Question VAM Maintenance

[DarkFantasy]

Are there any files within VAM that can be periodically trimmed, deleted, or recreated, or ...? (i.e. Files like log files that don't drop events off the tail end or that can be configured to drop events faster). I have noticed that VAM tends to slow down and have issues as time goes on. With buggy/chatty scenes this seems to happen significantly faster.

I essentially have two VAM installs. One that is clean and has never been loaded and one I use, (plus a test instance but that is irrelevant here). Every month or so I copy the clean one to a new directory and copy the vars and custom stuff from the old install to the new install. Its no big deal but is possibly unnecessary.

I have tried just copying the "clean" VAM over the existing one and it makes no difference which makes me think it is a file or something that the app adds or uses after the initial install.

 

[SlimerJSpud]

I flush the cache every time it reaches 18 GB. That's arbitrary. The startup after doing that is long, but things run smoothly after that. That un-caches all the things I tried and didn't like so the things in scenes I play often stay cached. I believe the log files are flushed each session.

 

[DarkFantasy]

I flush the cache every time it reaches 18 GB. That's arbitrary. The startup after doing that is long, but things run smoothly after that. That un-caches all the things I tried and didn't like so the things in scenes I play often stay cached. I believe the log files are flushed each session.

Yes, that definitely helps! I clear the cache frequently now, (every time I have an issue), and it seems to extend the time a bit. Moving the cache to another drive doesn't seem to have much of an effect. There seems to be something more that falls apart over time. Maybe it is just simply a bunch of loose programming leading to things getting corrupted over time but I figured saving an hour or so every month is worth asking! I also run it from a mounted encrypted volume so maybe it is self induced...

 

[AWWalker]

Yes, that definitely helps! I clear the cache frequently now, (every time I have an issue), and it seems to extend the time a bit. Moving the cache to another drive doesn't seem to have much of an effect. There seems to be something more that falls apart over time. Maybe it is just simply a bunch of loose programming leading to things getting corrupted over time but I figured saving an hour or so every month is worth asking! I also run it from a mounted encrypted volume so maybe it is self induced...

Ug... you are slowing yourself down a bit with the mounted encrypted volume, hopefully not TrueCrypt. I have it on an M2 nvme with BitLocker, it performs nicely that way. When i had a mounted encrypted volume, you have two writes going to each write... so yeah, it must be adding to your slow down.

 

[DarkFantasy]

Ug... you are slowing yourself down a bit with the mounted encrypted volume, hopefully not TrueCrypt. I have it on an M2 nvme with BitLocker, it performs nicely that way. When i had a mounted encrypted volume, you have two writes going to each write... so yeah, it must be adding to your slow down.

Definitely not TrueCrypt. Using a mounted drive causes slowdown with loading, (like go get some coffee slow). It doesn't seem to have any impact on the app while it is running though.
Maybe with all the writes with little files VaM does, the infrequent crashes, and the blue screens with the drive mounted, (usually after NVidia updates... lol), the volume just corrupts. I'll try switching to Bitlocker when I have some time.

 

[AWWalker]

Now if you were really worried about someone stumbling across the data and still wanted fast loads, not asking why, you could get a hardware encrypted sata drive... but you'll pay out the tip of your little buddy for that...

 

[DarkFantasy]

Now if you were really worried about someone stumbling across the data and still wanted fast loads, not asking why, you could get a hardware encrypted sata drive... but you'll pay out the tip of your little buddy for that...

lol!! Not worried, just don't like leaving things hanging out there flapping in the wind...