latest version of ChimeraX only keeps one mrc file loaded

[Jakob.Andersson@…]

Hi,


I just installed the latest version of ChimeraX (version 1.8 from May 16th) and it only keeps a single mrc file cached and every time I set another map active, it has to read the whole map again. Is there a way to change this? It slows down my work a lot if I need to wait every time I want to switch between maps.


Many thanks

Jakob

[Tom Goddard]

As far as I know nothing has changed about how much volume data ChimeraX caches. The default is it caches 512 Mbytes. You can change that default with a command like

volume default dataCacheSize 8000

which would set the default volume data cache size to 8000 Mbytes (approx 8 Gbytes).

Probably what you are observing is because you are loading bigger maps than in the past.

[Tom Goddard]

Elaine, could you add to the volume command documentation that the default dataCacheSize is 512 Mbytes?

[Tom Goddard]

Elaine pointed out to me that the ChimeraX documentation says the default volume data cache size is half the physical memory of the computer. Investigating I see that that was the default until August 2023 (prior to current production release ChimeraX 1.7.1) when I added a "volume defaultvalues" command to allow changing the defaults. In that change I accidentally reverted to ChimeraX to a much older behavior that always used 512 Mbytes as the cache size.

[Tom Goddard]

Fixed in the ChimeraX 1.8 release candidate and daily build (May 29, 2024).

I fixed the code so that the volume data cache size defaults to half the physical memory of the computer.

[Jakob.Andersson@…]

Hi,

Many thanks for the explanation, I did not realise this could be modified.

Best wishes
Jakob
________________________________
From: ChimeraX <ChimeraX-bugs-admin@cgl.ucsf.edu>
Sent: 29 May 2024 20:34:51
To: goddard@cgl.ucsf.edu; Jakob Andersson
Cc: meng@cgl.ucsf.edu; zjp@cgl.ucsf.edu
Subject: Re: [ChimeraX] #15316: latest version of ChimeraX only keeps one mrc file loaded

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#15316: latest version of ChimeraX only keeps one  mrc file loaded
----------------------------------------+-------------------------
          Reporter:  Jakob.Andersson@…  |      Owner:  Tom Goddard
              Type:  defect             |     Status:  closed
          Priority:  normal             |  Milestone:
         Component:  Volume Data        |    Version:
        Resolution:  fixed              |   Keywords:
        Blocked By:                     |   Blocking:
Notify when closed:                     |   Platform:  all
           Project:  ChimeraX           |
----------------------------------------+-------------------------
Changes (by Tom Goddard):

 * resolution:   => fixed
 * status:  reopened => closed

Comment:

 Fixed in the ChimeraX 1.8 release candidate and daily build (May 29,
 2024).

 I fixed the code so that the volume data cache size defaults to half the
 physical memory of the computer.
--
Ticket URL: <https://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/trac/ChimeraX/ticket/15316#comment:5>
ChimeraX <https://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimerax/>
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