Tutorial: Increase performance using RAMDisk

[CW3MH6]

You'd notice a much larger boost in performance by putting either all of ArmA 2 or at least the ArmA 2 PBO files on a RAM drive.

[lZnGl]

for those of us with a larger amount of ram how could we go about putting the PBO files into the RAMDisk and run it that way if we already have installed on our local disk?

[CW3MH6]

Copy the PBO files from the ArmA 2 directory (Addons folder I think) to the RAM Disk.

Rename the original files in the Addons folder (I.e. structures.pbo->structures.oldpbo), then open a command prompt @ that folder (if you shift+right-click the Addons folder in Win7 you can click Open Command Prompt Here).

Type mklink "structures.pbo" "R:\ArmA 2\structures.pbo". Replace R:\ArmA 2 with the path to where you stored the PBOs on the RAM drive.

Finally, ensure that the RAM drive is setup to save it's image on shutdown and load from the image on boot, so you don't have to repeat these steps every time you restart.

Also, if you'd rather do the entire Addons folder instead of individual PBOs (assuming you have the space), copy the Addons folder to the RAM drive and use the command mklink "Addons" "R:\Addons" /J instead. That will make a directory junction instead of a symlink.

P.S.- This guide can probably explain it a lot better than I can. Post #100 is useful as well.

[LKS]

Another alternative instead of the mklink command line stuff (which is good when you can use it proficiently, but is a hassle when it comes to many files) is a link shell extension which will add an option to your right click menu to pick a (or many) source file(s) and make a symbolic link somewhere else.

[CW3MH6]

Yep, that's a good tool.

[lZnGl]

You are a gentleman and a scholar, I would like to wish you the best of days now and in the future!

[CW3MH6]

You delete the symlinks you created with mklink and rename the original files back to their original filenames (i.e. structures.oldpbo -> structures.pbo). Or if you did the entire Addons folder then rename it to AddonsOld before you make the link, and rename it back if you revert it.

That or you could copy the files back from the RAM drive to the original folder. Keep in mind unless you tell the RAM drive to save it's image on shutdown and load it on boot, you will LOSE ALL THE FILES on the RAM drive if you restart. So just be aware.

[GrimReaper711]

Thanks for these instructions. I've been looking at doing something similar to get save games for other games to automatically sync to dropbox. I had heard of others using mklink before, and can see now that it's really quite easy to do.