why does diablo ii access the hard drive like crazy????????

[keebeen]

i know this is kinda old now, but i just can't take it anymore. i've been playing diablo ii all this time with this problem and i tried to bare with it but it's just way too ridiculous now...

does anybody know why diablo ii accesses the hard drive like every second and makes the game play as choppy as playing quake3 on a 286? (slight exaggeration ) and how do i remedy this problem???

my system info:
k6-2 400
64mb ram
voodoo3 2000
8.4gb 5400rpm
Win ME 4.90.3000
diablo2 1.02 (multiplayer install)

any help greatly appreciated.

 

[nite]

yea this sux.. i have died many times because of this hd lag!

 

[dura]

You probably have not enough free RAM, so the machine creates a virtual RAM on your HD, which is slower.
Try adding another 64 Mb, 128 is the standard these days.
Other tips:
-kill as many programs in the background as possible, they eat RAM and processorcapacity.
-do not use the minimap while moving, it decreases gamesmoothness.

 

[Zucchini]

I dont want to bash your system, but its a tad slow. The disk thrashing is definelty a ram problem. I've tried the game out at both 128mb and 192mb. 128 pretty much solves the thrashing problem, but its still around sometimes, only at 192 does it completely dissapear. Also, you might try upgrading your processor too, this game melts down slow computers when there are tons of monsters and spells on screen.

 

[jinglingxl]

I get choppy gameplay sometimes too, and I even did a full 1.5gig install !! First my cdrom wouldnt run the damn game, so i had to run it in my cdrw drive(thank god it works in cdrw, or else i dont know what to do). MORE PATACHES ARE NEEDED !! I have
pII 350
128mb Ram
16mb tnt
20gig 5400 rpm hd
win98 with 1.02 patch
and i get alot of lockups/freeze also, this is just one of most buggy game ever... but the gameplay is addictive as hell..finally got in nightmare.

 

[Zucchini]

Ah, well i guess i'll leave my system specs here too for comparison. I'd run at 880mhz, but i have 64mb of pc100 that doesn't like that speed. D2 likes 192mb as i've said. If you want to see stats on your fps and ping in game type fps at the message console.

Celeron 2 533a @ 824mhz
192MB
Hercules prophet ddr
30/40gig 7200rpm hds
win98 with 1.02 patch

 

[dirkdaring]

Not true. It is system-specific. If blasted Blizzard did not turn off their tech forums I could point to some of the suggestions on how to fix it.

I run it at home on 2 computers with no problems at all.

1, the slowest:
Celeron 300a@450
SiS 630 chipset all-in-one board
Yes, onboard video
Yes, onboard sound
5gig Seagate
64MB PC66 Ram (at 100mhz), 16 allocated to onvideo
WinME
Diablo2 multiplay install
Encore 10mbit ethernet PCI ($7.00!)
D3D mode
--Little slow, especially in multiplay. But no hard drive thrashing at all.


2, fastest
Celeron 300a@450
Abit BH6
128mb PC100
Voodoo2 12mb
Matroc G200, 8mb
128mb pc100
PCI128 3D soundcard
Encore 10mbit Ethernet PCI
17Gig Maxtor
WinME, installed form scractch, no special settings, all default.
Diablo2 Multiplay install
3dfx mode
--smooth as glass, no slowdown ever. Hard drive seems to be barely used.

Dirk

 

[HigherGround]

I have the same problem....PIII 800Mhz, 128MB PC133 SDRAM, WIn98SE, GeForce 2 GTS....D2 in single player or anything but bnet multi was running like crap. Whenever I entered a new area, the game stopped for 2-3 secs while reading from the drive and on numerous occasions when it "came to" i was f*cking eating ground. I got another 64MB stick and now the problem is gone. The RAM requirements on the box are a joke. (BTW, the Win98 copy was a fresh install and i was playing in d3d mode, since the game crashes every 5min in Direct Draw mode). So the game costed me 55$ for Collector Edition + 70$ for 64MB RAM (at least it's Mosel Vitalic 7ns ...but i'm still pissed :|

 

[keebeen]

i know 64mb is getting kinda low now... but still... it should be enough to run diablo ii w/o any major problems... i can run UT perfectly in 640X480...

hey dirkdaring, how'd you get it to run so smoothly on your systems?? and hardly any hd access at all on them?? how'd you do that??

 

[Zucchini]

It probably also depends on how you play. If you join 8 player games with some sorcerers casting blizzard all the time, that will sap your pc.

 

[damocles]

Diablo 2 Bnet will be choppy for some time to come i imagine. I have a hard time believeing anybody runs it 'smooth as glass'. I have seen a lot of people try the fixes and have little success.

What i would like to see is someone running a P233 with 32 meg of RAM, which Blizzard considers the minimum spec

 

[keebeen]

how can we contact Blizzard and get them to fix it?

 

[Zucchini]

Well minimum spec probably means turning off all graphics options. Have you tried this?

 

[Quickfingerz]

Make sure your swap file is optimized. Change your virtual memory to a set minimum and maximum. I have 128 mb of ram and I set virtual memory to 224mb for both min and max. This should stop some of the access lag. Make sure you have defraged your hard drive too. I reccomend using norton speed disk after you have set your swap file to a set value.

 

[vec]

I tried running it on my laptop which is a P233 w/96M of RAM. Walking in town was jerky and slow. Immediately uninstalled it.

 

[keebeen]

i've got 64mb ram and i set my swap file to 128mb permanent and i optimzed the swap file with norton speed disk and the game crashes after a bit... i then tried a 256mb swap file optimzed and it's even choppier than just letting windows manage the memory... plus all this time i've already got all video options turned off.

oh well... let's face it... diablo2's memory managment is big time suck... and maybe my system is too.

 

[dohyun]

hey man, i got a 233 with 32 ram, and i could still manage to play. its still very very laggy though