[GUIDE][LOW-END PCS] How I solved stuttering issues (with a usb pen drive)

Hi folks!
First af all, english is not my native language, so... sorry in advance
Years ago I played D3 and had the exact same issue that I have today with Poe: everytime a new mob/effect/sound happens, my pc stutters for a portion of a second (FPS going to 0). Not the worst thing in the world, simply annoying... but sometimes (i.e. with a strongbox or a boss) it can be a sure death. Btw my pc is a 4 years old (but-good) notebook (8 GB ram, i7, nvidia gt 540m)
Then I discovered this guide: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5642269402 and it solved all my stuttering problems. So, I tried to do the same thing with the game we all love... and it works!!! Just tested for 30 minutes, but I think the results are really good so I came here to write it for you all. Hope it works!


********************************** DISCLAIMER ********************************
I'm not an expert, just an old pcgamer, so DO THESE STEPS AT YOUR OWN RISK! I don't think you can do something bad simply creating a link, copying a file and using a pen drive, but I don't want to be responsible if you missclick and format your entire hard disk XD
THIS GUIDE IS FOR WINDOWS7: if you have another OS I can't help, but I think you can do the same thing using different commands (or maybe they are good for others windows too, IDK!)

********************** WHAT PROBLEM THIS GUIDE CAN SOLVE **********************
as already said, little stuttering when a new mob/sound/visual effect happens on the screen. It also improves loading times if you have a slow hard disk like me (I don't know how many rpm, but a notebook hd is SLOW)

********** DON'T USE THIS GUIDE (or try it, but I don't know if it will help you) IF ************
1) you have ALWAYS low FPS, not just some stuttering
2) you have crashes/big performance issues all the time
3) you have a SSD, not a slow hard disk (I don't know if a SSD is faster or slower than a usb flash drive, sorry XD)
If you have 16 GB ram, instead of my guide you can try to do a RAM DISK following this guide: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/108231 but BE CAREFUL: IT IS OUTDATED, BECAUSE THE content.ggpk FILE IS NOW BIGGER THAN 8 GB! SO DON'T USE HIS GUIDE IF YOU HAVE LESS THAN 16 GB RAM!!!

******************************** WHAT YOU NEED ***************************
A 16 GB (or greater) usb pen drive.




ok... let's start!

FAST EXPLANATION ABOUT WHAT WE'LL DO (AND WHY)
I think the poe client doesn't load ALL the graphics/sound effects BEFORE you enter a location: some are loaded when they happens. A strongbox guarded by an exile (the exile is chosen randomly), a sound/effect of a skill used by an enemy, or sometimes used by yourself are not preloaded. When they occur the client needs to load them ----> if your hard disk is slow, the little stuttering occurs.
If you can't buy an expensive SSD but you have a usb pen drive (the faster the better I think, but I use one 4 years old and it works fine) we'll use it instead of your hard disk, because it has a much much faster access-time :)
So we'll create a "file symbolik link" using the "mklink" command: everytime your poe client wants to load something it will load it not from your HD but from your fast pen. And that's not hard to do!


*READY YOUR PEN*
First problem: if your pen uses a fat32 file system, it can't storage a file bigger than 4GB... and the file that we need to save on it is 9GB! But we can bypass this, formatting the pen and using a new file system that can manage bigger files - the NTFS.
1) right click on your pen drive, "properties". In the "general" tab search for "file system": if it is "NTFS" your pen is ready, just jump to step 3); if it is "fat 32" go to step 2 because we need to format it and change the file system
2) ***WARNING**** FORMATTING YOUR PEN WILL DELETE ALL FILES ON IT! BE SURE TO MAKE A COPY FIRST!!! Then, right click on your pen drive, "format", in "file system" choose "NTFS", then "start". Wait until the formatting process ends (mine was 1/2 minutes I think)
*COPY THE FILE*
3) Go to the directory on your hard disk where you have installed poe (mine is C:\Program Files (x86)\Grinding Gear Games\Path of Exile), find the file named "content.ggpk", right click, "copy". Then go to your pen, create a new directory called "poe" or whathever you want, and inside of it paste the file. It will take some time, be patient, it's a 9 GB file :)
*RENAME THE OLD FILE*
4) Return to the poe folder on your hard disk and rename the file we just copied with another name: right click on "content.ggpk", "properties", "general", edit the name with something like "BACKUPcontent.ggpk", press "ok". IF YOU DON'T DO THAT YOU CAN'T SUCCESFULLY COMPLETE STEP 5!
*CREATE THE FILE SYMBOLIC LINK*
5) Click on the windows logo in the lower left corner of your desktop, write "cmd" in the box and press CONTROL+SHIFT+ENTER (because we need admnistrator rights) then press "yes". A black window appears.
Now write "cd your_hard_disk_folder_where_poe_is" and press enter (in my case "cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Grinding Gear Games\Path of Exile")
Now simply write "mklink content.ggpk the_path_to_the_content_file_on_your_pen_drive" and press enter (in my case: "mklink content.ggpk F:\poe\content.ggpk")
A message similar to "a symbolic link was created" should appears.
DONE!!!! Now everytime you launch poe it will use the file on your pen, NOT the file on your hard disk. Obv you need to have the pen inserted in an usb port, or the game won't start :P



******************** IMPORTANT - HOW TO REVERT YOUR CHANGES *******************
If something goes wrong (or simply it was not helpful for your situation) and you want to revert what you've done:
1) go to the poe folder on your hard disk and delete the "content.ggpk" file (the file that WE created using the mklink command, NOT the 9GB renamed one!)
2) rename the "BACKUPcontent.ggpk" in "content.ggpk"
3) done! you can use your pen as you want

********************* AND WHEN A NEW PATCH WILL BE RELEASED??? *****************
You don't have do to anything ;)
The patcher will patch the file on your pen drive (in a faster way than usual :D) and you'll be ready to go!
Obv keep the pen drive in an usb port everytime you launch poe, with or without patches!



Again, I'm not a tech guy! I used 2 hours of my life googling and trying to change poe like the guide I Linked before teached me to do with D3... and it worked. Then spend another 2 hours writing this guide - and I'm a terrible english speaker, it costed me sooo much pain XD so don't be rude pls!!!

Hope it works for you too, it changed my game experience... not kidding :)

dionix

sure!
but SSD ----> expensive + not easy on a notebook
RAM DISK ----> 16 gb ram needed

this guide is written for users with low-end PCs :)

Dude,

You saved my life! It works great!
I'm finally able to play all the acts and all the difficulties without any problems :D

I'm happy to hear that :D
btw when a new patch is deployed you don't have to do anything, yesterday I patched with no issue at all!

Hi :)

I tried this and get the error message

"Unable to open Content.ggpk. You might have another copy of the game still running."

Any idea?

the game can't open the file we moved on the usb pen... possible solution: 1) check if the file is in the right directory on your pen (maybe you mispelled the path?) 2) check if you renamed the old content.ggpk on your hard disk in something like BACKUPcontent.ggpk 3) try to restart your pc
hope it helps!