Stuttering (Rubberbanding) on Immortal Throne solved?!

[Jinx]

set the min and max to the same size or XP will still play with it. I set 2mb as that allows 90% of software to still run. No matter what size or where you put it fix the size so it stays ther same size and the file size never gets updated.

The other option on NTFS drive is the regfix to disable last access time. Its not needed and speeds everything up. its a tracking security thing and home users don't need it running.

It also has removed all my crash to desktop issues having it to 2mb. The nvidia gamma turned off in desktop settings helps too.

There will still be some stuttering as the harddrive speed required in large aeras is huge. On a 256mb cache pci raid card there is no lag but on a single drive it has smal stutter.

[spoofah]

This seems to have reduced the stuttering/rubber-banding for me considerably too. There are still a couple of little hiccups here and there, but not as debilitating as before. I'll have to try this in multiplayer again to see if this holds up, but my what a difference!

I have my page file set to 2MB-50MB on the C drive and to 3072-3072 (3MB, which is 3x my RAM for the max, as recommended in an article I read) on the D drive. Minimum is set the same size as for the maximum on the D drive to minimize fragmentation of the page file. I also defragged my drives, put sound accelaration to Basic, and turned off shadows in the game.

Running noticeably smoother now.

[Dracochi]

Originally Posted by alxnet

Hmm.... Not sure if it makes a difference but I'm using the Media Center Edition of XP with SP2. It let me create a 10GB file just fine. Edit: All my drives are also formatted NTFS.

Alxnet thanks for the reply. I'm using Win XP Pro SP2; all my drives are NTFS also. I'm going to give it a try this weekend and post my results. One last question though. Do you have a link for that article you refereed to?

[alxnet]

Originally Posted by Dracochi

Alxnet thanks for the reply. I'm using Win XP Pro SP2; all my drives are NTFS also. I'm going to give it a try this weekend and post my results. One last question though. Do you have a link for that article you refereed to?

Yup. Disappearing pagefile.sys

"If you do put the file elsewhere, you should leave a small amount on C: - an initial size of 2MB with a Maximum of 50 is suitable - so it can be used in emergency. Without this, the system is inclined to ignore the settings and either have no page file at all (and complain) or make a very large one indeed on C:"

There's also a registry edit I came across last night that I'll try today to see if it further improves performance. "DisablePagingExecutive"=dword:00000001. Someone else here also mentioned "NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate"=dword:00000001 to prevent NTFS from constantly updating the access time.

All tips can be found here: Windows XP Tweaking Guide - Page 3 - Page 3

[Jinx]

I wouldn't do the disable 8dot3 if you use any old software. As both games and things like software for chip programmers or aftermarket car ecu's as they are usually not the greatest for installing/running without the old dos names.

And that setting wont effect the game play as it only happens when you create a new file or directory not when you read them like the access time.

I'd still fix the min max the same as otherwise it strill has to update and grow the file as its used.

[CDN_Merlin]

Originally Posted by Dracochi

How do you get a 10gig swapfile on one drive? Every XP system I've worked on always says the largest I can enter is 4096 meg.

So what's the trick?

You are most likely running XP file system using FAT32 instead of NTFS.

FAT32 = 4 gig file size limit
NTFS = NTFS in Windows XP supports a maximum file size up to the capacity of the disk
Converting FAT32 to NTFS in Windows XP

[CDN_Merlin]

I created a 2-30 MB pagefile and it helped the rubberbanding BIG TIME. Before, I was able to play about 20 seconds before it started. And when it hit, it froze my system completely. With this added pagefile, it never freezes anymore and I get the banding lasting only .5 - 1 second at most.

Great find.

[spoofah]

Originally Posted by CDN_Merlin

You are most likely running XP file system using FAT32 instead of NTFS.

FAT32 = 4 gig file size limit
NTFS = NTFS in Windows XP supports a maximum file size up to the capacity of the disk
Converting FAT32 to NTFS in Windows XP

I have NTFS too and I have the same 4096MB limit. I think this is because we have 32-bit operating systems and the fact that 32-bit OSes support 4Gig RAM maximum.

I am starting to wonder now if this rubber-banding issue is more prevalent on 32-bit systems than 64-bit ones. Hmmm....

[alxnet]

Originally Posted by Jinx

I'd still fix the min max the same as otherwise it strill has to update and grow the file as its used.

That's what I thought too for a while, and it makes total sense to set the min and max to the same value because, as you've said, the growth factor.

But I've read a few too many times (from Microsoft MVPs and others) about the quirky way WinXP handles its virtual mem settings (hey, it's Windows). It seems to expect a variable setting on C: otherwise, under rare circumstances, it'll flake out and do weird things, ignoring the same min/max swap file setting.

Seems like the safest bet is to create a variable page file on C: while simultaneously creating a permanent page file on a separate drive.

[Dracochi]

Originally Posted by CDN_Merlin

You are most likely running XP file system using FAT32 instead of NTFS.

FAT32 = 4 gig file size limit
NTFS = NTFS in Windows XP supports a maximum file size up to the capacity of the disk
Converting FAT32 to NTFS in Windows XP

No Merlin as stated in my post after the above one I'm running NTFS. I just formatted last week. I'm pretty handy when it comes to PC builds. But thanks though.