com_hunkmegs, com_zonemegs and com_soundmegs
Posted: 07 May 2010, 22:38
com_hunkmegs, com_zonemegs and com_soundmegs
These are settigns that can be used to improve the performance of your ET game. The ET will work with the default settings, but it also means that it uses your harddrive more when loading and unloading the things it needs. Also, the default settings for these are ancient and were designed for early computers with low RAM. The maps are now bigger and require more, also the sound quality has changed to 22 kHz by default. It can be usefull to tweak these settings for better performance.
I'll go through what these are one by one.
com_hunkmegs
============
This is the total amount of RAM that the ET reserves for the game. This include all the other *megs settings.
The default value for this is 56. This default is ancient and it was selected so that even computers with very low RAM can run the game. The maximum value, as far as I know, is 192. The ET will not use more then 192 megs even if you set it to higher value. Another rule for the amount is that it should not be any higher then 2/3 of your system RAM. Most computers however have at least or more then 256 MB. So this should probably be set to 192 very safely.
com_zonemegs
============
This is the memory that is reserved for the loading of map textures etc. The default setting for this is 24 MB. But this is very old setting too and it could be set to 32,48 or even 64. However, remember that this memory is subtracted from the com_hunkmegs, just like soundmegs are. So test some settings and use the one that seems to work the best for you.
com_soundmegs
=============
This si the memory that is reserved for loading sounds. The default value for this is 24 MB, but now days the sounds are played with 22 kHz by default, so it's probably better to set this around 48 MB. Again, this memory is also taken from the com_hunkmegs.
If we take 64 for zonemegs, 48 for soundmegs, it leaves us 80 MB for hunk for free. Well, the default hunk was 56 and from it after taking the 48 MB for zone and sound left 8 MB for free. So you have quite a lot to move around with these settings.
These values can't be set in configs though. It would mean that they would be latched and then you would have to do /vid_restart to make them active. You can do that of course, but I set them in the command line for practical reasons. More precisely, I start my ET from a desktop icon. In the icon there is a setting called a target and in that target string i have added the following: +set com_hunkmegs 192 +set com_zonemegs 64 +set com_soundmegs 48 .
It looks like this in hole:
"C:\Program Files\Wolfenstein - Enemy Territory\ET.exe" +set com_hunkmegs 192 +set com_zonemegs 64 +set com_soundmegs 48
You can add other settings in it too. If you do it this way, the settings will work in all mods. Just remember to not use configs that try to set these values. They would get latched of course, but if you would do /disconnect and then load another mod, the latched values would become effective.
In other systems you would set the values with different methods, but they should still be set the same way as command line arguments.
I hope I was being explanatory with this. I know that many people know the hunkmegs setting, but I hope that now people understand the settings more thoroughly and can adjust them to even better values for performance.
Last note, I'm not sure about the limitation of the 192 and theres no harm setting it higher as far as I have read about it, but it will most probably not do any good either.
These are settigns that can be used to improve the performance of your ET game. The ET will work with the default settings, but it also means that it uses your harddrive more when loading and unloading the things it needs. Also, the default settings for these are ancient and were designed for early computers with low RAM. The maps are now bigger and require more, also the sound quality has changed to 22 kHz by default. It can be usefull to tweak these settings for better performance.
I'll go through what these are one by one.
com_hunkmegs
============
This is the total amount of RAM that the ET reserves for the game. This include all the other *megs settings.
The default value for this is 56. This default is ancient and it was selected so that even computers with very low RAM can run the game. The maximum value, as far as I know, is 192. The ET will not use more then 192 megs even if you set it to higher value. Another rule for the amount is that it should not be any higher then 2/3 of your system RAM. Most computers however have at least or more then 256 MB. So this should probably be set to 192 very safely.
com_zonemegs
============
This is the memory that is reserved for the loading of map textures etc. The default setting for this is 24 MB. But this is very old setting too and it could be set to 32,48 or even 64. However, remember that this memory is subtracted from the com_hunkmegs, just like soundmegs are. So test some settings and use the one that seems to work the best for you.
com_soundmegs
=============
This si the memory that is reserved for loading sounds. The default value for this is 24 MB, but now days the sounds are played with 22 kHz by default, so it's probably better to set this around 48 MB. Again, this memory is also taken from the com_hunkmegs.
If we take 64 for zonemegs, 48 for soundmegs, it leaves us 80 MB for hunk for free. Well, the default hunk was 56 and from it after taking the 48 MB for zone and sound left 8 MB for free. So you have quite a lot to move around with these settings.
These values can't be set in configs though. It would mean that they would be latched and then you would have to do /vid_restart to make them active. You can do that of course, but I set them in the command line for practical reasons. More precisely, I start my ET from a desktop icon. In the icon there is a setting called a target and in that target string i have added the following: +set com_hunkmegs 192 +set com_zonemegs 64 +set com_soundmegs 48 .
It looks like this in hole:
"C:\Program Files\Wolfenstein - Enemy Territory\ET.exe" +set com_hunkmegs 192 +set com_zonemegs 64 +set com_soundmegs 48
You can add other settings in it too. If you do it this way, the settings will work in all mods. Just remember to not use configs that try to set these values. They would get latched of course, but if you would do /disconnect and then load another mod, the latched values would become effective.
In other systems you would set the values with different methods, but they should still be set the same way as command line arguments.
I hope I was being explanatory with this. I know that many people know the hunkmegs setting, but I hope that now people understand the settings more thoroughly and can adjust them to even better values for performance.
Last note, I'm not sure about the limitation of the 192 and theres no harm setting it higher as far as I have read about it, but it will most probably not do any good either.