SuperFetch and Gaming.(Route Editor Content)

[Ericmopar]

Hello all.
In my desire to tweek my now all solid state PC for best performance, I've stumbled across something interesting.
Some of you may already have known this, but for me it's new info.
Superfetch when enabled creates problems for any RAM intensive programs, and that includes gaming and our little railroad sim.
Superfetch is enabled by default in Windows 7 and 8. I don't know about Windows 10.

I have more testing to do, but the preliminary results are in.
After Superfetch was disabled for my SSDs, I no longer have system crashes while in the Route Editor. I can start from any scenario so far, including ones with steam engines and/or heavy assets, and paint terrain until I can't sit in my office chair any more.

Superfetch may in fact be responsible for what we commonly call "memory leaks" in game, but are in fact files that Superfetch thinks are supposed to be preloaded in RAM at all times to speed up the system.
Files that games should reload, when the game or sim restarts...

My gaming is running noticeably smoother since discovering this little Windows 7 and up anomaly.

[buzz456]

So where do you go to find out if it's off or on? That might be Bob's problem with his computer crashing when he's painting textures.

[buzz456]

Interesting. I found it and my superfetch is disabled. I wonder if Samsung told me to do it or if I just don't remember doing it.

[Ericmopar]

Samsung Magician would have disabled it, if you are using it Buzz.
Other programs for SSDs would do the same thing if the OS is on the SSD.
Yes, I was wondering about Bob and others with the same problem, while other people were mysteriously reporting that they have no issues at all when in the World/Route Editor.

The difference may be that others had installed software with new SSDs, that had disabled Superfetch for them. Or that some persons knew this already.

[buzz456]

Good to hear that Samsung Magician did it.

[DrewG]

I'll resisting the urge to make mean girls references but I will resist. Mine was turned off so the ssd installer must have done it, still get occasional crashes but mostly on 3rd party stuff. But seriously, disabling superFetch is so fetch.

[Ericmopar]

I'll resisting the urge to make mean girls references but I will resist. Mine was turned off so the ssd installer must have done it, still get occasional crashes but mostly on 3rd party stuff. But seriously, disabling superFetch is so fetch.

That may be, but Bob, Me and others would crash if we painted terrain more than a couple of minutes. My system is much more stable with it off.
Apparently serious gamers and people that use CAD and other intensive programs have known this for years. (Or are supposed to know this...)

[Ericmopar]

Well... my system crashed while in editor for the first time with Superfetch turned off. It does seem more stable with it off though. I'm still having longer editing sessions with it off.

[arizonachris]

OK so ya got me curious. I migrated my Win 7 install over to my new 240Gb SPCC SSD drive which didn't come with any install software. Win 7 did pick up on the fact the drive was an SSD, turning off defrag and a few other settings but now I wonder what else I should be concerned about? Not too off topic I hope.

[peterhayes]

The editor usually crashes due to an issue in the Virtual address Space (VAS) this either becomes fragmented or there is no contiguous pace for the TS editor to load into. Its possibly due to a Hard Page Fault where data has been loaded into the OS/VAS but is still to reach the cpu RAM, so an illegal call is made and the TS editor crashes. Once we get TS as a 64-bit app these issues will largely disappear as the VAS goes from a max of 4GB (now) to a whopping 8 Terabytes and it will hard to fragment this.

Possible solutions would be to research the HeapDecommitFreeBlockThreshold, and/or the "Desktop heap" as both can make the VAS more stable if they are set correctly - which unfortunately is not easy to do in a 64-bit OS.

SuperFetch has NOTHING to do with the VAS it merely loads data/code into the paging file (aka Virtual Memory) when the Physical RAM becomes full. I doubt it would affect the TS editor unless you only had a small amount of, say, 4-6GB RAM installed. As you increase the Physical RAM SuperFetch will be used less and less. That's why these days it is wise to install at least 16GB RAM to avoid using the PF at all or very infrequently, especially if the PF is on a SSD.
pH

[Ericmopar]

@Chris.
It's a good idea to leave indexing on, on the new SSD. Some programs need it I've learned, even though it's supposed to be a Windows search feature.

Superfetch can be set to "disabled" in the services Chris.

Virtual memory is also something that some programs use, even when they shouldn't, so I just set it to let windows manage it. It never seem so use more than about 3GB on my machine.

A far as TS crashing in editor, the magic combo for me is Indexing on, and Superfetch off, with virtual memory set to let windows manage it. If either one is set differently, I get crashing while painting in the editor.
Since I accidentally discovered this combo on my PC, I can paint as long as I want, from any scenario without crashing.
I never would have known this, if I hadn't been experimenting with SSD settings.

I found out our sim isn't the only game engine that is peculiar about those settings.