SYSTEM OPTIMIZATION

This is my offering to the Falcon 4 community. It is a road map to better performance of F4. I am not a computer guru -- far from it -- and I am open to suggestion and criticism, but it is my tried and proven method and I think it will benefit most readers. The flaw in this, if there is one, is the diverse nature of computer hardware and software that is found from PC to PC. Predicting the outcome of something like this for each individual is almost impossible, but yet I think it is easy enough to do and will work for most F4 simmers.

First I will start with my knowledge of system errors. I have experienced and witnessed quite a few installs of new PC's straight from the manufacturer. Without exception they all contained numerous system errors. They had from 50 to 70 errors as received. These errors were discovered by the use of Norton Utilities (NU). NU will not only detect system errors it will detail the severity of each and repair them for you.

Errors also can be generated by the system user (and the system), and at a very high frequency. It is not unusual to generate from 1 to 20 errors on my system in a day. This can add up to an enormous amount over a period of time. Each of these will have the potential of creating havoc with your system. I think quite a few problems such as lockups and CTD when running F4 could possibly be traced to this. Something as simple as uninstalling and reinstalling F4 will generate a dozen errors and most people are never aware of them. System lockups, crashes and the occasional problems we all take for granted, such as bad shut downs and of course the "blue screen of death", will all add to the growing list of accumulated errors. Each time something out of the ordinary occurs it will leave a footprint in your system -we call them errors.

NU will not only display and repair the usual file errors as I have described, but it will also correct disk errors. I find that I usually have lost clusters and other disk errors frequently. The NU program has many capabilities and will help you keep your system in tiptop condition. In my opinion a PC is a garbage factory, creating many errors, and to ignore them is an invitation for trouble. With the use of NU, and an established routine of cleaning out these errors twice a week, you can make a significant difference in your systems performance.

Again we will explore an NU capability and talk about an important consideration for improving system performance. The NU option to do this is "Speed Disk". This program optimizes your hard drive. We all know that computer hard drives become fragmented with use. Scattering occurs leaving large holes in areas previously occupied by data. This is a highly undesirable condition for your hard drive. Windows supplies us with some relief for this in the form of its "defrag" routine. For most PC's this is a slow and grueling way to keep our hard drive compacted. With infrequent use of the defrag program the system will have to work harder to find relevant data that it needs for a program to function. This not only slows down the program you are using, it also increases wear and tear on the hard drive.

An excellent substitute for Windows defrag is the NU Speed Disk program. This is the hard drive optimizer. It not only compacts your hard drive, but it optimizes the placement of each program on your system -- something the defrag program does not do. There is an option menu that lets you decide where you want the programs to be placed in relation to the front of the hard drive. Frequently used programs can be placed near the front and less used, further away. It will automatically take care of your swap file by optimizing it for you and placing it at the very front of the drive. I have mine set as fixed at 250MB minimum and maximum, and located at the front of the drive with F4 jammed against it. Hard drive fragmentation is also taken care of by this program and it will defrag your swap file at the same time.

Another nice feature of Speed Disk is: when loading a program like F4 that requires patching and additions, you can load everything at once without worrying about keeping it all together. Even though it may load various parts in various places on your hard drive, the optimization routine will find it all and put it together for you. This makes reinstalling F4 a lot less time consuming. No more defragging between installs of various parts of the program.

I have found optimization eliminates, or at least significantly lessens, the stuttering some of us experience in F4. I had very bad stuttering with mine, and found it necessary to defrag at least once per day (of course this depends on how much you fly). Now I spend 10 minutes re-optimizing once per week. This is a far cry from the two hours per day I was doing before.

But, a word of caution here. If you choose to use Speed Disk, then you will have to abandon the Windows defrag program. The two programs play by different rules and one will undo what the other has done. Also, it will take many hours to optimize with Speed Disk the first time you use it. It will completely rearrange your hard drive. But subsequent re-optimizations are very fast and usually take no more than 10 to 15 minutes on a weekly base.

Rampage is a popular "memory saver" and is used by a large number of people, as is Memturbo, and others like it. I have researched the usefulness of these types of programs and have come to the conclusion they are worthless at best, and possibly can actually slow things down (on a microsecond basis). They typically "blow holes" in your RAM, and send this data to the swap file (it was destined to go there anyway). However, I recommend the installation of RAMpage for its useful taskbar RAM meter. After installation, RAMpage configuration can be set to minimum values so that it will not interfere with your system enough to make a difference.

This can be done by right clicking on the RAM meter on the taskbar which will bring up the programs configuration screen We will be using the meter to help us install Cacheman. It is also a good tool to have for other RAM monitoring purposes. RAMpage can be found on the ZDNet web site -- it is a freebie.

This is a program that will recover many Mb of RAM for you. Windows is very RAM hungry and always uses more than it needs at your expense. I have 256MB RAM installed, and without Cacheman I only have 138MB free, and unused, RAM after system bootup. With Cacheman I now have 188MB free RAM -- a savings of 50MB of my valuable RAM. Windows does not notice the difference -- but I do.

Before installing Cacheman I recommend that you reboot your system, and with the help of the RAM meter you have installed on your task bar, take a reading of the Mb of free RAM you have remaining. This is the number we hope to improve upon with the help of Cacheman. Now install Cacheman. It too can be found on the ZDNet site as a freebie.

Once you have it installed, go to the .exe (in the folder you installed it in) and double click on it. This will open it up for you and allow you to select the settings that will give you the best use of the program, resulting in better use of your RAM.

You will have some choices in the first settings menu. One is to allow the program to set itself and is titled "for beginners". I suggest that you do not use this but continue to follow my instructions. There are two more choices and they pertain to either Windows 95 or 98 (Windows ME will work with the Windows 98 settings). Choose the appropriate one for your system. You will then see a menu that will give you six choices for setting cacheman. One of these is probably a better setting for your particular system than the others. But which one? Every system seems to be different and some will perform better with one setting and others with another.

Now we can use the little RAM meter we installed on the taskbar again. Choose the first setting option -- standard system -- and reboot your computer. Note the free RAM value on your RAM meter. I am sure it will be an improvement over what you had. But don't stop here. Go back into Cacheman and repeat this procedure until you have tried, and noted the values, of each setting. Then you can choose the one that gives you the highest free RAM value after rebooting.

Now you have Cacheman installed and operating at its best automatic setting for your system. You will see a number of slide bars available for manually setting this program, but I would suggest you use the automatic settings.

What have you done here? I really don't know for sure, at least not enough to give a clear explanation of it, except to say it makes simple changes in your system .ini file. The program does not run in the background. The system Cache is a lot like swap file in that it is better to have it at a fixed size than to let Windows shrink and expand it for you. Certainly you will see the results for yourself in reclaiming a significant amount of RAM for your personal use. One word of caution -- use the "disable cache optimization" option to reset your system to the default settings. Uninstalling Cacheman will not default your system. Changes have been made to the system .ini file and they must be reset before default will take effect.

For some who have as much as 256MB system RAM, Cacheman can be the difference in you depending on swap file when you run F4, or not. For others with less RAM, it can lessen your dependence on it. Swap file is many times slower than RAM, so the goal is always to reduce or eliminate its use. We can reach or approach this goal by increasing our free and unused RAM as much as possible. Cacheman is a great tool for this.

It is recommended by almost everyone to set your swap file (virtual memory) to a fixed size. Basically the reason for this is that Windows shrinks and expands swap file to suit itself. This can cause fragmentation of your hard drive. It also places the swap file anywhere that it wants it at any particular time. This is not always a convenient place if you are running F4 and depend on memory swapping to run the program.

The size of the swap file is always a good subject to start up a heated discussion. I think most answers to this question are too vague for the average user. The size is usually given with a broad intent, so that it will be small enough to still do some good, and large enough not to cramp anything. Running out of memory would stop you cold in a program. The formulas I have seen published by the gurus usually result in about an average value of 300MB for the minimum and maximum setting. I do not disagree, although I think this to be a little too high. However, lets not quibble about it. I am sure you will want a least 200MB, and if it gets too high you will be letting yourself in for some fragmentation.

Go to start/settings/control panel/system/performance/ and click on the virtual memory button. Choose "let me specify my own virtual memory settings". Set the minimum and maximum values of your choice (recommend 250MB for both settings). Click "ok". You will then get a warning from Windows about this, but just ignore it and reboot.

I could go on all day about this, but will try to make it short. My knowledge of RAM is not extensive, but I do have a collection of things I have seen it do -- or not do. One thing it does not do is influence your frames per second (fps) in F4. One thing it will do is smooth out the operation of F4. F4 requires varying amounts of RAM depending on which missions you fly or whether you are in TE training missions or campaign. I have seen F4 run using 121MB and 155MB RAM. Couple this need with the RAM needed by your operating system, and your requirement will be as much as 215MB minimum to be able to stay out of swap file. This is assuming you are using Cacheman -- more if not. I have read that swap file is 100 times slower than RAM, so that is good enough reason for me to have plenty of RAM. Certainly there is a bottom amount beyond which you cannot operate F4. I know that some have as little as 64MB. Although F4 apparently can be run with this small amount, I must assume it is not very efficient and probably results in all sorts of problems. Do not skimp on RAM-256MB is my recommended minimum.

Recently there has appeared an .ini file command that will help those who are dependent on swap file. As I understand it, it puts seldom-used data from RAM into the swap file first, and leaves the most-used data in RAM. You can load this statement as follows:

Go to start/accessories/system tools/system information/tools/system configuration/system .ini and then expand 386enh. Do this by double clicking on 386enh -- do not click on its + sign. Click on the add button and type in the statement ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1. This will help some who have small amounts of RAM and are dependent on swap file.

About recovering RAM. I know a lot of people occasionally close out of F4 and reboot their systems in an effort to recover RAM. Rebooting is unnecessary. The taskbar RAM meter and the System Monitor will show that as soon as you exit F4 you will get instant recovery of all, or almost all, available RAM.

These are my suggestions for improving your system and getting a smoother and better running Falcon 4. Mine runs like a well-oiled machine. Falcon 4 appears to me to be on the cutting edge of technology. System requirements for it are very high. But even with the most advanced systems there appears to be a need for some tweaking and routine maintenance. We are in a learning mode, and hopefully one day a sim like this will be available, as well as supporting hardware and software, that will make adjustments and concerns like these unnecessary.

Part 2 - SYSTEM OPTIMIZATION As with anything else we learn as we go. Part II will be my findings concerning Cacheman and its effects on the higher end systems. Lower end systems are covered quite well in the earlier writing.

Lets define what I term higher/lower end systems. The definition I will use here concerns the amount of system RAM only. Many things are involved in making a high end system --- CPU speed, motherboard, graphics card, RAM, etc. But for the purpose of this discussion we will consider RAM only.

To understand what adjustments to Vcache will do for you it is good to understand what Vcache is all about. I have read many explanations of what Vcache is and how it works. Most of them leave me as uninformed as I was before I read them. But as I continued to read these explanations I began to create a picture in my mind that made some sense to me. I will try to convey what I see it to be.

First create this picture in your mind-you have a certain amount of RAM in your system. Some of this RAM is used by your operating system to get you booted up and allow you to do all your normal task. There is not much you can do about how much RAM the operating system uses. Next your operating system will use additional RAM once you are running a program. It will use it in Vcache. Vcache reads your hard drive and anticipates what will be needed to run a program before it has to have it. The third thing that uses RAM is the program you are running. Falcon4 for example uses as much as 160MB of RAM to run a campaign mission.

So now we have identified three users of your RAM. The operating system, Vcache and your running program. Your RAM will be divided three ways to allow these things to function correctly. This is all well and good, except that Vcache is very sloppy in how it handles itself. The Cacheman program discusses Vcache and claims it uses as much as 60 to 80% of your free RAM if it is not controlled. We will attempt to bring it under control by putting a cap on it. For purposes of this discussion we will assume that there is nothing we can do about the amount of RAM that is used by the operating system or your running program.

To further identify the function of Vcache --lets look at it this way. You are running Falcon4 which is graphics intensive. A large amount of the program will be loaded into whatever available free RAM you have. The operating system and its Vcache is doing all it can to "pre-read" any other data from the hard drive that is not already loaded into free RAM. Things like a constantly changing terrain for instance.

When new data is needed the program that is in your free RAM reads it directly from your Vcache RAM. So you have RAM reading from RAM as opposed to RAM reading directly from the hard drive, which would be the case if you did not have a Vcache. RAM reading from RAM is a much faster way to obtain your data. So what we actually have here is a buffer. Vcache is a buffer that independently reads and replaces data on your hard drive and anticipates your programs needs.

But since Vcache is RAM then it is another function that puts requirements on your total available amount. And since it has proven to be very sloppy in how it handles your RAM you cannot afford to let it do its thing the way it is programmed to do. As I understand it Vcache is reluctant to return unneeded RAM. At least, not all of it.

So now we have identified the important function of Vcache, and the need to have it, and its benefits and faults. Common sense and experience tells us that Vcache does need a certain amount of RAM to give best results. And setting the size of Vcache is the only control you have over how much free RAM you will have available to run a program.

This has been a question that has been asked many times on the Falcon 4 forums. Few explanations have been given. But I have been able to come up with numbers that should work for almost everyone. These numbers are different for different amounts of total system RAM. So I will categorize RAM into three categories - (1) less than 256MB, (2) those with 256MB and (3) more than 256MB.

First let me say that for people with less than 256MB, who are running Falcon 4, you will have to make a tradeoff between a good Vcache setting and dipping into the swapfile. There is no magic way for you to have a large enough Vcache and not dip into swapfile. There just isn't enough RAM available to supply the three RAM users (Operating system, Vcache and Falcon4) with the necessary amounts..

So lets start by talking about the correct Vcache settings for a 256MB RAM system. Lets assign 65MB RAM to your operating system. Lets also assign 160MB RAM for a campaign mission in Falcon 4. These values will vary a little but they are pretty close to reality. You have now used 225MB for two of the three RAM users (operating system and Falcon 4). Anything left over can be assigned to Vcache - in this case that will be 31MB. The 256MB RAM system user will then set his minimum Vcache value to zero, and his maximum Vcache value to 30MB. A higher number of RAM assigned to Vcache will result in dipping into Swapfile.

Now lets talk about the system with more than 256MB RAM. Normally you would expect the next step up to be to 384MB. No matter -even if it is just a 64MB step you can treat it the same way. Now you have enough available RAM to set your maximum Vcache value to 60MB. Your minimum value should always be zero, or the lowest limit allowed by Cacheman. A higher Vcache setting does not appear to be of any value in my experience.

For someone with the lower amounts of RAM then I suggest you set the maximum Vcache value to 10MB and take whatever performance you get. This is why I recommend 256MB RAM as the marginal amount for someone running Falcon 4.

Cacheman is a program that allows for easy tweaking of your Vcache settings. It is nothing more than that. But it does make these changes easily and efficiently. There is a new version (version 4.1) that not only lets you tweak the minimum and maximum values, but allows you to set the read ahead speed and other things of benefit. There is one for Windows NT and Windows 2000 users also. Thus far we have been talking Win 95, 98 and ME. I am not familiar with the W2k operating system but have read where Clevercache is available to do what we have described here. You can read about this program at

These settings are for a system with greater than 256MB of RAM. For smaller RAM systems just change the Maximum Disk Cache value as I have described above. I will not attempt to explain the other values here. The Maximum Disk Cache value is the focus of this discussion and the main one to consider in my opinion.

The result of the settings I have listed is that I now have a much smoother operating falcon 4. I have suffered, as many have, with a case of the "stutters" where there are constant quick stops and starts while flying. This is now minimalized for me and my flying has smoothed out as never before. Notice that I am not claming any benefit in increased frames per second here. However these settings could possibly result in a slight increase in fps - not a significant amount though.

How smooth your falcon4 will run will depend on how high you can set the maximum Vcache setting. As we have seen this will depend on how much total RAM you have in your system. If you are not able to take advantage of the best setting and your gain is marginal, then this will provide you with good enough reason to upgrade to a larger amount of RAM.

I suspect that some people would be surprised to know that their registry can become fragmented. Uninstalling programs can fragment it. After a few uninstalls it can become a severe problem for Falcon4 simmers. We tend to blame low FPS as the culprit when we get a case of the stutters, but inefficient use of RAM and/or a fragmented hard drive, or registry, are usually the reason for the problem.

"The registry is a large database used by Windows and other applications to store hardware and software configuration data. As you use your computer, data may be deleted from the registry, leaving free space in the registry files. This leftover space can prevent efficient data storage and cause the registry to take up more space than necessary."

"Norton Optimization Wizard can reorganize the registry data for efficient storage and retrieval, improving the performance of Windows and other applications. By packing the registry data more efficiently, it also reduces the size of the registry files freeing space for other data storage."

My experience with optimizing the registry was a surprise to me. My entire system had a case of the stutters. Every program exhibited jerkiness and stuttering. It was so bad that it even affected my sounds. I re-optimized my hard drive and corrected all errors on my system to no avail. The Optimization Wizard was not on my maintenance list. I decided to run the program as a last effort to correct my problem. Immediately everything was back to normal again.

I most likely had a worse case of this than most people would have. I had deleted all orphaned files from my registry. I had about 200 of them. This left many gaps and made my situation worse than it had been. I did not know to defrag the registry and things got progressively worse over a couple of weeks.