ShaderCache Fix/Temp Fix (simple)

Okay, so i've always been having issues lagging when it comes to shaders/light qualities because we are not able to optimize in game yet. I know many it happens when you start to lag when there's about 50 million pieces of lightning.

Anyways, here is how we go about do a ShaderCache relocate to run off of RAM. So RAM is volatile, so it's a lot easier to have faster access, especially on a laptop.

1. Download RAMDISK
2. start a RAMDISK for 250MB of unformatted space.(remember, this is actually using allocated memory from your RAM.)
3. Go to your partition setup(Control panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management.
4.You will see the new partition created from your RAM, click it and make sure you initialize it. Then after it is initialized, create the partition into a drive with NTFS format.
5. After this is done, go into your POE Folder. Go into your POE Folder and copy your ShaderCache folder to the new RAMDATA located under My Computer.
6. You can rename the old ShaderCache folder to "ShaderCache.old" if you want, and remove the folder to another location that you can remember.


7. Now, go into CMD prompt and execute the following command.

"mklink /j "Original ShaderCache Location" "New Shader Cache Location""

For Example. My old POE Folder is located under D:\ and my RAMDATA is H:\

"mklink /j "D:\POE\ShaderCache H:\POE\ShaderCache"

It will say symlink created, and you are done. You may start the game and test it out, see how it works for you under heavy load times. Most people see reduced lag times.

Also, to add another note that may possibly speed up load and efficiency, do not run Windows Aero as of right now, it seems to still draw the desktop which makes frame rate times a little lower.

Now upon restart or shutdown, this RAMDATA will dissapear. So all you will need to do is follow these steps again to create the RAMDATA and put the ShaderCache back in & use the symlink. This is why I had you save the old ShaderCache.


Enjoy, and I hope it all works well. If you have any questions, you can contact me in game at anytime.

Cheers.

-Mike
IGN: Seletra

Make links and add this to the ramdisk sticky :)

Yea this was just a quick write up. I will add it to the ramdisk sticky. Figure this is a more simple fix for shader and light issues.

Well shader cache is there to help display the heavy graphics combinations and take a load off the video card, but the cache isn't complete yet, and thus we see a lot of pausing when the newer skills and auras all appear on screen and need shader fragments generated. I have heard before that RAM disk helps the shader skip problem, this fix explains why that must be.

Will try this

OK i gave this a try and i have a few questions
1st i would like to say that i never worked with Ramdisk b4 so forgive me if i say something that is wrong or just plain stupid

these are your steps and i wanna make sure i did everyone right

"

1. Download RAMDISK
2. start a RAMDISK for 250MB of unformatted space.(remember, this is actually using allocated memory from your RAM.)
3. Go to your partition setup(Control panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management.
4.You will see the new partition created from your RAM, click it and make sure you initialize it. Then after it is initialized, create the partition into a drive with NTFS format.
5. After this is done, go into your POE Folder. Go into your POE Folder and copy your ShaderCache folder to the new RAMDATA located under My Computer.
6. You can rename the old ShaderCache folder to "ShaderCache.old" if you want, and remove the folder to another location that you can remember.
7. Now, go into CMD prompt and execute the following command.
"mklink /j "Original ShaderCache Location" "New Shader Cache Location""

for step 1 i downloaded Radeon's RAMDisk ... hope thats fine
for step 2 and 3 its clear what to do
but step 4 kinda confusing.... a step by step would be nice
......i did this
when i opened Disk Management i got asked:

i just click yes
after that i wasnt too sure what to do since the Disk Space wasnt alocated and i didnt get a new partition to work with so i did











after this i got a new partition "E"
so i just put the ShaderCache dolder inside
opened the CMD
and did step 7
>>> mklink /j "D:\GAMES\Path Of Exile\ShaderCache" "E:\ShaderCache" <<<< (is this correct?)

now my other question is ... if we do:


will it correctly save it so we dont have to do it every time we res the PC

This did not help at all, if anything seemed to make things worse. Radeon HD 4870, winxp sp3, 2gb ram, dual core 3,2Ghz. Never EVER have i had to mess around with computer settings and drivers so much trying to get a game to work before Path Of Exile... all my efforts gone to waste, nothing seems to help even a little bit.

Getting mighty tired of not being able to play, just gonna die time after time until those FPS spikes/freezes stop happening, so i might as well not play at all. Even if i survive its annoying as hell to run away spamming health potions hoping you live while watching the slideshow happening on your screen, as it happens practically every time theres a large fight on the screen. Buying those microtransactions/effects would probably make things worse as its EVEN MORE effects on the screen... i wish i could buy "All Effects Off" from the store, that would actually help as i could actually PLAY THE GAME.

anyone else try this?

Yes this did work for me and my Radeon 4830. The really severe fps drops does not occur anymore.

Doesnt work for me either.