EVE RAM-disk Set-up

for multiple EVE accountsand

multiple EVE environments (Tranquility, Singularity, …)

v2.1, 03.04.2009

by Lady Cath <eve.lady.cath@gmail.com >

Corporation: Stardust Heavy Industries [DUST]Alliance: Majesta Empire [ME]

History: EVE version / Changesv0.5, 30.03.2009 Based on EVE “Apocrypha” on Win XP SP3v0.9, 30.03.2009 Updatesv1.0, 30.03.2009 Correct wrongly created PDF filev1.1, 31.03.2009 Add feedback, cosmetic.v2,0, 02.04.2009 Completely New Conceptv2.1, 03.04.2009 Batch automation for RAM disk backup with XP planned tasks

Contributors:

Index:

1.GOAL: ..................................................................................................................................... 3 2.Before we start: ........................................................................................................................ 3 3.Backup Solutions (in brief): ..................................................................................................... 4 4.OS and DRAM requirements ................................................................................................... 4 5.Additional Software Requirements .......................................................................................... 4 6.Other Requirements ................................................................................................................. 4 7.License Terms and Considerations .......................................................................................... 4 8.Solution Overview / Windows XP file system layout ............................................................. 5 9.RAM-disk Resource Planning ................................................................................................. 5 10.SuperSpeed RAM-disk Installation and Settings ................................................................... 6 11.EVE installation ..................................................................................................................... 8 12.NTFS-LINK (download/install) ............................................................................................. 8 13.Create Empty directories and junctions ................................................................................. 8 14.Setup Desktop Icons per account ........................................................................................... 9 15.Start-up EVE for the 1st time (every account) ..................................................................... 10 16.Backup the EVE settings ...................................................................................................... 11 17.Migrate content of EVE settings folder to RAM disk ......................................................... 11 18.Backup Batch script ............................................................................................................. 13 19.Backup task automation ....................................................................................................... 14 20.References, sources of information from different forums .................................................. 16 21.Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................. 17 22.Caveats / to be observed ....................................................................................................... 17 23.Feedback .............................................................................................................................. 17 24.Donations ............................................................................................................................. 17

1. GOAL:

• Speed-up EVE client accesses to cache folder• Better performance in fleet battles• Better performance when having to deal with a huge number of objects• Savings in disk space by using only one EVE installation which is shared by all accounts. You

only need the disk space once per environment (Tranquility / Singularity / Multiplicity), no matter how many accounts you have

• Savings in administration / patch efforts as you only need to patch EVE one time per environment (Tranquility, …), which makes the new patch installer more enjoyable, as you do not have to repeat that procedure per account. You also do not require any more to download the whole patch file from the separately offered link from CCP download page which you could use to download once and patch multiple installations of Tranquility, .... (to save time and network bandwidth)

• Separation of environment settings per EVE account automatically done by EVE now, its triggered nicely by using NTFS junctions (good-bye LUA:off) and thus starting EVE from different (kind of virtual) paths

• One EVE start-up icon on desktop per account, firing up EVE with the correct user name already filled in on the display.

• Getting rid of batch scripts for start-up• Using a rock solid (best Microsoft certified) RAM disk product which stores and restores the

content of the RAM disk on system shut-down and reboot• Using a backup script to backup RAM disk content to a normal file system• Automate the backup from RAM disk at user login using XP planned tasks

The solution is build-up to meet mainly my personal requirements. After having it finished I decided to document it in the hope that it might be useful also for other people.

Starting with version 2 of this document new ideas came in, i.e. from Chribba. So this is now brand new information. If you already read v1.1 of this guide, be sure to read this as well and see the advantages to set it up this way. Your decision, both ways work.

Please note: the RAM disk described in v1.1 I can't recommend any more, as I got stability problems with my system. Blue screen and other effects. They went away after choosing another commercial product, which has the advantage to be Microsoft certified.

The SuperSpeed RAMdisk Plus product has been chosen by me now, as I heard reports, that this product is running stable for some people like Chribba, who shared information with me with regards to the whole set-up of the solution. Thanks again ;-)

Sorry, I didn't have access to an English XP, so you need to be a little bit flexible, as I needed to add some OS information from a German XP.

2. Before we start:

• I take no warranty in any way, that the below described procedure iserror-free, fool-proofed and does not hurt your system in any way (of course I tested it here and am running it, but you know … systems sometimes behave very differently).

• All that you do here is on your own RISK !!!• Backup your OS before you start. RAM-disk software in general and the tool “NTFS-

link” integrate into your Operating system, which potentially can have impact on the stability of your system. In the worst case it even won’t start any more.

• Backup your EVE installation, especially the cache Directories. If the EVE cache folder should get corrupted then EVE won’t start any more.

3. Backup Solutions (in brief):

If you are in the need of a quick, flexible and reliable Backup solution, then look for something like “Acronis True Image Home 2009” or “Norton Ghost”.Please Note: be aware that new “.0” releases sometimes have problems. Take a mature release with the 1st round of patches integrated. I am personally using the Acronis product: http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

4. OS and DRAM requirements• OS: Windows XP (tested on SP3) (*)• Memory: 2+ GB DRAM (**)

(*) Please note: probably also running on Vista, but I have no hands on or personal experience, so it would be nice to get some feedback from Vista users.

(**) Memory demand depends heavily how many clients you run and what other applications are installed on your system. The less DRAM you have, the trickier it will be to balance everything not to loose performance. If you start to page out and in memory to disk, then the speed advantages go to “/dev/null”.

Note: for 32bit XP. It might be worth to install 4GB of DRAM, even if the 32-bit OS can't make use of the whole DRAM. The SuperSpeed RAMdisk product claims to be able to use unused DRAM, which is not accessible by the OS.

5. Additional Software Requirements• Microsoft certified RAM disk software, see further comments on this later in text.

• Tool: NTFS-link to create a real “link” from the EVE cache folder to the new location on RAM-disk. GNU license. http://developer.novell.com/wiki/index.php/Special:Downloads/ntfslink/ntfslink_2.1/ntfslink2.1_installer/ntfslink.exe

6. Other Requirements• Usage of NTFS file system for RAM-disk and EVE installation• Per account approx. 80+ MByte DRAM free for RAM-disk (for the cache folders on RAM-disk)

7. License Terms and Considerations

If you build up this solution, then these licenses are being used:

Software License CommentRAM-disk Software

Depends which you choose Recommended to choose a Microsoft certified product, to be on the safe side, as the implementation of a RAM disk might impact the stability of your OS. Of course this is no guarantee, that its real stable, but at least to mitigate the risk.

NTFS-LINK http://www .opensource.org/licenses/ gpl-license.php

GNU Public License (Open Source)

8. Solution Overview / Windows XP file system layout

To give you a brief overview, this is the final installation scenario which we are going to implement.The drive letters reflect my personal installation. Of course it can be the case that your OS resides on D: or where ever, you should know that ;-)

OS Windows XP SP3Drive Letter

File System Type Content Path

C: NTFS (mandatory) WindowsC: NTFS Junction to

directory on RAM diskC:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\<XP-Account>\Lokale Einstellungen\Anwendungsdaten\CCP\EVE

D: NTFS (recommended)

RAMdisk Image File D:\SsRd0001.cifFrom this file the RAMdisk content will be restored on next reboot

R: NTFS (mandatory) RAM-disk and your data R:\EVEHere on RAM disk the real set-up and cache data reside now

T: NTFS (mandatory) EVE installation Tranquility

T:\EVE\shared

NTFS junction for 1st

account to TranquilityEVE installation

T:\EVE\shared.cath

NTFS junction for 2nd

account to TranquilityEVE installation

T:\EVE\shared.dlay

T: NTFS (mandatory) EVE installation Singularity (Test)

T:\EVE\shared.devel

T: NTFS junction for 1st

account to SingularityEVE installation

T:\EVE\devel.shared.cath

T: NTFS junction for 2nd account to SingularityEVE installation

T:\EVE\devel.shared.dlay

T: NTFS (recommended)

Backup Folder for EVE cache and settings

T:\backup\eve-backup-ramdisk

T: DOS Backup Script T:\scripts\eve-backup-ramdisk.bat

9. RAM-disk Resource PlanningPer account you require approximately 80 MB for the cache folder.You need to honour for the amount of character / environments which you play in parallel.So for 2 characters this is 2*80MByte = 160 MByte.

Please note: If you clear the EVE clients cache, then you automatically trim down the cache size. But the backups will also be placed onto the RAM disk.

Mandatory: keep an eye on your RAM disk's space consumption and clean up manually.

Hint: another approach would be to write a batch script which does this automatically from time to time.

I think in a future version of this guide I might present also a solution for this.

10.SuperSpeed RAM-disk Installation and Settings

I recommend you to choose a RAM disk product from a vendor who offers Microsoft certified RAM disks. While using a product from QSoft I got system instabilities.

For this reason I switched now to RAMdisk Plus from SuperSpeed (recommendation from Chribba).

Important: You need the Plus version to get the feature disk image backup and restore !!

You can download atrial version from here: http://www.superspeed.com/download/trialversions.php

BTW, the good news for me: the instabilities of my system went away after using the SuperSpeed product.

Hint: on installation you need to leave both fields blank, “Name” and “serial number”, otherwise the installer won't enter evaluation mode and will insist getting a valid license key from you.

Note: Before you add a RAM disk you should enable “use wizards and use advanced wizards” under File->Options, otherwise you do not get required extended set-up options:

I used these properties and settings for my RAMdisk (R:). Note: as I had much space on D:\ I decided to use this drive as the location for the RAMdisk image file.

Here the next tabs settings:

This is the top level overview window, where you can see the status and set-up of all RAMdisks:

11. EVE installationInstall the EVE client (for Tranquility, Singularity, … ) on a partition with NTFS file system and a lot of free disk space.

You can estimate 5GB per EVE installation. Plan for a reserve as future upgrades might require more disk space.

The good thing is by using this “shared installation” approach and the NTFS junctions per account, that you only need the disk space for one EVE version. So for Tranquility and Singularity this is approximately 10 GB. NO MATTER HOW MANY ACCOUNTS YOU HAVE !!!

EVE Installation Paths (shared by all accounts)T:\EVE\shared Tranquility

T:\EVE\devel.shared Singularity (Test Server)

Even if you currently have only one account I recommend you to continue with the NTFS junction set-up, because then you are more flexible later to add some more accounts.

12.NTFS-LINK (download/install)Download and install NTFS-LINK.Reboot PC (not sure if this is really a must, as the junctions are already a feature of the NTFS file system)

13.Create Empty directories and junctionsThe NTFS junction (kind of Unix symbolic link) you can easily create with the previously installed NTFS-link software. You can also use a tool from Microsoft called “junction”, but then you have to “hack it in(TM)” on the command line of your DOS box:

Create this empty directory Create junction to shared EVE directoryT:\EVE\shared.cath T:\EVE\shared

T:\EVE\shared.dlay T:\EVE\shared

T:\EVE\devel.shared.cath T:\EVE\devel.shared

T:\EVE\devel.shared.dlay T:\EVE\devel.shared

The NTFS-link utility integrates into your Windows explorer. Right click onto the empty directory (left column), then select in the pop-up box “NTFS link → Ordner verlinken”. On an English system

this might be “-> link folder” or similar. Then choose in the menu the shared EVE installation directory of the right column.After having done all, it shall look like this.Please note / Check: the green symbol for the NTFS junction.

The nature of this junction is, that you can enter the directory via the junction, i.e. shared.cath. So for your explorer the path is now T:\EVE\shared.cath. In fact you are in the directory T:\EVE\shared.

This characteristic now is being used for starting up EVE (by using a path via the junction directories). From EVE client perspective it looks now, as if you installed EVE now on a per account base and starting it up from separate directories.

You could set-up this way 10+ accounts using only this one shared Tranquility installation.When starting up EVE properly via the junction, EVE creates the settings and cache directory now per account / junction.

And now follows how to set-up the new Desktop Icons.

14.Setup Desktop Icons per accountWith your explorer enter the EVE installation folders VIA the junctions. So in this case 4 times.From there create a short cut from eve.exe to your desktop. Right-click eve.exe, keep button pressed, move the mouse to the desktop background, release the right mouse button and select “Verknüpfung hier erstellen” (In English this is “XXX”).

In my case I created the follwing 4 Desktop icons:

Real File Short Cut on DesktopT:\shared.cath\eve.exe shared.cath

T:\shared.dlay\eve.exe shared.dlay

T:\devel.shared.cath\eve.exe devel.shared.cath

T:\devel.shared.dlay\eve.exe devel.shared.dlay

See and check the properties of every short cut.

The working directory should match the path of the NTFS junction:

15.Start-up EVE for the 1st time (every account)

By doing this the files and directories (cache and set-up folder) will be created at the proper location with the proper names.

16.Backup the EVE settings

Enter C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\andreas\Lokale Einstellungen\Anwendungsdaten\CCPAnd backup the content of EVE directory.I personally am using 7-zip and create a compressed archive.

17.Migrate content of EVE settings folder to RAM disk

You are underC:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\andreas\Lokale Einstellungen\Anwendungsdaten\CCP(English XP: “XXX”)

After you made the backup of the EVE folder like described in previous chapter:

1) Rename EVE to EVE22) Create empty directory EVE3) Create empty directory R:\EVE on RAM disk4) Create NTFS junction from EVE to R:\EVE.Copy the 7-zip archive to the RAM disk R:Extract it there.

Voilà, now your EVE settings (per account) live on your RAM disk.

This is the junction to the RAM disk on C:

This is the RAM disk (R:)

And here the data, split per account (by using the junctions and starting up EVE from the different paths (by using the NTFS junctions).

Please note: when clearing the cache in the EVE client, then you create the backup directory also on your RAM disk.

TIP: delete the backups from time to time, as you do backups anyway using the batch script, see later chapter !

The cache subdirectory per character, here for cath:

The settings subdirectory per character, here for cath:

18.Backup Batch scriptAlthough the files on RAM disk will be saved to the file on drive D: I want a safety belt.

So I wrote a DOS batch script which I currently linked to my desktop, so that I can mirror the content of the RAM disk (only changed files) to a location of my choice on demand.

Tasks Path Comment1. Create this empty directory T:\backup\eve-backup-ramdisk Backup Folder for EVE cache

and settings2. Create this batch file T:\scripts\eve-backup-ramdisk.bat DOS Backup Script3. Create short cut on desktop Right-click, drag & drop, etc..

For on-demand backups..

The DOS batch script eve-backup-ramdisk:@echo offset EVEPATH="R:\EVE"set BACKUPPATH="T:\backup\eve-backup-ramdisk"echo # copying files from RAM disk %EVEPATH%echo # to %BACKUPPATH%echo # please wait...C:\WINDOWS\system32\xcopy /C /I /D /K /R /E /H /Y %EVEPATH% %BACKUPPATH% exit

The next chapter explains how to automate this task using XP planned tasks.

19.Backup task automation

The XP service allows to run this task automatically, i.e. if you log-on to your computer.When scheduling tasks you need to assign a password to your account otherwise scheduled tasks to not run. Creating another user like described on Microsoft Technet and here won't help, as I want to have the backup whenever I login in order not to miss a fixed time of the day. Ideal would be to do this on an hourly basis, but how this can be achieved I need to further investigate. Whenever I have the feeling to need additional backups, then I perform them on demand with the short-cut of the script on desktop, like described in the previous chapter “Backup Batch script”.

Task Comment1. Open „Planned Tasks“ DE: Systemsteuerung → Geplante Tasks

EN: XXX

2. Click to add a task DE: Geplanten Task hinzufügen

3. Enter the following settings See screen shot

Important: you need to enter the password for your login.

If you are not using passwords for login up to now, its now a good time getting used to it :-)Its assumed you know how to assign yourself a password under XP...

Time planning settings, when you login …

Other settings. I did this to my best knowledge, your mileage may vary...

Finally the task can be seen later in the overview …

20.References, sources of information from different forums

RAM-disk related• http://www.eve-online.de/forum/showthread.php?t=7883&start=120 (de)• http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=452570 (de)

EVE start-up options related• http://www.eve-search.com/thread/544296/page/all (en)

RAM-disks for other things• http://www.planet3dnow.de/artikel/diverses/ramdisk/index.shtml (de)

21.Acknowledgements

I want to thank the guys who inspired me to put together this solution.

Deydrana from the X-Trading Company, Razor Allianceand Andy from this thread:http://www.eve-online.de/forum/showthread.php?t=7883&start=120

22.Caveats / to be observed

Somebody raised the question:If one EVE instance crashes, will then all the others as well by using this shared installation ?

To be observed. From my understanding not. Although the EVE folder is shared now by multiple accounts, its still a program running on its own with its own memory and address space.

23.Feedback

For error corrections and suggestions you can write me an e-mail to:eve.lady.cath@gmail.com

24.Donations

If you like you may donate some ISK to Lady Cath in-game. She will be very happy about it.

And now have a good time playing EVE ;-)

Lady Cath