Can Virtual Memory be used for lack of RAM in gaming?

I have a 16 GB RAM machine, and a couple of weeks ago, I bought the new Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. It has been known so far to utilize up to 24GB of available RAM in PCs that have that much RAM installed.

Is it possible to double, triple, or even quadruple my RAM using Virtual Memory? I actually just tried doing it and I couldn't get it to work, I figure it was due to my lack of knowledge about the process, as I did not see any extra RAM on my Afterburner relay. I would be using my M.2 NVMe hard drive to allocate RAM, not my HDD.

If someone can please explain how it works, to me or show me an article online about it that tells me, much appreciated. Thanks!

Virtual memory, also known as the swap file, uses part of your hard drive to effectively expand your RAM, allowing you to run more programs than it could otherwise handle. But a hard drive is much slower than RAM, so it can really hurt performance.

JOSHSKORN said:

I have a 16 GB RAM machine, and a couple of weeks ago, I bought the new Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. It has been known so far to utilize up to 24GB of available RAM in PCs that have that much RAM installed.

Is it possible to double, triple, or even quadruple my RAM using Virtual Memory? I actually just tried doing it and I couldn't get it to work, I figure it was due to my lack of knowledge about the process, as I did not see any extra RAM on my Afterburner relay. I would be using my M.2 NVMe hard drive to allocate RAM, not my HDD.

If someone can please explain how it works, to me or show me an article online about it that tells me, much appreciated. Thanks!

Hi there
you need to manually set the size and location (Disk) for the pagefile's -- Windows has a default if you don't adjust it yourself.

Can be done in control panel (yes it's still there) -- can't show screenshot currently as I'm messing about on a test Linux system where I don't have any Windows Virtual Machines installed.

I don't think though it will buy you anything unless the game has parameters to adjust --e.g temporary file area etc. (like photoshop edit scratch areas etc).

RAM is (relatively) cheap these days so if it's possible why not simply up the RAM in computer.
If it's a flight simulator type of thing the chances are it's the graphics area where the program probably is being hobbled -- you could try fitting an appropriate graphics card. The actual CPU load on this type of application won't be that high if most of the processing can be off loaded to the GPU (i.e the graphics card).

Cheers
jimbo

Compumind said:

Hi.

I tried Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and it felt to be very slow and bloated - even on my high end SSD based system.

They need to refine the product in many different ways.

Just, IMHO.

Hi there
perhaps the Ms developers of that "Simulator" application should be treated to a few sessions in an actual Flight simulator --Ms is rich enough to pay for sessions --maybe it could even have a simulator or two in its commercial offices where the application is being developed - and the game developers would get a better idea of proper flight simulation experience.

I can testify as a regular private pilot of small planes that I'd have long since crashed the aircraft if I had response times anything like as long as those in that Simulator program (tried it on a Friend's top of the line computer !!).

Imagine getting feedback about "Stalling" (that's when the aircraft is going too slow for the wings to give lift) - so you push the nose down to increase speed (beginner pilots want to raise the nose which actually slows the speed down and probably results in a fatal stall) but response time takes so long that you've crashed the plane !!!!!

Cheers
jimbo

Hi there


@JOSHSKORN

I think the problem is here in the hideous performance of the application -- I tested a version running on a dual cpu 8 core system with 64 GB RAM in it and performance was still totally B/S.

I'm not sure what sort of hardware Ms uses to test these things on. -- OOP's sorry -- the words TEST and TESTING don't exist i Microsoft-Speak.

Cheers
jimbo

I put this on my box to see what it was like. My desktop is not a powerhouse by any means.
core i5-6500
evga GTX 1060 (6GB)
32GB of RAM
All NVMe storage. 2 x 512GB NVMe SSD's.

lowered my resolution to 1920x1080 (on my 2560x1440) monitor. Playing it windowed. Almost everything at low or off. The stuttering during the training was unuable. As soon as it starts and she walks you through looking out the windows to the left or the right, I'd hit the keys and nothing would happen. The ground cover looked awful, the plane didn't seem to be moving and I wouldn't look left or right for about 5-6 seconds. After a couple of minutes of flying it would smooth out. I was trying to fly using a keyboard and mouse and you simply cannot bank a plane effectively hitting 4-6 and 2-8 on the number pad. You hit 4 and it's an immediately full bank to the left. No real in between or subtle way to bank left or right. You gotta just keep hitting 4-6 and try to get it to smooth out.

Gonna be uninstalling this and getting my disk space back, that is for sure. It was free with my Game Pass Ultimate, but I would have been PIIIISSSSSSEDDDDDD if I had actually spent money on this.