gw.dat defrag, step by step guide plz - Guild Wars Guru archive powered by Guild Wars Legacy

Petra Arkanian

Academy Page

Join Date: Mar 2007

W/Mo

21 Sep 2009 at 17:25 - 1

There used to be a sticky thread in here called something like 'bad lag? try this'

That included everything a non-techie needed to defrag.

While I am sure Tarun's guide is very good, it does nothing for me as apart from downloading powerdefragmenter and contig (which I already have) I have no idea what to do.

Can someone provide a step by step guide (type this.....) how to use these programs, ty in advance

Killamus

Guest

Join Date: Oct 2008

21 Sep 2009 at 17:45 - 2

Start->My Computer->Right click on C:\->Properties->Tools->Defragment Now->Defragment

There you go.

Chthon

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Apr 2007

21 Sep 2009 at 18:01 - 3

Quote:

Originally Posted by Killamus

Start->My Computer->Right click on C:\->Properties->Tools->Defragment Now->Defragment

There you go.

Gah!! No!! The whole point of using contig is to avoid Window's awful native defragmenter.

Once you've downloaded contig and powerdefrag, do the following:
1. Run Powerdefrag
2. Select "defragment files"
3. Navigate to gw.dat
4. Hit "defragment."

Note: Defragmentation improves game speed in situations where loading data off your hard disk is the cause of the slowdown -- for example, your inventory icons are loading slowly after you open the inventory. But it does not do a damned thing for lag in general. That's an ISP problem that generally cannot be solved by any amount of messing with your own computer.

Petra Arkanian

Academy Page

Join Date: Mar 2007

W/Mo

21 Sep 2009 at 18:13 - 4

Thx for the speedy replies

Chthon, I did that but it went so fast I thought I must have done something wrong. Also I vaguely remember the last time I tried (over a year ago) that contig gave me a size for my gw.dat so I could see how well it was working. Am I missing something obvious?

Oh and you are so right about ISP. My last lag lasted 8 months and my ISP were very unhelpful. I did everything suggested on Guru and anet were extremely helpful but in the end it was just demon giving me an awful connection. I do hope my new problems are not O2 deciding that I am a heavy user

AmbientMelody

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Apr 2009

Poland

N/A

21 Sep 2009 at 18:34 - 5

You don't need contig for that, there is a freeware defragmenter which will defragment your .dat file as well as all HDD's without any problems.

http://www.iobit.com/iobitsmartdefrag.html

Chthon

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Apr 2007

21 Sep 2009 at 19:53 - 6

Quote:

Originally Posted by Petra Arkanian

Thx for the speedy replies

Chthon, I did that but it went so fast I thought I must have done something wrong. Also I vaguely remember the last time I tried (over a year ago) that contig gave me a size for my gw.dat so I could see how well it was working. Am I missing something obvious?

Probably already defragmented. If you use contig from the command line, you can see exactly how many fragments a file is in.

Elder III

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jan 2007

Ohio

I Will Never Join Your Guild (NTY)

R/

21 Sep 2009 at 21:29 - 7

I prefer auslogic's free disk defrag, it's very simple to use and fast and shows you exactly what it is doing, as well as the % performance increase you get afterwards.

www.auslogic.com

the pretender

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2006

Largo, Florida

United Aussie Warriors[AUS](1)

Mo/A

21 Sep 2009 at 22:17 - 8

:Link to a video i made for this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrnDl7xkG8w

Quote:

Originally Posted by Petra Arkanian

Thx for the speedy replies

Chthon, I did that but it went so fast I thought I must have done something wrong. Also I vaguely remember the last time I tried (over a year ago) that contig gave me a size for my gw.dat so I could see how well it was working. Am I missing something obvious?

Most likely the Gw.dat file is far to fragmented and contig's fragment buffer ins't large enough!

or

Quote:

Originally Posted by chthon

Probably already defragmented.

GODh

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Nov 2005

The Netherlands

BFTW and DLRR

21 Sep 2009 at 22:55 - 9

AFAIK the -image switch from GW does the same thing... no need for 3rd party tools, right?

the pretender

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2006

Largo, Florida

United Aussie Warriors[AUS](1)

Mo/A

21 Sep 2009 at 23:02 - 10

Nah, -image only downloads all content from the GW severs and decompresses them(decompression only causes more fragmentation). The files are still fragmented and can become even more fragmented as they make their way from the server.

Chthon

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Apr 2007

21 Sep 2009 at 23:59 - 11

Quote:

Originally Posted by the pretender

Most likely the Gw.dat file is far to fragmented and contig's fragment buffer ins't large enough!

or

Like all defragmenters, contig's "fragment buffer" is the entire available space on the HD. Presuming the drive has at least ~3gig free, this isn't it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GODh

AFAIK the -image switch from GW does the same thing... no need for 3rd party tools, right?

No. -image downloads all the data. It has nothing to do with fragmentation.

the pretender

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2006

Largo, Florida

United Aussie Warriors[AUS](1)

Mo/A

22 Sep 2009 at 03:40 - 12

Haha, I've had enough good laughs for one day!!!

Well, mate if de-fragmenting doesn't help you get rid of lag might want to try different alternatives. If nothing turns up try NcSoft's wonderful support(Sarcasm)!

Quaker

Hell's Protector

Join Date: Aug 2005

Canada

Brothers Disgruntled

22 Sep 2009 at 14:30 - 13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Petra Arkanian

Also I vaguely remember the last time I tried (over a year ago) that contig gave me a size for my gw.dat so I could see how well it was working. Am I missing something obvious?

The file should be the same size before and after defrag. The file will use x number of "allocation units" on the hard drive. Defrag puts all those AU's in a row so there are no gaps in between, but it's the same number of AU's.
You may be vaguely remembering something to do with compressing a file, not defragging.

Petra Arkanian

Academy Page

Join Date: Mar 2007

W/Mo

22 Sep 2009 at 17:42 - 14

Ty for all the help

I think you underestimate quite how clueless some of us can be tho

cthon how do I use contig from the command line? I think this is what I did before, oh how I wish I had copied the key points from the other thread. I know I need to add the -a parameter but I don't know what I should type in.

Thx all, for the suggestions for defrag programs but I am reluctant to try new ones if the one I have will work.

Quaker I think maybe I didn't mean size but, as Cthon said, how many fragments it is in (I do not know the right words).

pretender I have just seen your vid - that's superb. You have a lovely voice but I a find it a little difficult to distinguish all the words so I may have to watch it a few times. TY so much

Elder III

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jan 2007

Ohio

I Will Never Join Your Guild (NTY)

R/

22 Sep 2009 at 21:35 - 15

Petra, are you using XP or Vista?

Petra Arkanian

Academy Page

Join Date: Mar 2007

W/Mo

23 Sep 2009 at 13:40 - 16

XP

my daughter's machine is on Vista and I can't do a thing on there.