So you want to zone faster...

[Arrisard]

Yes, it works.

I recommend Dataram RAMDisk software if you're just looking to load up EQ on it. The free license is limited to 4 GB, which is over double what you need for an EQLite stripped EQ install. There are other RAM drive sofwares our there with many more options, however, Dataram's is more than sufficient for someone just looking to copy their EQ directory over to.

Before we even get started making the RAM disk, go to the link I previously posted to the EQLite thread and trim down your install.

It should go without saying: Backup all your files. DO IT. And I'm not responsible if you melt your PC trying this.

1. Install the Dataram RAMDisk .msi file and run the RAMDisk configuration utlility.

2. Under the settings tab, set the disk size appropriately larger (5 or 10% should do) than your trimmed EQ install. If you've got the EQ directory down to 1.35 GB, then 1542 MB (1.5 GB) is more than enough with a bit left over for logs / SS - just move them out every once in a while).

Set to "Unformatted". We will deal with this later when we setup the disk in Windows.

*NOTE* Beware if you plan to run large log files and take screenshots, as they will be saved to this directory as well and inflate your directory size. 1920x1080 screenshots are almost 8 MB a pop.

*NOTE* I do recommend not leaving less than 2 GB (2048 MB) free memory at absolute minimum for Windows 7. You can get away with less if you really want to, though I don't know about you but I like to alt-tab out and door other stuff while playing sometimes and more free memory is obviously better if you plan on virtually doing anything else with your system while the RAM drive is running. This means I'd recommend at least 3.5GB of memory (2GB left as actual system memory, 1.5GB for the drive). 8 GB pairs (2x4GB sets) of modern ram is widely available for less than 50 dollars, I highly recommend it.

3. Go to the "Load and Save" tab, tick both check boxes for "Load image at startup" and "Save disk image on shutdown". This will make your newly created disk persistent and not reset during on/offs. These backups are going to EACH be the size of the RAM disk drive and there are two of them. So, if you have a 2GB RAM drive, you're going to have a 2GB image on your hard drive and a 2GB backup of that image. This is where the data is saved when you stop the RAM drive.

Anyways, click "Start RAMDisk". You'll get a window telling you "Image file load failed, started with an unformatted disk". Just click Ok, it's trying to load the image that isn't made yet. After that, i'll create the new image.

Now we're going to make ready the drive for Windows to actually use as a readable disk.

4. Go to "My Computer" or "Computer" in your Windows Explorer window and rick click -> Manage.

Now, this window is where you want to pay attention and not mess with shit that you should not be messing with. Mucking up the volumes of your physical disks is not pleasant and I don't want to hear "Waaaaaaah, I'm getting boot errors because I deleted some volume labeled System Reserved".

In the center of the window, double click Storage, then Disk Management.

You should get a pop-up asking you to initialize a new disk. Remember the disk number and make sure MBR is selected and click "OK".

Go to the bottom center section of the window. Scroll down until you find an unlabeled disk labled with the same amount of "unallocated space" you made with the RAMDisk Configuration utility (IE, if you set it to 2048 MB, you should see an unlabeled disk with 2.00 GB there among your other fixed disk drives.). It should be the same number disk from when it asked you to initialize the disk.

Right click on it -> New Simple Volume.

Follow the wizard.

*Notes* Keep the same size, set a new drive letter if you really want to (Like R for RAMDisk or whatever), set file system to "NTFS", volume label is whatever you want the disk to be labeled in your Windows Explorer, be sure "Perform quick format" is indeed checked, and finish out the wizard. Shouldn't have to mess with any of the other options.

A new drive should appear in your drive list with the letter and label you setup. Close out the Management window and head over to your Windows Explorer.

Copy your EQLite file there.

Surprisingly, here comes the actual tricky part for most.

You have to change all the desktop shortcuts and settings in programs like the EMU Launcher & WinEQ to point to the new RAM drive directory (each have to have the correct filepath to the EQ directory and EQ executable that need to be changed under their options/preferences). If you still run the same shortcuts that point to the old location, well, uh, then they're going to run off those files that are still on the old hard drive. And there won't be any performance gain.

I have no idea about the performance effect of leaving WinEQ or EQ EMU Launcher software on the regular hard drive since I installed both to a subdirectory in the EQ directory and they got moved right along with the copy of the EQLite copy.

The launcher is just a launcher so I shouldn't think it'd slow anything down. WinEQ, maybe, I don't know but I doubt it makes a difference; all the zone files are still loaded from the faster RAM drive area.

To make sure you got it all running right, rename your original EQ install directory on the old disk to something like "EverQuestBACKUP". You'll get an error if you try to run a shortcut/not have the launcher/WinEQ pointed at the new filepath on the RAM Drive. If you did it all correctly, then it should start up no problem and the load times should be lessened considerably - unless you were already running on an SSD =P

You don't have to have the RAM disk running 24/7 if you're not running files off it. A simple shortcut to the configuration utility, and then just click start or stop for the service to free up that memory again for everyday use. Long as you have the Save and Load images boxes checked, it'll just save and load to that one image. You can get froggy and have mulptiple images for different programs, games, etc if you really want.

[Arrisard]

Edited, cleared up some language with the Save/Load image step.

[Versus]

I'm having issues creating the new disk that I am eventually going to dump EQLite onto.

It gives me this error after I dictate disk size and tab over to "Load and Save" and check off "Load Disk Image at Startup" and "Save Disk Image on Shutdown":

"Unable to start the RAMDisk driver. The Event Log may contain additional information.

The most common problems are that you must have Administrator privileges to install and run the RAMDisk driver, or there may be insufficient memory available to create the RAM disk. Reduce the disk size and try again.

If you have recently upgraded the software, you may need to reboot."

The event log information produces this: "Failed to allocate requested disk memory (AWE). "

I have plenty of space. It's a brand new 500g laptop. I am trying to make a 1924mb disk. I really don't even need to be doing this, but I want to load faster and I'm bored. What am I doing wrong here? It's running as admin, your instructions are simple enough, I don't get where the error is coming from.

Also, in your original post, you say to format the drive to FAT32, then in the post two or three down, you say Unformatted. Which is it?

EDIT: I just realized that the OP and Arrisard are completely different people. Oops~

[Versus]

bueller?

[Gwence]

with x79 platform that has the quad channel memory with most of their boards supporting up to 128 GB of memory, you can run just about every game nowadays right from RAM

the benchmarks are completely insane

The fastest SSD out there might get you 550'ish MB/s on compressed sequential reads and that shit is incredibly fast and best case scenario.

running from a ramdisk on with even 1333Mhz modules boosts that up to almost 5 GIGAbytes / sec

It's completely insane.

[Versus]

wat^

[Autotune]

Originally Posted by Gwence [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

with x79 platform that has the quad channel memory with most of their boards supporting up to 128 GB of memory, you can run just about every game nowadays right from RAM

the benchmarks are completely insane

The fastest SSD out there might get you 550'ish MB/s on compressed sequential reads and that shit is incredibly fast and best case scenario.

running from a ramdisk on with even 1333Mhz modules boosts that up to almost 5 GIGAbytes / sec

It's completely insane.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/cwqZXvOoEX4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Arrisard]

Phist, you running Win 7 32 or 64 bit. Also, how much physical memory?

[Rais]

I would think just paying 80 dollars during Black Friday and buying a SSD would solve the problem and headache of dealing with deleting files, swapping making discs ect.

I like my computers to work like my women, hard, easy and at a good price.

[Versus]

Originally Posted by Arrisard [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Phist, you running Win 7 32 or 64 bit. Also, how much physical memory?

Win 7 64bit, 4gig of RAM