Process lasso profiles replace gamebooster

[Simmer2050 28]

Years ago I was the first to mention process lasso for sims, and a great product for pc resource tweaking.

 

Always kept iobit gamebooster though, for turning off windows services and threads not needed for sim.

 

Welcome p3dv3 install and ghosts that do stuff to computers, iobit gameboooster for first in almost decade of use, gamebooster causing my pc to lockup when p3dv3 running.

 

Tried bacth files to shut down and reload tasks after sim, but taskKill command in batch file does not always work.

 

So turned back to Process lasso for any options, and discovered a feature amongst its gazillion features, and that is ability to export/import/save/reload configurations.

 

I  have a config for normal daily PC use , another config that when loaded  shuts down all p3d addons and clears the desktop of p3d addons faster than you can say go. But to start the sim and addons I use bacth file with start command. Same start command used to restart all the windows crap shut down by lasso.

 

The profiles are now very powerfull considering you can have one just for sim, this profile is setup with tons of wincrap to close soon as the profile is loaded.

 

At end of flight, switch to endsim profile, and all addons in my case, fscommander, simlauncher, ActiveSky, pfpx, fscaptain and more, helps to be able to turn all off  easy after flight.

 

tried other gamebooster apps before turning to lasso, strangly same effect heavy lags in sim and windows soon as p3dv3 started,  AND CRUCUALLY MANY GAMEBOOSTER ARE CPU HUG.

 

Lasso is cpu hug too, but it does a ton of job from core parking to cpu affinity management plus a lot more.

 

But no need for gameboosters anymore once you learn how to use process lasso profiles, once I could set dedicated profile for p3dv3 with very little crap left, and any left seriously tied to cored not used by p3dv3.

 

Please back up your pc before playing with lasso profiles, SystemRestore saved me from broken ie11 as a result of my heavily intrusive test with lasso. But well worth itmy task manager task list when simming is now very short, so much crap from NVidia in there as well, NVidia alone has about 7 useless tasks, not counting the driver and 2 other it uses.

 

But if you really wana play also check out freeware ProceesHacker, looks even more powerfull than lasso in certain respects, but not as professional a product. But ProceessHacker includes an element missing in lasso and that is control of services in profiles.

 

Sorry for war and peace should have just said,

 

NO MORE GAME BOOSTER REQUIRED FOR THAT FLIGHT SIR!!!

 

if you got  a lasso in your hanger that is. but also check ProcessHacker its free

[martinlest2 58]

Hi. I just posted this:

 

http://www.avsim.com/topic/480805-process-lasso-best-settings/

 

I suppose the Process Lasso 'profiles' are just the way you have the various otions set up? (Are they saved to an ini file? I have yet to look 'under the bonnet/hood')... But what is the 'endsim' profile, for instance? If you have things set up in Process Lasso, I'd be grateful for some leads so I can avoid hours of trial and error testing.

 

Thanks.

[Simmer2050 28]

@martinlest

 

1. I save the config profiles which stores all the options as you mentioned

file export config to save

file import config to load it.

always ensure the config you editing is the one you expect to be loaded,

 

 

2. My Start sim config, shuts down a load of stuff, moves affinity for some, change mem io priority ect, set p3d affinity, sets cpu mode highest power, etc

 

 

3. My endsim config is mainly to help shut down all the addons I had running with p3d, can be a chore turning off each addon, So I load endsim config for that, basically all my p3d addons are set to dissaallowed in this mode. so they get shut down

 

3. Neutral mode config is for normal pc running used when installing stuff etc, You need This if you really mess with your sim mode config ilke I did, Basically skinned windows processes to the bone

 

 

You picked the right question asking about profiles, cause its the biggest trick in the book regards lasso.

 

 

Start by using for simple stuff like

 

0. Backup lasso default config

1. Set p3d as game mode, and set p3d affinity

3.Set all non essential non system process to run on cores not used by p3d

4.Also set memory io priorities

 

5. Don't put p3d under probalance control, tried it, causes stutters, everything else wants it though including addons

 

6. If you break your windows with lasso, start windows in safe mode, shut down lasso governo, load load default settings

 

7. Check cpu core bars while flying, use this info to determine which cores to add load to or unload regards affinity settings.

 

8.If you have any really badly cpu hungary addons or other process that cant be killed, reluctantly try Porcess Throttle options on that particular process, avaialable like all other options by right click on process. under "less common options"

 

 

9 Using Sim mode profile might I could kill off or reduce resource usage for tasks I wount normally touch, example changed affinity mask for all the svchost I could find. changed it to 01 only. Did not touch mem or iO settnings for svchost , being craefull.

 

 

10 Check lasso logs below to see which tasks are struggling to stay in their  box regards resource usage. Its got Probalance insights.

 

 

11. I have done a lot of test regards best priroty for P3D under lasso, I found anything above "Above  Normal" could easily lead to crash on heavily OC'd system like mine 4.8Ghz to 4.84Ghz.

 

 

12. Ensure profile loaded takes effect by looking at log screen below, should show tasks getting killed , affinities being changed etc, if not load config file again, or shut down restart lasso governor .

A good way to tell which profile you have loaded is checking the list of disallowed tasks for that profile.

 

My neutral config only has win10 update task disallowed

Sim mode config has everything from print spool task to etc etc etc and who killed the cat.

 

Its a shame the developer not provide easy way to know which profile you currenty loaded

 

Have fun, Next time you get bored in cruise, bring up lasso see what your real engine is doing

Don't forget Lasso is powerfull, Backup first,  measure 3 times , cut once.

 

Happy tweaking :p0502:

[martinlest2 58]

Thanks for the reply! Unfortunately I am having sporadic OoM errors and FS9 crashes.. I need to try and address that before I look in more detail at Process Lasso settings, but I will bookmark this thread..

[martinlest2 58]

Hi again.

 

As I am not really confident about what all the various 'options' might do in practice, I have restricted myself to enabling Gaming Mode and adding FS9.exe and FSX.exe (don't use P3D) to the designated processes window. I'll see how it goes like that.

 

How have you set P3D affinity? I seem to recall that setting FSD9.exe to higher than normal priority caused odd things to happen. Seems from reading the FAQ that less is more, settings wise...

[Bobsk8 12,668]

I tried Lasso some months ago, and the only thing it did for me was to produce sound stutters. I have used Jet Boost since I got P3D, on every flight and I get good, stutter free frame rates. http://www.bluesprig.com/jetboost.html

[Simmer2050 28]

@Martin

 

Search for Captain K Man or Process lasso gaming on youtube

The guy is a simmer that did 30min video on how to use lasso for fsx

 

if I could ctrlC ctrlV I would have paste you a link directly to the vid, but avsim editor is either unintuitive to me or does not work on my machine, Shame about CtrlC CtrlV

 

My cpu is i7490K  I use it wit HT on. my affinity for p3d= 0011 1111

 

That means p3d is off the first 2 cores and on all the others

 

As for priority I set to AboveNormal anything going beyond that could lead to OC instability mine is 4.8 to 4,84 Ghz.

 

 

 

That's a good way to start, small, but try to get used to using profiles, cause that gives you more freedom to change and revert.

 

The only other thing that would be good to sort out early is affinity, always leave something behind for the OS is the rule, a core that p3d.fsx cant touch. I hear best cores for this are 01. for 8 core with HT on.

 

once you get used to it have time to play with it during cruise, start setting io and memory priority

 

Also very good way to know which core to assign to addons is to look at lasso cpu core bars while flying and see which cores are least active, there you can add extra work load, I hear its better to assign cores in 2's when HT on. One real one virtual ensuring there is nothing operating on birtua core only, unless its something you really wana starve a lot, in my case msantimalware.exe

[martinlest2 58]

Hi. Thanks for the post. I am watching the video (which is very helpful) and setting up FS9 (so things are a little different - GPU Tweak shows just 30% usage of my GTX970 for a start, which I expected) as I write this.

I already run FS9 and FSX through CPU infinity mask. I am not touching that, but I have excluded cores 0-1 on my CPU (i7-4790K @ 4GHz) for FS9. (I am not too worried about FSX yet, as I hardly ever fly it, but I will do something similar for FSX later), so it is running on cores 2-7.

My Intel CPU usage desktop gadget and the CPU bars in Process Lasso more or less agree. None are spiking and I have a pretty smooth red CPU usage curve in the PL graph.

I am now going through the other processes and am assigning the other 'FS stuff' to the Windows cores 0 & 1. It seems that when FS is running Windows does not make huge use of the CPU and I reckon that having AS6.5, AI Separation, FDC, PFE and the rest on the same core is probably the best bet.

The other way to go would be to restrict FS9 to cores 4-7 and use cores 2-3 for all the FS 3rd. party stuff. I am not sure that that would necessarily be a better option though. As I have set it, cores 0-1 show no more usage than beforehand.

I have also restricted the two non-FS programmes that run continuously whilst simming, that is my anti-virus and sidebar.exe (which controls the CPU gadget) to cores 1-2. All the rest, which show very little CPU usage at all, I have left at default, cores 0-7, mainly as I am unsure of the effect of moving them to just two cores, especially the SYSTEM processes, which are probably left as they are until I know more about the consequences. Probably none, but no point doing everything together. (For instance, PL advises against touching dwn.exe, another process that runs throughout of course).

I have exported the settings to an ini file..

Now I need to fly around a bit and see how things go. My 'holy grail', apart from a beautifully smooth simming experience, is to stop the sudden drops in frame rates to around 2 or 3fps, that I get every 10-15 minutes! I am have had this issue on every PC on which I have ever run FS over the last 15 years (several) so have almost learned to live with it. Troubleshooting with Process Monitor etc. has never lead to any conclusions (and I see from other threads that I am not the only person to get this annoyance). We'll see. I think it's to do with either texture loading (in which case it'll be the same) or possibly sound drivers (in which case I can do something - I have set the Realtek process to cores 0-1: I have certainly noticed 'micro-freezes' of the sim just before ATC starts to speak or whatever).

Thanks again for the information.

Martin

[Simmer2050 28]

<p>Hi</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I have all my addons , ASN, FsCommander,  etc on 01</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Basically I don't put anything on 2-7 other than fsx</p>

<p> </p>

<p>The exception was ProATC which stuttered for ever on 01 till I gave 01-67 cause I observed while flying that 6-7 is lest used. Eventually I moved ProATC to network laptop.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>for smoothness and FPS you wana be very hard on anything going to 2-7 or whatever cores you gave your sim.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>As for all the windows stuff, I don't touch them either dwm does funny things when you limit its core usage found that out the hard way</p>

<p> </p>

<p> </p>

<p>To clarify all my add-ons are 01, mostly set to low priority, low memory priority, low IO priority.</p>

<p>I would rather my add-ons stutter than my flight.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>As no 2 systems are the same, the finer details of PL setup have to come from observing your cores while flying.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>The best tip of all though is as you said, backup often, make changes infrequently.</p>

<p> </p>

<p> </p>

<p>Regards the ini file, I hope you using the export import for your ini. cause there is another selection at the top of same menu for config file that seems redundant to me.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>I just created a folder on my machine where I store lasso profiles</p>

<p> </p>

<p>1. Neutral mode (normal pc usage)</p>

<p>2. Sim Mode</p>

<p>3.endSim (mainly closes addons when finished flying)</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Also if you are not using 01 for Sim, you can OC ton higher frequencies, depending on your cooling. My OC 4.84ghz is about  45% more stable cause 01 not used by sim.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>But to smoothen your flight, those addons need to have their cpu/memeory/IO priorities lowered.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Also worth checking google to find out more about tasks you want to change resource usage for, often youll find posts of others looking to do the same for a game, such info will give you more confidence and knowledge to trim down your cpu task list for a  smooth flight.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>My SimMode PL config took years to slim down to I think only 25 tasks or so running when</p>

<p>I sim.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>general rule, dont touch stuff to do with joystick programs, mouse programs, stuff talking to hardware you use while simming, they never really use cpu anyway, but they require fast response. Example as stringent as iam about my cores, my siatekx65 controller program is still on all 8 cores, same for mouse.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>However a lot sound, network stuff all running on 01</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Another rule, right click on a task PL, and select option to take you to folder where that program is installed, if its installed in c\windows leave it alone. Else I  01 on the program and more besides.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Note that NVIDIA installs a lot of cpu huggers if you dont select only what you need from it. I only use GPU driver and  Audio. my ATC sound is set to tv speakers linked to video card.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>useless Nvidia tasks can be treaky to box, so my solution was to unsinatll vid driver, reinstall secleting from the install options only the drivers I needed. There were reports of fps increase when folks reduced NVidia  crap.</p>

<p> </p>

<p> </p>

<p>Another tip is to go to windows advanced settings, and set it to performance setting instead of Detailed fancy menus. That really does add a kick, although my win7 menus are left looking like win3.1, but dont care cause am in p3d not windows. This is ok if your machine is dedicated for sim only.</p>

<p>I keep my fancy menus on my daily use pc.</p>

<p> </p>

<p> </p>

<p>Also sound settings you might want to turn it down to like 16bbit cd quality</p>

<p>If you ever OC, realy high such dont matter much, but at 4Ghz lower sound quality will help. If you use the maschine to play music there is a huge difference in sound quality. if its just sim, you cant tell the difference.</p>

<p> </p>

<p> </p>

<p> </p>

<p>Keep your default PL profile handy for a rainy day.</p>

[martinlest2 58]

Hmmm, my posts also do that from time to time, show the html codes or whatever they are... only happens on AVSIM forums. I did mention it to AVSIM ages ago, but apparently no one knows what's causing it if it is still the same. I am in the habit of doing Ctrl+A then Ctrl+C before I hit the 'Post' button here.

 

I ran one short flight and everything was good. I need to test it more though before I pronounce on it! In general on my PC I was getting great fps, so apart from being generally smoother and hopefully getting rid of the stuttering I mentioned, not sure how much difference I will see - it won't be dramatic anyway. This is not about fps really though, so..

 

I have moved my Saitek X52 software to cores 0 & 1 as I was having problems with it. I don't think that running stuff like this from cores 0 & 1 will slow anything down.. those cores are always fairly low usage - all '8' cores now run at roughly the same usage, which is good...

 

Where were you suggesting I change the sound settings? 99% of the use of this particular PC is FS9 (or FSX). I occasionally (as it has a nice big monitor) use it to watch opera DVDs - the sound needs to be at best for that. I can possibly create some profiles for that too! (The Process Lasso profiles are backed up onto an external HDD, along wih the rest of my FS folders and settings).

[Forkboy2 27]

AlacrityPC is another one that will automatically stop and restart services.

 

http://sourceforge.net/projects/alacritypc/

[martinlest2 58]

Hi. Thanks - I did vaguely look at that, but the performance on my PC is pretty good and so far, with the way things are set up at the moment, everything is smooth and good frame rates, usually over 35 minimum, even at heavy 3rd. party airports with a lot of traffic and cloud cover (probably jinxed things by saying so!), so at the moment, I don't think I need to add any more software like that.

 

I did use a programme many moons ago to shut down and restart processes and services before I ran FS9, but that was in the days when I had 2GBs RAM and Windows XP 32-bit; OoM errors were a constant curse!

[martinlest2 58]

FS9 has started using pretty much just one core again, with or without CPU infinity enabled. The CPU core usage was pretty evenly balanced until the other day, but now FS9.exe is using one core again, as far as I can see, even though it's set to use 2-7 in PL.

 

I know that in the normal scheme of things, FS9 will only use one core (that has been the source of arguments on AVSIM in the past and I am not going there again!) but ever since I started using CPU Affinity (and much more recently, Process Lasso), I haven't seen one core being used by FS9 in this way. Not sure why it is doing so now.

 

(If I choose to restrict FS9.exe to different cores, in PL, the high usage (around 70-80% generally) just flips to a different core. If I close down FS9.exe, then of course the CPU usage drops to virtually zero).

 

Martin