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Author Topic: Increasing Virtual Memory For Dummies  (Read 17491 times)
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kaoz666
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« on: June 05, 2009, 02:52:38 am »

Don't say I don't look out for you Sims 3 Players despite the fact that I'm not buying it anytime soon. I've noticed all across the net that people on low to mid ranged rigs are having issues getting the game to run correctly. That comes because of either two things, it's either your GFX Card, or your RAM. But fear not, I'm about to give you a means to get more bang out of your older PC and maybe even be able to get the game to run at a tolerable rate.

Increasing Virtual Memory and created a Non-Dynamic Paging file

What the hell is Virtual Memory you ask? It's the amount of memory your system's partition needs to run properly. Physical Memory is how files and info are stored on you PC, Virtual Memory is how your PC runs programs and processes. Most people haven't touched their Virtual Memory EVER. Well in this day and age where programs are getting bigger and requiring more memory to store info as well as run properly, it's time you got out of the Cave, folks. Tongue I'm going to give you the steps to increase your Virtual Memory as well as create a Non-Dynamic paging file. What's that you ask? Simple. The Paging File is the file on your partition (that's what we tech types call the Hard Drive) that the physical memory uses to allocate the virtual memory. Your paging file grows and shrinks with every process your PC does, be it having more then one tab open on your web browser, opening up Word, or chatting on your IM service of choice. All programs require VM, and the paging file dictates how much of it you PC will use. Dynamic paging files are BAD. Well, not really, they're just not practical if you're a person who runs multiple applications at once or large programs. Me myself, I use such programs as Reason 4.0 and Frooty loop Platinum Studio 12 for my music, Photoshop CS2 for my graphic design, Poser 7 for my 3D rendering and various other programs, and My PC is mid-level at best. But I have my VM set up so that all programs run perfectly, and I can run at least 3 of them at once without to much slow down. (I do experience slow down, but it's tolerable and doesn't effect my work.) So how do you do it? Here's the steps you need, come along kids. Cheesy

Increasing Memory on Windows XP

Strap in, because it's going to be a long ride....

Step 1: Open Control Panel

Step 2: Locate the "System" icon and open it.

Step 3: Find and access the "Advanced" tab. In the box labeled "Performance", click the settings button.

Step 4: In the newly opened window, click the Advanced tab there. (Did I mention this would take a while?) At the bottom you'll see a box labeled "Virtual Memory". That's where we wanna be, so "Change" and let's get to work.

This is going to bring up another window. In this window, it will show a list of all of the partitions running on your system. (The default partition is often "C:") Before you go changing anything, 1st thing's 1st. Creating a Non-Dynamic paging file. What this will do is allocate a set amount of VM the PC will use that will never fluctuate, and thus will run smoother. But before we do that, we have to disable the existing one. You'll see 3 choices...

Custom Size
System Managed Size
No Paging File

The one you want is the 3rd. Click the check circle and hit the "Set" button. When you do this, a warning dialog will pop up you not to disable the paging file. Do it anywayz, that's what we're here for. Next up you hit the OK button. Another dialog will come up saying your system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be made active. Reboot as asked. Almost done, people.

When your PC reboots, it's most likely going to be running like CRAP. That's because it has no paging file, but we're gonna change that. Follow the above steps once again to get back to the Virtual Memory window. Here's where things get technical. In the VM window, choose the partition you want your new paging file to run on. If you have an external partition, you can choose that. Once you decide where you want it, now comes setting up your VM. before we continue, because I don't want anyone to get lost or confused, let me give you the run down on virtual memory on the technical side. The general rule of thumb is that you virtual memory should equal double what your physical memory is. So if your PM is 512MB, your VM should be set to 1024MB (1GB). If your PM is 2GB, the your VM should be 4GB. See how it works? Now you can actually make your VM more then double the size of your PM, but that all depends on how much PM you're willing to give up. (Which is why if you have a large default partition or and external, this becomes a good idea.) Choose the custom size selection, and inside of the type boxes, input the memory you want set in MBs. So that you know before hand...

1024MB = 1GB

So if you have 2GB of RAM, that's 2048MB total of physical memory. So multiply that by 2, and that's what your virtual memory should be. (4096MB if you don't wanna do the math, lazy-bones.)  So 4096MB should be put in BOTH type boxes. This creates a Non-Dynamic paging file. The initial size of it will be HUGE, and it will never exceed that size. So it should look something like this...

Initial size (MB): 4096
Maximum size(MB): 4096

Now go and hit the set button, then click OK. It'll ask you to reboot again to apply the changes. Reboot again with confidence that you have now increased your virtual memory and created a Non-Dynamic paging file. You should notice your PC runs a lil' smoother when running massive applications or programs. Results will vary depending on your rig's specs, but you will see improvement in performance.
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It's a lil' different for you Vista people out there. But you can find step by step instructions on how to do the same thing above HERE.
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Hopefully this tut will help a few people out who are having trouble getting the game to run on their rigs. If a mod could be so diligent to sticky this, it'd be greatly appreciated. And happy simming...dummies. Tongue

(I KEED!!! I KEED!!!)





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SimGirl20
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« Reply #1 on: June 06, 2009, 12:37:16 am »

Thanks so much hon, I'll give it a shot


Hugs if it works out for me..


P.S. I Iz A DumMy when it comes to the techy stuff. Dunno
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Chaavik
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« Reply #2 on: June 06, 2009, 06:00:02 am »

Stickied.. Thank you for the information to help other people out with TS3! Kudos!!
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kaoz666
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« Reply #3 on: June 06, 2009, 10:58:16 am »

Just doing my civic simmer duty. Cheesy
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