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Useful tool for lower-spec (+ not-so-low) Windows computers

Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 4:45 am
by Diziet Sma
Do you wish you had more RAM to run Oolite in? Or a gruntier CPU for those multi-ship engagements that turn your machine into a narcoleptic slug? But you don't have the $$$ for an upgrade?

Well, sorry, but I don't have the spare cash to help you out.

I do, however, know of a nifty gamers utility that can help you get the most out of your current machine. Not only is it very effective, but it's freeware!! And, it works with Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Windows 7.

Allow me to introduce -fanfare please- Game Booster!

To quote from the website:
Designed to help optimize your PC for smoother, more responsive game play in the latest PC games with the touch of a button, Game Booster helps achieve the performance edge previously only available to highly technical enthusiasts.

It works by defragmenting game directories, temporarily shutting down background processes, cleaning RAM, and intensifying processor performance. That means you can keep all the features of operating systems ready for when you need them, but turn them off when you are ready to get down to serious business – gaming.
Yep, as they say, you can shut down all unwanted processes and programs to give Oolite access to as much RAM and CPU cycles as possible. When your Oolite session is done, one click will restore everything the way it was before.

I find it makes a difference even with my 2.8GHz, 2GB RAM machine, and I especially like the feature which lets you defrag any game or folder to squeeze that last bit of speed out of things.

It's available from http://www.iobit.com/gamebooster.html

(Oh yeah, it even helps with online gaming, and, because simple performance optimising isn't considered cheating, it's designed to work with online anti-cheat systems.)

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Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 7:12 am
by DaddyHoggy
Nice - don't use Windows use Linux to play Oolite on my Athlon 2800+ with 2.5GB RAM, but this would be potentially very useful to try out on a few of our 3.2GHz P4s that we run things like M$ ESP and VBS2 on...

Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 3:58 pm
by Sendraks
I'll be looking into this, not so much for Oolite, but for stuff like Crisis and other games that put a heavy load on my P.C.