How To: Increase your Virtual Memory

[Moogie]

Here\'s a little something I\'m sure not everyone  knows.

Depending on the amount of free hard drive space you have, you can obtain up to two times the amount of memory you currently have in RAM, without buying more sticks. It\'s a common problem with potential Planeshift players that they do not have enough RAM to load/play the game suitably. This MAY, but is not guaranteed to, help those people.

Before I start, let me stress a few things. Firstly, don\'t attempt this if you\'re not sure exactly what you\'re doing, or you can\'t multiply numbers by two. Please be aware that you will need free hard drive space minimum and sustainable. Also, do NOT use values that are more than 2x your current total physical RAM!

This tweak is best applied to a hard drive that isn\'t accessed frequently, for best results. Also, you should probably leave it alone if you have a slower computer (less than 20gb HD and 500mhz).

Finally, please be aware that I\'m not exactly a technical wizard. I\'m nowhere near. This thread was inspired by recent experiences and steps I needed to take in order to solve the many things that made my computer go loopy. I would be eternally grateful if someone with superior knowledge could at least confirm that these steps are not going to blow up everyone\'s PC. \'Cause I wouldn\'t want that on my concience... =/


Okay, here goes. Like I said, you probably shouldn\'t try this unless you know what you\'re doing.


Win98/ME Users  
Open Control Panel and go to System (or right click My Computer and select Properties). Click the Performance tab and then the button labelled \"Virtual Memory\". In the next screen, you\'ll probably find that the first check box, \"Let Windows manage my virtual memory settings\" will be checked. Click the option just below it to specify your own settings.

Now, you need to know exactly how much RAM you have. Personally, I have 512mb, so for the Minimum and Maximum values I should enter <512 x 2 = 1024>. \"1024\" in both fields.

Click OK and have a look in C:\\ or whatever your hard drive\'s letter is. You should now see a newly created .swp file, the size of your total RAM doubled. Congratulations, you\'ve now got double the memory!


WinXP Users  
In Control Panel, select System (or right click My Computer and select Properties). Go to the Advanced tab and then in the Performance section, press the Settings button.

In the new window \'Performance Options\', go to the Advanced tab again. In \'Virtual Memory\', the system shows the total size of the Paging file, which you can increase with the Change button.

Usually, Windows stores the paging file on drive C:, but if you\'re short on disk space you can place the file on a different drive and then decrease the size of the paging file on drive C:. As for 98/ME, double the amount of RAM you have and enter these values in both Initial and Maximum size fields, then click OK.


I don\'t know about the methods Windows NT, 2000 or Linux users would use. If someone could fill in the gaps there I\'d be grateful.

Thanks for reading.

[Keldorn]

For someone who claims not to be a technical wizard you know pretty much :-).

Keep in mind though that a swap file is slower then your RAM is.

The speed of reading and writing at the beginning and end of the HD can in some occasions vary greatly from eachother. This is because a HD has mechanical parts which have to be moved during reading and writing. So it would be preferable to place the swap file at the beginning of your drive. So it can be accessed at a faster speed, in reality this will probably not help you much speed-wise though. It all depends on the speed of your Harddrive.

Also please don\'t delete your swap file, or atleast try not too. This can bring some serious problems.

[Iamthom]

hehe i just did all this stuff like last week from learning it on pcpitstop.com , but thanx for the info anyway moogie

p.s. i recommend going to that website, it will help you fix so many problems wrong with your comp and tell you really useful info!

[Moogie]

Thanks for that Kel, Iamthom.

I\'m not kidding when I say I\'m not much of a techhead. I usually experience problems, ask my good friend Tifa to figure out the solution, learn it, tell others. It\'s all part of being helpful.