Amazing tweak for FS9 on WinXP+Intel HT CPU

[duckbilled 310]

>Do the same on any other running utilities (i.e. FDC, RC) and>select the other virtual processor.In the processes window there are a lot of processes running (over 20); however, the only application listed in the applications window is fs9. Is this normal or do I need to be running End it All?If I need End it All, the only version I can find (end it all2) does not list that it supports XP. Will this version still work with XP or is there another version that I should be looking for?Now, if it is normal that all of these other processes should be running, which ones should I set to run on the other virtual processor? When I was reading up on the IMAGECFG utility, I read a few warnings about permantly changing the affinity of certain process.Sorry, I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to this stuff.

[Guest Howard]

Your motherboard and RAM is the same as mine. To go hyperthreading you need the 3.06Ghz P4 with 533 bus. You also need the correct bios from ASUS. Early versions did not recognise hyperthreading CPU's.RegardsHoward

[gsand 105]

Hi Bob,Thanks for a great tip! I put ACOF on CPU 0 and wxRE on CPU 1 and I can't believe the difference. I've got frames locked at 25 but now it never budges from that, even in fairly heavy cloud cover. Still get a sizeable drop in overcast but my new video card should help with that.Thanks, again for a great idea!My system:PIV 2.6 HT 800mhz FSB512 PC2700 RAMGF4 MX440 (I know, I know, replacement ordered)80gb 7200 HDBest,

[Guest]

Hi thereThis is an interesting tip - but surprisingly it does nothing for my system at all. I'm changing the affinity of FS9 to use CPU0 only instead of 0 and 1. Is that correct?Hyperthreading is enabled in my bios.Is it just the luck of the draw??regards:-waveP4 2.8 800MhzAopen AX4SG-N1028Mb PC3200 @ 400Radeon 9800pro 128Mb

[badderjet 181]

>Wow Bob, this is amazing I just doubled my performance, I'm>getting steady 50-60 FPS in worst conditions.UHHMM!!! :-eek Holy cow, lucky boy!!I still have to stick with my poor old P4 1.8... :-(

[gsand 105]

Yep, that's what I did. Not sure why this doesn't work for all. I really see a difference when wxRE is running and there are clouds up to about 58 broken. After that, the overcast slowdown kicks in. I'm not getting anything like a 50% increase, but easily am getting 4-8fps higher across the board.I locked at 25fps so that I can kick the scenery and autogen density to max. I already had terrain at 100% and almost everything else maxed except mip-mapping at 4 and local textures at high, instead of maxed. I run traffic at 56% because I find this still to be the biggest drain on performance, next to overcast.Sorry this didn't work for you...:( Best,

[Bob Scott 7,720]

Try this:Fire up FS9, but do not change the processor affinity yet. Start task manager, select performance tab. You should see two side-by-side moving charts under the top heading "CPU Usage History." First, do you see two, and second, are they both maxxed out at 100% with FS9 running?If there is only one CPU load graph, most likely you don't have HT on...either it' deselected in BIOS, or you have a mobo or older BIOS that doesn't support HT.If only one of the graphs is firewalled to 100% with FS9 running, something in your config already has FS9 constrained to a single vCPU, so this tweak would have no effect.CheersBob ScottATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-V L-300Washington, D.C.

[Bob Scott 7,720]

No...I don't see any drawbacks whatsoever. All you're doing is telling FS9 to confine itself to running on only one virtual CPU. It tells XP "leave me here", and XP deals with everything else normally.Bob ScottATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-V L-300Washington, D.C.

[Howiefly13 30]

Bob, thanks again. I cannot locate imagecfg.exe. Do you have any suggestions, or could you please post it?Regards,Howard

[Guest Glenn]

Two quick questions here please.1) I see that my HT is enabled. If I select the Affinity as described in the inital post here, when I shut the machine down and boot back up again later, will all the settings be reset to the way it was before making the changes (my preference)?2) I find I have really good frame rates now except when over a complete undercast. However, even when I'm displaying fps' in the hundreds, I get very noticeable stutters as others have reported (yup, looked at all the tweaks and have most of them employed, including reducing the sound acceleration). Does this "mod" affect the stuttering problem, or does it only act on frame rates?Thanks very much for this, and for the initial suggestion!GlennP4 3.0 GHz, 800 FSB, H/T1 GB DDR RAM (Kingston)ATI9800 Pro 256Soundblaster Audigy Gamer

[Bob Scott 7,720]

1. If you manually select the set affinity setting in task manager, it is for the current session only.2. I have no stuttering here, but if you have your frame rate in the 100+ range, you aren't leaving enough headroom for the CPU to do its housekeeping. Try setting fram rate slider to 20-25. The affinity setting may help with microstutters, in that it stops CPU cache swaps as threads are moved between vCPUs to balance loading. That's my theory, anyway.CheersBob ScottATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-V L-300Washington, D.C.

[Bob Scott 7,720]

I found imagecfg here: http://users.aol.com/axcel216/xptoy.htmCheersBob ScottATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-V L-300Washington, D.C.

[Guest Glenn]

Thanks for this. Yes, I normally lock my frames at 35, but still have the stuttering. We'll give it a go then. Thanks again,Glenn

[Noel 4,499]

Hey Bob, tell me how performance compares when you DISABLE HT in the BIOS, ie where your single physical processor does the whole thing. I think this is where the rubber meets the road perhaps. It seems these reports of doubled performance is in the context of comparing against HT enabled but non-tweaked, no? I am running a non-HT CPU at 3GHz and have totally smooth and fluid performance in all areas, with max autogen, high-max 100% 3D detailed clouds out to full distance, 100% terrain mesh sliders using 9.6m mesh. I run at either 1600 x 1200 x 32 with 2xAA & 16xAF, or 1800 x 1400 x 32 with no AA, and I have had some slowdowns with multi-layered weather when fairly close to dense clouds but otherwise nothings seems to get me off a 22 fps lock. If I happen to get into nasty close in weather I will alt-tab to 1280 x 1024 x 32 and it returns from 14-15 back up to 22fps. The lowest perf in 1280 x 1024 x 32 x 2xAA x 16xAF is about 18 in the very worst of conditions possible, even at densely populated big terminals with traffic, weather, etc.Noel

[michal 44]

So much for some early press reports about FS9 that were louding this sim to be HT-optimized. It looks like the reverse is actually true.Michael J.http://www.reality-xp.com/community/nr/rsc/rxp-higher.jpg