IDE Channels

[jaba]

Im a bit confused about this, and so will probably sound dumb but: I have a dvd rom on the same channel as one of my harddrives, I have heard this is bad and the only reason I thought about it is because when playing unreal tournament 2k4....on some maps (not all) i get sections where it seems like i get a large amount of packet loss, but without losing any packets...it just jumps about the place and I cant hit anything! I was wondering if it happens when a new section of the map is loading or something? any ideas?

Spec: p4 2.0c
384megs of ram
geforce4 ti4200
1x20g hd ----|
1x27g hd-----|same channel

1x 80g hd (unreal tournament drive)--|
1x16speed dvd drive-----------------| same channel

 

[babs]

Make sure it's set to use DMA in device manager. They normally do but sometimes I get odd things where it reverts to PIO which is poo. If you choose view by connection in the device manger, expand the branches until you find IDE controller, open the second channel and click on advanced settings. It'll show you device 0 and device 1, make sure it's on DMA if available.

 

[jaba]

Currently all say "current transfer mode: Ultrad DMA mode x" but its set to auto detect the mode...is this right or wrong?

 

[babs]

That's fine, as long as it isn't PIO.

If anything I'd say the jumping in large maps is the game using Virtual memory to load the terrain/textures as they come into view as you have 384 megs.

 

[jaba]

That was my thinking too, and am I right in thinking the only way to correct this would be to increase my RAM?

 

[jaba]

Buuut....it plays other games ok, such as Opflash, i know this is old but it has huge maps...same as americas army...would these not display the same symptoms if it were that problem?

Thanks for the help btw babs

 

[babs]

What's your agp aperture set to in the bios? When I was a nipper it was always supposed to be half your total ram, dunno if it's still the same?

 

[Danya]

Generally 128mb works best for AGP aperture these days. (assuming you have 128mb ram).

As for older games - they'll use less memory for big maps due to being older (in general).

 

[jaba]

Not sure what it is set to, ill have a look after I restart my computer...what does the aperture do exactly?

 

[babs]

I *think* (it's been a while) it's the amount of ram available to the graphics card to use, the system ram it can borrow it addition to its own.

Anyone care to correct me?

 

[smurkin]

Its bad because (one reason, anyway)..DVD burning is quite sensitive to interruptions...so best to have writer on primary, preferably its own channel (but you don t have a burner). If you think both on the same IDE is the reason for the game slowdown...get a no CD crack & try running without the burner on the IDE channel.

I would also ask myself....do the slowdowns occur while the CD in the drive is being accessed ? If not...I cant see why both on the same channel would slow ut2k4 ?

If you dont like to crack your ut.exe, try this. Initialise the game, start a map - then try to spit out the CD using the eject button on the burner. Once the disk is removed, theres no good reason why the DVD player should use the IDE ie. no game slowdown.

I think the AGP thing is highly overrated.

I would also think about turning down my in-game detail settings & ask does this improve perfomance ? I have never owned a NV card since TNT, but I'm guessing the geforce4 ti4200 might labour under very high AA/res/color depth ?

 

[jaba]

The DVD drive isnt being accessed other than to check the game when it starts up, so that confuses me further, the only reason I thought it might be this is that I heard it was bad to have them on the same channel... Oddly enough I was playing the same maps today that cause the slowdown, but with bots only and I had no trouble...but why would I only get packet loss on certain levels? Im hugely confused ted!
Just out of interest do any of you lot play UT2k4?

 

[Tom]

Download the no-cd crack from www.gamecopyworld.com. Also, in your options, disable 'precaching of skins'. Check out http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?forumid=249

 

[smurkin]

I played with the demo on my own & at a lan & while it was quite good, it didnt seem much improved compared to y2k3. I heard the vehicle play was good ....so I might just pick up a copy

Sounds like your problems, might be, as you say, packetloss ie. connection related...you have dsl/cable ? Dyu get connection interrupted errors ?

But also think backround apps....dyu have antivirus....these can bugger up gameplay coz they accesses the HD and memory....

As for certain levels...certain areas...yep individual areas can experience slowdowns...say big areas with lots of players theres two things 1) your client is drawing lots of players/weapon fire with processor and GPU intensive operations 2) More players=more data being transmitted to your client and hence connection problems (packetloss is one issue) are more likely. If thers no problem with bots...it does sound like its your connection.

/edit..or just try the expert forums Tom suggested :worthy:

 

[Danya]

I *think* (it's been a while) it's the amount of ram available to the graphics card to use, the system ram it can borrow it addition to its own.

Anyone care to correct me?

IT;s the amount of memory the AGP card can address. All the ram is defined for use by the system, the system can make some of it available to the gfx card though - up to the amount defined by the aperture size. That said, not much actually uses AGP memory as it's really slow compared to video ram.