diff --git a/source/lib/adts.h b/source/lib/adts.h
index ac7b0a8e40..6334a5d753 100755
--- a/source/lib/adts.h
+++ b/source/lib/adts.h
@@ -719,6 +719,80 @@ public:
 // TODO: use SSE/3DNow RCP instruction? not yet, because not all systems
 // support it and overhead of detecting this support eats into any gains.
 
+// initial implementation for testing purposes; quite inefficient.
+template<typename Key, typename Entry>
+class LRU
+{
+public:
+	bool empty() const
+	{
+		return lru.empty();
+	}
+
+	void add(Key key, const Entry& entry)
+	{
+		lru.push_back(KeyAndEntry(key, entry));
+	}
+
+	bool find(Key key, const Entry** pentry) const
+	{
+		CIt it = std::find_if(lru.begin(), lru.end(), KeyEq(key));
+		if(it == lru.end())
+			return false;
+		*pentry = &it->entry;
+		return true;
+	}
+
+	void remove(Key key)
+	{
+		std::remove_if(lru.begin(), lru.end(), KeyEq(key));
+	}
+
+	void on_access(Entry& entry)
+	{
+		for(It it = lru.begin(); it != lru.end(); ++it)
+		{
+			if(&entry == &it->entry)
+			{
+				add(it->key, it->entry);
+				lru.erase(it);
+				return;
+			}
+		}
+		debug_warn("entry not found in list");
+	}
+
+	void remove_least_valuable(std::list<Entry>& entry_list)
+	{
+		entry_list.push_back(lru.front().entry);
+		lru.pop_front();
+	}
+
+private:
+	struct KeyAndEntry
+	{
+		Key key;
+		Entry entry;
+		KeyAndEntry(Key key_, const Entry& entry_)
+			: key(key_), entry(entry_) {}
+	};
+	class KeyEq
+	{
+		Key key;
+	public:
+		KeyEq(Key key_) : key(key_) {}
+		bool operator()(const KeyAndEntry& ke) const
+		{
+			return ke.key == key;
+		}
+	};
+
+	typedef std::list<KeyAndEntry> List;
+	typedef typename List::iterator It;
+	typedef typename List::const_iterator CIt;
+	List lru;
+};
+
 
 //
 // Cache
diff --git a/source/lib/res/file/file_cache.cpp b/source/lib/res/file/file_cache.cpp
index 7e48c8cedb..cb4b3fc6f1 100644
--- a/source/lib/res/file/file_cache.cpp
+++ b/source/lib/res/file/file_cache.cpp
@@ -1297,7 +1297,7 @@ static void test_cache_allocator()
 	size_t total_size_used = 0;
 	while(total_size_used < 4*MAX_CACHE_SIZE)
 	{
-		size_t size = rand(1, 10*MiB);
+		size_t size = rand(1, MAX_CACHE_SIZE/4);
 		total_size_used += size;
 		void* p;
 		// until successful alloc:
diff --git a/source/lib/res/file/file_stats.cpp b/source/lib/res/file/file_stats.cpp
index e2770d85d2..10003f7d27 100644
--- a/source/lib/res/file/file_stats.cpp
+++ b/source/lib/res/file/file_stats.cpp
@@ -317,11 +317,11 @@ void stats_dump()
 
 	debug_printf(
 		"\nfile_cache:\n"
-		"Hits: %u (%g MB); misses %u (%g MB)\n"
-		"Hit ratio: %u%%; conflict misses: %u%%\n"
+		"Hits: %u (%g MB); misses %u (%g MB); ratio: %u%%\n"
+		"Percent of requested bytes satisfied by cache: %u%%; non-compulsory misses: %u (%u%% of misses)\n"
 		"Block hits: %u; misses: %u; ratio: %u%%\n",
-		cache_count[CR_HIT], cache_size_total[CR_HIT]/MB, cache_count[CR_MISS], cache_size_total[CR_MISS]/MB,
-		percent(cache_count[CR_HIT], cache_count[CR_MISS]), percent(conflict_misses, cache_count[CR_MISS]),
+		cache_count[CR_HIT], cache_size_total[CR_HIT]/MB, cache_count[CR_MISS], cache_size_total[CR_MISS]/MB, percent(cache_count[CR_HIT], cache_count[CR_HIT]+cache_count[CR_MISS]),
+		percent(cache_size_total[CR_HIT], cache_size_total[CR_HIT]+cache_size_total[CR_MISS]), conflict_misses, percent(conflict_misses, cache_count[CR_MISS]),
 		block_cache_count[CR_HIT], block_cache_count[CR_MISS], percent(block_cache_count[CR_HIT], block_cache_count[CR_HIT]+block_cache_count[CR_MISS])
 	);
 
diff --git a/source/lib/res/file/trace.cpp b/source/lib/res/file/trace.cpp
index c86be50b65..119d4db575 100644
--- a/source/lib/res/file/trace.cpp
+++ b/source/lib/res/file/trace.cpp
@@ -61,9 +61,9 @@ static void trace_add(TraceOp op, const char* P_fn, size_t size, uint flags = 0,
 }
 
 
-void trace_notify_load(const char* P_fn, size_t size, uint flags)
+void trace_notify_io(const char* P_fn, size_t size, uint flags)
 {
-	trace_add(TO_LOAD, P_fn, size, flags);
+	trace_add(TO_IO, P_fn, size, flags);
 }
 
 void trace_notify_free(const char* P_fn, size_t size)
@@ -103,12 +103,12 @@ LibError trace_write_to_file(const char* trace_filename)
 		char opcode = '?';
 		switch(ent->op)
 		{
-		case TO_LOAD: opcode = 'L'; break;
+		case TO_IO: opcode = 'L'; break;
 		case TO_FREE: opcode = 'F'; break;
 		default: debug_warn("invalid TraceOp");
 		}
 
-		debug_assert(ent->op == TO_LOAD || ent->op == TO_FREE);
+		debug_assert(ent->op == TO_IO || ent->op == TO_FREE);
 		fprintf(f, "%#010f: %c \"%s\" %d %04x\n", ent->timestamp, opcode, ent->atom_fn, ent->size, ent->flags);
 	}
 
@@ -144,10 +144,10 @@ LibError trace_read_from_file(const char* trace_filename, Trace* t)
 			break;
 		debug_assert(ret == 5);
 
-		TraceOp op = TO_LOAD;	// default in case file is garbled
+		TraceOp op = TO_IO;	// default in case file is garbled
 		switch(opcode)
 		{
-		case 'L': op = TO_LOAD; break;
+		case 'L': op = TO_IO; break;
 		case 'F': op = TO_FREE; break;
 		default: debug_warn("invalid TraceOp");
 		}
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ void trace_gen_random(size_t num_entries)
 			}
 		}
 
-		trace_add(TO_LOAD, atom_fn, size);
+		trace_add(TO_IO, atom_fn, size);
 		trace_add(TO_FREE, atom_fn, size);
 	}
 }
@@ -215,8 +215,11 @@ bool trace_entry_causes_io(const TraceEntry* ent)
 	const char* atom_fn = ent->atom_fn;
 	switch(ent->op)
 	{
-	case TO_LOAD:
+	case TO_IO:
 	{
+		// we're not interested in writes
+		if(ent->flags & FILE_WRITE)
+			return false;
 		buf = file_cache_retrieve(atom_fn, &size, fc_flags);
 		// would not be in cache: add to list of real IOs
 		if(!buf)
@@ -270,7 +273,10 @@ LibError trace_run(const char* trace_filename, uint flags)
 		FileIOBuf buf; size_t size;
 		switch(ent->op)
 		{
-		case TO_LOAD:
+		case TO_IO:
+			// do not 'run' writes - we'd destroy the existing data.
+			if(ent->flags & FILE_WRITE)
+				continue;
 			(void)vfs_load(ent->atom_fn, buf, size, ent->flags);
 			break;
 		case TO_FREE:
diff --git a/source/lib/res/file/trace.h b/source/lib/res/file/trace.h
index 6ff1d0e54f..e6519e0b9c 100644
--- a/source/lib/res/file/trace.h
+++ b/source/lib/res/file/trace.h
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 extern void trace_enable(bool want_enabled);
 extern void trace_shutdown();
 
-extern void trace_notify_load(const char* P_fn, size_t size, uint flags);
+extern void trace_notify_io(const char* P_fn, size_t size, uint flags);
 extern void trace_notify_free(const char* P_fn, size_t size);
 
 // TraceEntry operation type.
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ extern void trace_notify_free(const char* P_fn, size_t size);
 // yield the same results.
 enum TraceOp
 {
-	TO_LOAD,
+	TO_IO,
 	TO_FREE
 };
 
diff --git a/source/lib/res/file/vfs.cpp b/source/lib/res/file/vfs.cpp
index 7cf0a1c590..3048c5f231 100755
--- a/source/lib/res/file/vfs.cpp
+++ b/source/lib/res/file/vfs.cpp
@@ -424,7 +424,7 @@ ssize_t vfs_io(const Handle hf, const size_t size, FileIOBuf* pbuf,
 	FileCommon* fc = &vf->xf.u.fc;
 
 	stats_io_user_request(size);
-	trace_notify_load(fc->atom_fn, size, fc->flags);
+	trace_notify_io(fc->atom_fn, size, fc->flags);
 
 	off_t ofs = vf->ofs;
 	vf->ofs += (off_t)size;
@@ -454,7 +454,7 @@ LibError vfs_load(const char* V_fn, FileIOBuf& buf, size_t& size,
 		// so duplicate that here:
 		stats_cache(CR_HIT, size, atom_fn);
 		stats_io_user_request(size);
-		trace_notify_load(atom_fn, size, flags);
+		trace_notify_io(atom_fn, size, flags);
 
 		size_t actual_size;
 		LibError ret = file_io_call_back(buf, size, cb, cb_ctx, actual_size);