By Graye of Veracity
With the release of my previous write-up(sysconfig.ini), many have found some positive advantages to their game performance. This means it's time for the 2nd improvement possibility. Running your Cache folder on a Ram Drive!
Before I get into the procedure for setting up this solution lets discuss this Cache folder and what it's all about. This is the folder located in the game's bin folder called 'Caches'. We're all probably familiar with this folder if you've ever had game issues and were asked to clear your game cache. It's also the same folder that is flushed using the /flush command. The cache folder contains all the graphics texture detail that Vanguard is heavily dependent upon. What we'll be doing with this mod is to have that single subfolder linked to a very fast performing part of storage(RamDisk) that will further your games performance. There is constant read and write activity to this folder so our task is to make that access faster. Faster is better!
We will be using some of your systems ram for this mod. Why ram? It's the third fastest memory your PC has followed by the CPU's L1 cache and video ram. Still, accessing ram is 100 times more efficient than accessing a hard disk.
A COUPLE OF PRECONDITIONS!
- your PC should have a minimum 2GB of ram
- if you're running your game install on a SSD(solid state drive), you'll receive little to no performance increase with this mod.
Download a ramdrive application. DataRam has a great one. It's Free, It's compatible with Win2000 right through to Windows 7 both 32bit and 64 bit versions. You can obtain this ramdisk software here: http://memory.dataram.com/products-and-services/software/ramdisk
Download and install it.
Once you have installed your ramdisk software. Configure a 128MB ramdisk, FAT32 partition, Windows Boot Sector. Windows should popup a message when the ramdisk is created asking you to provide a drive letter for this new disk volume. The default drive letter Windows provides will work just fine. A system reboot should be done at this time.
So now you have this little 128mb drive E or F or whatever. This is your ram disk.(aka: Speedy)
- go to you caches folder(c:\Program Files\Sony\Vanguard\bin\caches\) and completely empty is contents. Delete it all! Launch the game and patch but do not load any characters. Exit the game launcher. Now go back to your cache folder and move that entire folder to you desktop. Now the Caches folder is on your desktop and contains just the initial files and folders that we need to initialize the game.
- Copy the contents of the Caches folder on your desktop to the new ramdrive(drive E or F or whatever). Open the ramdisk configuration utility. Go to the load/save tab of the utility and save this new disk image by clicking "Save Disk Image Now". Stop and restart the ramdisk. Now every time you restart your PC you'll have a fresh start of cache for the game.
- the last step is to link the new ramdrive to the game directory. Copy the following line: mklink /J "C:\Program Files\Sony\Vanguard\bin\Caches\" E: If you use the new install directory~> mklink /J C:\Users\Public\Sony Online Entertainment\Installed Games\Vanguard\bin\Cache E: Copy this line to a dos window or command prompt and hit Enter. This is a one-time thing.
I used drive E: but please set this value to match the drive letter of your new ramdisk.
You're done! Enjoy some more game performance improvement!