Solution for Slow/Fast Character Movement?
They don’t really have much control over the fragmentation. GW2 calls some library code to write the data then the underlying OS handles where to put the data being written. The best they could do is reserve extra space.
You can also defrag just the Gw2.dat file if you use something like http://www.piriform.com/defraggler.
In the screenshot the bright red squares is my Gw2.dat file. The reason it got fragmented(it was in a single piece just the other day) is the two squares pointed to by the arrow. I moved the files occupying those two squares(luckily it only one two very big files, one is part of the D3 installer) to another drive and then had defraggler defrag just Gw2.dat. This only took a couple of minutes including the time it took to move the files around(about 5GB).
The reason I moved the files in those two squares to a different drive is because it’s obvious that if those weren’t there the Gw2.dat can just grow without being fragmented since there is empty space after it(the white squares). Moving to a different drive is important in that step since moving in the same drive won’t make any difference. It is not required but in a situation like that it helps to speed things up.
Thanks for the constructive reply. I was expecting something else that I already knew about such as how combat slows you down and how that is particular problematic for rangers due to pets….or my favorite…it’s an optical illusion. :P
I just checked defrag after playing for an hour or so. (I’m using Auslogics. Is Defraggler better?) Anyway, I have some fragmentation but none are gw2 files. So, the big problem is how there are several rows of white clusters before all of the gw2.dat clusters, and this happens after updates. Problem solved when I compress. I will definitely keep an eye out for files interrupting the clusters. I see your logic there.
If it’s my OS, I wonder why it wants to put gw.dat so far away from all other files. It doesn’t do that with any other program (except for reserved clusters, of course) and the occasional Avast straggler.
Fragmentation should not be occurring as you play. GW2 doesn’t download as you play(unlike GW1). However it is possible the defrag earlier was not able to fully defragment the file. For example in my example one of those red buggers in the way contained a system file that couldn’t be moved so my GW2.dat is still split in two fragments.
If it IS fragmenting without any GW2 updates then something or some setting in your system might be doing that. Maybe some sort of FS optimizer that is trying to move more frequently accessed data.
As for not having this issue with other apps. Most apps are not as big. In addition to that even if they are the same size most apps do not store their data as a single file.
Have you ever looked into your swap file? Where is it stored and how is it configured? Have you ever attempted to play GW2 with it disabled (whether you want to do this or not, depends on how much main memory you have and if you are running a 64 bit OS)? Also, if you are letting determine the swap file size, that is a bad idea….especially if your HD is quite full.
If you need help doing that, PM me and I’ll assist as I can.
Fate is just the weight of circumstances
That’s the way that lady luck dances