boot ini

[charbroil]

This is probably a stupid question, but I can't find my boot.ini file to add the 3gb switch. I ran a search of my computer and looked in my system folder with no luck. Is there a different name I should be looking for?
I really need to add the switch, cuz I keep running out of memory with light cache subs above 1500 for flythrough anim.
Thanks.

[Tog]

it's a hidden file, it's here C:\boot.ini

folder options > show hidden files and uncheck "hide protect file of operating system"


approximate translation of the GUI, i am french

[J_man]

or,

right click 'my computer'
'advanced' tab
'sratup and recovery' - settings
'system statup' - 'edit'

then copy the last line under operating systems, paste it to a new line and add '/3G' to the end.

you then have the choice on boot to choose normal or 3G

J. :>

[Candelero]

Hi,

You can also look at this thread
<< http://www.chaosgroup.com/forum/phpB...highlight=boot >>

it has been discussed and there You will find also some guiding links...

GOOD LUCK !

Best Regards,
Nikki Candelero

[charbroil]

Thanks for the replies. I totally screwed up my machine trying to install the switch though. I had to reformat this morning. I'm not at all tech savvy, which could be mostly to blame, but they also said the 3gb switch is only for servers (microsoft and dell told me this). When I tried to boot I would get a missing or corrupted Hal.dll prompt and there was no way to fix the boot file. Any ideas why this happened?

[Tog]

I have a DELL and win XP pro SP2, the 3GB switch works.

[charbroil]

this is what I replaced my boot.ini with that didn't work:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Pro"
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Pro with /3GB" /3GB

And here are my specs:
DIMENSION XPS GEN 5
Pentium(r) Extreme Edition Dual Core w/ HT Tech (3.20GHz, 800FSB)
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 2 DIMMs
160GB Performance RAID 0 (2 x 80GB /10000 RPM SATA HDDs)

Is it because of my config?

[RErender]

What does your working boot.ini look like, specifically the drive and partition indexes

[charbroil]

Well, I'm not sure. I'll tell you after I reload all my software and get it up and running again tonight.

[charbroil]

Sorry that took me so long. here is what my original boot file looks like, any idea why it failed?

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Now I am worried because I finally found the perfect settings for my scene in terms of speed/quality. It was working for a while, but now that I have added more lights it is crashing during the light cache phase again. I only have 500 samples for secondary GI, which isn't much. And, I'm too scared to try the switch again after the last disaster, and especially because this is due monday and there will be no way to get up and running in the event of another system failure. Vlado, is this an issue with Vray? Is there a way around it that won't destroy my rendering times or quality?
Thanks.

[charbroil]

And here's a side question, even if the 3gb switch works, do most render farms also use the 3gb switch? If not, than what's the point (if you are making large animations, that is). You will just build files that crash there computers - or do render farms work differently?

[percydaman]

well since you render through your farm using backburner or the like, it requires less memory then when rendering on your local machine, but basically yeah your premise is correct.

EDIT: that hasn't stopped me from using the 3gb switch on my personal workstation, even though I haven't been able to get it working on the renderfarm. My machine is good at rendering irradiance maps without error though

[charbroil]

OK, maybe there is another stting that can help? In system>advanced>performance options, should I set my memory usage for "programs" or "system cache"? And, what should my "total paging file size" be? Do these settings have any effect?

[DaForce]

Not sure about the "programs" or "system cache" things but i wouldnt bother changing it.
As far as the paging file goes, it should be 1.5x your RAM size. So if you have 2gb of ram set 3gb of page file. Also with the page file set the min and max amounts the same to avoid fragmentation.
But at the same time the amount of page file you set has to be within reason. I reckon 2-3gb is the most that it should be set to.

[RErender]

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOW S

Notice any differences?