Visit the Ironworks Gaming Website Email the Webmaster Graphics Library Rules and Regulations Help Support Ironworks Forum with a Donation to Keep us Online - We rely totally on Donations from members Donation goal Meter

Ironworks Gaming Radio

Ironworks Gaming Forum

Go Back   Ironworks Gaming Forum > Ironworks Gaming Forums > Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2 Also SoU & HotU Forum

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 10-01-2002, 07:58 AM   #1
Ronn_Bman
Zartan
 

Join Date: March 11, 2001
Location: North Carolina USA
Age: 57
Posts: 5,177
My game has a very slight stutter, but after I defragment it becomes a pronounced stagger! It clears up as I continue to save and play the game. I thought I was imagining this, but I'd mentioned it to a friend, and he noticed it yesterday.

I defragment(actually use Norton's Speed Disc) almost daily. My friend only defragments every few weeks, so this was his first chance to notice it.

Anyone else...anyone at all?
__________________
[img]\"http://home.carolina.rr.com/orthanc/pics/Spinning%20Hammer%20Sig%20Pic.gif\" alt=\" - \" />
Ronn_Bman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2002, 12:04 PM   #2
magnetism
Manshoon
 

Join Date: November 5, 2001
Location: Napa Valley
Age: 51
Posts: 166
Defragging everyday is totataly excessive.

All of this extra wear and tair on your hard drive is not worth the minimal gains. Every time you write to the disk you risk damaging sectors.

Defrag one time per month is more than enough even for the avid user.

Second what O.S. are you useing, how much memory do you have and what model hard drive i.e. Seagate Barracuda 18GB 7200RPM IDE. if you are using XP
I would quess your trouble is lack physical memory. If you have 512 memory and wanted to speed up your computer buy a faster hard drive. Ultra160 SCSI if you have the means. This will improve your performace the most after you have enough memory 512MB seems the limit for signifigant gain on a desktop. I run 1GIG and I see a huge difference in disk access.
__________________
Magneticus prefers, like a cat, to play with a mouse that squeaks.
magnetism is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2002, 12:31 PM   #3
Ronn_Bman
Zartan
 

Join Date: March 11, 2001
Location: North Carolina USA
Age: 57
Posts: 5,177
I'm running XP on a 2gig Dell Dimension 8200 with 256mg rdram(I ordered an additional 256 yesterday), and I just installed a GeForce ti4400 graphics card. Not really sure about the hard drive as far as type, but it's 40gig, and I bought the system less than six months ago.

I've never really heard your point about overdoing the defragmenting, but I'll have to seriuosly consider it.

I still don't understand why it would effect gameplay though. I had thought maybe it was just me, but the same thing happened to my friend. The slight stutter is very exaggerated after a defrag, but smooths out with a few hours of gameplay(or a reinstall).

Weird....

[ 10-01-2002, 12:32 PM: Message edited by: Ronn_Bman ]
__________________
[img]\"http://home.carolina.rr.com/orthanc/pics/Spinning%20Hammer%20Sig%20Pic.gif\" alt=\" - \" />
Ronn_Bman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2002, 12:46 PM   #4
magnetism
Manshoon
 

Join Date: November 5, 2001
Location: Napa Valley
Age: 51
Posts: 166
Well with xp, I would say the 256 extra ram will minimize swapping enough
that the chop should be eliminated. O.S. like XP try to index frequently used files and load them before they are needed. I am guessing XP uses a sophisticated read ahead casheing system that is upset by your defrag routine.
It takes a couple of hours for XP to "relearn" your file use patterns. This is just a good guess.

Perhaps I will investigate on the net a bit!
__________________
Magneticus prefers, like a cat, to play with a mouse that squeaks.
magnetism is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2002, 02:04 PM   #5
Paleface
Dungeon Master
 

Join Date: March 3, 2002
Location: a dark, dark forest
Age: 41
Posts: 81
No offense but WHY would you need to defragment everyday?!?!?
That just doesn't make sense and there is simply no reason to defrag that often.
Paleface is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2002, 02:17 PM   #6
Ronn_Bman
Zartan
 

Join Date: March 11, 2001
Location: North Carolina USA
Age: 57
Posts: 5,177
Quote:
Originally posted by Paleface:
No offense but WHY would you need to defragment everyday?!?!?
That just doesn't make sense and there is simply no reason to defrag that often.
I have it set to run at the same time everyday, but it doesn't really get to run everyday. If I'm at work, it's turned off, and if I'm at home, I'm usually playing.

I guess everyday was an overstatement, but according to you guys, I'm still doing it waaaay too much.

Based on the effect it has on NWN, I won't being doing it much at all anymore [img]smile.gif[/img]
__________________
[img]\"http://home.carolina.rr.com/orthanc/pics/Spinning%20Hammer%20Sig%20Pic.gif\" alt=\" - \" />
Ronn_Bman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2002, 02:23 PM   #7
Paleface
Dungeon Master
 

Join Date: March 3, 2002
Location: a dark, dark forest
Age: 41
Posts: 81
That's good to hear cause with WindowsXP, you don't have to defragment nearly as much as with older OS's.

I heard once every 3 months was the norm.

The only reason I'm warning you is that I lost a computer to defragmenting.
I had WindowsME and defragging completely destroyed my hard drive.

Thankfully, I was able to replace it for a much better comp with Windows XP! [img]smile.gif[/img]
I've had it for six months and have only defragged three times... and of those times, I only defragged because I wanted to.
Paleface is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2002, 04:23 PM   #8
Lord Shield
Guest
 

Posts: n/a
to be hoenst, defragging is only necessary if you've installed/uninstalled a fair bit. saved games and temporary internet files also contribute to fragging

maybe once a week. sometimes i leave it a few months but i can let the PC defrag overnight while i kip LOL!!
  Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2002, 03:51 PM   #9
Nastymann
Elite Waterdeep Guard
 

Join Date: February 18, 2002
Location: Home
Posts: 37
Have you uninstalled your old video drivers before you loaded the new ones for your new card? It sounds to me like you might have a conflict in drivers. I run 98se with Nortons Utilities. At the end of each day I use Speedisk to defrag and optimize my drive. The difference can be seen in a benchmark (Atto)...before and after...as far as hurting your hard drive...never heard of such a thing! If you have some documentation about defragging the drive,I sure would like to read it! As to SCSI as an option...nope go for Raid...I run two fourty gig harddrives and get the same through put at half the price of SCSI! Two WD 40 jb drives on a Abit motherboard with onboard Raid 0.

Nasty
Nastymann is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-06-2002, 04:07 PM   #10
Ronn_Bman
Zartan
 

Join Date: March 11, 2001
Location: North Carolina USA
Age: 57
Posts: 5,177
Yes, I completely uninstalled the old drivers before replacing cards and installing new drivers. I'd noticed the problem before any upgrade though.

Again, this isn't a fluke either. My uncle, who hasn't replaced anything on his machine, noticed the same problem.

I'm running XP and someone earlier mentioned maybe that was the problem with defragging....who knows?

It only takes about 10 minutes to use Norton's Speed Disc on my 40GIG HD.
__________________
[img]\"http://home.carolina.rr.com/orthanc/pics/Spinning%20Hammer%20Sig%20Pic.gif\" alt=\" - \" />
Ronn_Bman is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
What made you play IWD? Scoo Lightbringer Icewind Dale | Heart of Winter | Icewind Dale II Forum 30 03-13-2004 06:33 PM
So we've actually made things worse have we? Donut General Discussion 23 08-01-2003 09:32 AM
screen jerky hickfam Baldurs Gate II: Shadows of Amn & Throne of Bhaal 7 06-21-2003 07:05 PM
Stutter, drivers, and defragmenting Ronn_Bman Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2 Also SoU & HotU Forum 13 10-24-2002 09:55 AM
Herky Jerky play? Ronn_Bman Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2 Also SoU & HotU Forum 2 09-17-2002 11:33 AM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 03:09 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.3
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
©2024 Ironworks Gaming & ©2024 The Great Escape Studios TM - All Rights Reserved