when they created their videos ?

One would assume that they used the recommended specs listed on the back of the box maybe

Or maybe not

[Greg]

...I certainly would like to see a posting from BIS as to what the machine specs were when they created their videos ?

I don't know about their videos but Suma (developer) posted his spec here:

Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4 GHz
nVidia 8800 GT
8 GB RAM
Vista x64

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=75747

That would have been a good spec machine during much of ARMA2 development.

---------- Post added at 12:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:09 PM ----------

I personally dont think there is much for BI can do on this matter

BI is the developer, they control exactly how data gets from hard disk into system and video memory. Armed with the knowledge of how their application performs they have all kinds of options available to them.
Here's just a few things they could try:
1) Use the large memory flag to access up to 3gb of memory on 32bit system.
2) Use available memory to hold game data longer or preload more data.
3) Use HW threads on common multicore CPUs to perform background loading and preparing of data.
4) Profile the game before release and/or collect stats during runtime (since the game is moddable) and use these stats to preload or cache portions of the game for best performance.
5) Tweak their streaming code to make better use of asynchronous data transfers and hardware threads.
6) Slap on a internal cache to their file system which simply uses available memory to cache more data, transparent to the rest of the game.
7) Look at their on disk and in memory data structures for ways to reduce or compress the foot print.
8) Look at their runtime data retention logic (resource management) to see why data is repeatedly or regularly loaded.
9) Tweak the LOD system to reduce jerky behavior in anyway.

They know their own game, they've been developing it for the last 10 years. I'm just suggesting things I've done in games I've developed.

[S-M]

I don't know about their videos but Suma (developer) posted his spec here:

Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4 GHz
nVidia 8800 GT
8 GB RAM
Vista x64

http://forums.bistudio.com/showthread.php?t=75747


That would have been a good spec machine during much of ARMA2 development.

He also says that the game runs great for him on vista!

I wish mine did on xp

[dogz]

Very good work qwertz... keep it up!!

sadly those that had to have this explained to them are not very PC smart... and you will always find it difficult to keep your pc running well...

It has been posted/explained a number of times how much hard disk activity affects this game and surely we can all see the HD LED on our supreme gaming rigs????

[Lee_H._Oswald]

Fantastic analysis, thank you for this!

People should really test their HDD speed, easy tool for this is HDTach.



Screen shows the performance of my Velociraptor SATA Raid0.


MfG Lee